# Vampy's Wild Wild Kingdom!



## Guest (Dec 19, 2008)

Living in a small town in S.E. GA, I encounter more than my share of critters. Some wander by on their own free will, others are dragged in by the throat thanks to my cat Fuzzy.










The weather here this week has been very warm so I've got most of my windows open, including the 'cat window" It's the one Fuzzy and TYPO use to enter and exit the house so I don't have to get up and open the door for them. i am kinda lazy. 

Fuzzy has a tom cat friend that lives down the street from us. He likes to sneak in when he thinks I am gone so he can eat my cats' food.

I was on the couch with the Kindle reading when I heard him coming. He always announces himself by meowing loudly. He seems to think that if I am at home and hear him coming, I'll peak out and he will run away. *Not this time*

I put my kindle down, hid under my blanket and waited. The window is right next to the couch. I didn't want him to see me and run away. I hear him on the window sill, "Meow?" I stay still. Thump. He's in the house.
5
4
3
2
1
!
I jump up! He is half way to the bathroom where the food is. I slam the window shut! He has this funny "*OMG!"* look on his face.

After about 20 minutes of him bouncing off windows and sliding glass doors, I get him cornered in the empty bed room.

meow pant pant pant meow pant pant pant

This is one huge cat. He's sitting on a glass table by the closed door. Very carefully, I slowly reach out and pet him a bit. We talk a bit and I explain to him that stealing food from my cats is a bad idea..

Then I reopened the window and let him go. It's been 4 days and he hasn't come back.

The next day, I hear my dogs barking at something out front. they don't bark all that much so I was expecting to see a lose dog running around out there. Instead i saw 8 of these walking down the street in front of my house. One was a nearly full grown juvenile. It was as big as the adults but has fuzzy grey feathers instead of the normal adult feathers.










I tried to send Fuzzy out to get one for us but she wasn't interested. There were too many of them and they were all bigger than her. She was like you want them? You get them, I was asleep!

Then Wednesday rolled around and I found Fuzzy in the living room with a squirrel. It was dead so I tossed her and her dinner out the window and closed it. If I don't she will just bring it right back in.

The worst thing she does in bring in birds. If I dont find her in time, I will find the living room covered in feathers. I really hate that.

Sometimes she wants to show me before she kills stuff. I really hate that. It means I have to save the critter and try to release it somewhere she can't get it again.

Sometimes they get away before I can 'rescue' them. I have a rat and a chipmunk in my walls thanks to that.


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## Poi Girl (Dec 3, 2008)

My dog used to bring dead rats to me, proud of her kill.  I used to praise her because Hawaii, in the country, rats are a big problem. Well, my mom ended that. Melia brought a dead rat to her and she had a freak fit! Never happened again and we had nice fat rats running around after that.


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## Guest (Dec 19, 2008)

That's too bad.  I don't mind Fuzzy doing this except when they get loose in the house.


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## Angela (Nov 2, 2008)

Thanks for sharing Vampy!! We have had our share of creatures brought in and/or tried to come through the doggy door! Came home from work one day and 2 of the kittens from current litter were fighting over something. I reached down to take it away from them and found in my palm a bird beak with the tongue still attached! The next day I caught the mother bringing in a dead rabbit and that was the day the litter was moved to the storage building.

We haven't had any more extra live critters in the house, but I do occasionally find field mice in the swimming pool. Just this morning when the fog began to clear I thought saw another rather large mouse or rat floating in the pool and was very surprised to find instead a skunk! I was not too pleased, but so glad it ended up in the pool and not in the house through Harley's door!


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## sebat (Nov 16, 2008)

Cute story, Vamp.
My aunt and uncle were unwillingly feeding a raccoon.  They had an old coal box where they were keeping the dog food out on their screened in porch.  The **** was coming in through the dog door, opening the box and eating.  It took them almost 6 months to catch him.  My uncle said the **** weighed at least 25 pounds and had a beautiful healthy coat from all the dog food.  

Poi Girl,
When I lived in Wailuku, I had 2 wild kittens that I was taming for the neighbor boys.  I don't know how it happened but before I knew it, I was feeding at least a dozen cats.  There's a huge cat overpopulation problem on that side of Maui.  When the cats heard the alarm clock go off in the morning they would start climbing the window screens calling to me to come out to feed them.  They were always gifting me with dead rats.  I never saw one alive so I thought the kibble was a good trade.


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

I'm on the second floor of a condo building.  Some years ago I had squirrels coming up to my balcony.  I fed them.  One got very tame.  Anyway, squirrels are very territorial.  Couple of times I had a few on the balcony at one time.  I opened my sliding door, squirrels darted, and I had one inside!  You've seen American Family Videos on TV?  I have . . . so I did NOT panic.  I went out on the balcony with the peanuts and the squirrel came out, though I did hear a thud on the glass when he first tried to go out the other door.  Ultimately, no problems.


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## Suzanne (Nov 3, 2008)

Jake would catch birds mid-air. If I didn't get there in time, he would eat them. Most times, he would have the bird in his mouth and I would come running to him and pry open his mouth and shake his head. The bird would fall out. Two times the bird was alive and flew away. One other time this happened and it was dead.

Well, Jake caught on. One day I see him catching a full grown robin mid-air. I run out to him and before I got to him he looks back and stops and just swallowed it whole! For the next couple of days we were on "poo patrol" because we weren't sure it would cause him problems. We thought we would find legs or something! But apparently he had no problems digesting it.

The funny thing is, Jake lived with two parrots. He was a gentle giant with them. He would let them climb down from the cage and eat his kibble while he was sitting there. I miss that big lug.


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## sebat (Nov 16, 2008)

I've never heard of a dog catching birds.  I always thought that was a cat thing.


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## Poi Girl (Dec 3, 2008)

sebat said:


> I've never heard of a dog catching birds. I always thought that was a cat thing.


My grandfather had a dog and a cage full of colorful birds. Every once in a while someone would forget to lock the cage gate and Kalua would be caught trying to catch the birds but nothing would happen and the birds would fly back into their cage. One day, I came home after school and someone had left the cage open. My mom and I found all 26 birds...dead. Kalua was very happy though.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

My cat, Spooky, used to bring me live presents.  I leave the back door open for the cats when I'm home so I would find birds in various condition but her favorite was mice.  She killed the ones in the house and brought live ones from outside.  She brought me squirrels fairly regularly but I really could have done without the mole.  When I lost Spooky, my other cat Zazzer Zoo decided to take over.  She likes to bring dead animals in.  Zazzer is a small cat (people keep asking me how old my 17 year old kitten is) but she thinks she is a tiger.  She will try to fight anything.  She does not like other animals in her yard and chases them all out including the neighbors bull dog.  But when the other cats go for her catnip it's cat fight time.  One time she even wanted to fight a raccoon (I stopped that one)  She always loses her fights and  I always take her to the vet to patch her up.  It's become a summertime routine.


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## Marci (Nov 13, 2008)

Suzanne said:


> I miss that big lug.


Suzanne -

That is such a wonderful memory!

No wonder you miss Jake,

Marci


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

There are a lot of interesting birds in my area. My favorite is a group of four Sandhill Cranes. They don't seem to mind people at all, which is just as well since they are about four feet tall and look pretty powerful. I still walk past them very carefully.


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## Mikuto (Oct 30, 2008)

I'm lucky that my handsome fella lives indoors. He only leaves toy mice in my shoes.



















Although we have a pair of Mourning Doves that live on our patio.


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## sebat (Nov 16, 2008)

Mikuto said:


> I'm lucky that my handsome fella lives indoors. He only leaves toy mice in my shoes.


Beautiful, he look just like a kitty I use to have.


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

I have a yellow lab retriever that has no promblem chasing an object down, but she doesn't get the retrieving part down yet. I'm still working on it. She runs after the ball, picks it up, drops it, and runs back. Or she runs to it and sits next to it. The only other animals she deals with a the crickets and beetles that made their way into our house in the hot summers. She just stands over them and whacks them around the tile with her paws. Or she puts them in her mouth, spits them out, and repeats that motion several times...usually we end up with very slobbery dead insects on the tile. (I usually come across them, cuz I am the one that accidentally steps on them)


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## Guest (Dec 20, 2008)

My dogs are another story. I used to have a dog before I got big boy from the local pound. I thought my dog was lonely and would like a playmate.

I took her to the pound and she picked him out. Once I got him home, she decided he was too playful and he out weighed her by at least 20 lbs them so she'd have nothing to do with him. She would jump the fence just to get away from him.

One day she got picked up by the dog catcher. It was the third time and I had had enough. Everytime they catch your dog out they jack up the ransom. I couldn't really afford it anymore so I was going to leave her there.

The next day this woman knocked on my door and asked me where my dog was. "Every day I walk by here she comes out to meet me. _*I give her treats*_

No wonder I can't keep the f((*&^% dog in the yard! I thought but i didn't say that. I told her the dog was in the pound and if she wanted her she could have her.

She ran home to ask her hubby and he said no probs. I met them at the pound and signed her over to them and wished them good luck. That was a Friday.

I remember because the next day was Saturday and when I got home, there my dog was waiting for me. She thought she still lived with me instead of 2 blocks up the street.

Sunday she was gone and I never saw her again. One day I saw the woman walking by and I asked how she was getting along with the dog?

Well we couldn't keep her in the yard either. She'd dig out, go over the fence and learned to open the gate.

yep been there done that...

We gave her to a family that lives on a farm out in the country that has several kids. She seems very happy there.

I totally got off track telling one story when I meant to tell another, She was a very good and smart dog but she was a wanderer. When I found her she was by some woods on the side of the road half starved and had a bad case of mange. Half of her body didn't have a hair on it.

Once she tried to jump my fence and missed. She caught the top with her inner part of her back leg, the loose fleshy part and ripped it open. She got about 60 stitches that time and blood all over my back seat.

I still have Big Boy an he is a lot bigger now. In the first year, he went from 70 pounds to 130! Last December 4th at about 4:00 in the morning, I got woke up by him play barking at something.

I got dressed and when around to see what it was. I found a puppy. she was very fuzzy and looked like a miniature big Boy to me. She was very scared of me but she loved him.

It took me almost a whole year to get her to let me play with her. Little Girl is not so little these days but she is still only about 1/3 of big Boy's weight. By the way she 'beats up' on him, you'd never know it.

Both of them respect the fence... so far. There are pictures of them in our pet thread.(and the cats to)


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## Marci (Nov 13, 2008)

gertiekindle said:


> There are a lot of interesting birds in my area. My favorite is a group of four Sandhill Cranes. They don't seem to mind people at all, which is just as well since they are about four feet tall and look pretty powerful. I still walk past them very carefully.


Are these related to the Emu at all? Looks like there is a strong resemblance to me...

Marci


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## thejackylking #884 (Dec 3, 2008)

I grew up on a farm and one of the funniest things I ever saw was a buck walk up to one of our fences, stop, look at the fence and then try to do a standing jump over the fence.  He caught his back hoof on the barbed wire and fell flat on his face.  When he got up he looked around to make sure no one was looking and jogged away.


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## Guest (Dec 20, 2008)

When my aunt first moved back to Kentucky, she thought the deer were so pretty.  She loved them and would put out salt licks for them.  Once they started eating up her garden, her opinion changed and it was ON!

The deer in that part of Kentucky like to mix with cattle like they think hey don't shoot me dude, Ima cow. moo

They are usually very good at jumping barb wire or anything else up to at least 6ft, maybe more.


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## thejackylking #884 (Dec 3, 2008)

I'm from Illinois and when it comes to deer in the area it is funny how you see a ton of them up until hunting season comes around.  All of a sudden they disappear.  One day I was driving along and saw a bunch of hunters pulled off to the side of the road in between two hills getting ready to go off into the woods and hunt.  When I started driving up the second hill I saw what appeared to be the discs on a plow just over the crest of the hill.  As I topped the hill I saw a herd of about 12 deer low crawling across the road to the opposite side of where the hunters were.  I laughed my butt off.


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## Guest (Dec 20, 2008)

Cool combat trained deer.

I know there are deer around here somewhere..


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Marci said:


> Are these related to the Emu at all? Looks like there is a strong resemblance to me...
> 
> Marci


They are a different genus, and the Emu is the only representative of it's genus _Dromaius_. Of course, I had to look that up in case you think I had that info in my back pocket. 

Looking at the picture, I can see why you would think that. The tail feathers are very similar. Another difference is the Emu is flightless and the Sandhill Cranes do fly. They fly with their necks straight out as opposed to herons who fly with their neck in an S shape.


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## tessa (Nov 1, 2008)

We had a rule in our house about animals "don't name it it's not staying"  It never worked there was always some stray cat or dog hanging around the back yard. I gave up..They could have their pets as long as  it had legs, it didn't crawl on its belly and its tongue  didn't keep  going in and out of its mouth.


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

Our neighbors&#8230;


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## Guest (Dec 20, 2008)

some of my neighbors...


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

There used to be two vacant lots behind me so we had a lot of rabbits and one very large turtle.  They cleared the lots and built a couple of houses.  We still see rabbits, but until today, we haven't seen the turtle for a long time.  

Have you ever seen a turtle run?  I'm telling you, he was hot-footing it along the driveway like something was after him.  I wanted to put out some lettuce for him, but he moved too fast.


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## Guest (Dec 21, 2008)

It's surprising just how fast they can go when they want to.  not only that, they have pretty good eyes and can see a potential threat from a long ways off.


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## Marci (Nov 13, 2008)

Vampyre said:


> some of my neighbors...


There is a family of raccoons that hang around in my neighborhood. They used to nest in our chimney because we had a tree that grew two inches away from one side of house. They would climb it and then have fun on our ceiling. Sounded like a bunch of bowling balls were rattling around up there 

Finally, the tree was cut to prevent this. They still do come around after dark to go after the bird seed my Dad routinely puts out. They scared the bejeesus out of my Dad one time after one of the found its way inside a box in our backyard. My Dad had no idea that the raccoon existed and same for the raccoon regarding my Dad until.... He walks right up to the box & _moved_  LOL Wish I had been there to see who was more scared of who!

I took some pictures of them the other night & will try to post them here.

Marci


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## Guest (Dec 21, 2008)

It seems to me that most of the animals and plants here in S.E GA have only one thing in mind and that is how much of my flesh can they get.

Almost everything here, stings or bites or does both.  This is why I love winter here.  We get 2 or 3 days with no bugs!  OK more like 3 months.  The rest of the time it's warm enough for everything to survive and thrive.


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