Sounds like a good title for a movie. (chuckle)
I haven't been around for quite a while. I got busy with lots of things, the most recent was moving. Yes, I had to move off the farmstead that I was renting and move back to the house that I own and was renting out. Rather a long story, but basically I was renting from someone else while I was renting my home out to another party. This was all a matter of convenience for all parties involved. That is, until the owner of the property I was renting from passed away and the ownership changed hands. Now, for the fun part of the story.
Now that I am almost finished moving out, but not even close to moving back in to my own home, I have been staying at my sister's cabin on my weekends. Her cabin is near mine and I do a lot of mowing out there. I stopped at a couple of friends cabins and mowed for them (not for pay - I just do it as a favor since I am driving by on my BadBoy riding lawnmower anyway).
While I was moving from lot to lot, I noticed a little greyish-brown critter scampering through the grass along the road. I knew immediately that it was a woodchuck (groundhog). It was quite small or young, but since it was alone and motoring rather well and quickly, I knew it must already be weaned. Of course, they stay at home with the parents well after weaning - as they are social animals.
However, people irradicate woodchucks out there in the area. They are destructive when they invade your cabin/building etc. They like to tunnel under the foundation and dig holes all over.
I couldn't very well leave it there. So... I picked it up and took it home.
Now, I am not condoning making a wild animal a pet, but I have had experience with woodchucks out there before. They have allowed me to pet them in the wild and I had to rescue one from the pit for my water well once.
I found this little guy / gal on Thursday evening. I made an effort not to handle it too much (didn't want it to become attached to me, let alone possibly sick from over handling). Some animals don't take well to being handled too much.
However, by Friday morning, it had already adopted me as a foster parent! I brought it into town so that I could feed and shelter it until I decided where to release it.
I tried to give him something to eat, so I tried lettuce and celery greens, bread and sliced apples. He went NUTS over the apples, he took them right out of my hand!
I felt that it should get outside and run and eat grass and dandelion greens and get some sun. So I let it run in the yard. Or should I say, I let it follow me around in the yard. I couldn't walk 5 steps or 20 steps and it was running after me. When I stopped, it would climb up on my shoe and sit or try to climb up my pant leg. I would set it off in the grass and then walk further away and it would come right after me again. Rather than playing the game of setting it aside and running away from it, I just stood there and let him sit on my shoe. He eventually became more brave and started "sniffing" the grass and looking about. Then he even started to walk further away from me and investigate things on his own.
He started eating dandielion greens and frolicking around. When he got too far away, I tried to mimick the chirping sound that I had heard them make out at our cabin when they were in the wild. He turned and looked at me and ran right back to my feet and sat on my shoe.
I didn't really want to adopt him/her, but the darned little thing just latched onto me! They say they can be litterbox trained, will do tricks, make great pets if you understand their needs and can put up with certain traits. But, I am not sure I want it as a house pet. That's not really fair.
I think I am going to build a BIG kennel (to prevent him from going into danger zones) and then let him run wild if I find he will stick around once he has made the kennel area his own home. I could then make a door on it so that he can get in and out through, but predators like coyotes can't get in. Maybe he'll be happy on his own, but still hang out with me and follow me around. If I can keep him over on my property, then he won't get shot or eaten by a dog or caught in a trap. He can dig to his heart's content and no one will care, if he stays on my land.
Catfishnut
I haven't been around for quite a while. I got busy with lots of things, the most recent was moving. Yes, I had to move off the farmstead that I was renting and move back to the house that I own and was renting out. Rather a long story, but basically I was renting from someone else while I was renting my home out to another party. This was all a matter of convenience for all parties involved. That is, until the owner of the property I was renting from passed away and the ownership changed hands. Now, for the fun part of the story.
Now that I am almost finished moving out, but not even close to moving back in to my own home, I have been staying at my sister's cabin on my weekends. Her cabin is near mine and I do a lot of mowing out there. I stopped at a couple of friends cabins and mowed for them (not for pay - I just do it as a favor since I am driving by on my BadBoy riding lawnmower anyway).
While I was moving from lot to lot, I noticed a little greyish-brown critter scampering through the grass along the road. I knew immediately that it was a woodchuck (groundhog). It was quite small or young, but since it was alone and motoring rather well and quickly, I knew it must already be weaned. Of course, they stay at home with the parents well after weaning - as they are social animals.
However, people irradicate woodchucks out there in the area. They are destructive when they invade your cabin/building etc. They like to tunnel under the foundation and dig holes all over.
I couldn't very well leave it there. So... I picked it up and took it home.
Now, I am not condoning making a wild animal a pet, but I have had experience with woodchucks out there before. They have allowed me to pet them in the wild and I had to rescue one from the pit for my water well once.
I found this little guy / gal on Thursday evening. I made an effort not to handle it too much (didn't want it to become attached to me, let alone possibly sick from over handling). Some animals don't take well to being handled too much.
However, by Friday morning, it had already adopted me as a foster parent! I brought it into town so that I could feed and shelter it until I decided where to release it.
I tried to give him something to eat, so I tried lettuce and celery greens, bread and sliced apples. He went NUTS over the apples, he took them right out of my hand!
I felt that it should get outside and run and eat grass and dandelion greens and get some sun. So I let it run in the yard. Or should I say, I let it follow me around in the yard. I couldn't walk 5 steps or 20 steps and it was running after me. When I stopped, it would climb up on my shoe and sit or try to climb up my pant leg. I would set it off in the grass and then walk further away and it would come right after me again. Rather than playing the game of setting it aside and running away from it, I just stood there and let him sit on my shoe. He eventually became more brave and started "sniffing" the grass and looking about. Then he even started to walk further away from me and investigate things on his own.
He started eating dandielion greens and frolicking around. When he got too far away, I tried to mimick the chirping sound that I had heard them make out at our cabin when they were in the wild. He turned and looked at me and ran right back to my feet and sat on my shoe.
I didn't really want to adopt him/her, but the darned little thing just latched onto me! They say they can be litterbox trained, will do tricks, make great pets if you understand their needs and can put up with certain traits. But, I am not sure I want it as a house pet. That's not really fair.
I think I am going to build a BIG kennel (to prevent him from going into danger zones) and then let him run wild if I find he will stick around once he has made the kennel area his own home. I could then make a door on it so that he can get in and out through, but predators like coyotes can't get in. Maybe he'll be happy on his own, but still hang out with me and follow me around. If I can keep him over on my property, then he won't get shot or eaten by a dog or caught in a trap. He can dig to his heart's content and no one will care, if he stays on my land.
Catfishnut
