someone new at the outdoor food bowl

Had someone new eating food at the bowl tonight. I haven't had many
wild critters come to eat, the occasional opossum, and a shunk who
hung around for a couple days, but tonight we had a rat. Princess was
the first to draw my attention to something strange on the patio. She
spotted it moving around the patio and made lots of noise with the
blinds as she followed it back and forth from inside as it went across
the patio. Not just any old rat, someone's pet who has either escaped
to the out, or been dumped. It's obviously a pet, as it shows little
fear of hoomins - though is too wary to let me approach close enough
to catch it. I've gone out three times now, hoping it would let me get
close enough to nab it and get it somewhere safer than on a patio
where neighborhood cats come to eat, but so far no luck in my getting
closer then three feet from it. Lucky for the rat, Little Sis knows
nothing about rat catching, as I watched the rat approach within a
couple feet of where LS was chowing down. LS must have learned about
rats from his big bro, Frank, who shows no interest in chasing down
the little black and white fellow. So far the only ones who have been
interested is Sammy, who was visiting the Out today and showed a lot
of interest in something in the monkey grass, and Princess. 'Course
Sammy may have been after a bug, since she won't tell me what she was
chasing.
--
Steve Touchstone
Little Bit, Sammy, Spotty, Princess, Furby
and Rocky (RB)
Pix at http://tinyurl.com/22pfn8
Vids at http://tinyurl.com/4yb6nj

"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message
...
Had someone new eating food at the bowl tonight. I haven't had many
wild critters come to eat, the occasional opossum, and a shunk who
hung around for a couple days, but tonight we had a rat. Princess was
the first to draw my attention to something strange on the patio. She
spotted it moving around the patio and made lots of noise with the
blinds as she followed it back and forth from inside as it went across
the patio. Not just any old rat, someone's pet who has either escaped
to the out, or been dumped. It's obviously a pet, as it shows little
fear of hoomins - though is too wary to let me approach close enough
to catch it. I've gone out three times now, hoping it would let me get
close enough to nab it and get it somewhere safer than on a patio
where neighborhood cats come to eat, but so far no luck in my getting
closer then three feet from it. Lucky for the rat, Little Sis knows
nothing about rat catching, as I watched the rat approach within a
couple feet of where LS was chowing down. LS must have learned about
rats from his big bro, Frank, who shows no interest in chasing down
the little black and white fellow. So far the only ones who have been
interested is Sammy, who was visiting the Out today and showed a lot
of interest in something in the monkey grass, and Princess. 'Course
Sammy may have been after a bug, since she won't tell me what she was
chasing.



Yikes! Poor little fella. Good luck getting it out of danger.


--
Theresa and Dante

Stinky Forever: http://pets.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh

On Jul 4, 2:59*am, Steve Touchstone
wrote:
Had someone new eating food at the bowl tonight. I haven't had many
wild critters come to eat, the occasional opossum, and a shunk who
hung around for a couple days, but tonight we had a rat. Princess was
the first to draw my attention to something strange on the patio. She
spotted it moving around the patio and made lots of noise with the
blinds as she followed it back and forth from inside as it went across
the patio. Not just any old rat, someone's pet who has either escaped
to the out, or been dumped. It's obviously a pet, as it shows little
fear of hoomins - though is too wary to let me approach close enough
to catch it. I've gone out three times now, hoping it would let me get
close enough to nab it and get it somewhere safer than on a patio
where neighborhood cats come to eat, but so far no luck in my getting
closer then three feet from it. *Lucky for the rat, Little Sis knows
nothing about rat catching, as I watched the rat approach within a
couple feet of where LS was chowing down. LS must have learned about
rats from his big bro, Frank, who shows no interest in chasing down
the little black and white fellow. So far the only ones who have been
interested is Sammy, who was visiting the Out today and showed a lot
of interest in something in the monkey grass, and Princess. 'Course
Sammy may have been after a bug, since she won't tell me what she was
chasing.
--
Steve Touchstone
Little Bit, Sammy, Spotty, Princess, Furby
and Rocky (RB)
Pix athttp://tinyurl.com/22pfn8
Vids athttp://tinyurl.com/4yb6nj

Wow, that's something you don't see every day -- a black and white
rat.
That's so funny, that LS wasn't interested! I hope you can catch
it before it becomes somebody's lunch. Maybe your humane society
could match you with someone who keeps pet rats.
Poor thing. If it's a pet, it must be overwhelmed by the out.
Sherry

On Jul 4, 12:59*am, Steve Touchstone
wrote:
.. Not just any old rat, someone's pet who has either escaped
to the out, or been dumped. It's obviously a pet,

If it's black and white then it's a pet rat- they make good pets

A friend of mine is invloved in rat rescue over here and she says they
are being dumped in ever larger numbers at the moment

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

On Jul 4, 9:18*am, wrote:
On Jul 4, 12:59*am, Steve Touchstone
wrote:
. Not just any old rat, someone's pet who has either escaped

to the out, or been dumped. It's obviously a pet,

If it's black and white then it's a pet rat- they make good pets

A friend of mine is invloved in rat rescue over here and she says they
are being dumped in ever larger numbers at the moment

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

Sadly, back in March, one of my outdoor former ferals got a hamster in
our front yard. i guess it was a dumped or escaped pet also. It was
mortally wounded and had to be euthanized. It's so mean to abandon
your pet no matter what it is. I don't know why people would think a
pet rodent would fare well. I hope you are somehow able to catch this
little guy.

Candace

On Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:59:34 -0500, Steve Touchstone
wrote:

snip
It's obviously a pet, as it shows little
fear of hoomins - though is too wary to let me approach close enough
to catch it.
snip

Spent over an hour looking for the little guy in the daylight, with no
luck. Once it got dark he reappeared on the patio - all my girls
spotted him and let me know something strange was visiting. Armed with
a broom to try to herd it into a corner, I headed out to try to catch
it. I swear the little guy learned hoomin avoidance out of the same
book that Sammy uses. It let me get almost close enough to pick it up,
then scurry five feet away and sit there laughing at me. After
blocking what I thought were all the exits from the patio, I got down
on my knees and talked to it, SLOWLY reached for it, and it darted off
and managed to squeeze between a bucket and the wall and escape from
the patio and under the fence into the alley. Well, first round of the
night goes to the little guy. If tonight is a repeat of last night
he'll be back in a half hour or so for round two.

Still no idea where he came from. I asked around the complex, and no
one claims him or seems to know where he might belong. One tenant on
the same side of the building as I live on says he saw a couple young
teens - around 14 yo - acting suspiciously the other night. They left
when he came out of his apartment without saying anything. Now we
wonder if they might have been looking for the rat. If it turns out
they were searching for him, I wish they had stuck around and given
their names, as I know they don't live here . Oh well, if I manage to
catch him I guess I'll take a picture and make a poster.

I think round two is about to start, as LB, Princess and Furby are at
the patio door getting excited about something. I'll post another
update if I catch him. This time I'm adding an empty box to my arsenal
to put over him if I can get close enough.

Round two goes to the rat. Little guy seems to know about the upside
down box trick, as this time he ran over and laughed at me from under
a rose bush. Tried to explain to him that he'd be much safer in the
box, but when I tried to circle around he darted away and once more
made his escape under the fence.
--
Steve Touchstone
Little Bit, Sammy, Spotty, Princess, Furby
and Rocky (RB)
Pix at http://tinyurl.com/22pfn8
Vids at http://tinyurl.com/4yb6nj

Steve wrote:

Spent over an hour looking for the little guy in the daylight, with no
luck. Once it got dark he reappeared on the patio - all my girls
spotted him and let me know something strange was visiting. Armed with
a broom to try to herd it into a corner, I headed out to try to catch
it. I swear the little guy learned hoomin avoidance out of the same
book that Sammy uses. It let me get almost close enough to pick it up,
then scurry five feet away and sit there laughing at me. After
blocking what I thought were all the exits from the patio, I got down
on my knees and talked to it, SLOWLY reached for it, and it darted off
and managed to squeeze between a bucket and the wall and escape from
the patio and under the fence into the alley. Well, first round of the
night goes to the little guy. If tonight is a repeat of last night
he'll be back in a half hour or so for round two.

[snip]

I think round two is about to start, as LB, Princess and Furby are at
the patio door getting excited about something. I'll post another
update if I catch him. This time I'm adding an empty box to my arsenal
to put over him if I can get close enough.

Round two goes to the rat. Little guy seems to know about the upside
down box trick, as this time he ran over and laughed at me from under
a rose bush. Tried to explain to him that he'd be much safer in the
box, but when I tried to circle around he darted away and once more
made his escape under the fence.

Good story. I hope you catch him/her soon!

--
Joyce ^..^

To email me, remove the XXX from my user name.

"Candace"
On Jul 4, 9:18 am,
On Jul 4, 12:59 am, Steve Touchstone
wrote:
. Not just any old rat, someone's pet who has either escaped

to the out, or been dumped. It's obviously a pet,

If it's black and white then it's a pet rat- they make good pets

A friend of mine is invloved in rat rescue over here and she says they
are being dumped in ever larger numbers at the moment

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

Sadly, back in March, one of my outdoor former ferals got a hamster in
our front yard. i guess it was a dumped or escaped pet also. It was
mortally wounded and had to be euthanized. It's so mean to abandon
your pet no matter what it is. I don't know why people would think a
pet rodent would fare well. I hope you are somehow able to catch this
little guy.

Candace

IIt really angers me when I hear of someone abondoning/dumping their pets,
no matter what they are. I hope you are able to catch this little guy too.
Can you get a trap and bait it? Poor thing. People can be such heartless
cretins. Animals count on us to take care of them and more and more of them
are being tossed aside, abused etc, it makes mes me .......grrrrr. Bless
your hearts to all who feed the ferals.

Love
Kyla

On Jul 5, 11:47*pm, "Kyla =^..^=" wrote:
"Candace"
On Jul 4, 9:18 am,

On Jul 4, 12:59 am, Steve Touchstone
wrote:
. Not just any old rat, someone's pet who has either escaped

to the out, or been dumped. It's obviously a pet,

If it's black and white then it's a pet rat- they make good pets

A friend of mine is invloved in rat rescue over here and she says they
are being dumped in ever larger numbers at the moment

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

Sadly, back in March, one of my outdoor former ferals got a hamster in
our front yard. i guess it was a dumped or escaped pet also. It was
mortally wounded and had to be euthanized. It's so mean to abandon
your pet no matter what it is. I don't know why people would think a
pet rodent would fare well. I hope you are somehow able to catch this
little guy.

Candace

IIt really angers me when I hear of someone abondoning/dumping their pets,
no matter what they are. *I hope you are able to catch this little guy too.
Can you get a trap and bait it? *Poor thing. *People can be such heartless
cretins. *Animals count on us to take care of them and more and more of them
are being tossed aside, abused etc, it makes mes me .......grrrrr. *Bless
your hearts to all who feed the ferals.

Love
Kyla

Candace has an *ex-feral*. Knowing her, I assume it's a cat who was
formerly a feral
cat which she has taken personal responsibility for, but still lives
outdoors. You can be
sure it's neutered and vetted, in addition to being fed..

If you re-read the story, you'll realize the hamster is dead. No need
to trap it.

Sherry