Category Archives: Rats
Carpet Python
This carpet python in Australia is very well camouflaged. His head is just to the right of the farthest fern on the left. From there, if you follow his curves along to the end of his long body, you will notice that he gets fatter and fatter. I shudder to think what little animal has been swallowed whole.
Carpet Python, photo by Leslie
Imagine walking down the steps to the back yard to put something into the compost and then, on your return, noticing that you must have walked right over a python of over six feet in length.
Luckily, these pythons are not venomous. They eat small animals like mice and rats, birds, and lizards. They can open their jaws wider than we might think, judging by the size of the head, but after an initial bite, they wrap their body around the animal to constrict its blood flow, and once the animal is unconscious, it is usually swallowed whole.
I spied my meal behind a fern,
And slithered close to see,
But Ratty didn’t even turn,
And soon was food for me.
I wrapped my “arm” around him then,
And told him not to fear,
“It’s just so you won’t feel it when
I swallow you, my dear.”
Though Ratty passed out right away,
And slipped right down my throat,
It would be wrong for me to say,
I didn’t smile and gloat.
He kicked a bit when he awoke,
He scrabbled in my gut,
And rather than to lose the bloke,
I kept my big mouth shut.
Moving In
ratty gathers leaves
truck engine warms his abode
short-lived coziness
The Owl’s Lunch
When owls eat, they don’t have the best table manners. Unless the animal they are eating is too big, they swallow it whole.
Unlike many other birds, owls (and herons, grebes, cormorants, and several other types) don’t have a crop where they store food before it goes into their stomach. The eaten “food” goes straight into the glandular stomach where enzymes and acids begin the digestion. From there, the “food” passes into the muscular stomach which mushes up the softer parts of the victim, leaving behind only the undigestible parts like the bones, fur, and teeth (or feathers if it was a bird that they ate).
Then hours after the edible parts are liquefied and have passed through, the owl throws up the leftovers. The official way of saying that in “bird study talk” is that it casts a pellet.
Here is a pellet that an owl left behind on top of an upturned aluminum skiff in our back yard.
I got an old pair of tweezers and took the pellet apart to see if I could find the bones.
If you click on the photo, you may be able to get a better look.
To the right of the larger long bones, you can see five tiny claws and below those, I have laid out the very thin long bones that I think might be rib bones.
One piece of fur was not matted together, and I thought it looked like it might have belonged to a rat. Also, I think the long bones are too big for a mouse.
Below the piece of fur at the top of the bone collection, are some of the vertebrae.
Some parts are missing, and they might have passed through the owl, or possibly been part of a second casting. Just guessing here.
I made sure to wash my hands and sterilize the area where I put the bones and fur. If the owl’s meal was a rodent, it might have been carrying some bacteria or viruses.
Some people may find this post gruesome, but I thought it was a fascinating part of nature that we don’t often see.
Owly Nights
Stay hidden now, my furry friend,
Be still as you can be,
Though warning sounds that night air rend,
Send chills through you and me.
The great horned owl gets hungry too,
He craves a juicy meal,
Let’s make him think you’re tough to chew,
Your flavour’s no big deal.
Instead he sits up on that branch,
And tries to scare some rat,
Whose face with terror then will blanch,
And that, they say, is that.
You can hear the great horned owl shrieking, trying to scare the rat (or anything that moves). He’s hard to see in the dark, but watch to the end and you’ll hear him screeching back and forth to his girlfriend, telling her to come over and have supper with him.
Turn on your sound. If you click to make the video clip full screen, it will look better.
My five novels are now available on Amazon for Kindle for only 99 cents in time for the holiday season. Just click on the cover images on the side of the blog post.
If you have another kind of e-reader, you can visit smashwords.com where you can download my books for the same price of 99 cents for your type of e-reader.
The Most Popular Elusive Guy
I think I see him. I hope he’s got my bag of grubs.
Yes, you’re right! And I see the big sack full of hazelnuts for me.
Er, ah, HERE I AM, Santa. OVER HERE!
Where? I don’t see anything.
When he does come, I hope he brings me a lot of rosehips. Wonder what they’d taste like. In the winter I get tired of these holly berries and mountain ash berries. But maybe the rosehips are too fuzzy inside. They look good though.
Oooooh! Look! He’s got sleigh troubles. His reindeer are conking out. Should’ve got a Tesla Sleigh. With inflation, the price of reindeer food today is high, even for Santa. But even so, the cost of the Tesla Sleigh itself is enough to break the bank.
Yeah, he’s in trouble all right. Look! He’s turning around. Sniff… there goes that box of dog biscuits I asked for.
I see that. Hmm … I think I hear them complaining about being hitched up so close. Something about social distancing.
Sigh! No herring for supper tonight. Not by special delivery, anyway.
Well, I never! He’s going back to the North Pole. There goes that bunch of tree bugs I asked for.
I’ll go round up some recr-hoots.
Hey, you. Santa’s looking to hire you, Al and the Paca, to be his reindeer substitutes.
What’s that you say? You don’t play second fiddle? Huh! You’d think that in the spirit of Christmas, you’d oblige an old man. I see you are related to those llamas next door with all their llammering. You’re just lazy, the All Packa ya. Well, see if I give a hoot.
Here’s a likely crew.
Say, would you pronghorns like to save Santa’s bacon tonight?
But we’re in Montana.
That’s okay. He’ll have to go by there when he limps home with his rainydeer crew and drops them off. Maybe you can hop on and help get them home before the nightshift begins. Thanks a lot.
I’ve been watching and I don’t see him coming back yet. Must be in the workshop, adjusting the harnesses to the new team.
I think I see him now, with his fresh crew of pronghorns. Funny-looking reindeer. Better than nothing, I guess.
Oh, this is so exciting. We just can’t sit still.
Children, children, not so loud,
Reindeer’s nervous of the crowd,
Send a delegation out,
Find that sleigh, and kids don’t pout.
Let’s go meet him.
This way! This way!
Santa’s big sleigh.
Sliding, gliding,
Santa’s riding.
Now settle down or Santa will think you’re all quackers.
Look how well behaved we are; black and white, eating at the same table together. One big happy flock. We’re a “blended flock.”
Oh, listen to you guys. You think it’s easy being the black swan of the family?
Whaddaya mean? You think you’ve got it bad? You try being a rat. All I did was chew on a few of those lovely black licorice cords in the truck and WHAM! They lifted the trunk and exposed me to the elements. But they won’t see me hiding in the corner. Bet you can’t see me either. I’ve got a really good hiding place in the door well too. I’ll just wait there until Santa brings new wiring for me to nibble on.
One thing we all got for Christmas – not sure if Santa had anything to do with it – was darn cold weather. So when Santa had to fly back to change his Rainydeer tires for the more heavy-duty Pronghorn brand, he asked the North Wind to provide some Puddle Puzzles for us to play with while we await his return.
Actually, I thought the puzzles were more like A-maze-ing. You just try it. See if you can find a path out of this maze.
I hope your Christmas holiday time is amazing too.
Did you find the rat in the truck? Look on the far back right-hand corner of the picture (actually the left side of the truck).
wordsfromanneli 