| Great War Ace | 10 Jul 2017 11:20 p.m. PST |
While I was mowing my Mom's west lawn this evening, I was approaching the SW quadrant, when I saw this little furry thing scurrying out of the way. It was over an inch wide, c. eight inches long, and slithered snakelike. I saw no legs, or even a head, it seemed "pointed" at both ends. It's back was only slightly rounded and the edges looked flat. It was featureless black or very dark brown. All at once, it nosed down into the grass as if it had entered an unseen hole and disappeared. "Vole" I thought at once, then discarded that. Don't voles leave dirt on the surface when they dig? How can there be a hole in the grass without dirt on the surface? (I'm getting quite a collection of weird sightings of natural and inexplicable phenomena.) |
| Cacique Caribe | 11 Jul 2017 2:37 a.m. PST |
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 Saber6   | 11 Jul 2017 5:32 a.m. PST |
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| Shagnasty | 11 Jul 2017 5:37 a.m. PST |
Sounds like a vole. Moles tend to be shorter and stockier. |
| Cacique Caribe | 11 Jul 2017 7:48 a.m. PST |
I've seen shrews all stretched out like this one. Dan
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 Jlundberg | 11 Jul 2017 9:30 a.m. PST |
His activity pattern sounds like mine |
| Great War Ace | 11 Jul 2017 3:58 p.m. PST |
This sighting was in Salt Lake City. Don't all of these burrowers leave dirt on the grass? |
| Mithmee | 11 Jul 2017 5:48 p.m. PST |
I would have hunted it down or gone after it with the mower. Put out traps with Peter Butter… You will get that them. Just beware that Squirrels don't like traps. YouTube link |
| Cacique Caribe | 11 Jul 2017 6:04 p.m. PST |
GWA, Believe it or not, unless there's a lot of clay in the soil, these guys push most of the dirt to each side as they tunnel. Also, if you had already mowed that piece, what little dirt they left on top of the grass would have already been blown away. Dan |
| Bowman | 15 Jul 2017 6:55 p.m. PST |
I would have hunted it down or gone after it with the mower. Why is your first instinct to kill it? GWA simply wants to know what it was. Put out traps with Peter Butter… Is that to catch Peter Rabbit? You will get that them. ?? |
| Mithmee | 16 Jul 2017 8:55 a.m. PST |
Why is your first instinct to kill it? If it in my yard it needs to die before it finds a mate. Because once that happens they spread very, very quickly. I do not like pests being in or near my house. Is that to catch Peter Rabbit? No for the babies bunnies that I found in my yard many years ago I just gather them up and put them into a plastic bucket and took them like 10 miles away and dump them into the woods. See I didn't kill them, but Voles, Mouses, Wasps, Yellow Jackets etc… I will and have killed. Bunnies are cute Pests aren't.
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| Great War Ace | 16 Jul 2017 1:35 p.m. PST |
There wasn't anything "Aaw, cute!" about that slithery creature. It looked creepy and maybe dangerous. (There isn't anything dangerous looking about bunnies, though they can be quite vicious.) I wanted to axe it on sight. But then it vanished into the ground without the slightest pause. I couldn't find the hole now, because it isn't visible above the grass. |
| Bowman | 19 Jul 2017 2:03 p.m. PST |
There wasn't anything "Aaw, cute!" about that slithery creature. It looked creepy and maybe dangerous. (There isn't anything dangerous looking about bunnies, though they can be quite vicious.) I wanted to axe it on sight. I apologize. I was under the impression this thread's title was, "What was it?", and not, "How do I kill it?". As for the bunnies, it was a little joke…….albeit one that went over your and Mithmee's head. |
