Dad, official father of NewMexiKen, reports on wildlife happenings in the Tucson foothills.
We are plagued with pack rats or more properly know as wood rats. Now pack rats are pretty low on the food chain and one can expect Good old Mother Nature will send in her method of control.
Steve, our professional yard man, and I have been trying to destroy a pack rat nest in the compound. A large male had tunneled down under a large prickly pear cactus. We had filled the holes and tamped the dirt with the rat in them. A week had gone by and Steve discovered the rat had dug back out. While the rat was looking at Steve the diamond back was looking at the rat and got him.
Steve came over to tell me and I went to see the snake. Now I don’t like pack rats and was happy the snake got him, but I am not crazy about full grown or for that matter any rattlesnakes.
We do have a number of pets, children and some old folks living here, some over 80. Answer: 9-1-1. Within minutes the firemen arrived and captured the snake. They will release it somewhere, unharmed.