New Neighbors

Out here in the country we are always happy to welcome new neighbors.  We are especially thankful for those neighbors that help in the reduction of our mass rodent population.  I wrote previously about the rattle snakes and the gopher snakes that are helping keep down the mice.  They are not the only friends joining our fight.  This week we had a new family move in down on our road.  The road up to our property is a dirt lane that winds through the oak trees.  At night it looks something like the Blair Witch Project but during the day it is quite pretty.  Along the east side, there is a small creek bed that only has running water for about three weeks a year.  Over time, this creek has caused many wash outs in the hillside which make great homes for rabbits and squirrels.  We even have witnessed a badger a time or two living near this creek bed.  The west side slops up the oak studded hills and over the years, we have seen many deer, some bobcats, mountain lions, wild pigs, and lots of birds.  We also occasionally see these guys.

Sorry for the poor quality, I was using my PAS.

This little guy is, I am pretty sure, a San Joaquin Kit Fox.

On Friday, I got a call from my mother asking if I had seen the fox that was hanging out on our road.  I had not.  She called back sometime later to let me know that the fox had moved into a den just off the road, he wasn't just hunting in the area.  We love these little guys and I was really looking forward to seeing him. Last night, I needed to run into town and that is when I got my first glimpse of our new friend.  That was when I snapped the picture above.  He was happily sitting in front of his den.  Well, as I was driving home, I got a very pleasant surprise.

Again, using my little PAS so the quality isn't very good.  I cropped the photo so they could be seen but that made it grainy.

There wasn't just one fox, but a pack of at least three.  Here they are sitting outside of their den having a snack.  It is hard to see but the fox on the far right has a small rodent in his mouth.  I love a neighborhood that shares my priorities.  I hope they are here to stay for awhile!!

Outside Help

Well, I wish I had some mousy news to report but we have been given a large amount of outside help with our small infestation.  The weather has warmed up and most of our reptilian friends who were happily sleeping winter away have emerged from their holes.  As a result, our mice have become nice meals for hungry snakes.  In one week we say no fewer then five rattlesnakes and three gopher snakes. Growing up out in the country, seeing a snake is not as shocking as one might think, they are simply part of our existence.  We all learned at an very early age how to tell the difference between a poisonous snack and a non-poisonous snake.  Now we are teaching our kids.  

If you have never needed this knowledge, let me enlighten you in case you encounter one of our slithering friends.  A rattle snake is a viper, meaning they contain venom.  The key to recognizing them is the letter V.  A rattlesnake's head is in the shape of a V or a diamond.  

Here you can see the V or diamond shaped head (image found on redorbit.com)

Some people think you can tell they are rattlers by how they shake their tails.  There are two problems with this method:

1) Baby rattlesnakes do not have rattles and are highly poisonous AND

2) Gopher snakes also shake their tails as an intimidation tactic (pretending to be the poisonous rattlesnake)

A gopher snake's only real defense is that they look a lot like rattlesnakes and sometimes they act like rattlesnakes.  However, gopher snakes are very useful and non-venomous.  They eat all sorts of rodents and that helps people like me who do not want mice running through my house.  A gopher snake has a more stream-lined head, no V, and should be left to go about their business.

He just looks a lot less scary, doesn't he? (image found on buzzle.com)

One last observation about our snake population, we are seeing LOTS of them and they are BIG.  We have seen two gopher snakes that were easily 3 1/2 feet long.  One stretched across the road beyond the width of my wheel base.  My dad and husband had to deal with a rattlesnake in our barn whose body had a circumference of about 6inches.  The good news is that they are easier to spot but wow, if any of them took you by surprise, it would be a heck of a strike.  But again, no mice - I just love how nature can be used to our advantage. Slither on snakes!!