We got the OK from the vet and were able to release the pups from their cones after about 9 or 10 days. Phew!
We continue to take the pups on walks, mostly in the neighborhood. Here’s a fun fact: today is the first day either of them peed or pooped on a walk! Stony peed! Not sure why it took this long, but before this they were so wound up with nerves and excitement that they weren’t even sniffing anything, let alone peeing. So I think it is just a sign they are getting comfortable with it.
Last week we had several exciting animal surprises. First, there was another snake hanging out in the coop. Sitting right in one of the roosts. I posted pic of it in both my Texas Snake ID FB group as well as Broody Bunch, and all confirmed it was a rat snake. It was interesting to read the various suggestions on how to deal with it. On the one hand, rat snakes will prevent you from having a rodent problem, on the other hand, they’ll eat some chicken eggs. Some chicken owners leave rat snakes alone, while others trap/free them or spray to keep them out. In our case, I decided that since he seemed small, I’d just leave him alone. I could definitely spare a few eggs in order to be rat & mouse free! I also named him Bentley. Wondering if Bentley is one reason the Hash Browns have been laying eggs in the flowerbed recently rather than the coop. We do have wire around the coop but during the day the main door is kept open to the run and the ramp to the roosts is open so the chickens can go in and out…so during the day the snake can easily come and go as well.
There’s a Texas Spiny Lizard that lives on pair of trees in the backyard and his name is Henry. FYI.
Bentley
Next animal encounter was spying a large, hairy spider high up on our back deck. Sure enough, it turned out to be a Texas Tarantula. So cool! I learned that they are pretty chill, and that it would feel like a bee sting in the unlikely event you were bitten. I didn’t name the tarantula.
And last but not least, one morning as I was opening the chicken coop for the day, I spotted a VERY large CAT sitting on our back fence. I ran in for my cameraphone, but on my way back out, it slipped back on the other side of the fence (displacing a bunny rabbit that sprinted out of its way). I tentatively suspected a bobcat, and sure enough another neighbor reported seeing a bobcat in our neighborhood the same morning (as reported in Nextdoor).
Actually that wasn’t last. We also saw yet another type of lizard on our back deck which turns out is a Texas alligator lizard! I tried to feed it mealworms but the chickens ate them before the lizard did.
Oh and hey, since I posted about the tarantula I’m now going to include a pic from over a year ago that I didn’t post for fear of freaking anyone out. But I think you’re ready now. First of all, it is HARMLESS! But check it out- this Yellow Garden Spider was hanging over a bike path, so we were joking that it was there to catch & eat the bikers…that’s how big it was! LOL.
I’ve been wanting to post this for over a year. Love this pic! Spiders give me the heeby jeebies but… RESPECT!
So the next big home improvement was installing a storm door on the back with a DOGGIE DOOR!! At first, things looked bleak because Rob discovered that the people at the store had mismanaged the order and so the door hinged on the wrong side. Ugh. But this error was overcome by drilling a separate hole into one of the parts! Yay! So anyway, it is mostly installed (Rob installed it) and so we immediately set out to train the dogs on using it.
We started with basic treats but it wasn’t quite working. So we pulled out the extra-nice-yummy-yummy-large-duck-flavored treats. Within a few minutes, Woody went through the flap! Success! Stony, the more contemplative pup, took a bit longer, but eventually, he too, was passing through the flap to get to his treat. This all transpired over, oh, say 15-20 minutes I think.
So it seemed all good but over the last day or so since we introduced it, Woody has shown he hasn’t fully grasped the concept. If he is alone and approaches the door, he’ll just wait for someone to open the door. He might scratch the side. Then sit down and basically give up. But if I encourage him or there’s something really compelling on the other side, he’ll get through. So it seems like if it’s an instinct thing, then BANG, he’ll just go without thinking…but if he just kind of wants to go out, then he starts to T-H-I-N-K which actually gets in the way!
Stony is another story. Once he figured it out, which involved a bit of exploration, he was all over it. He goes in and out all the time as he pleases.
Anyway, we assume that eventually Woody will master the doggie door. Woody’s not going to be winning any intelligence contests anytime soon :)
3 quick video clips followed by a few images.
