New visitor!

[Debra]

Jerry had gone out for a couple of hours. When he got home, he called out to me to come outside. I put up the bird that was on my shoulder (Tex) and went outside and asked what was going on. He said "You have a visitor under the porch". I step out into the yard and watched as plants were moving. I bent down and what did I see? An armadillo! :th_faint: Now we know what has been rooting around in my yard. I've never seen an adult armadillo up close like that. My cats acted as if he wasn't there! I would have thought they would at least be interested in him, but I guess not. Maybe he's been coming around so much that they are used to him.

[Pinkbirdy]

AHHH!!! You handled that better than me :)

[spiritbird]

That is a strange animal. Do they hibernate in the winter?

[ShellyBorg]

So cool!

[Debra]

I don't know if they hibernate. All I know is they are cool looking and have very poor eyesight. He probably never even knew we were standing there watching him. I'd rather see them alive and under my porch than crushed on the roads (which is pretty much an every other day thing here).

Some time today, we had a mole dig a tunnel close to the top of the ground. You could see the disturbed tunnel running right through where we drive in. Now, that's something I can do without. It's also something that the cats will get and bring to me. I do NOT handle that one well. :ROFLMAODog:

[Turquoise]

A[Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks] armadillos are awesome little critters! I love their weird silly looks. They are just very unique and comical and they can run very fast on those short stubby legs and poor eyesight. I don't know if they hibernate, I don't think they do, but they certainly are not as active in winter. Not that many bugs and worms for them to dig for in winter. Don't know what they eat when the bugs hibernate & die off during cold weather. The reason so many armadillos are seen killed on the highways is because their first response to the car noise going over them is to jump straight up. They hit the underneath of the car and never make it out alive. :(

Debra do you remember back a good many years ago, can't remember the era exactly, when the armadillo turned upside down with a Lone Star beer bottle between its legs was a favored souvenir here in Texas? It was based on them being run over on the highways so much. And the son of the owner of the Lone Star Beer bottling plant in Austin, I think, would stop at each one he found dead and put an empty bottle he had finished drinking in their legs. The guy's last name was Harlow and he had a restaurant in Abilene for awhile. I read that in an interview in the newspaper about him & the trend with the armadillos. Whether that is the truth or not I have no idea, but it makes a funny story and a good way to rid your truck of empty bottles if you get stopped by the cops. :th_hehe:

I have a funny story about an armadillo and our two old toy poodles we had on the truck when Jerry drove over the road. We stopped at a rest area in Louisiana and were walking the dogs. The area for the dogs to walk was on a grassy hill that gently rolled down to a barbed wire fence. We were on top of the hill when we saw an armadillo snooping up ahead of us on the hill. Jeaux Ber, the poodle Jerry was walking saw the armadillo and away Jerry & he went, on lease after it.The armadillo took off running. Jon La Croix, my poodle I was walking saw them running and went after them with me running behind still holding the lease. The armadillo zipped through the fence & was gone in a flash. Jeaux Ber searched & searched for it while Jon La Croix just smelled the ground trying to figure out what he had been running after. In other words he never saw the critter, he was just running cause Jerry & Jeaux Ber was. :th_pinklol2:

[Honesty]

Now that is one thing we do not have here in the UK :)

[Debra]

I remember the Lone Star Armadillos. I still see pics of some on FB from time to time. I always got a kick out of them. I really do like them and don't mind them rooting around the yard. We just knew something was rooting around and didn't think it was the wild hogs as they root deeper and cause more destruction.

[coltfire]

Debra where is the pic lol

[Debra]

Didn't have a camera at the time unfortunately.

[Mare]

I've never seen one (live). They do not exist in California, either, Wendy! Are they considered an R.O.U.S.? (Rodent of Unusual Size)

[Debra]

I don't know if they are considered that or not. All I know is that we have them all over the place down here.