# Not Really A Pet, But I.D. Please?



## Yvonne G (Nov 29, 2016)

My lovely cats left this dying creature in my Aldabran pen and very brave Misty stood there, hackles raised, barking at it. Could it be a vole? I've never see a vole, but it's too big to be a mouse and it's definitely NOT a rat:


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 29, 2016)

Please let me know what sort of ground borrowing creature it is.
When I lived in south Carolina I used to place driftwood in my fish ponds so that those idiots wouldn't drown and sure enough, one would be stranded every few days. Mine where no larger than a mouse.


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## Markw84 (Nov 29, 2016)

Looks like a vole to me, Yvonne. I get plenty of them here. Wreak havoc on the plants. Moles go after grubs and worms, while voles love plants!!


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 29, 2016)

I was told "pocket gopher" back then.
I just googled it and it sure looks right.


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## Yvonne G (Nov 29, 2016)

I googled them both - vole and pocket gopher - they look the same. However, because of the teeth, I'm leaning towards gopher. If so, this makes me very happy! I hate the holes those darned things make. Wish I knew which cat caught it. I'd give her a treat!


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## bouaboua (Nov 29, 2016)

Dead?? Or still alive???


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 29, 2016)

Yvonne G said:


> I googled them both - vole and pocket gopher - they look the same. However, because of the teeth, I'm leaning towards gopher. If so, this makes me very happy! I hate the holes those darned things make. Wish I knew which cat caught it. I'd give her a treat!


I don't see those choppers on a vole.


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## Tom (Nov 29, 2016)

That's a gopher. Voles are a little smaller and have a more slender build. More "rat" like.

I put about 20 a year in the freezer out here.


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## Yvonne G (Nov 29, 2016)

bouaboua said:


> Dead?? Or still alive???



It was barely hanging onto life.


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## Tom (Nov 29, 2016)

Yvonne G said:


> It was barely hanging onto life.



A hammer to the head will fix that problem quick.

Their numbers need to be kept down, but I don't like them or any animal to suffer, no matter how much I hate them for destroying my plants and trees. I kill them quickly and humanely.


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## bouaboua (Nov 29, 2016)

So what do you do?? Make a meal for Misty??? Or for that cat? If you can ID who done the deed??


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## bouaboua (Nov 29, 2016)

I'm also with Tom......


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 29, 2016)

By the looks of him someone may already be poisoning them.


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## Yvonne G (Nov 29, 2016)

I don't like to see them suffer either, but I can't kill them. I tossed it over the fence.


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## Yvonne G (Nov 29, 2016)

ZEROPILOT said:


> By the looks of him someone may already be poisoning them.



No, I think he was bitten in the neck by a cat.


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## wellington (Nov 29, 2016)

Tom said:


> That's a gopher. Voles are a little smaller and have a more slender build. More "rat" like.
> 
> I put about 20 a year in the freezer out here.


What do you feed them too that your freezing them?


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## wellington (Nov 29, 2016)

I never heard of a vole. I thought you all were misspelling mole. LOL


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## Tom (Nov 29, 2016)

wellington said:


> What do you feed them too that your freezing them?



Snakes, lizards, alligators, vultures, hawks, etc…

Any predator basically.


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## Tom (Nov 29, 2016)

wellington said:


> I never heard of a vole. I thought you all were misspelling mole. LOL



I get them here too. They behave more rat-like and their burrows are much narrower and without the dirt mounds on the outside.


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## Tom (Nov 29, 2016)

Yvonne G said:


> I don't like to see them suffer either, but I can't kill them. I tossed it over the fence.



I would not have guessed that about you. I didn't ever think you were a cold blooded killer, or anything like that, but I thought you'd have the mental toughness to end the suffering of an injured animal. Hmm. I was wrong. Live and learn.


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## Yvonne G (Nov 29, 2016)

Tom said:


> I would not have guessed that about you. I didn't ever think you were a cold blooded killer, or anything like that, but I thought you'd have the mental toughness to end the suffering of an injured animal. Hmm. I was wrong. Live and learn.



When euthanasia is required I call up my son-in-law and tell him to bring the shovel. But he works in the Bay Area during the week.

I didn't put human emotions onto the animal. I just figured it was life, or death as the case may be, and figured he had gone away inside his head and wasn't suffering.


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## cmacusa3 (Nov 29, 2016)

Throw it in a boiling pot of water and make some stew.


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## Tom (Nov 29, 2016)

cmac3 said:


> Throw it in a boiling pot of water and make some stew.



Ewwwwe…..


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## Tom (Nov 29, 2016)

Yvonne G said:


> When euthanasia is required I call up my son-in-law and tell him to bring the shovel. But he works in the Bay Area during the week.
> 
> I didn't put human emotions onto the animal. I just figured it was life, or death as the case may be, and figured he had gone away inside his head and wasn't suffering.



I would help you with that if I were closer.


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## dmmj (Nov 29, 2016)

Thems good eatin


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## wellington (Nov 29, 2016)

Yvonne G said:


> When euthanasia is required I call up my son-in-law and tell him to bring the shovel. But he works in the Bay Area during the week.
> 
> I didn't put human emotions onto the animal. I just figured it was life, or death as the case may be, and figured he had gone away inside his head and wasn't suffering.


I can't do it myself either. I make my husband do it. I can't live with them suffering.


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## stravo (Dec 1, 2016)

It is a gopher. Better call bill murray


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## saginawhxc (Dec 1, 2016)

Yvonne G said:


> I don't like to see them suffer either, but I can't kill them. I tossed it over the fence.


This made me laugh.

A few years ago we had an injured crow flapping around the back yard making a racket and it was driving my dogs nuts. My girlfriend laughed at me because I followed it around the yard with a sledge hammer for an hour trying to work up the fortitude to end it's life.

Then eventually I grabbed it and chucked it over the fence, went back in the house, cleaned up, sat there for fifteen minutes, and then finally worked up the nerve to go out there and do the deed.


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## Maggie Cummings (Dec 2, 2016)

Tom said:


> I would not have guessed that about you. I didn't ever think you were a cold blooded killer, or anything like that, but I thought you'd have the mental toughness to end the suffering of an injured animal. Hmm. I was wrong. Live and learn.



You got the sister's confused. My inside cat catches voles that come up the heater tubes or whatever they're called. I get a couple of voles a month in the house. Cast iron skillet works when ya can't find the hammer. And I have rats like you wouldn't believe because of the grass seed field behind my house. So now that we can't use DeCon, I trap them with peanut butter in a safe trap. Then smack'em hard. And over into the field.
The Comcast guy had to go under my house and he says "lady I stopped counting at 30 but you have a lot of dead rats under your house." That was when we could use DeCon.....my favorite stuff.


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## Fredkas (Dec 2, 2016)

saginawhxc said:


> This made me laugh.
> 
> A few years ago we had an injured crow flapping around the back yard making a racket and it was driving my dogs nuts. My girlfriend laughed at me because I followed it around the yard with a sledge hammer for an hour trying to work up the fortitude to end it's life.
> 
> Then eventually I grabbed it and chucked it over the fence, went back in the house, cleaned up, sat there for fifteen minutes, and then finally worked up the nerve to go out there and do the deed.


You make me laugh so hard lol


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## Big Ol Tortoise (Dec 2, 2016)

Yvonne G said:


> I don't like to see them suffer either, but I can't kill them. I tossed it over the fence.


is it bad if I laughed when I read "tossed over the fence"


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## Speedy-1 (Dec 6, 2016)

*Yep a gopher !*







*I'm all right , no need to worry bout me !*


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