Muskrat Love

Might have been a big hit for the Captain & Tennile,but not for me!!!
I had a male muskrat visit me for a few days this week,he had breakfast
in the bog garden,and Lunch and dinner in my pond,and finished off a couple hundred
dollars with of plants,including plants as Arum,cat tails,water lettuce,water hyacythins
lotus,pickerel,water lillies,and crinums.
He won't be coming back for any future brunches!!!
These are mean animals,and don't take leaving unless it's there idea!
I did manage to save a little of one end of a lotus plant,can anyone tell me this might have a chance
make a comeback?

tropicman, you have my sympathy! I thought I had problems with a racoon we call "Crash". Yikes, that muskrat was one nasty little fellow. Sorry that I don't have any advice re: the nelumbo as I am growing my first one ever this year. Could you share how you managed to corral the aforemetioned muskrat? In case I ever come across one of them I would like to know at least how to catch it. If it did that damage I could probably send it to the great pond in the sky with my bare hands.

Snap.....don't think he caught it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get my drift.....Don't ask!!


I have a raccoon that is going to be alerted to the animal control people that we have here. He is sitting on my coleus and that is the worse think that can happen in my garden.

Good luck with yours.

Hap

Ah Hah, Happy_1, I get it. I could just shoot myself sometimes for being a little slow to catch on.

I took pictures of this critter,but don't want any animal activist coming down on me.
I did try running him off with moth balls and cayenne pepper,but he licked them up as if there were candy,and I just couldn't give him anymore time to see what else he could destroy.
I hope you can rid of your raccoons quickley before they destroy too much in your gardens.

Well, he sure is working on it. Sat on 2 coleus the night before last.

At least I saw them laying over so I now have some extra cuttings growing. Nothing was lost except the shape of my pretty babies.

Hap

Our resident raccoon "Crash" fishes in the koi pond, overturns newly repotted waterlilly plants in the shallow area and once, mauled a sarassa comet and left him on the patio to die. He trashes the bird feeders that have peanuts, bends them with his weight and tears them right off their posts. He also lounges on our deck and defecates on the built in tables and benches. Not my favorite animal. We see him frequently around 1:00 or 2:00 am. Our four small dogs alert us. He is WAY bigger than them and doesnt even run if we let them out to chase them. We keep the dogs in now for their own safety. If I could havaheart trap him I would drive him from Ohio to Kansas just to get rid of him. Unfortunately you can't legally "relocate" a racoon in Ohio , so we do nothing but seeth and clean up and replace. I could hire a licensed professional trapper. We are looking into that.

Hi snapple,

That's just the time Rocky Raccoon comes by and little Archibald (now that he's been 'fixed' we call him Archi-ball-less) goes out of his mind. I would be scarred to death to let him out then, for several raccoons in my area have tested positive for rabbies..... Plus the fool weighs probably 8 lbs more than Archie. With the viciousness of the raccoon and the stupidity of my baby, I have deemed it a poor match.

Probably because of the rabbies thing, I believe that Animal Control will give us a trap and take him away.......far away....then they can work on the 3-4 foot cotton mouth that was about 6' from my GS a couple of weeks ago.. What's this world coming too? Mercy.

You know you are going to get mail on mentioning Kansas?????

Hap

What do I live in, a zoo?

Hey Hap! You are right, my apologies to Kansas. We havn't had any coon rabies (yet) but we have distemper. Rabies was in western PA last year so it is just a matter of time. My dogs too are without their cajones, however they don't seem to realize it! It has been ages since I have seen a cotton mouth. I would almost welcome the sight. Things have so gotton so built up around here that a lot of wildlife has dissapeared. Just not the wildlife that causes problems unfortunately. Animal Control here does not deem a racoon as anything they need to deal with, even if you have a mother and youngens in your attic. Legally the homeowner can't touch them, No Matter What! You have to hire a licensed professional wildlife removal person. They will promptly investigate any coon that appears to be sick however. Even then they have the local police dept. "dispatch" the animal and bring the carcass to them for testing. Makes the police real unhappy I can tell you that. The last thing they want in their trunk is a dead animal that might be rabid. Most police officers around these parts keep some kind of sealable disposable container in their trunk for "special occaisions". Again, Kansas, great state, wonderful folks.

You pulled that one off with a breeze....real gift of gab you got there Snap...Are you a politician?

Uh, yeah Hap, actually in my real life I am a politician. Sixteen years at the local level. I regret the fact that I sound like one. That being said, Kansas, whose state flower the sunflower is one of may favorites, does have some fine folks.

Good....what ever you are running for I will vote for you......

Hap

Nice comeback,I'd even vote for you too!!!LOL
Well they keep building more and more into there space,there gonna invade your space,because it was there space first,wow I'm getting spaced out here!!!

I think the very worst part of my political job has been development issues. Suppose your family had owned an apple orchard and farm business for several generations. The current generation, brothers, are of retirement age and no longer wish to farm or maintain the orchard business. One brother is quite ill. They want to sell, split the proceeds, and retire. They come to the municipality and ask the property be rezoned commercial so that they can get the highest value for their land. They have had a substantial offer from a developer who wishes to remain secret until the rezoning has been completed. Other smaller parcels adjacent to them have been rezoned commercial as a lot of the property lies along a major state route and expressway interchange. There was no opposition to the previous rezoning. A legal precedent has been set by the previous rezoning. All abutting residential property holders now want the orchard and farm to remain farm, of course. The municipality knows that if they don't allow the rezoning it will set them up for an unwinnable court battle. This developer has been rumored to have deep pockets. Do you bankrupt the taxpayers treasury to fight an unwinnable battle? This battle went on for over five years before all the hearings, public meetings and other maneuvering ended. The sick brother got sicker. They started fighting among themselves. The neighbors wanted to hang anyone who tried to explain the legal realities. What would you do?

I would do what everyone else does......Take care of big pockets!!!

There is be many restrictions near the residential property so that the comm. land will be hidden and have a green belt between the two. Make sure there are not entrances that will end up clogging traffic. this WIL BE DONE anyway, so what not save the tax payers money! Do I sound like a fatalist? Well, I probably am when it comes to money matters. There is an old saying that Money Talks, and it is not just a made-up saying...it had to come from someones experience. Maybe put in a small park for the residents. Anything to quell the angry mob.

It's about time to become realistic.

Hap

Boy, Hap- I wish you were a constituent. It would have been so much more civilized. When we re-did our zoning code about 7 yrs ago we did put in all of the things you mentioned, large greenbelt buffer zones, limited curb cuts, tree plantings based on square foot of paving and total development, noise abatement in loading zones, screened refuse compaction, lighting restrictions. Anything we could to make development softer and more eco-friendly. And it isnt really so much a total deep pockets money issue as a property rights issue. The "brothers" had a right to get the highest value for their land. They were constituents too. No rezoning meant no sale. Now that it is developed we arn't getting complaints except for noise. Every truck has a backup beeper. So when trucks come and go with deliveries or forklifts move pallets the beepers can be terribly annoying. Day sleepers complain about day noise especially. Since the whole development is closed by 9:00pm there isn't much night noise except for trash pickup. Those refuse bin lids really make a racket when they bang around.

The other problem we have out here are people who move here from the city for "quiet peaceful surroundings" then find out that the neighbors can legally shoot a gun, ride an ATV, keep chickens, horses and pigs, spread manure and crank up the tractor at 5:00am. Boy those complainers I really love. Do your homework before you move to the country. They come into the meetings and want all kinds of laws passed. It will be a cold day in heck before I or anyone presently holding a seat will give in to that crowd.

You are a smart person, Hap. I hope you participate in your local governmental affairs. People with common sense are desperately needed.

All the time and money and years of stress,in a no win cituation for either side,what about asking for a abitrator to help make a decision?
Only you know the value,of life what it's worth,I'm on your side,but I hate to see the sick brother lose everything,that he's work so hard to acquire.
I just wonder how badly deep pockets is willing to go,to get the property,now that 5 years has passed!

It was purchased and developed into a grocery store (now bankrupt and empty) and a thriving "big box" home improvement business. Two brothers retired. One decided to keep a small portion of the original property and operates a greenhouse and nursery business. The greenhouse/nursery is considered one of the best in the entire county. The bruised feelings and some bitterness among the residential neighbors still remain. We have farms hard up against commercial development and developers looking to buy every scrap of available farm land. Folks from the city want to move here and lots of new housing developments are springing up. Funny, every new neighborhood doesn't want any more new neighborhoods. Their's was OK but they don't want to recognize anyone elses quest as legitimate. My only advice for communities who think they might be in the path of future development is to plan and zone land use NOW. Don't wait. Pay the money, get the studies and consultants and formulate a tight zoning code and allow for carefully controlled development. If you wait too long all hope of rational development is lost forever!

Snap.....love that, "All rational developement".......................you are so right.

Hap

PS. Thanks for the compliment. I could never run for office, I am too out-spoken. I would be drummed out before I got elected. LOL

This message was edited May 9, 2006 9:03 AM