Rudi grabbed a squirrel
Hey there,
Well I guess it is squirrel season....no duck season; no rabbit season! (my teasing Rudi for being a bad boy).
I have these very annoying squirrels that live here around my house. Typically they reside underground in burrows along the outskirts of the fence line. They look very similar to regular city squirrels in size and with a large puffy tail, but these guys have a striped coat like a tiger or brindle. It makes them appear very wild and very aggressive. They are especially annoying during the summer because they like to steal chicken eggs. I have even resorted to firing a BB or two to ward them off wich is just not my nature at all.
Well, yesterday up pops this squirrel right out of the middle of my yard and before I knew it Rudi had him cornered in the yard and took hold of him. The little guy screamed and Rudi let him go then grabbed him again. He finally managed to get up in the engine well of the truck I have parked in the drive. I went ahead and started it and the rascal took off to a burrow out beyond the yard.
I went ahead and praised Rudi for the good work. I am a little apprehensive about this behavior if it should relate to other critters, but I am hoping it is just squirrel related. He did good in my mind and now that this very embarrassed squirrel has escaped with his hide he might pass the word not to come in this yard again. My how seasons change from year to year. Last time he was out of his den there was no dog here.
I think he is good with my rabbits, my chickens and the wild birds here in my yard. So hopefully I wont have a hunter on my hands.
Has anyone else here had any incidences with wildlife ?
Thats my update for now, Ron and Rude-man the Squirrel Hunter.
Comments
A lot of the Shibas I know are good hunters. A lot of them have snagged squirrels, rabbits, mice, and two of them have even taken down a few opossums.
Nemo is a mouse killer, not sure what would happen if he ever got an open/unleashed shot at a rabbit or squirrel.
Akita's like Shiba's are hunters and we have two separate incidents to share with you. I believe the baby opossum story came first. Not a very long story. But when we first moved into this apartment we bought a doggie door for Mika. Allowing her to roam and run in the backyard as she pleased. One morning, I woke up to find a baby opossum dead in her dog bed!!! Blech. Poor little thing. Even more disturbing was her sleeping next to it.
A few months later, we were in bed watching tv when we started to hear something strange. A squeal, some scratching, hissing. My first thought was that Mika got a hold of one of the alley cats. When I ran to the sliding glass door, I see scratches on the deck and Mika in a play bow wagging her tail. Curious. I look up from the deck floor and see little feet like things clutching on the first rail of our deck. Then I saw it fall...an opossum. An adult opossum!!! Which I think are ugly and gross.
It started to run, but Mika caught up!! Poor ugly thing. It played dead as Mika tossed it waaaay up in the air, for like 30 minutes!!! Gross! When she ran back inside, she was totally pleased with herself. But the opossum didn't leave right away, stupid. It was tossed again for a few minutes.
Barbara - Mika & Keigo (Akita Inus); Jewel and Brittney (Kitties)The dogs occasionally chase the cats, but never get them. But the cats walk around fine when the dogs aren't in the mood to chase.
Well Ron, you think the squirrels will have learned their lesson and will stay out of your yard now? I would have praised Rudi too since he was just doing what he is naturally predisposed to do, and did it well!
I think it's only a matter of time before I have a similar story to post. There are shedloads of critters around here and Tojo and Rakka love to chase them. There are rabbits, ducks, geese, mice, quails, pheasants, muskrats, garder snakes... well... I could go on and on. Loki cornered a muskrat once but it bit his nose so he left it alone.
Speaking of snakes, I need to figure out where I can do a rattlesnake avoidance clinic before the hot weather hits!
Do you have rattlesnakes up there Heidi? I would think the altitude is to high - what is your altitude?
We are at 7500 feet, so no rattlers for us.
Oh yeah, and according to some website, our altitude is 2667 feet.
We took Tenji to Rattlesnake School last spring and it was definitely worthwhile. We will take him again for a refresher class. He caught on very quickly and decided then and there that he did not like snakes.
Brad - How long did it take to get used to living at that altitude?
I never thought about having to worry about rattlesnakes. That is cool that they offer classes to teach your dog to stay away from them.
Hi Sujewel,
Here is a link to a page that shows my particular squirrel. Apparently it is a Rock Squirrel. They never climb trees.
They seem to come in a variation of colors. The ones here at my house are definately completely striped. I think the one with the black coloration is quite attractive; I remember seeing the black ones when I was a child in El Paso, Tx.
http://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/image_info.cfm?species_id=340
They really are quite big and menacing looking to me. I am so glad that Rudi does not see my rabbits as something to go after. Their run is made with a cattle-type wire (2 x 4 inch) openings and Rudi is able to stick his nose through and the rabbits and him sniff and nudge one another.
I think someone asked me to post some pics of my rabbit run. Here they are.
Two spoiled bunnies! (they are both neutered males)
OK, thats it for now, Ron
oh my gosh! the Mika story sleeping with the dead possum is too ... well funny i suppose!?
so
far, our shibas have shared the killing of a mouse and a robin. That is
the only time I have ever witnessed them killing something and being
aggressive towards one another.
WOW!! Those are spoiled bunnies. That's one hell of a run!!!
Thanks for the squirrel link. They're so cute!!!!
I'm the one who asked for them :P
I love it, those buns are spoiled. I love dutch
Hi Okiron,
I just clicked on your link to your blogspot and found the link to the bunny site. I should sign up so I can read those posts since most of them are "member's only". Is there a fee to become a member?
My bun buns are brothers. Yes both are Dutch. They are so funny.
It is sad that I couldn't bring home more bunnies but from what I understand they can become quite aggressive. When I brought these two home they could fit in the palm of my hand. It was recommended that I get them neutered if I did not want them fighting. My vet refuses to work with rabbits again after neutering these two. She said they scared her so badly because they cannot be "pulled down" too far under anesthesia and one of them kept waking up during his procedure. She also did not use sutures and left the incisions wide open so as not to form cysts. It was just as traumatic for me at the time (that was back in August).
Since then neither of them have bitten or been aggressive to each other. I just think that it is a shame to have so much room and not bring more home. In the building part there is an air-conditioner for them for the hot summer days. Last year they were A/C lounge lizards.
Their names are Thomas (Major Tom) and Ziggy (Ziggy Stardust)
Huggs, Ron
Well honestly, this is the worst time to ask me that. Any other day and I would've said it's a great site and you should join. By the last couple days I've been dealing with a group of people on that site who are accusing me of animal abuse, threatening to call the apartment manager and getting me evicted (we're not allowed animals here) and also calling animal control to report abuse.
All this because my 2 flemish giants are going through puberty and they're pretty gangly looking. They're saying I haven't fed them for a month and I'm planning on killing them. Doesn't help that they developed an upper respiratory infection a couple days ago and I've been fighting to keep them alive. If I haven't been feeding them for the past month I'd like to know who I was feeding everyday.
That site is filled with great information but a LOT of drama. If you do sign up I would suggest being a lurker and just read through all the information. It's free membership.
Honestly from what you're telling me I would've just picked a different vet (for your rabbits). They're perfectly fine if you use desolvable sutures. My vet does spays and neuters every Wednesday and it's just routine procedure for her. I'm never worried about having them go under. The death rate should not be anything less than 0.5%
Bonding buns is difficult sometimes, harder than cats and dogs. I have 3 right now, 2 are bonded siblings but my 3rd I'm keeping alone. She had a mate but he died late last year. If you add another bun in it might ruin the bond of the 2 you already have. It's too much of a gamble but there has been people on the forum who has successfully bonded 3-5 buns together.
edit : made public
Oh wow,
That sounds awlful Okiron. I am so sorry to hear that you are going through such mess. I have to say that because a person is an animal advocate does not mean they are not cruel and inhumane when it comes to people.
Two years ago I purchased 150 pounds of chicken feed. I do my own mix and it included a 15% layer crumble. Well, silly me for not paying attention, but half-way through hand mixing I began to realize that the crumble was actually layer dust. I must of gotten the "bottom of the barrel" mix. So what I did was finish mixing it but decided to go to the feed store and get an entire 150 pounds to remix; this time I made them open the bags and give me good fresh crumble. We ended up opening half their stock and they sent it all back to the distributor; apparently their mixer was misadjusted.
Anyways, I asked them if they knew of someone who could use this bad mix that I put together. They suggested this 80-year-old lady who lived not to far from me. She had a flock of chickens and it seemed that she was on a very limited income. I took it on over to her house and knocked on the door. She graciously accepted and also asked if I would like some chickens, that she wanted to find homes for all of them since she could no longer afford to care for them. I looked at them and what I saw was a bit shocking. Shocking in the sense that these were multiple breeds which had interbred over years and years, and that she was unable to keep their pen cleaned out. So needless to say the poop was quite thick and a bit smelly and the variants of breeds were a bit "mutant-like" in appearance.
To get to the thick of the story, I contacted a "Rescue Group" that came as highly recommended. I explained the situation in hopes they could find homes for these chickens (50 or so plus). Well this woman I spoke to became very aggressive with me on the phone (after I gave her my name) and said that she was going to go after this old woman on animal abuse charges. She ranted and raved and went all ballistic at how "people like her make her sick" and such. I kept defending the woman in that these were just chickens left to do what chickens do best and that time was the culprit, but this woman demanded that I give her the name of the woman to her immediately so she could put a stop to her. By then I figured out that I had some PETA nut on my hands and so I refused. I told her to forget I called. She screamed obscenities at me and threatened me. She said, "I have your name and number and you will not get away with this". Geeze Louise! What a crazy.
Subsequently, I had this local guy (some Guido-type) call and threaten me. I had Animal Control called on me and I had to bring the Sheriff's Office in on the loop. I tried to speak to a judge but unless someone actually broke the law this kind of "threatening" could only be controlled if I had an ongoing relationship with the person or if they were family; then I could get a restraining order placed on them. So I was out of luck on that part. It was a month later when someone came to my house and kicked in my front door while I was at work. Nothing was stolen thankfully. I did an additional police report, but nothing more could be done. I can only imagine that this was related somehow. I reinforced all my doors and "knock on wood" nothing else has come of this since. I even put locks on all of my animal flights and gates.
Animal Control commended me for my "Housing and care" of all my critters, but warned me to try to steer clear of these people. They knew of their tactics and were very aware of how they operate. The little old lady still has her chickens as I drive by every so often in her direction. I cannot imagine what would have happened if they had tried on her what they did to me. It is a sad world when we are falsely accused of things that are just in the imagination of the idiots out there that think they know best and live in a perfect world. How ridiculous.
Okiron, keep your head up. Forget those folks that play those games, and thank you for giving me the "heads up". There is no information on that site that I cannot find on the internet if I am interested in it. I think I will prefer not to initiate a membership with them.
Huggs, and I am sending you Well Wishes and Good Fortunes in all of your Dreams and Prayers.
Ron
Wow I'm sorry it happened to you. Thank you for sharing. I try to do the best I can and my animals needs always came before my own. I would go hungry so they have food. It just hurts me that me of all people would be accused of such things by people I called my friends and people I have never even met in person. I told them I welcome the animal control, they'll do nothing but laugh at the accusation. I was amused by it all until they starting talking about contacting my landlord. Being homeless is not something we need right now. And that does not help the animals in any way.
I think what makes me look bad is because I have such a large amount of animals, it's basically set so something is going to go wrong at all times. Someone is going to be sick and someone is going to have to go to the vet. It just makes it seem like I don't care of my animals properly. I don't mind though and when I'm more financially stable I would love to add more to the family. I thrive on the animals, so much more understanding than humans. A lot more forgiving and a lot less judgment to deal with. I know I take good care of them and the friends that come over often and see their living conditions and see how I care about them, they would agree with me too.
edit: I figured I'd make my posts public so you guys don't get confused with what Ron is replying to.
I think this is a very touchy subject. I have a lot to say, but i rather not get into it. Rina - That is really horrible how those people are threatening you. But with so many animals and you being young, I could understand where they are coming from. But if you can afford to give them food, vet attention, housing, etc. You really have nothing to worry about. You are giving them a healthy happy life in a good environment. It would be another story if you didn't have enough room for all of them or couldn't afford to give them medical attention when they needed it and were just keeping them with you because you love them so much and don't want to live without them. But it seems as if you are doing everything right and those people are just trying to point a finger at someone. It sucks how some people are so quick to judge without knowing the whole story. Anyway, I hope your buns get through this and i hope you feel better and those people leave you alone. Good Luck.
Brandon - It took us about 2 months to get to where we don't notice the altitude. I thought that living at this altitude then going down to a lower altitude I would be like super human but have found we are actually out of breath more at lower altitudes now than higher ones. It was hectic at first tho (getting used to the altitude), I think my nose bled for like a month and a half strait.
Ron - your bunnies have a nicer pad than me! They are cute.