Subject: [Tweeters] Aplodontia insurgency ramps up (long)
Date: Jan 31 10:43:14 2005
From: Pterodroma at aol.com - Pterodroma at aol.com


A year or so ago I posted a note ("urban terror 101"), most serious being the
insidious destructive ravages by what I call the "osamanites," a.k.a.
Mountain Beavers (Aplodontia rufa) that occupy the nearly impenetrable steep, loose
mountainous slopes of unstable soil which are honeycombed with excavated caves
and tunnels amidst the impossible tangle of rhodies along my southern border
known as the 'Tora Bora' region which is my yard. Anyone, especially
gardeners, who've had Mountain Beavers in their yard or garden already know how
destructive these interesting and not so little pests can be. Not to mention the
literal hundreds of pounds of rocks and soil they push out of the way which
undermines and destabilizes the hillside, they can completely strip a rhododendron
of all it's leaves and branches up to 1 inch in diameter literally overnight.

I've declared all out war on these critters now for a year. Since that long
deep freeze in the first half of January, the current long stint of
unseasonable mild spring like weather has brought these hungry varmints out in droves.
They are very difficult to capture but since March 2004, I've now managed to
capture FIVE, with three of those just in the last week all at the same tunnel
entrance. I am elated with this sudden burst of success in my personal war on
urban eco-terror. This morning's capture was a very important one, a huge
and very pregnant female. I think I got her just in the nick of time before she
popped out a litter that would no doubt grow into yet another wave of more
relentless eco-terror driven adults.

Most folks around here have never seen one; most of you I'd imagine, because
they are so reclusive and spend most of their time underground. They are
severely near sighted which is a good thing because if you're ever lucky enough to
see one out in the open away from cover (very rare), it may walk right up to
you and can be actually caught by hand as I've done once thankfully with a
bucket and large plastic trash can close by. Careful! ...they're heavy, bulky,
and they bite. Mountain Beavers are the size of and look like a tailless
muskrat and seem to be most active at night although I have on a few occasions seen
them wandering around or rustling around in the leaves during the day. I do
however frequently hear them 'barking' during the day but due to the
incredibly ventriliqual nature, I've have never been able to actually pinpoint the
source even when the 'bark' is deafeningly close and sounds right under foot. The
'bark' is a quick high pitched squirrel or marmot like bark audible from as
much as a block away with a forceful 'oomph' of air on the end which is only
detectable when very very close and can actually resonates inside my body.

The Aplodontia is a very interesting beast and despite my frustration with
them, I could never actually kill one. They are considered to be North
America's (perhaps the world's) most primitive rodent and are unique and endemic to
the wet side of the Pacific Northwest Cascades. Capture and eradication is
difficult at best and virtually nothing seems to work short of a large 18x5x5 inch
metal cage "Havahart" live trap carefully set at the entrance of the most
active tunnel entrance you can find. A single individual may have an underground
network of tunnels that cover nearly an acre with dozens of entrances all
over the place.

If you've got an Aplodontia problem, here's some tips from experience that's
been working for me which might help. I try not to touch anything (soil,
burrow, trap, bait) with my bare hands to reduce the chance of leaving any human
scent and use ordinary green rubberized garden gloves. I set the trap on the
most active appearing runway at the burrow entrance and build up the sides and
ends so that there is only one way in and one way out. I bait the trap with
copious quantities of fresh romaine lettuce including stuffing leaves down the
hole and along the runway leading to and from the two trap entrances at either
end. I also put a layer of soil across the bottom of the trap to cover the
metal parts. Once it's carefully set, I cover the whole thing over with a
large sheet of black plastic like a trash bag (burlap might be better) which makes
the trap 'look' like a dark extension of the tunnel. The cover should be
secured and sealed as tightly as possible so it won't blow away or leak light.
Then, I just leave it for however long it takes to catch something -- day,
week, month, year, or at least until I need to freshen it up with fresh lettuce.
No matter how much romaine you put in there, the critter will eat every bit of
it after capture while he's not so patiently rattling around in there
awaiting his fate.

If you're going to nip 'em in the bud, NOW is the time to do it. Late winter
/ early spring is the rutting season and the young are born within a month of
that and this seems to have all the appearances of a very early spring.

I got my "Havahart" trap at "The Grange" in Issaquah of which there's an
interesting story associated with that. In my desperation at "The Grange" a year
ago, I discovered a testimonial page long letter written by none other than
Paul Harvey taped to the shelf next to the traps. All you old timers around
here (like me) surely know Paul Harvey; the news guy who's been around for 40-50
years and still broadcasting his nationally syndicated news program; you know,
"Paul Harvey, ...goood day!" and the other bit "...now you know the rest of
the story." Yeah, that Paul Harvey. I remember as a kid growing up in
Missouri listening to him. Anyway, turns out he lives right here in Bellevue, and,
well, apparently he had a Mountain Beaver problem too. The letter goes on and
on detailing and praising the success with his "Havahart." I was immediately
impressed and sold and, well, ...now you know the rest of the story :-)) Even
if you don't have a problem or intend to buy a trap, it's still fun just to
stop in at "The Grange" and read the letter.

What happens now? I don't (I couldn't) kill them, nor do I send them off to
Abu Graibe or Guantanimo, rather I exile them way far east of here to habitats
that look even more suitable with a good healthy forest, a stream, steep
hillsides, and lush vegetation, and even more attractive than my yard and
hopefully not in or near someone else's. Exit 20 along I-90 (10 miles away) has been
a good spot for the last four, but now just in case they have an incredible
homing instinct (surely not?!?), this one is headed out this morning on a much
longer road trip to the I-90 Herschel Exit 47. That should be far enough and
completely out of everyone's neighborhood except maybe the US Forest Service
which doesn't have much use for them either. Transplants don't do well
according to my website research (maybe not even legal?) since they're stuck right out
of the trap out in the open in new surroundings and probably immediately in
direct competition with others of their ilk but I figure at least it's a
chance. Want one as a pet? Maybe the zoo? They never last more than two or three
weeks in captivity, so bad idea.

Five down now, maybe, um, 1400 more to go! :-))

P.S. Since pesky and introduced non native eastern gray squirrels have been
a point of discussion on 'tweeters' from time to time, the 18x5x5" Havahart
works perfect on them too. Some folks love their squirrels, some don't
especially when they become destructive, or worse, destructive with attitude. Either
way, feelings and opinions can evolve into bitter polarity (kind of like the
GOP & the Dems these days). However, if you do opt for live trapping, DO NOT
RELEASE THEM back in the wild somewhere! If it's the last resort and you've
got to trap the thing, the ONLY right thing despite how queasy you may feel
about it is to put them down. There are plenty of valid reasons not to mention
legal issues and having just read all this (see website below) does give me some
pause with respect to dispatching my Mountain Beaver situation. A very
helpful website addressing these issues and discussion of the most humane methods
pertaining to eastern gray squirrrels can be read at:
<A HREF="http://www.unexco.com/trapsquirrels.html">Trapping Squirrels</A>
http://www.unexco.com/trapsquirrels.html

Hope I don't get in trouble posting this.

****************************************************
Richard Rowlett
Seattle / Bellevue (Eastgate), WA, USA

"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what
nobody has thought" --Albert Szent-Gyorgi (1893-1986).
****************************************************