Tuesday, July 05, 2005


This bright-eyed rodent foraging beneath the bird feeder was not welcome and elicited a "I'll get the trap" response. (It was one of those rodent live traps...Dad has a soft heart) It's funny how two similar animals get such different reactions. I have friends who hunt and eat squirrels, but would think me insane if I suggested eating rats. With a little Rogaine applied to the tail, wouldn't this be a squirrel? Posted by Picasa

2 comments:

swamp4me said...

He's actually kinda cute.

We had a family of cotton rats to move in under our platform feeder a few years ago. The juvies were very cute and just the right size to feed to our snakes...

R.Powers said...

Swamp,
I was a ranger at Fort Pulaski in Savannah for about 3 years. One day, I'm chatting with some park visitors under a sable palm and baby rats start bailing out of the top of the palm...all around us. Up in the tree was an enormous corn snake with rat in mouth. So I switched from interpreting the historical importance of Fort Pulaski to the benefits that snakes provide. It was a "teachable moment".
My kids have had a couple of pet domestic rats and they really are charming. They have a very short lifespan though. We don't keep them anymore as the "goodbye" time comes too soon.