Scavengers / wildlife outside of 3T's

[morag]

At Meg's suggestion and because I am interested in wildlife in general, I'd like to read what those of us who have moved away encounter. Here in SoCal, as they call it, we have a wide variety, many different birds, little hummingbirds have nested successfully in my garden years in a row now, they are qulte bold. Squirrels, tree and ground types, coyotes, mountain lions, bears, racoons, skunks... just read about a bear who had found a man who'd died of a heart attack and dragged his body to it's cave and ate him. They were going to hunt and kill it but decided it was just doing what bears do. A few years back a couple returned to their mountain cabin, found the 'fridge had been raided and saw the bear sitting in their spa eating the ice cream! Lots of insects as well, both beneficial and not..I leave them to their own balance. Once you start trying to 'fix' things, sprays etc., unless non toxic, you usually kill the good with the bad.

A wide variety of plants to in my area. We can get away with some cooler weather ones but, alas, can't grow one of my favourites, peonies
Since we are a wide spread group I'm sure there will be many different outlooks

[Alexmac442]

Like Morag I also love wildlife, we don’t have the big animals like bears etc but we do have a large population of snakes and lizards and of course the dreaded mosquitos and pesky ants.
We have just finally retired, left the shop to sister and brother in law and moved to the sea, which I have sorely missed for many years. Sea was 500 kilos away, now it is less than 500 metres.
Not much snake life here so I will miss the regular cobras (King, Monocled and spitting varieties) the Kraits and pit vipers and the reticulated pythons. I loved but respected them all, and even managed to catch and hold the less venomous type like the Indian rat snake.
But still have the mossies!! I got my malaria in Nigeria in 1997 and still have the occasional recurrence to remind me to put my repellent on at night. No reported malaria in this neck of the woods but you never know. As I write this there are sea birds screeching outside my window, I will have to get used to that. We have only a very tiny garden with no grass so I will miss that and my many trees and plants especially my 50 odd orchids, and we now have to buy coconuts. Still have some lizards but not the big ones and one neighbor has 10 cats so no problems with mice.
We are about 40 kilos from the city of Petchaburi which has a large population of monkeys although I don’t really miss them as they are dangerous.
We still own our old house and land and can go back anytime but we had to empty the fish pond and give away the plants and fish as there is no one we could trust to maintain it, that I will miss. The one thing that is really bothering me is that we had to leave the two dogs and two cats, but they will be well looked after as my wife’s sister loves them all, they have plenty of space to live and will continue to protect the property.
Alex

[brian f]

My dog ran after a Muntjac Deer ? last year,apart from that just a Fox, walking past my front gate.

Morag , have you seen any Yogi's close up or do they keep the distance, you can keep your Skunks by the way

Good post Alex, happy retirement.

[morag]

I haven't seen any up close, they do wander down to the foothills in times of need and people move up into 'their' domain then complain about them... I haven't seen a mountain lion yet either, thank God, there have been attacks on joggers, cyclists ..again, going into their territory. I have seen the rest. We had a fox family used to come and play at night. At the time a stray cat came and settled in the garden and I put a little dish of kibble out for her. The fox cubs would come to share it, Ceilidh just kept her distance and there was never any problem, but, yes, I took her inside. Skunks are funny, they kind of wobble when they walk, good for eating grubs and such and they won't bother you unless they feel threatened, even then they give a wee dance on front legs, back legs and tail up, but spraying is a last step and you really have to push it. One night there was a real real disturbance out back and I looked out to see 4 or 5 racoons in the swimming pool or on the deck..pool party, where's the keg? Son shone a bright light from his bedroom window to see what was going on and they scarpered!

[bobnetau]

When we lived in Heathmont, which is near the foothills of the Dandenong mountains here in Aus. we used to have regular visits from Possums. Very noisy creatures, make a hissing snorting sound. Used to sit on our fence and verandah and stare at us. Never got too close. They cause a lot of damage if they get into the roof space and are very hard to remove. If you caught one it had to be released in the same area. Also had a snake in our backyard one day. Daughter and I were out on to the street quick smart, snake had gone by the time Bobby found something to deal with it.

[brian f]

Just had a wee read up on Possums, Netta. What about Koala Bears,do you see many of them.

[morag]

'Possums here are very shy and keep their distance, Netta, mainly coming out in the evening. Again, good for eating all sorts of things like grubs and old fruit and veg. Never had one come into the house. My middle son is v. good with animals and he fed one on our fence with Doritos, literally had it eating out of his hand. He sat there looking dreamy, 'possums tail wrapped around his finger..lol! One time at Costa Mesa Highland games there was a lady with a huge 'possum draped 'round her neck...

My neighbour had trouble with racoons getting in her attic and was told to make a lot of noise, play loud music..seemed to work.

Australia seems to be an absolute paradise for animal lovers!

[bobnetau]

No koalas near us, you can see them in the trees on the way down to Philip Island in Victoria. I would never feed the possums, was scared they would find a wee space to get into the roof. They wreck the ceilings and the smell is horrible.
Our daughter lives in the north of Victoria in Mount Beauty and kangaroos hop around their property, lovely to sit and watch them sunning themselves.

[morag]

Netta, along with wallabies, roos, emus etc we are more familiar with I find the sheer variety of odd animals fascinating, wombats, platypus et. My wee sister learned a song while at St. John's primary, (Stevenston) 'Kookaburra sits in the low gum tree' she sang it for hours on end!

[morag]

Like Morag I also love wildlife, we don’t have the big animals like bears etc but we do have a large population of snakes and lizards and of course the dreaded mosquitos and pesky ants.
We have just finally retired, left the shop to sister and brother in law and moved to the sea, which I have sorely missed for many years. Sea was 500 kilos away, now it is less than 500 metres.
Not much snake life here so I will miss the regular cobras (King, Monocled and spitting varieties) the Kraits and pit vipers and the reticulated pythons. I loved but respected them all, and even managed to catch and hold the less venomous type like the Indian rat snake.
But still have the mossies!! I got my malaria in Nigeria in 1997 and still have the occasional recurrence to remind me to put my repellent on at night. No reported malaria in this neck of the woods but you never know. As I write this there are sea birds screeching outside my window, I will have to get used to that. We have only a very tiny garden with no grass so I will miss that and my many trees and plants especially my 50 odd orchids, and we now have to buy coconuts. Still have some lizards but not the big ones and one neighbor has 10 cats so no problems with mice.
We are about 40 kilos from the city of Petchaburi which has a large population of monkeys although I don’t really miss them as they are dangerous.
We still own our old house and land and can go back anytime but we had to empty the fish pond and give away the plants and fish as there is no one we could trust to maintain it, that I will miss. The one thing that is really bothering me is that we had to leave the two dogs and two cats, but they will be well looked after as my wife’s sister loves them all, they have plenty of space to live and will continue to protect the property.
Alex

Alex, I've read that about monkeys, we see them as cute, endearing but it seems you don't want to monkey around with them (sorry!) mean to each other too..and very strong. How about elephants? I guess the numbers are declining?

[Alexmac442]

Morag., Yes the monkeys are endearing but they are known to carry the rabies virus. Where they live is in the middle of the town in a park with giant trees but no natural food resources, so they scavenge the trash bins and rely on people feeding them. Trouble is that they have become very aggressive if you have any food and people have been attacked. Only thing to do is drop the food and run away. I know one expat who was bitten and he had to go through a series of painful anti rabies treatment which is not guaranteed to have effect.
I don't believe there are any wild elephants left in Thailand only the domesticated ones but the Thais do love them and they are usually well looked after. Where we are living now has an elephant safari and I can assure you they are all well fed and healthy. The one thing I hate is when they bring the young ones into the cities around where there are a lot of bars and charge 20 Baht for a bag of food for them, what happens if no one buys them food and do they get over fed?
Alex

[brian f]

Still have some lizards but not the big ones and one neighbor has 10 cats so no problems with mice.

Alex

Alexmac i mowed the lawn or should i say weeds probably for the last time this year today, and the amount of cat poop on it was terrible as well as the stink,my neighbour has about 15-20 cats and other neighbours have complained about her,the rspca have been out but still see no reduction in numbers.i have tried everything to stop the cats depositing but no joy as yet. I have no choice who my neighbours are, i will put up with it for now better than a rowdy family.