The Great Indoors - wildlife stories

[Aussie Willy]

Yesterday when I got home from work I found a real live duck in my living room. I can only assume it got in there during the day when the person I share with had left the back door open to do some gardening. And I also assume that the cat might have chased it around.

Anyway not something you see everyday. Plus it shat on the floor (thank goodness for polished floorboards).

What wildlife have you received unexpected visits from?

[Japanfan]

What wildlife have you received unexpected visits from?

Last summer a raccoon attempted to come into my kitchen. . .the dog and cat didn't care much for the visit and the raccoon left quickly.

[Holley Calmes]

My husband and I were woken up in the middle of the night last week by a lot of clattering on the roof right over our heads. He went out on the deck with a flashlight and saw a family of 5 raccoons of varying sizes eating acorns out of our gutters....they didn't seem to mind he was there, and so we just let them eat in peace.

But inside? Ginormous wood spiders! Eeeeekkk!

[Satellitegirl]

lol @ Raccoons eating acorns out of your gutters. Cute.

We have freakin huge roaches outside our apartments. I have only seen one get inside once, but they're the large "water bug" types outside just walking along through the mulch. 2 1/2 - 3 inches long. eep!

Inside I had ants coming through the tile in my bathroom when I moved in, but they sprayed. Now all I have to deal with is the occasional spider.

[KCC]

Since moving to Idaho, we often see elk in our yard -- just beautiful. We installed a doggie door for our large pooch, and neighbors warned us about other unexpected visitors coming in that way, but nothing to date. The only animals that ever made their way inside (of our previous house) were a litter of dead bunnies that our dog brought for us to see. Yuck for me, but our dog sure was proud. I guess the momma rabbit made her den under our lower deck where she "thought" it was safe.

[Allskate]

When I was a kid, a skunk got into our basement. Really not good.

When I was in Yosemite last week, we saw two bears in the Valley. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they tried to enter some of the cabins in Curry Village. We came across a bobcat when we were hiking, but I think he was more scared of us than we were of him.

I came across a racoon when I took the garbage out one night earlier this summer. Scared the heck out of me. I hadn't seen them in the city before. I wonder if the racoons know when it's garbage collection day and go looking for easy pickings.

[Holley Calmes]

This has nothing to do with my house, but we live in an area where the back of our property backs up to the Chattahoochee National Forest. So yeah, it's critter central.

We have tons of deer-as do many people these days. Naturally hunting is against the law in the subdivision (thank goodness!) so I think the deer know they're safe here. This year we have had two sets of little twins and their mommies living practically on our 2 acres. It's heavily wooded, but we see them almost daily. One set was older and have lost their spots. The other two still have theirs-they are so sweet!

Then there's the copperhead that curled up on our front deck. He wasn't so sweet, but my husband didn't kill him-he took him up to the back of the lot and let him go. But then, Richard loves snakes. He even rescued (with a long, loing stick) a timber rattler. he said "It was just a baby!" (And just as poisonous....) And the small bear that paid a visit to our birdfeeders on our back deck which is 30' high but has some handy trees nearby to facilitate climbing to the goodies. Ah-life in the forest! I love it.

[oleada]

We've found interesting animals at our beach house, which in a fairly rural area in northern Colombia.

There was a frog swimming in the downstairs toilet. My aunt was going to use it and there was a big frog just chilling in there Crabs also liked hiding in this bathroom.

When I was younger, my dad found and killed a few coral snakes. We were little kids at the time, and there was no way we were risking a poisonous snake being around.

There also tarantulas - the big, hairy kind that makes your hair stand on end. The worst one was one we found in my little sister's playhouse. Grandma was watching sister (then about a year old) play in her little Fischer-Price playhouse, when she spotted a giant tarantula hiding underneath the table in the playhouse. She screamed, grabbed sister and then killed it with a giant metal shovel.

Oh, and bats. My region of coastal Colombia has a big bat problem. They love living in between ceiling paneling, so we've had bats just fly out of their hiding spot and into the room in more than one occasion.

[Bev Johnston]

When I was a kid, we had a rat in our basement toilet. It was dead, but what a memory. I will never forget it.

We had a snake in our basement once. We were doing fall raking and yard work, and I think he slithered in when we had the door open. We just scooped him up with a rake and put him back in the yard.

[Karina1974]

Geez... the only thing I have to deal with is occasionally chasing those nasty house centipedes with a can of hair spray and my shoe. Those little buggers are fast! I've only had one this year, last week, and it ran under the stove, so I kept spraying hair spray under neath -- I think the fumes killed it, because I never saw it again. Hate those nasty things!!!

[WindSpirit]

There was a frog swimming in the downstairs toilet.

When I was a kid, we had a rat in our basement toilet. It was dead, but what a memory. I will never forget it.

Did the frog and the rat come through the pipes...? I heard about it and that it can happen anywhere. I leave the toilet lid down and sometimes I wonder what might be waiting for me in the bowl. I would completely freak out if there was something there.

Wildlife that invades me home isn't that bad, thankfully. Mostly spiders (but nothing serious/poisonous), a few ants now and then, an accidental fly, a ladybug, etc. Some beetles. Today I found an earwig (a pincher bug) that was on this side of the balcony screen door but it didn't move. I guess it got caught in a small spider web that I noticed in the corner of the door frame. That's why I don't mind spiders too much. They catch and get rid of all other bugs. Plus, they pose for macro pictures.

[oleada]

Did the frog and the rat come through the pipes...? I heard about it and that it can happen anywhere. I leave the toilet lid down and sometimes I wonder what might be waiting for me in the bowl. I would completely freak out if there was something there.
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure the frog did come through the pipes.