Rise of the Rodents

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

First off - don' t bother trying to educate me on what is and what isn' t a rodent. For my purposes any goddamned furry critter that is invading my place is a rodent.

I have no idea of the cause - climate change - environmental contaminates or how Venus is lining up with Sagittarius - but holy shit......

We have more rabbits', squirrels, chipmunks, woodchucks and muskrats than I have EVER seen in this area.

I' ve shot 6 woodchucks trying to den under our barns and garages - trapped a couple - and just got one this morning with a counterbearing trap - burrowing under the foundation of our house under the bathroom....

Totally unacceptable.... If allowed this can weaken the foundations and in the house - cause pipes to freeze under the house.

I guess it' s time to break out the 22 and go on a Rodent Jihad....

Allah Akarodent..

Rabbits are not rodents.

I need help.

Boru

[Anomalocaris]

First off - don' t bother trying to educate me on what is and what isn' t a rodent. For my purposes any goddamned furry critter that is invading my place is a rodent.

I have no idea of the cause - climate change - environmental contaminates or how Venus is lining up with Sagittarius - but holy shit......

We have more rabbits', squirrels, chipmunks, woodchucks and muskrats than I have EVER seen in this area.

I' ve shot 6 woodchucks trying to den under our barns and garages - trapped a couple - and just got one this morning with a counterbearing trap - burrowing under the foundation of our house under the bathroom....

Totally unacceptable.... If allowed this can weaken the foundations and in the house - cause pipes to freeze under the house.

I guess it' s time to break out the 22 and go on a Rodent Jihad....

Allah Akarodent..

Rabbits are not rodents.

I need help.

Boru

They are closely related, enough so they were regarded as rodents until recently and still regarded as the most closely related sister group to rodents.

[Silver]

Growing up, we raised rabbits and ate them regularly.

[Ranjr]

Where's my hasenpfeffer!?

[Brian37]

As long as humans encroach on wildlife it will always cause conflict.

[Fireball]

First off - don' t bother trying to educate me on what is and what isn' t a rodent. For my purposes any goddamned furry critter that is invading my place is a rodent.

I have no idea of the cause - climate change - environmental contaminates or how Venus is lining up with Sagittarius - but holy shit......

We have more rabbits', squirrels, chipmunks, woodchucks and muskrats than I have EVER seen in this area.

I' ve shot 6 woodchucks trying to den under our barns and garages - trapped a couple - and just got one this morning with a counterbearing trap - burrowing under the foundation of our house under the bathroom....

Totally unacceptable.... If allowed this can weaken the foundations and in the house - cause pipes to freeze under the house.

I guess it' s time to break out the 22 and go on a Rodent Jihad....

Allah Akarodent..

Rabbits are not rodents.

I need help.

Boru

Lagomorphs. I need help, too!

[arewethereyet]

We have normal rabbit, squirrel and chipmunk activity here.  The doe with fawn grazes on the ivy covering the hill down to the water.  Same as last year.

What's different is the lack of birds with color.  Fewer cardinal, no goldfinch, red house finch or eastern bluebird.  The bird bath is sad.  Hummingbird wars continue.  Waterfowl appear the same.  

The temperatures are around normal but the humidity is crazy.  Yesterday is was 92 with an index of 102.  It stormed overnight.  We've had 5.3" of rain this month.  3.2" is normal.  I didn't expect so much gulf influence here in the hills.

That's weird...we have cardinals all the time. I love to watch them since they are always in pairs. We are getting quite a variety of birds this year. Last year we didn't have many. They all seem to be back this year. I added a bird feeder to the front of the house outside my office...it took a while for the birds to come to it, now I can barely keep it filled it's become so popular.

You can tell when the blue jays have been in the bird bath as the whole back deck is wet when they get done. I think someone is feeding steroids to them...damn things are huge!

[Ranjr]

That's weird...we have cardinals all the time.  I love to watch them since they are always in pairs.  We are getting quite a variety of birds this year.  Last year we didn't have many.  They all seem to be back this year.  I added a bird feeder to the front of the house outside my office...it took a while for the birds to come to it, now I can barely keep it filled it's become so popular.

You can tell when the blue jays have been in the bird bath as the whole back deck is wet when they get done.  I think someone is feeding steroids to them...damn things are huge!

My guess for the lack of birds is they were effected by the deep freeze and late frosts.  Most crepe myrtle, azalea, butterfly bush, and hibiscus died back to the roots and had to regrow from the ground up.  That sent the migrants further south.  The birds that were around for -15°F, like cardinal and robin, likely lost population.

Everything else appears to have recovered.   It was the longest and fullest redbud and dogwood season I can remember.

[arewethereyet]

That's weird...we have cardinals all the time.  I love to watch them since they are always in pairs.  We are getting quite a variety of birds this year.  Last year we didn't have many.  They all seem to be back this year.  I added a bird feeder to the front of the house outside my office...it took a while for the birds to come to it, now I can barely keep it filled it's become so popular.

You can tell when the blue jays have been in the bird bath as the whole back deck is wet when they get done.  I think someone is feeding steroids to them...damn things are huge!

My guess for the lack of birds is they were effected by the deep freeze and late frosts.  Most crepe myrtle, azalea, butterfly bush, and hibiscus died back to the roots and had to regrow from the ground up.  That sent the migrants further south.  The birds that were around for -15°F, like cardinal and robin, likely lost population.

Everything else appears to have recovered.   It was the longest and fullest redbud and dogwood season I can remember.

We had a huge, beautiful deep pink Oleander bush on the back corner of the house. It provided wonderful shade to the kitchen and flowered for months every year. The extended deep freeze we had in February killed it...there was no coming back from that level of dead. Husband bought and planted another one that seems to be doing well but we won't know till it flowers if it's that same pink or if it's white.

He got rid of the crepe myrtles. They had never really grown all that well...were here when we bought the house. He used the freeze as the death knell for those.

Husband gave up on azaleas. He had wonderful luck with them in SC...the whole front of the house was lined with them. He's not been so lucky here.

[no one]

These rodents are everywhere.