Wylie - our resident coyote

We have a coyote that lives in our woods somewhere and we often see it wandering through the meadow. I am unsure as to whether it is male or female. If I had to guess I would say its a girl because its not all that big. Wylie is a good name - it could go either way.

Wylie is respectful of us, never getting too close to the yard, the dogs or the pig. Whenever the humans are out he/she goes in the other direction. Its a peaceful, symbiotic relationship. If he/she could step it up on snakes and mice I would be greatly appreciative!  :)

The camera traps often snap some great pictures of this gorgeous creature. These were all taken between mid April and today.

The Beautiful Turkeys

One of the favorite wildlife visitors around here are the turkeys. We have three males and several females that pass through. They are here for a week or two and then we don't see them for a week or two and then they are back. I love seeing them:

Camera Trap Pictures from this Week

So, the camera traps have been up and running for five days. We have captured sticks, leaves, camera straps, unknown still frames for no reason and some actual critters. I am really enjoying taking the pig and the dogs with me every morning to go and pull the cards and download them to the computer. It's great exercise for all of us! I think Winston it, in particular, is really enjoying it. One day this week, even followed me all the way down to the furthest camera which is a pretty long walk on little piggy legs.

So far we have captured deer, an opossum, a squirrel, lots of pictures of the dogs running in front of the cameras, and even one of the top of Winston's back. I thought maybe on Fridays I would share the best of the bunch for whatever was captured in the previous week. Enjoy:


February 7

Opossum!!  Guessing by size - this one is a male.

February 8

Squirrel!!

I'll share again next week!!

Week in Review

Wowser!  How are we already halfway through the month of September??  Cripes!  This week was a good one with the critters.  We have gotten back to a really good routine where everyone seems pretty content.

Let's start with the puppies.  I feel like even though I am not spending nearly enough time on training we have kind of turned a corner with them.  We have gone several weeks with no accidents and with no destruction of human owned objects.  I can't say the same for dog toys - many have found their demise but that's why we buy them.  I have left the puppies uncrated several times while I run a quick errand - usually 20 - 30 minutes - and they have been perfect little pups not getting into any mischief. They are doing really well in their crates.  They go right in without being told and there is only a tiny bit of complaining by Charli and that is only some of the time.

Emma is doing just fine - she is getting a little slow about getting up when she has been laying down for a long period.  Once she is up and going - she runs like the wind.  She is still a very active dog.  I need to order her some joint supplements I think.  Her appetite is good and she is very engaged even though her hearing is going/gone.

Piggers is doing well.  He has been pretty well behaved this week.  No challenging behavior like swiping to report.  He has enjoyed a good bit of outside time and seems to be quite happy.  We got several boxes from Amazon that had packing paper so he has been busy nesting.  Gosh - that pig loves paper!

Critterland critters are all doing great!

Kitties are well - Oliver is holding his weight with the adjustment of his meds for thyroid.  Aggie is loving her kidney care cat food and Phoebe is just a happy go lucky cat.  They played outside today in the outside play space.

Little ferrets are all just fantastic.  Violet seems great - I am determined to get her glucose test done this weekend.  The boys - Kai, Theo and Bash are all very well - ornery as ever.  Fiona, Tabitha and Madison are all great too - very interactive.  They have been getting gravy (ferret food with warm water) in the morning and evenings - it's a great way to keep tabs on everyone's appetite levels and I like to see everyone eating something twice a day since they are all free feeders and they all eat at different times.  All in all the business (did you know that is what they call a group of ferrets?) is doing quite well.

Last thing to report - we have a lizard that is living in our living room.  Not sure how he got in but I have tried to catch him to put him out and it hasn't worked.  I have been leaving the door open a lizard width so he can find his way out - but no luck so far.  I put down food and dead bugs for him - evidently he likes it because the water is gone and so are the bugs.  I would really like for him to find his way out.  I don't think he hates it too much inside - I saw him sleeping in the sun on the living room carpet this morning....geez.  He is a blue tailed skink - very cute - but he would be better off in the great outdoors....

Life at the zoo is really good - too busy - but good!  The trainer comes tomorrow for the puppies. Next week the puppies will turn one year old - holy moly time goes by fast!  Then it will be Halloween and the holidays and poof - this year will be over....

Funky Bug

I have a soft spot for bugs - well most bugs - not really ticks or ants - but everyone else gets a pass.  I am not a squisher - I will scoop them up in a cup or on a piece of paper and take them outside.  I like to rescue them from the pool - they are my friends for the most part.

This morning I was on my way to get a tea and I stopped at the mailbox - there was the most curious bug on the door....  It looked like a head of cauliflower.  I googled and after a bit of the process of elimination I am pretty sure that this was the larvae of a lacewing.  If I am right its a good thing because lacewings eat lots of other bugs - up to 200 soft bodied bugs each day - go on with your bad self!!

Here is the professional headshot of a lacewing larvae:

And the not nearly so exciting pictures of the little guy on my mailbox:

I would be happy if there were lots of these guys around because this summer has been very buggy so far!!

A Look Back at the Weekend

The weather here was fantastic which meant lots of outside time for the whole gang.

We did some repairs on a piece of equipment and when we opened up the cover there was an adorable mommy mouse with her four babies hanging on for dear life - so adorable.  I am totally good with mice so long as they are not invading my house!  Mommy mouse stayed around for a bit to assess whether there was a possibility she might get to move back in to her winter house.  Once she figured out that it was no longer a safe place she moved on in search of  a new house.  This is not my picture but this is almost exactly what she looked like:

We also got to see the resident possum and I posted the picture of the turkey vultures.  A busy outside critter weekend.

Winston - the little pink turd - got let inside and put in his room but one of the 6 doors in his area was open without the humans realizing.  This meant he had access to the dog food - lots of dog food.  This is bad on several levels.  Pigs can literally eat themselves to death.  Needless to say - his little tummy was very full and he was very uncomfortable.  The other worry with dog food is that is the salt content.  Pigs can get what is called salt toxicity because they don't process salt well.  Thankfully - the new dog food I just moved Emma and puppies to has a fairly low salt content.  It seems instinctive  to push water and have him drink a bunch of water to wash the salt out of his system - but too much water can cause its own set of icky problems so its a fine line.  I made sure he had lots of fresh clean water available but when things like this happen I use watermelon.  Winston loves it and is has such a high water content that it helps flush the system without throwing all the electrolytes out of balance.  I skipped his dinner on Saturday evening and only gave him half his normal amount on Sunday.  Luckily he was active and still interested in food and all his systems were functioning normally.  Just to be on the safe side we did some canned pumpkin as well - it helps move things along and out the back end with all that pumpkin-y fiber.  Long story short - he is fine.  Happy and active - outside grazing and snoozing.

Puppies spend both days of the weekend outdoors.  Kitties and ferrets spent some time in the outside playspace as well.

It was a busy weekend full of spring chores - trying to get the inside and the outside ready for summer....

Beautiful Bugs

Yesterday we were visited by 2 beautiful bugs.  Okay - maybe one beautiful and one cute....

The cute one first:

This little dude will turn into the American Dagger Moth - its a rather ordinary moth for coming from such a colorful and fuzzy little guy (photo from Google):

And then there was this stunning guy!  Wow - what a beautiful creature - the pictures don't do him justice.  He is a Polyphemus Moth.  So amazing:...

Monday Morning Relief

I am happy to report that all is right in the zoo world this morning.  After a day filled with worry yesterday with the pig not feeling well and a night filled with worry about the baby birds and the fact that their mommy hadn't been around for several hours - I am so glad that everyone seems just fine.

Piglet was up bright and early this morning asking for cookies.  Yesterday that was the first indication he wasn't feeling well - he didn't ask for any cookies at all.  I put him back on pellets today but only half his regular amount.  I will let that set for a bit and then give him some more mid day - I don't want to introduce too fast as he did not have anything but fruit and baby food yesterday.  He is active, grazing and seemingly happy this morning.  I am so glad he is feeling better!

As for mommy bird Lauren - I have no idea where she was last night.  I watched for her on the security camera we have on the porch until 12:30 and never saw her.  I woke up at 4 am - still no mommy.  Thankfully at about 7:30 this morning she hopped down the walk and got in her nest to feed the little ones.  I am so relieved.  I thought for sure I was going to have to call the wildlife rehabber this morning and take the babies in to be cared for.  I have seen her twice more this morning - she is actively going for food and bringing it back to the babies!  We did a project in the front yard yesterday that involved hammering and drilling - I am wondering if it upset her and that is why she was absent for so long?  I am going to try to steer clear of the front area today - I will go in and out the garage so she can get comfortable again.  I did water the plant they live in this morning - I want it to stay green and full to help conceal the nest.  Don't worry - I will have the camera app on my phone on all day keeping an eye out.

Being a zookeeper is a hard and worrisome job some days - but it's so worth it.

I am off to feed kitties and ferrets, give the kitties their meds and clean up critter land.  Have a great Monday!

Babies on the Porch

I am so excited!  Yesterday I went to water my poor droopy plant on the front porch only to find a birds nest had been built in the plant and it has four eggs in it.  After some Googling once I saw the mommy bird I determined that it is a Carolina Wren!

You can barely make out the eggs....

From the top you would never know its a nest

I found this great page with lots of info on Carolina Wrens - http://www.animalspot.net/carolina-wren.html

I ordered some yellow Do Not Enter tape that I will put around her area - its where the UPS guy drops packages and I don't want her to be scared.  We should have little babies soon and if she likes it here the article says sometimes they will do 2-3 broods over the summer.  Fingers crossed!!

A Gorgeous But Kinda Scary Visitor

Yesterday afternoon something caught my eye out the back window.  I thought it was a deer.  I grabbed the binoculars and took a look - it definitely wasn't a deer.  It was this gorgeous creature:

I have been Googling all things coyote and this is what I have deduced:

• I am guessing this is a male but there is no way to know for sure without another coyote to compare it to.  Males and females have no distinguishing marks so its size comparison or checking private parts which I opted not to try....
• Coyotes would likely not mess with the pig - somehow nature got the memo that pigs can be mean so the likelihood that they would come close enough to the house to get in the yard is slim and they likely wouldn't want to tangle with the pig.  They could try to get the dog but again - the whole pack would have to jump the fence to get in the  yard.  That said - Emma and Winston never have and will never go outside after dark without a human escort.
• Coyotes, like possums seem to get a bit of a bad rap - the fear we have of them is greatly exaggerated and they likely have no interest in dealing with me, the pig or the dog.

I will admit that I was a tiny bit scared when I first saw him but after some research I am feeling much better and I think he is an amazing part of our eco system.  I hope he comes around for another visit some time.