Animal Woes

Arlene Blackman Yolles ♦ May 19, 2024 ♦ 5 Comments

Last week was one of those weeks that reminded me that I don’t live in The Bronx anymore. I live in the country. It began with a mouse problem. To read a previous blog on this problem go to https://arleneyolles.com/2017/10/18/not-a-mickey-mouse-job/

After successfully catching 2 mice with the Tom Cat trap, I needed to order more. So I asked my husband to please reorder from Amazon. He ordered 16 of them because (have you heard this before?) it was “cheaper” than ordering 6 if you consider shipping. I then set 2 traps and after a few days I checked them. One was crawling with ants, no mouse, and the other had not a drop of peanut butter in the well. So I thought I could’ve forgotten to put the peanut butter in it and left it at that. The one crawling with ants I removed and threw away, replacing it with another one which I filled with peanut butter and filled the empty one as well. A few days went by and guess what? Ants and a clean mouse trap! I now understood it was ants eating the peanut butter, so my mouse problem turned into an ant problem which I am now working on with ant traps and will keep you informed. 

The second animal situation occurred when I was walking to my mailbox. I noticed a bright red cardinal and his mate overhead. They were much closer to me than I would have expected. Then I looked down and noticed a tiny baby bird.  As I approached it, the parents made it known to me that I was to leave it alone. They swooped over my head and made noises. And so I walked away. How sad!  That little baby either failed flying school or fell out of the nest. It was injured and was not able to move away on its own when I had come near. Of course during the night, I’m sure some other animal like a coyote or fox found it yummy because it was gone the next day.

The last animal situation occurred when looking out at my lower courtyard where entry is gained only through a ladder coming down from the roof of my house (remember I live in an earth sheltered house), or through my daughter’s bedroom. I noticed an adult rabbit had fallen into the courtyard and was unable to get out by itself. It had broken 1 or 2 of its legs. To read a blog about skunks in the courtyard, go to https://arleneyolles.com/2018/09/29/a-stinky-tale/

This time I was not going to use a bucket to get it out as I had with another rabbit in the courtyard because this one would not have been able to navigate on its own. It was clearly injured, so I called animal control. The officer came in 15 minutes.  With a large net, he captured the rabbit and said he was going to bring it to animal rescue in the next town. 

And that concludes my stories about the animals I dealt with last week. What will this week bring?