Quick clip: Cat versus Horses

Kitty tries to get to her Berry, but the horses just keep getting in the way.

Befriending a Feral Cat

This cat has lived on my parents' property since she was born, and is at least second-generation wild.  She has been fed by my father throughout that time, so is long-accustomed to human presence, but always skittered away when approached.

By feeding her and then hanging around chattering at her for a while as she ate, I was able to acclimate her over the course of several days.  The day prior to this recording, on or about 4/4/2015, she was treed by the dogs, and by standing below the tree and talking to her, I got her to relax enough to come down.

This time, when I went down to chatter at her, I brought the camcorder.  I got a kick out of watching her make up her mind whether to come close enough to touch.  Since then we've become friends, and she often comes down to the pond to hang out while I'm there fishing.

Rescuing Gator the Rat

There are lots of critters out here, some beneficial, some verminous.  Most of the rats I've encountered on the property are not of harmful species.  I've rescued a dozen or more of these from the swimming pool, and based on the physical profile, they appear to be wood rats, which are not household pests.  (Based on behavior, specifically their tendency to swim, they might be a variety of rice rat, but those are not supposed to be found in this area.)

Having encountered the large rat with the notched ears several times, I named it Gator.  Sometimes after a night stuck in the pool skimmers, critters of all kinds will be suffering from hypothermia, and in this case, I decided to try to warm the rat up a bit before releasing it.  Gator seemed to take to the handling, becoming fairly comfortable with being dried off and set in my lap.

Marauder Nabs a Frog

Marauder is the semi-tame redear slider turtle that lives in the front stock pond.  By some point late in last summer's fishing outings, I found I'd been inadvertently feeding her grasshoppers for possibly several weeks.  I noticed odd things like some of my swimbaits being snipped in half and the monofilament line parting under conditions of no tension.  Paying more attention, I spotted a small turtle making its way out to the bobber whenever I was using one.  She would line up on the bobber then dive beneath to find the hook and whatever was lodged on it.  Easy meal.

I began using the bobber to lure her in closer to shore so I could watch and videotape the proceedings.  On two occasions I lured her up onto shore, and on eight or so I was able to lure her into a net for capture.  I'd hoped to acclimate her to being handled so that I could bucket her, feed her some grasshoppers, and basically keep her out of the way while I cast for perch and bass.  Rather than becoming more docile, though, she became more wary, and learned to avoid the net altogether.

But she still follows me around, and still approaches shore when she hears my voice (I tell folks it's because of my irresistible turtle call:  "Heeeere turdle turdle turdle").  She will come in quite close to shore, and has even charged in within inches of my feet, as when she spotted a hapless grasshopper kicking around in the water just offshore.

Shown here is a brief scene of one of those encounters, taken on or about 6/13/2015.  After she grabs the bait, I use the bobber to demonstrate how she orients on it, even when it's not in the water, and how closely she's willing to approach.

Feral Cat and Kittens, 6/6/2015

For this particular post, I've added a musical background and reduced the original sound to obliterate my idiotic chattering at how cute the kittens are.

Mama Cat is evidently moving the cats back and forth nowadays, between the location shown here and somewhere beneath the building.  She may be becoming more vigilant about the dogs as the kittens become more mobile.  Since recording the video, I've trimmed all the poison ivy that was within reach.