Weird evening

[GH85Carrera]

We have a doggy door in our laundry room so the dogs can go in or out whenever they want.

I was in my office and I heard the doggy door flap flap a lot all of the sudden. Like not hearing a toddler, best check out what is going on.

I saw Reuben, or male dachshund standing next to his water bowl with a very dead bunny in his mouth. So I alerted Mrs. Carrera, and hauled him outside, and she brought out a full dog biscuit as a swap. Wave the treat in front of his nose, and place it on the ground. I suspect he was trying to figure out how to get a drink of water, and not put down the bunny.

He spit ot the dead bunny, and went for the treat. I grabbed the bunny by it's ear, and hauled it to our compost pile. Mrs. Carrera turned on the light out there, but it is still pretty dark, so I headed to the garage to get a flashlight. As I reached for the keypad, she opened the garage door, and a scorpion ran from the rummer seal on the bottom of the door. I flattened it like a Wiley Coyote cartoon.

I grabbed a hand trowel, dug a very small grave in the compost pile, and it was just crawling with worms. Mr. Bunny will be gone in short order. It was not his first bunny, and he has killed a squirrel as well.

As I was washing my hands in the garage bathroom, right next to my light switch was a large spider that looked like a Black Widow on the prowl. I did not check it's belly, I just smashed it as well.

Hopefully no more critters on the prowl tonight.

[Baz]

[sc_rufctr]

Sounds exciting!

[A930Rocket]

This needs to be moved to PPOT, before someone PARFs it up! 😂

Funny story!

[LWJ]

This sounds like a slow night for an Aussie.

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by LWJ

This sounds like a slow night for an Aussie.

That depends. In the city not so much but anything can happen in The Bush.

[rfuerst911sc]

Great story ! Doxies can be affective killers if given the chance . We have had several , our pack of three successfully took down a possum .

[masraum]

It's interesting, I live in a very rural setting, and expected to have more rabbits, but we have very few rabbits. For a long time I didn't think we had any rabbits, but I have seen a few. I think it's because we are so rural and therefore have LOTS of critters (to include foxes and coyotes) that there's a natural balance where we don't have a surplus of anything (although we do have more scorpions than we'd like, and the missus seems to have a knack for finding them in the worst way).

[GH85Carrera]

We have seen several adult rabbits in my wife's many flower gardens having a buffet meal. She just moves towards them, and the leave our yard. I have to assume one litter of bunnies was born recently in the neighborhood, and a dumb bunny decided to explore our yard. Fatal choice.

Reuben had been circling our storage building, and that is usually my early warning system that a mouse is under there. I checked my traps, just like a mountain man and no mouse.



He has helped catch and dispose of several mice over the years.

We learned that he will go for a dog bone treat and spit out the mouse for me to buy it in the compost. Or, as we sometimes call it, take them to the train station.

We had a 6 foot bull snake die in our back yard, likely from eating a poisoned mouse that someone else's yard. No way would I use poison. That snake was burred at the train station as well. It is amazing that they just vanish completely. We dig up the compost to use in her gardens, and never see any sign of the bones. The worms must me hungry.

When I dug in just a little to bury the bunny, the compost was just crawling with large squirming worms.

[masraum]

Is he a standard dachshund or a mini? I don't remember.

My mom's old neighborhood was FULL of rabbits, although I heard that they'd occasionally get a bobcat in the area and when that happened, she said that the bunny count would decline. Although, as many as they had, I don't think one cat would make much of a dent.

It's interesting that the bones disappear. I would expect the bones to stick around quite a while. Although, for snakes, I can imagine those aren't likely to last nearly as long since they are probably very thin.

[GH85Carrera]

He is a mini. 14 pounds, 13 years old.



Reese is on the right, a dappled long hair. She is 15. She caught one mouse that Reuben was chasing, and the mouse ran right to her. She just grabbed it and gobbled it down.

[vash]

I'll be in OK, Monday. scorpions?? and just how big was this spider??

[GH85Carrera]

The spider looked just like a black widow from the top side. I did not turn it over to check, it was dispatched.

And Oklahoma appreciates your fishing license payment to the state coffers. And if you can catch a black carp, there is a $100 bounty to get it to the right folks.

https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/outdoor-news/catch-black-carp-oklahoma-collect-100-bounty

And the bounty can be claimed up to 10 time per month, so catch a lot of them!

[masraum]

Originally Posted by vash

I'll be in OK, Monday. scorpions?? and just how big was this spider??

Black widows don't generally get super big. Their back end tops out at around 3/8" or 10mm. Legs and all they may be an inch across. They usually hide, and aren't really "scurriers".


The "big" spiders that are scurriers usually sit more flat to the ground and run around to catch stuff. Most of the spiders like that are harmless (but ugly suckers).

Then, there are tarantulas

[GH85Carrera]

The spider was just hanging just under the light switch in my garage bathroom. The room was dark before I walked in and turned on the light.

I reacted quickly and smushed the spider.

I did not study it closely before I killed it, as it looked much like a “fiddle-black-widow-tarantula” crossbreed and it was close to the light switch where my hand was seconds before. Reaction not planning or careful thought

[GH85Carrera]

I am pretty sure this was one the the bunny's attack modes. Reuben saved us!

I really need to watch that movie again I actually took a date to that movie when it first came out. I was laughing a lot and she sat there like a stone. I knew then she had no sense of humor. I figured she hated the three stooges as well.

[GH85Carrera]

Last nigh at 11:30 I was sound asleep when Mrs. Carrera was yelling for me to wake up. Reuben the hunter killer had struck again. He added yet another species to his kill list.

He killed a sub adult possum. It was not just playing possum, he had destroyed it's head into the bloody pulp. Once again, he had a tight grip on the middle of the possum. So out comes two dog bone treats. I waved one right in front of his nose, and he hesitated, but dropped the possum. I grabbed it by the tail and "took it to the train station" AKA the compost pile.

I did not bury it last night, I did that this morning in the sunlight.



I will spare your the gory photo. The compost is covered in flowers, and I had to find a bare spot to bury it. I dug up a bunch of worms with the black composted soil. In went the possum and I covered with soil. The worms make sort work of it.It has enough soil over it to avoid stinking.

So the count is one squirrel, two bunnies, uncounted mice, multiple skinks and the little tiny brown snakes, and one possum. I was really happy it was a possum, and not a skunk.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Last nigh at 11:30 I was sound asleep when Mrs. Carrera was yelling for me to wake up. Reuben the hunter killer had struck again. He added yet another species to his kill list.

He killed a sub adult possum. It was not just playing possum, he had destroyed it's head into the bloody pulp. Once again, he had a tight grip on the middle of the possum. So out comes two dog bone treats. I waved one right in front of his nose, and he hesitated, but dropped the possum. I grabbed it by the tail and "took it to the train station" AKA the compost pile.

I did not bury it last night, I did that this morning in the sunlight.



I will spare your the gory photo. The compost is covered in flowers, and I had to find a bare spot to bury it. I dug up a bunch of worms with the black composted soil. In went the possum and I covered with soil. The worms make sort work of it.It has enough soil over it to avoid stinking.

So the count is one squirrel, two bunnies, uncounted mice, multiple skinks and the little tiny brown snakes, and one possum. I was really happy it was a possum, and not a skunk.

Back when we had our mini dachshund and had a fenced in back yard, I looked out one day and saw him chewing on something. That wasn't unusual because he often found twigs and sticks and chewed them like bones, but I could tell this was different. I went out and he was chewing the head of a squirrel. I don't think he kill the squirrel. I think that was our other dog. He'd done the same, chewed the head until it was an empty meat sack. The skull and contents had been squished out through the mouth. It was not a pretty picture. He was not happy that I took his chew toy and snack.

[GH85Carrera]

The great hunter was up most of the night hunting. Today he is out like a light. For a 13 year old dog, his hunting drive is 100% still.

Once again, this time at around 4:30 I was awakened by my wife telling to get dressed, Reuben had killed another possum. Another sub adult possum. He has been spending a lot of time hunting in his back yard. He has kept us safe from grizzly bears and buffalo and giraffes, and now a second possum.

So we got it from him once again with dog bone treats. I took the dead possum "to the train station" but I did not bury it until this morning. For those of you that never watched Yellowstone the TV series, when they had a body to dispose of, they used a large gulch and they called it the train station as a code phrase.

When I was burring it in the compost I saw where the other one was buried just a week ago. There was some hair on the surface of the compost. I guess worms don't like hair. I did not explore further. The hole I dug was just teaming with worms. The new addition will be gone soon. No fuss no stink, just gone. Returned to the soil.

[wilnj]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

For those of you that never watched Yellowstone the TV series, when they had a body to dispose of, they used a large gulch and they called it the train station as a code phrase.

https://youtu.be/8Bsk_xk5-gs?si=z4G9hbzReXb7paaS

Not sure if this no mans land exists in Wyoming but I think it’s modeled after this area in Idaho.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_Death_(Yellowstone)