dragonfare: (Default)
dragonfare ([personal profile] dragonfare) wrote2009-08-16 04:08 pm

(no subject)

Wildlife in the country again... I forgot to mention it, but a few nights ago, when I turned over one of the horses' feedbuckets, I surprised a rat.

To explain a little, we keep the feedbuckets upside down, because otherwise insects and mice crawl in and then can't get out, and mice in particular make the bucket so icky that it can't be used again.

Also, although we've always had rats (don't ask how I know), this is only the second I've ever seen, and the other was on the back wall of the hay room, far away, not right under my feet.

Anyway, I flipped the bucket, and there was a grey rat staring up at me. I think it was more surprised than me, because it froze until I yelled at it to get the you-know-what away from my buckets. Then it ran behind a barrel and stuck its head out, and I rolled the barrel a bit and scared it right out of the grain room. Was that enough? Not for this persistent rodent. When I was putting the buckets back, it looked out at me from behind another barrel. I swung a bucket and yelled, and it ducked out of sight, and I haven't seen it since.

It was a fairly large thing, about 9" not including the tail, and well-fed without being plump. Not that y'all care! LOL!

[identity profile] coastal-spirit.livejournal.com 2009-08-18 02:43 pm (UTC)(link)
OMG. I would freak. out. if I saw a rat, especially one that big. I know they're a common animal to have around barns, but I still would. *shudders* Incidently, pet rats don't have quite the same affect on me, but I still don't like them.

[identity profile] trellia-chan.livejournal.com 2009-08-19 02:18 pm (UTC)(link)
I love rats as pets. They're like little dogs. Very intelligent and affectionate and so cute! But I don't like being surprised like wildlife either, and my reaction would have probably been a "Whoa!" and a "Go on, get!" as well if I happened upon a wild rat like that. XD