'Dillo Damage!

Just as I was bragging that we never see any critters around here, even though we live in the coutry...i was watering some nandinas that my sis brought me in pots which I have not been able to get in the ground. This one little pot just didn't seem to get enough water...so I started examinging the pot...and lo and behold, when I truned the pot around I discovered where an armodillo (aka 'possum on the half shell) had scratched through the pot trying to get at earthworms. He seems to have done quite a job...and probably ate quite a bit of plastic along with whatever insects he may have been after. I reckon I ought to be happy that they haven't been digging in my lawn (such that it is) or garden. However, I knew if my nandinas were to be saved, I'd have to go ahead and get them in the ground quickly. So, I spent half the night digging holes and planting something like nine pots of nandinas...many of which had mutliple plants per pot. Now lets just hope they don't dig up the plants.......

You know, it is gettin' to be 'dillo season here. It is worse when dry. I hate to tell you but when the ground is watered, the grubs like the water, the dillers like the grubs. They will mortally till the soil for you. Here we also have pineywoods rooters (wild hogs). They will destroy a well groomed yard. I don't worry as we have an acre under fence patroled by gardening dogs. The dogs help me garden by digging, watering, pruning, etc. Good luck with the nandina at least they are tough.

Fortuantely, I put down some stuff to kill grubs not too long ago. I had so many grubs under my lily bed that wherever I dug, there was a grub. Hopefully if the dillos are gonna dig, they will dig in the yard. The nandinas were in really good loamy soil...rather than the caly soil aroudn here. It ahd some earthworms in it....I figure that was waht the dillo was after. I got all of them in the grund (14 pots) and so far, no digging at them. (knock on wood)

We have dillys here in west TN. Was in a swing we have in the woods one day when I heard a noise in the leaves. Looked around and found a dilly. Petted it. They feel like living leather luggage with bristling hair. The third time I petted it, it jumped about 3' in the air, swung its back parts around and whipped me across the hand with its tail. Let me be the first to tell you, it HURT. We have some that live in a brush and wood pile. Sometimes we see them, but usually just the results of their rooting around. Makes for a bumpy ride on the lawnmower. Liz

I'm not crazy 'bout the 'dillos around, but I really don't mind when they help me turn my compost pile!...sometimes they're good for SOMETHING!!

Did ya'll know that armadillos carry leprosy? Granted, leprosy is now curable with antibiotics, so it is not the scourge it used to be, but I wonder how many doctors today would even recognize it if you had it? With wild animals, it is always best to appreiate them from afar.....besides leprosy, there is also the fear of rabies. Around here it is a REAL problem.

When we lived in Illinois there was a 'possum that used to visit us on regular occassions to eat the food we put out for the stray kitties...this fella was so brash, he would walk right by my chair and brush up against it, as I sat outside and watched the kitties eat. Sometimes I'd have to really raise a ruckus to scare him off so the cats could eat. But I was always careful not to get too close if I could help it...they have some mean teeth and claws....

I was an army brat, and while my dad was stationed at Ft Hood (central TX), we had a 'possum as a pet. Got it as a baby (car accident), and it was as tame as could be!...even litter box trained. Also had raccoons but they were SO mean! It was cool as a kid to ride around on your bike w/ a 'possum on your shoulder, or head!

Too funny! We had a semi pet raccoon and semi pet squirrels at my grandparent's summer cabin. The racoon would sit outside the dining room window while we ate and knock on the window demanding his scraps. After dinner my grandmother would take the leftovers out to 'Ringo' with a bowl of water so he could wash his hands between bites. The squirrels would eat out of my uncle's hand...but none of us younguns were allowed to feed the wild critters...they were too afraid of rabies. At night there were wild boar in the woods that would rustle around and sound like someone walking in the leaves. Dad ran into one on his way to the store one night and he said it was as high as his waist. Big boar! Scared the pants off of him.

But the wildest thing we ever ran into was when I was staying at the fishing camp with a lady I babysat for. They had a trailer out in the woods on the river and it had a tongue for towing it. The tongue was right under the window of the bedroom I was sleeping in. The first night there, this black bear got curious about the tongue....he started playing with it...then he started picking it up causing the trailer to seesaw up and down. It was just us three gals in the woods with no phone.....it got my attention!

The ABSOLUTE worst Christmas present I have ever received was a purse made out of an armadillo. I'm not kidding. It is the shape of a football. I was, at first, mortified when I opened the gift, then shocked that someone would make a purse of this poor animal and then stunned that it was my animal loving mother who bought it. She purchsed it after a few beers at the rodeo and is ashamed to this day. I keep it in a drawer to remind her why she shouldn't drink.

She would have really felt bad if you caught leprosy from it. lol

I think she feels REALLY bad about it....but again, every few years I pull it out. Poor Mom.