Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Pests!

Every month on the first of the month I give my dog a bath and when she's dry I give her her heart worm, flea, and tick topical regimen. I've been using the Revolution brand for almost three years now, and I've never had a problem with it.

A couple of weeks ago I took Choo Choo to visit my Uncle at his house in the middle of nowhere, and like she does at Memaw's, she ran out into the open yard and played outside. When I brought her home I noticed she started scratching, but dogs sometimes have itches, so it didn't concern me.

But she kept itching. It seemed like every time I looked at her she was scratching herself. She was scratching so hard that she started ripping out tufts of fur on her head. And then a week ago I was petting her and I saw something black on the top of her head. I picked her up and pulled it off (after a battle of wills) and realized it was a flea.

A flea on my dog.

Gross!

The Vet told me to NEVER give my dog more than one treatment of the Revolution in a thirty day period, so I went out to the store and bought some flea and tick and mosquito killer. It said it killed fleas and eggs, so I figured if there had been any nests made, it would take care of them.

Then today I was walking Choo Choo and I looked down and saw a black spot on her head. I pulled it off. It was a mother fucking flea! On my dog! My dog who spends NINETY EIGHT percent of her time indoors, who rides around with me in my purse, who doesn't so much as roll in the grass when she goes for walks! 

I am pissed now. What am I paying all of this money for if the products don't even work?

I'm about to give her a second of that flea killing treatment because I just gave her a bath. And I'm also going to take a fine toothed comb and run it through that fur of hers until I find every last one of those nasty fuckers! And I'm also setting bug bombs next Friday and I'm taking her to work with me because I don't want those fuckers in my apartment!
And speaking of pests...

Last night, at about twelve thirty, I was taking Choo Choo out for a walk and we were going down the stairs when she stopped suddenly, put her ears down and her tails between her legs, and started whining. She refused to go any further down the stairs. So I picked her up and was about to take her down myself when I happened to look down at the bottom of the stairs.

I screamed.


Big freaking snake. Of course, he slithered to the building and started going under it when I screamed, so I didn't get the whole picture. 

But THAT snake, dears, is poisonous and is commonly called a Copperhead. 

You don't normally see them in the city like this, especially in highly people populated areas, but on either end of my building you will find large open fields of grassy meadow that haven't been developed yet filled with field mice and bunnies and other furry creatures, so snakes probably live there, too. He probably just accidentally wandered over. 

But there are children that live in this building, and children are stupid and will try to play with snakes because they mostly think snakes are cool and harmless. This is NOT a green garden snake or some harmless little brown snake. This is a Copperhead, and he can kill you.

So I had to report it to my office (pictures and all) and they're calling the pest control people. Apparently there's something they can do to prevent snakes from coming. The office apologized. They didn't need to say sorry. This is Texas and there are snakes here. It happens.

I don't have problems with snakes. I find them kind of fascinating in this totally creepy kind of way. They move without bones. Awesome!

I just don't like poisonous snakes that may or may not try to eat my dog.

I'm actually lucky I had my camera on me. This was too awesome to not take pictures. 

I woke up Padawan on my way inside because I had to upload the pictures and confirm it was a copperhead. Which is is. Yay for me! I saved lives!
Of course, I will no longer be walking through the meadow on the right on my way to work anymore. I'll just stick to the streets and sidewalks because I have no desire to be snake bitten. 

16 comments:

  1. I lived in Louisiana for a while and I do not miss the copperheads, water mocasins, mosquitos, ticks, stinging caterpillars, fleas, thorns, and flying cockroaches. I do miss the food...
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  2. Random fact: Pigs kill snakes. My parents haven't had a problem in say 10 years because of the oinkers. (They got rid of them a few years ago and switched fully to cows)

    Glad the fur-kid is ok.

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  3. My grandfather had a hunting dog bitten by a copperhead. It bit his vocal chords, but he didn't die. He just couldn't bark for about 6 months. That was a nice 6 months.

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  4. Charlie, stinging caterpillars? I've never heard of a caterpillar that stings...I KNEW they were dangerous! Yes, Louisiana has some pretty fabulous food. But I wouldn't want the bugs.

    Rebecca, I didn't know pigs killed snakes but it doesn't surprise me. Pigs will kill and eat each other if they're hungry enough.

    George, a hunting dog is a lot bigger than a five pound chihuahua. I'm sure Padawan would appreciate Choo Choo being debarked for six months, but I wouldn't like that. Plus I still don't want snakes wandering around where I live. I don't always wear shoes that go above the ankle.

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  5. Ick! Fleas? That's awful! I REALLY hope you'll be able to get rid of them soon.

    Also, I know how you feel about snakes. They simultaneously fascinate me and creep me out. One of my junior high science teachers had two massive pythons that he kept in his classroom. They were SO COOL! He'd actually let them out of their terrarium every now and then and they'd just slither around the room, being awesome. My favorite was the male, "Monty" (Get it? "Monty Python"?). He was all spotted and cool looking. "Daisy" was the female, and she was all yellow and white with pink eyes. Crazy stuff, right?

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  6. Well I keep searching on her and I can't find anymore...but I gave her another treatment. Just in case. She hasn't been scratching. Maybe the one I found this morning was just one that jumped on her while we were outside.

    I'm still bombing the apartment. Can't be too careful.

    I didn't have any teachers with snakes! Unfair! Although my dad did have a housemate once who had a boa constrictor named Mikey. I liked him okay until I saw him eat a bunny rabbit. Not so cool after that. I wouldn't want one, either. Buying a bunny rabbit to feed him would get really expensive, if I could stand the idea of killing bunnies anyway.

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  7. When I see a snake, I just karate chop it in the head, and then I punch it in its dumb mouth, and I say "Take that snake!" Then I snap off its fangs and poke it in the eyes with them and say, "Stop poking yourself in the eyes with your fangs. Why are you doing that? Huh? Huh?" Then the snake usually starts crying and slithers away.

    Yeah, we don't have snakes around here.

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  8. OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!! I freaked out and showed everyone in my house that picture of the copperhead. Thank God I don't live in Texas. I wouldn't survive.

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  9. Bryan, that's because it's too cold and rainy up there, when it's not being cold and snowy. Snakes don't like that environment!

    Nicki, yeah I wouldn't want to cross paths with Jake the Snake on a dark night. Well, I did, but I don't want to do it again! You're lucky you won't have to deal with snakes in Boston. There are Copperheads in Massachusetts, but not in the Boston area so you're good.

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  10. Hmmm...I think it's probably a good thing that my teacher fed those pythons during NON class time. I either would have fainted, puked, or tried to save the poor creatures that were being sacrificed on the altar of natural selection. *Shudders*

    I'm just glad you and Choo Choo found that snake before anyone got hurt. Good on both of you! :)

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  11. I'm pretty sure snakes have bones.

    I saw a segment on the news last night that said fleas are pretty bad in Texas this year. Something about the weather. I wasn't really paying attention.

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  12. That was one of the things I loved about living in Alaska when we did. No snakes, no fleas, no ticks, no cockroaches. But we did have mosquitoes that would fly down and bite your head off and suck the blood out of your neck stump. Those were a problem.

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  13. Oooooooooooooooooooooh. Kinda wigging out on this side of the computer. Snakes. Very wiggy. Deadly snakes. Wiggy personified. I'm so glad you and your puppy are okay!!!! Holy Smokes! Texas is known for snakes--and those little devilish scorpions--but, yeah, in the city you so don't expect that kind of thing.

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  14. Candice, free the mice! You would have led the class in a revolution to save lives! It's totally not natural selection if the mice are stuck in a tank with no way to escape.

    Doug, I don't know anything about fleas or what makes them more or less populated. I knew the mosquito population was pretty high already, but not the fleas. I Bet that means lots of ticks, too. Ug.

    Darev, it's COLD in Alaska. That's why there's nothing out there! Only the truly insane live in Alaska! (See, you left Alaska. Proving you aren't nuts.) Those mosquitoes sound pretty awesome.

    Frisky, I forget about the scorpions. I only see them at my grandparents house, and they're in a small town by the lake. It's more rural. But scorpions aren't so bad. I've never heard of anyone dying from a sting, and I've never heard of them trying to eat dogs either. I'd much rather a scorpion than a copperhead.

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  15. Yikes, I haven't had any problems with Buddy getting flees and he rolls in the grass every time he gets a chance! I hope Choo-Choo can get past the suckers.

    As for the snake, OMG,gross, disgusting, I would have died, I would not have gotten a picture, I would have jumped up and down screaming and pointing and then I would have run away. In fact, I almost didn't read this post because I recognized the disgusting, scary thing in the picture that showed up on my dashboard. OMG.

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  16. She's not scratching anymore so I guess that means round two worked.

    Oh, I screamed. I screamed a good, loud shriek. In fact, I'm pretty sure the whole building, if not the entire complex, heard that scream. Why didn't anyone come running to my rescue?

    In my excitement I failed to mention a detail: I did not take the picture immediately. He slithered to the side of the building when I screamed and Choo Choo wound up peeing on the stairs. So I ran back home, got a glass of water and my camera, washed away the accident and took pictures. The pictures weren't an immediate thing.

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