Category: Wild Animals
Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Our Local Mountain Lion
In prior posts I have alluded to partial photos we have seen on our game cams of a visiting mountain lion that has been difficult to get a full view of. Last week, we got another glimpse of the best quality picture yet of the whole cat.
The ground is mostly rock and sandy dirt that never shows a print unless it’s wet (which is probably three days out of the entire year). We’ve not seen any prints after any visits but I am holding out hope I’ll spot something someday.
My husband thinks this is a female, being smaller in stature than the larger male. If it keeps returning, we’ll definitely have to to think of a name. Fingers crossed (and thanks given, we don’t keep livestock or have animals outdoors).
Sunday Morning Coyote
As my husband was driving out of our property this morning, he texted me that he had sighted three coyotes on neighboring state land. Grabbing my camera that was already set up that morning photographing birds, I maneuvered the giant lens on it’s tripod onto the front porch and swung it southeast toward the movement. In the seconds it took me to get positioned, only one remained.
Coyotes are a hunted animal for how they prey on livestock and small domesticated and wild animals. The only interactions I have observed of them are out here in quiet mornings or evenings and always using the large tract of state land next to our property as a highway to their destination.
The way they move is always elusive and almost uneasy – as if they know there is no safety for them unless they remain unseen.
Look Who Came Back
Our ghost-like visitor returned this morning to set off the security camera just once, barely visible. It is the same size, same early morning hours, and same location as this first sighting earlier this year.
What baffles me is that each visit only produced one photograph. These game cam / security cams are meant to burst several takes when something comes by. The deer and pronghorn will set them off consistently, but with this mountain lion, it only seems to trigger one shot per visit.
I suppose it is too much to ask the creature to go stand in the middle of the driveway for a good picture, but we will see in the coming days and weeks if he/she humors me.
Meanwhile in Snail Town
Last year, I had posted about finding a single snail in a purchased orchid and giving it a home. Because that’s me, dear reader. Critter caretaker of all the homely and the homeless. Even sometimes, the occasional pest.
Since then, my snailarium (or Snail Town as we sometimes refer to it) has evolved into a proper set-up complete with moss, humidity and temperature gauge, proper medium matter and all the trimmings including better food options. I’m still learning as I go.
One of the issues I had to get around was the fact that snails enjoy devouring decomposing matter, in addition to the tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots and green veggies. This means most of the photos I take are of food matter on the edge of being a mold poof. I let some of the food (not all of it) develop the occasional fuzz, but only if I see the snails really going for it. The rest I pluck out in a few days with tweezers.
For these quick gloss snails, I’ve noticed they love the grape-sized tomatoes, slices of baby carrots, small broccoli stems, raspberries, cremini mushrooms, finely chopped spinach, and reptile calcium crushed up with egg shells.
When it comes to watering, I usually squirt in a few milliliters of water into the moss and soil. I try to check for any crawlers before watering to avoid dowsing any directly but it’s an imperfect effort where I can’t see in the medium. It also works well to water around the edges where I can see the water make it’s way to the bottom of the medium where there are no piles of snails too.
When I upgraded the tiny bug catcher container, I was not quite educated on what was best for snails. Not knowing any better, I placed Scooter the snail in a bug box with all the trimmings (moss, leaf matter, sticks, dirt and a miniscule water dish). The problem with that set up was the soil: It was potting soil complete with the little fertilizer balls in it. That is horrible for snail health.
Thus, I found myself immediately overnighting a proper terrarium with organic coconut noir medium. Researching other information about all types of snails, tiny reptiles, and anything living in humidity also led me to the concept of monitoring temperature and moisture levels. So thanks to Amazon, I also included the little temperature reader I now have.
Since the time I first began with one snail named Scooter, I’ve lost that first one but gained many since. And this brings me to the close with a word of wisdom: Evidently, quick gloss snails are hermaphrodites. So they do not need a member of the opposite sex to reproduce. Consider yourself now warned! You will not keep with just one. In all seriousness, though, these little critters are a joy for this lady who lives out in the middle of nowhere.
Cleaning the terrarium, arranging the moss, rocks and food is a bit of zen. My husband and I will break out a magnifying glass and make a rough count of them from time to time to keep on top of how many we have. But they really are nifty critters when you slow down and observe them. It’s a little like looking for shark teeth at the beach – you have to relax, be observant and it’s amazing what you’ll get to see them do.
If you are getting started out with snails or similar critters, here is a list of resources and purchases I’ve found helpful so far:
Thermometer / Hygrometer Device: REPTI ZOO Reptile Terrarium Thermometer Hygrometer Digital LCD Display Pet Rearing Box Reptiles Tank Thermometer Hygrometer with Suction Cup
Insect Culture (keeps medium clean): Live Springtails, Mixed Seeding Culture, by Critters Direct
Food I’ve Used:
- Calcium with D3 Powder (helps with shell growth) Zoo Med Reptile Calcium with Vitamin D3, 8-Ounce. Instead of tossing away egg shells from the kitchen, I grind them up after they dry and mix with Calcium powder in a small ziploc for sprinkling around rocks / edges. Snails like this and it strengthens their shells.
- Leaves to help create shelter and leaf litter (mimics natural habitat) SunGrow 50 Pack Catappa Indian Almond Leaves for Snails and Crayfish, Mini Raw Dried Leaf for Fish Tank Aquarium, Maintains pH Levels.
- Snacking tomatoes (you can use any kind, I just try to save money and buy small).
- Mushrooms (snails LOVE mushrooms – so far I’ve used shitake and crimini).
- Broccoli – Who would have thought, right? Small florets with with stems.
- Carrots – Baby carrots are most cost effective cut into little slices.
- Spinach (salad greens) – Chopped into tiny slivers/pieces.
- Raspberries – I experimented with these a short time just because I had them. Avoid too much mess by pulling the berries apart into tiny sections (5-6 bumps of the berry are plenty for 2-3 snails to enjoy).
Other Tools I Found Helpful:
- A strong pocket flashlight.
- A good quality magnifying glass.
- Long tweezers.
- A prodding tool (I like something similar to this potting stick for succulents).
- Water delivery (I’ve used an oral pet syringe all the way up to a squeeze bottle that I also use for other home uses). Valchoose Larger 1000ml Tattoo Squeeze Bottle, 32oz Wash Bottle Exactly Reach Plants, No-leaks Tattoo Bottles White (1Pack). Whatever your tool, slow and measured delivery – just enough to moisten the soil and maintain humidity.
- A microfiber cloth I’ll never used on electronics – helps with those stubborn water or fingerprint stains on the terrarium. Also, lightly damp q-tips are great for just above the soil line (I don’t risk cleaning products inside the terrarium just in case they left any film or chemicals).
Mountain Lion Visit
Given we are rural folks and live up on a country hilltop in Wyoming, we have security/game cameras set up to help keep an eye on things. In the middle of the night this weekend, my phone app sent a motion alert.
I had to rub my eyes but there was the unmistakable profile of a mountain lion padding around the garage area of our property. I suspect it was moving swiftly just out of the hillside scrub, as we only got the one shot from the neck down and no more. Usually that means the animal was in and out of frame quickly.
I find mountain lions the most beautiful and majestic of wildlife out here. And they are ghosts : If they don’t want you to see them, you won’t.
Masters of camouflage and top predators, seeing one in real life has been a bucket list hope of mine since moving out here. Granted, I don’t want to be faced with a large cat on a hiking trail. But to be able to see a living one, to appreciate it’s stunning eyes and be in its presence, that’s just something I hope to safely experience.
Reality is difficult for ranchers and homesteaders where big cats can be a costly impact to livestock. Sometimes, federal predator hunters are brought in out here when a mountain lion continuously kills cows, sheep, or other animals and no other option is left. The balance between the land and livestock presence vs. the wildlife is never an easy one.
We are aware there have likely been visits to this property in times before over the years. Two or three years back, we found prints one snowy evening along the walls of the house. This is the first visual evidence of any cat itself, though. Maybe someday the opportunity will present itself I can see one in real life. To say I’ve seen and experienced one of natures most magnificent animals would be an amazing moment, indeed.
Safe and sound.
Better yet, from the car.
And just to be cautious, probably with a long lens.
