Hello everybody and welcome to Episode 9 of What’s in that Hole?, a new series I’m writing for my blog.
In the last episode, we found some animals that reside at a ranch near Tucson. This time, we travel to my dad’s house in Albuquerque in the hopes of finding something new and exciting!
The holes
Well, here they are:
There’s holes in this cactus!
Unfortunately this is not in fact something new; I’ve seen plenty of holes like this at home in Tucson. However, it’s still exciting! Here’s a closer look:
I’ve drawn some faces to help indicate the hole locations.
The occupant
My desert-dwelling friends should get this one. For those of you who haven’t guessed yet, here’s a hint: this is a critter I’ve covered before, for a hole I found in my yard in Tucson.
Have you figured it out?
Ok, if you still haven’t guessed, it’s a packrat! If you’ll recall, I covered them in Episode 3. However, in that episode I wasn’t quick enough to capture the furball on camera and you had to make do with a subpar packrat sketch. This time around, though, you’re in luck.
My dad is in the midst of an ongoing battle with the Albuquerque packrats, and he finally managed to catch one live while I was home for the holidays. Here’s a closeup of it:
The packrat.
Isn’t it cute! Not nearly as gross as I bet you imagined when you heard the word “rat.” I think it’s rather like a big hamster.
So, as I said, my dad is having some trouble with the packrats. For the past few years, he’s been confounded by them. Why have they chosen his yard to invade? Why can’t he get rid of them, no matter what he tries?
Two years ago, I discovered he was throwing his food waste over the wall that separates his patio from the rest of the lot. Yes, he’s been throwing watermelon rinds, corn cobs, orange peels, and more right over the wall into the grateful little packrat hands on the other side. When I was home a few weeks ago, however, he insisted he had stopped this practice.
I found this corn cob on top of the prickly pear nest, but to be fair maybe it was just an old one that had been there for a while.
This looks like human food.
On closer inspection of the hole, however, I found this:
Orange peel and other human leftovers in the packrat nest.
That’s right. FRESH orange peel, not more than a few days old. My dad is still feeding the packrats! Dad – if you’re reading this, just get a counter-top compost bin. It will go a long way. Also, I love you.
Epilogue – packrat release!
This story has a happy ending for all involved. Dad and I took our fuzzy little friend to a big open field about a mile from his house (he’s right on the edge of the city) and released the packrat. This video shows the moment it scampered off to freedom:
And everyone (dad, me, the packrat) lived happily ever after. The end!
Go to previous episode!
Next episode available here!
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