Um, what's that crashing through our fence!?

Scene: Our backyard last night. My wife and I taking out the dogs since someone needed to go. (Yes, she pooped.) Some lights on but not all of them. 

We have a fenced-in yard but also a lot of ground cover and critters, so after dark we take out the dogs on leashes. They don't seem to mind. They're Corgi/Min Pins--one looks like a Corgi while the other looks like a big Chihuahua. We have some woods and a walking path on the other side of the fence. 

So we're standing there letting the dogs sniff when we hear something chugging around on the other side of our fence. It's a 25-year-old shadowbox fence, so it's got some miles on it. It's not all plumb, I admit. 

And whatever it was sound big--like, we could hear it knocking over stuff. We've had bears and coyotes in the area.

Then silence.

Then we could hear the sound of wood flexing as something was squeezing its way in!

We hustled in with the dogs. I grabbed a flashlight and ran out.

And there I found the two biggest armadillos I have ever seen. One was reared-up on its hind legs. We get them all the time in the backyard, but these were huge--easily the size of Buicks. 

They ran off into the ferns.

End. 

Buick sized like compact CUV Buick or bubble body Roadmaster wagon Buick?

Were they looking for Lone Star beer?

10/10 can't wait for the movie.

In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :

I think witnesses said these Buicks had fins on the front fenders.

Dang. Glad you weren't murder deathed by the battle possums 

I thought you meant the wife pooped...which would be forgivable if it were a bear on the other side of that fence.

Fun Fact: They can carry leprosy  and plague!

THere are armadillos in florida? Learn something new every day. 

MazdaFace said:

battle possums 

Haven't heard that one before. dammit that's funny. 

RevRico said:

THere are armadillos in florida? Learn something new every day. 

I live in FL and didn't know that either!

Dr. Hess said:

Were they looking for Lone Star beer?

You gotta leave a few out to keep 'em docile. No idea whether it kills any of the leprosy.

When I lived in Ormond Beach I had one dig a hole under one of my trailer tires so deep the axle hit ground. Must have been some tasty bugs down there. If you try to straddle one on the road they jump up. And, like humans, they are not a native species to Florida. Glad we don't have them in PA yet. 

Duke said:

10/10 can't wait for the movie.

Hopefully they get Brad Pitt to play me. 

We see armadillos all the time, and I have seen some big ones. Big these two were jumbo. I told the dogs, if they want to stay inside and pee in the house, I don't blame them.

We get possums, too. One of the dogs once got one. I got the dogs inside, went out to check on things, and the critter was gone. I guess that whole thing about playing possum is true. 

Our next-door neighbors once saw a bear in their driveway. It's like 20 feet between our driveways. 

It's not deer or moose, but it's something. 

There are armored possums here in south Carolina now too.  They are scary with the diseases they carry!

When I was growing up - late 70s, early 80s - we'd see them in deep south GA and Florida but not around home in Macon. Now we have them in central Georgia all the time and I've seen them regularly in the north Georgia mountains. They're spreading north.

I hear it's great sport to ride around in a golf cart while drinking (with a sober driver, of course) and chase them down with a single shot .410 shotgun. One of the septuagenarians at the church I attended did it weekly.  

In reply to RevRico :

Heck yeah, florida has tons of em. Ive “removed” probably 30-40 over the last 5 years just off my less than 3/4 acre property at the edge of the woods. 

Along with the diseases n stuff they carry, they dig big holes in the yard which can easily result in twisted ankles or worse. The states website even says to not relocate them and which caliber gun to use to shoot em. .22 does a fine job. 

Got the bears too but i dont mind them, as long as i remembered to lock my trashcan closed which i didnt do so i had this to clean up this morning. 

All because he smelled 1 cupcake in the trash from my sons birthday. The cupcake had tossed around in the container and blue icing was everywhere. Bear licked up all the icing. 

David S. Wallens said:

Our next-door neighbors once saw a bear in their driveway. It's like 20 feet between our driveways. 

No bears around here, but a friend of mine had a mountain lion in his back yard once.  The next city over is called "Los Gatos" for a reason. :)

NOT A TA said:

RevRico said:

THere are armadillos in florida? Learn something new every day. 

I live in FL and didn't know that either!

I pretty much see them as roadkill every time I've been in the state, but it is a large state and maybe they are not prevalent everywhere. I occasionally see gators and even manatees where I live and I am ok with those things coming up here from FL in small numbers, but I haven't seen any armadillos around (yet).

I’ve never seen a bear in my yard, but I’ve seen its tracks. We do have a bunch of bobcats though. 

TurnerX19 said:

When I lived in Ormond Beach I had one dig a hole under one of my trailer tires so deep the axle hit ground. Must have been some tasty bugs down there. If you try to straddle one on the road they jump up. And, like humans, they are not a native species to Florida. Glad we don't have them in PA yet. 

"Aggie Post Hole Digger."

My sister-in-law has a place up in the mountains. One night we saw a bear right off the deck--like a big, big bear. 

The cat was just sitting beside it like with this expression that said, Yeah, whatever. 

They eat them in Brazil.  Called what sounds like "Tattoo."  Cooking them should kill the leprosy.   We have them all over AR, but not in my yard.  I don't have any dirt for them to dig, just rocks.  I see them wander by occasionally, but they don't stick around.  Apparently sandstone is too hard for them to dig through.  Possum, yeah, we have them, and they can be aggressive.  Who knew?  Coon, fox, bear (2 of my immediate neighbors have confronted black bear, I've seen tracks,) chipmunks, squirrels, rats, mice, coyote, various snakes including copperheads, water moccasins, meth lab customers, we have about all of it.