Nutria....imported South American rats

[8NTX]

We've got 'em in most parts of East Texas. I've seen them in area lakes and rivers, most recently at Lake Ray Hubbard just east of Dallas. Thankfully not at our place, though. We do have one pesky beaver though but he's kinda fun to watch and hasn't done much damage (yet). Biggest hassle so far with him is his scent mound that he likes to build next to our dock.

 

[SPIKER]

Oh I haven't seen any out side only in the zoo: and on TV /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif didn't mean to confuse anyone thinking they made it to OHIO yet. I think they are too much of a warm blooded animal to get this far north, but as everyone is saying they are very adaptive critter.

Mark M /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[MossRoad]

<font color="blue"> I think they are too much of a warm blooded animal to get this far north, but as everyone is saying they are very adaptive critter. </font>

That's what I thought when I was sitting on a train platform at 57th St. in Chicago with my 6 year old daughter last Novemember when I heard what sounded like a parrot. I was pretty tired, but then a flock of eight large green birds flew by squawking away. I felt ill. I asked my daughter what those were and she said, "Parrots". They landed in a tree and squaked for a while and flew off. Then a woman and child came by and sat next to us. My daughter looked at them and said, "We just saw some parrots." I hid my face. The woman then said, "Oh, yes. They are all over Hyde Park. They've been here for 30 or more years." I felt better and looked it up on the internet when I got home. They are acutally Monk Parakeets. In Chicago. In winter. All year 'round for that matter. So don't be surprised if in a few years these Nutria are further and further north. It can happen. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[timb]

The Monks are very adaptable - they're illegal in many states for that reason, including PA. A shame, since they sound like a fairly nice bird otherwise.

Has anyone seen the Nutrias in southern PA, the upper Ohio valley, or as far as northern WV or northern MD yet? Sure don't need them here, we have enough problems with our old-fashioned local muskrats and groundhogs. And I ain't eating one. I draw the line on the order rodentia at bunnies and maybe the odd squirrel. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Dave, I was not aware of this critter in Washington, but you are correct (you knew this). found this on the web. Infested states

 

[DKinWA]

Twinkle toes,

I'm a life long "rustingtonian" and I remember seeing them as a kid and thinking they were otters. They typically live along low gradient streams where you find a lot of sloughs, oxbows, et. Most of the time I see them in the lower Chehalis, North River and Willapa Rivers. I'm sure they're also in tributaries of the lower columbia and Puget Sound.

 

[dieselsmoke1]

I've gotta ask...what's a "rustingtonian"?

 

[DKinWA]

It's kind of a running joke in Western Washington. It rains so much around here everything rusts, including some of the locals /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I'm on the Olympic peninsula and rainfall averages range from less than 20" per year to over 120" in the Quinault area. In a hours drive, I can go from an area that recieves 50 or 60" per year to an area that averages well over 100". It makes for some pretty country, but the winter blahs are pretty common. Many of us that work outdoors in the winter can easily wear out a set of raingear in one winter season. Some folks even refer to the east and west side of the state as the "wet side" and the "dry side".