Carrying on from the last post–where I mentioned a number of our apex predators–here’s a collection of some of our more interesting encounters with the animals who live here. First off, say hi to Frank the gopher snake. This may be the very same snake that once lived under the house.
Then we have many, and I mean many Western Fence Lizards, plus a few other species.
Sometimes the lizards want to borrow our services, as shown here:
Not all our reptile friends are safe to hang around, though. Below is Franky, a wee baby Western Rattlesnake and his bigger brother Frank, who really wanted to come into the garage to hunt one night.
These two are not to be confused with the big rattler that lives down in the south pasture and likes to chase Dumpy:
Normally our snakes hunt for pocket gophers, small ground squirrels, and the occasional rat, but we have electrified traps that often pick off rats for us. When that happens, we empty out the trap onto the rock pile past the RV pad, as the vultures know to check the pile regularly for tasty offerings. We’ve become good friends with the vultures here, as we leave them not only freshly-killed rodents, but if a bit of chicken or fish goes bad in the fridge, we stick it on a fence post and they promptly accept it.
We also encounter on occasion a small assortment of amphibians, like Tiger Salamanders and California Toads. The toads are a hazard as they like to creep along the side of the house and we have to be wary of squishing them. No fatalities to date though.
And then, spiders. (Stop reading now if you are unfriendly towards our eight-legged pest controllers.) From standard web-spinners and widows, to jumping and grass spiders and some wee ghostlike ones, we have become a very spider-friendly household; only the Black Widows sometimes meet early ends. We do our best to allow arachnids that set up shop in opportune spots to carry on their work, while putting the outdoor varieties that wander inside back outside, where they belong.
Then of course, there are the tarantulas. We only see them for a month or so in the fall when the males stop eating, leave their burrows and head out in search of love. They are lovely creatures, if a bit ungainly at times.
And one last video of a rather spectacular web in the grass behind the sports court.