Look what was on my doorstep this morning!

My dear Scottish husband has been in the U.S. for 10 years now, but is still getting used to the different plants and critters we have here. This afternoon he went to the front door to get the mail. When he opened the door, he called for me and said we had a "dead critter of some sort" at the front door. I went to see, thinking it was a large bug of some sort that he didn't recognize. Imagine my surprise when I realized what he was seeing was a Nutria. I told him "It's not dead". He said "Of course it is, we're standing here over it talking and it hasn't moved". About that time, it sat up and hissed at him and he decided maybe I knew what I was talking about. I told him it was a nutria. He'd never even heard of them. My lovely stepdaughter came to take a look and said "That's the biggest rat I've ever seen". I tried to shoosh it away with the broom (everyone else was too chicken to try). DH said he'd move it, but he's on chemo, so I didn't want to risk him getting bit or falling over something while "tangling with the Texas wildlife". Evidently, it was quite happy where it was and had no intention of moving anywhere else. A few weeks ago a guy we had working on the house told me I had a giant rat in the garage. I told him it was likely a squirrel picking up spilled bird seed. He didn't seem convinced, but I didn't think anything more about it until I found the nutria. I've never heard of them being this far from a creek, pond or stream. I guess he's been holeing up in my garage during the day and doing the backstroke in the pool every night. I'm just glad I haven't tripped over him one night while stumbling around outside. That could have made an even funnier story than the grasshopper up the nightgown though. Animal control came out and picked him up. The lady said at first when she got the call, she assumed I was a city person who had a possum and didn't know what it was. I told her I grew up in East Texas so I knew what it was as soon as I saw it. I'm not out in the country, I'm two blocks north of Westheimer at Wilcrest. I can't imagine how he wound up here. Made an interesting day though.

OMGosh! I'd be freaking out!!

You must do a lot of laughing at your house, being married to a Scottsman.
Their humor is well known. My girlhood friend's Dad was Scottish and his dry humor is part of his legacy.

This fall, we met a couple from Scotland and the way the Mr. Scott silenced someone patronizing us two couples left us laughing for days.

I can only imagine how this event must have resulted in chuckles.

I didn't know the Nutria are this far inland. Yuck.

I wonder how they taste? Just kidding. I would be suprised to find one of those in my suburban yard too!
C

O mg, I never heard of such a thing, it look like a big rat. I saw a huge carcass of something I thought was a dead rat ... its tail was almost a foot long .... hmmm ... I wonder?

Thank you for that photo of the mythical Nutria. I've heard about them for the past 35 years and never laid eyes on one. They resemble a muskrat.

One can only wonder how it arrived on your doorstep and what it has dined upon. You may find the damage done this coming spring

OMG, you can eat them!

Now Sylvia... they only eat roots, plants, rhizomes. Not quite like a possum and I know folks that have eaten a possum. Not I, of course! LOL

I guess we never get too old to learn--
I saw a giant Nutria in a large tributary of the Peruvian Amazon. I had absolutely no idea they were in Texas.
Thanks for furthering my "education"

Hey Pod, my Granddaddy ate opossum I was told they caught them and caged them for a week feeding nothing but persimmons. Then they cooked it with sweet potatoes.
Now we spent summers with our grand parents, aint no telling what they were feeding us ... ugh

No way on the ugh... if it tasted good and it was cooked, it couldn't hurt you. I am game to try anything if someone else will fix it first. Have eaten some unusual things (for me) since I arrived in east TX.

That would have given anyone a shock to go out the door and be greeted by that!
Guess the drought conditions forced a lot of critters to change their feeding areas.
Crow...if you have less daffs and irses this year, could be what kept that guy alive this winter.

Nutria have been in Texas,....quite a few years....I remember seeing them....during campin'/fishin'/huntin' escapades of younger years
I've never eaten one......but am still willin' to try it. I've eaten raccoon,armadillo,javelina,squirrel(s), rabbit(s),deer( various kinds),elk, gator, rattler(snake), bullfrog....various other critters. BBQ'd Nutria sounds pretty good

Pretty cute!!!

In Los Colinas, a city suburb with a lot of waterways, here in the DFW area, they imported the nutria to eat the algae etc.

Or feed the hawks! LOL!

People will eat anything when they have to. My mothers family ate odd items and I tried quite a few as a kid, never hurt me as far as I know. They do look like muscrats but I think the nutria is larger. I want to see one now, where would I go?
C

You'd think TX would have learned from LA, who imported Nutria from somewhere and Louisianna has had a long losing battle with these destructive critters.

'Course importing animals and plants from their native area to "fix" a problem has a storied history of regret.

As they say Mother Nature Knows Best.

Bananna, before retirement my husband had a dirt moving company ( land improvement) working as a sub contractor for developers. Back in the 80s and 90s, he was responsible for most of the dirt moved to develop sub divisions (Tara& Monticello, Pavestone Plant to name just a few) and shopping centers in Colleyville.
Much was on previously undeveloped land. Many animal habitats were destroyed in the name of progress. We saw nutria, foxes, coyotes, armadillo, racoons, opossum, and other wildlife in an area that is probably your front door now.

They can get up to 25 pounds. This one I suspect was between 10 and 15 pounds. You can get an idea of the size from the bricks behind him. From what I understand, they're destroying natural habitat and causing problems for native waterfowl. At one point in Louisiana they were trying to convince people they were good to eat. I, like others on here, figure they couldn't be worse than squirrels or frog legs or chickens for that matter. I'm not saying they'd be on the top of my shopping list, but I've eaten a lot of odd things, including sea cucumbers, which are giant sea worms. I think he's been around the house for months and I think probably ate a number of iris and daylililes. He could have stayed if he'd been a little less voracious.

Crow

sharondippity, Yes that is very nearby me ...darn it , they also took all the nice dirt away too!
Hard to balance nature with suburban sprawl. Many "natives" have told me how they came to Colleyville to hunt. I am glad that there are still some natural areas and family farms. I do remember seeing roadrunner birds when I first moved here about 15 years ago, but not anymore.
On the subject of wildlife, a wildlife expert speaker says if you have a possum in your yard you are very lucky.(eat snakes and rats) and the best way to get rid of armadillos and moles is to get rid of grubs........spray beneficial nematodes

When I first moved here I lived in an apartment in TX. I saw coyotes, road runners and armadillos. I wonder why they were there. Here in Arlington, I see nothing where I live.
C

I think its cute and extremely funny that the thing had to hiss at your husband before he would believe you.

Im rural enough Ive got it all.. from deer and pigs to coyote and turtles, raccons muskrats,possums, all kinds of snakes and hawks.. Ive almost an acre with only about 1/4 of it mowed so I have lots of native stuff for the critters. I enjoy having the wildlife

So glad to see your nutria picture. I live close to Lake Conroe and have heard about and seen some of the damage they do, but have never actually seen one. I always thought they'd look more like a beaver than a rat. You learn something new everyday. Thanks for sharing!

Crow...you need to write a book about all your adventures. The first time I saw a nutria (that wasn't smashed on the highway) was when we bought our lake house on Lake LBJ over 20 yrs ago. We decided to spend Thanksgiving up there right after we closed on it, and I got up really early to see the fog on the water and watch the sun rise. That's when I saw the biggest rat I'd ever laid eyes on walking along the dock. I was pretty sure we'd have to get rid of the place until the neighbors explained it was a nutria. We can hear them gliding thru the water at night up there. They took down every fruit tree we planted and dragged them to the water. We have screen around the few trees left to protect.

Bubbles, you're right about the book. A number of my friends have told me that too. I always grin and say I could make a mint from the people who'd pay me not to write it :) I think I definitely inherited my Daddy's BS gene though!

Crow

We have a bayou that runs about fifty feet behind our back fence. There are quite a few nutria there. I find them entertaining and quite like them.

When I lived in The Woodlands we had a "lake" (actually a large holding pond for water runoff) down the street and there was a family of nutria that lived there and ate vegetation. They were big and when we first saw them we thought they were beavers until we saw their tails.

They are cute but I would like them better if they didn't outcompete the native species. I liked my Mexican Petunia but pulled it all up when it started to overrun other plants.
C

It's interesting, but I'm not sure what native species it is hurting here. It feeds on the bank along the egrets and ducks. Right here we don't really have much other water fowl. Ibis and Spoonbills. They are so integrated, I'm not sure anything would be gained by killing them now. Right now they spray the bayous with roundup. How can that be better than nutria? There are some huge fish in the bayou and the birds eat them.

OH MY GOODNESS! Shiver........!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing! I've never seen such a thing! Texas is known for things being BIGGER here........but my goodness!
That thing is HUGE!

Jeanne

Nutria usually have a negative impact on other wildlife species. Because they are colonial in habitat, nutria often overharvest edible plants within their range, resulting in the killing of the desirable plant species. These "eat-outs" destroy productivity as often less desirable plants replace the more desirable ones. Large populations of nutria definitely have a negative impact on the ability of the habitat to support both muskrats and waterfowl. They also eat crops, especially cabbage, sweet potatoes, carrots, rice, alfalfa, sugarcane and corn.

The trouble is that once nutrias get established in a lake, their high reproductive capacity soon results in overpopulation. There are so many nutrias that the available food supply will not satisfy them, and then trouble begins. The animals move into places where they are not wanted or where they destroy vegetation. A case in point is Eagle Lake in Colorado County. There, a stocking of nutrias increased to the point where the animals seriously damaged the waterfowl values of the lake. Hundreds of dollars were spent in attempts to eradicate the pests.

Nutria have 3 littlers per year with an average of 5 per litter. There can be as many as 11 in a litter. They reach sexual maturity at 4 to 5 months. You can see why with litters 3 times per year with 5 births per ltter, and the age at which they start reproducing, they could overrun an area very quickly.

Most "introduced" species turn out to be a problem. You'd think people would realize that and stop doing it. Most of the above data was found online by googling "nutria".

Crow

Crow-Where are they from originally?

South America I believe.
C

Newton's right, South America.

Vortreker ~ the mention of South America brought your above comment to mind.

Capybara don't have tails but they are SO cute. The largest rodents in the world (not counting my ex).
Pod- you have a friend who has them as pets. Now you have me thinking.
Lisa

No... he doesn't consider them pets. They are nasty buggers. He is breeding them and selling for big $$$s tho. LOL on your ex!