There is not enough nature programs on tv or being taught in schools. Last year one of the properties I work for called because someone reported a raccoon carrying one of its young across a parking lot. I showed up to find that themother was just relocating her pups to a larger tree a hundred yards away. As momma was bringing her last one up the new tree three kids about 11 years old were walking by, saw the coon and the first on shouts out, being completely serious, "Look at the monkey". One of the other kids say "No, its a possum".

About a month ago, I was finishing a flying squirrel job and the young lady asked if I had looked around to be sure there were no flying squirrel eggs legt behind. Can't make that kind of stuff up.

.

I had a neighbor come to my door the other day. She said that there was a sloth climbing the tree next door. Hurry, come and see it! No ma'am, if it's a sloth, it will still be climbing by the time I get my shoes on. Raccoon!

...aaand it's snake season again, or rather "Snake paranoia season." Can't get my mind around how people will lose their minds over a black rat snake, but put up with mice running roughshod thru their house.

Did a bat inspection a couple days ago, and the neighboring homeowner meandered over and heard me explain the blackout period. When his wife came over he told her I couldn't get the bats out until the eggs hatch. Wow.

...but one mammal lays eggs (discussed this with my seatmates flying to San Antone last week). Know what it is? Hint: it's a monotreme!

I was a big fan of Wildlife Kingdom I always thought Jim had the greatest job in the world. Jim and Marlin certainly created my interest in the wildlife kingdom even today. Marty Stouffer "Wild America" and David Attenborough certainly are worth putting back on the air again right along with Wildlife Kingdom.

I talk to a lot of customers on the phone and I just cringe when they say they have a gopher problem .

The first question I ask is what state do you live because :

The gopher across the states can mean many things from a thirteen lined ground squirrel, chipmunk or other ground squirrel species, and the pocket gopher. Here in North Florida a gopher is a gopher turtle, Yankees think they are moles and the locals call them sandy mounders but think they are called salamanders.

I think if they had gophers on Wildlife Kingdom back then my gopher ID problem would of been fixed for good!

I think Jim would of looked like a sissy wrestling a thirteen lined ground squirrel or worse yet a salamander on TV though.

Dave, I was friends with a couple, years ago, that had a zoo near the central part of the state. They lived in an old farm house with a black rat snake that had the run of the place. The wife said, "he's not a lot of trouble and we rarely see him but we never see mice either."

I gotta go now. Fleet and Farm is having an all night sale on bat egg incubators.

Had a lady yesterday tell me her dog died from a 4 foot long diamond back rattler snake bite 4 days ago.

She was staying in a motel until she found a snake trapper to pull the snakes off of her property and show them to her DEAD. She knew exactly what this snake looked like !!


Once I verified she was snake paranoid I gave her TruTech's phone number ( they won't go there for snakes 2 hours away ) thinking she was gonna be on the phone all day.

A few years ago I decided getting mixed up with the paranoids was just bad business. No snake usually meant fighting over getting paid

15 minutes can be long enough for most snakes out of eye sight to be gone and out of eye sight forever.

Platypus, And no I didn't google it LOL. I just read too much.

Platypus-!!

I had a biology teacher in HS say the Platypus was the most screwed up animal creation living on the planet . He said the Platypus was made up bits and pieces leftover from other animals. He had a point it had a duck bill and even layed eggs and it was his job to convince us that it was a mammal. I remember that day even today.

They are also a venomous egg-laying, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal .

You got it! Wierd little duck, obviously designed by the US Congress. It's native to Australia/New Zealand (of course).

it happened again. i stopped at a local store for some cold after work beverages and the guy parked next to me was telling me about the mongoose he saw ran across the road. i had to educate him on fishers. Aside from the lack of education on wildlife there are the crazies we deal with. last year I had a lady call about a snake issue she was having. She reported that thete were snakes in her house. Did a thorough inspection and found no evidence of snakes. Then she told me about her heroic efferts to save a cat from the jaws of a large green snake in her back yard. Thats when the light turned on. When she left the room her husband told me that in ten years in the house he had never seen a snake. If Iwas a shrink i could have made a killing.

Here is a picture of the “snake” that my son removed from a pool the other day. Would you excuse the homeowner's “snake” identification?




Eastern Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis)

There's a good 'un! Did ya see it blink, Ron?
Is it called Glass Lizard cuz its habitat is fish tanks?

Bat call back, bat in the basement. It was a moth.

When I was a kid,a lady that lived across the fence from our pasture,here in Central Nebraska,swore that she saw a Wolverine on their place. I tried to explain that Wolverines lived much farther north,and she told me she knew a guy that had seen one before,and it fit the description.

More recently,I spoke to a gent from South Central NE,that said he saw a Marten standing on it's hind legs out in a field. He said it was about 3 feet tall. I said I was sure it wasn't a Marten,as they live in the 'piney woods,up Nort'.

Could 'global warming' be pushing these Northern Tier animals down to more 'temperate cilmate' areas?


Charlie

Charlie, I've been to your fine state, and as a matter of fact, one of our local pastors and a particular friend, hails from there.

Don't ever be surprised by new wildlife moving into your area. We have 20 new species in southern Wisconsin in the last 50 years.

What other people call "Global Warming", I like to refer to by another name. I call Him God.

Wolverines and marten in your area, can be no more surprising than mountain lions and black bear in mine. ( And we got 'em )

P.S. My own personal opinion is that The Man Upstairs really enjoys taking people like HSUS, PETA, and others and make them look like the complete fools that they are.

Had a customer tell me yesterday that coon crap was from a bear cub.

Nate, now I'm going to bet you that your customer said that your cage was way too small.

Yes they did....