UrsulaV (ursulav) wrote,
UrsulaV
ursulav

WOooo! Lumpy squirrel on the feeder!

God help me, I'm excited to see that the local squirrels have botflies. Obviously I am sick in the head.

For those readers who've joined us since last summer, the squirrels in North Carolina (and many other places) are afflicted with a parasite known as squirrel botflies, which burrow under the skin, cause a huge bald lump, and then hatch out. It's generally not harmful to the squirrel, although I must assume they don't particularly enjoy it--you're not supposed to try to catch them and remove them, since the stress of capture is apparently far greater than the annoyance of having a bug hanging off you. It causes the squirrels to get a rather disturbing Quasimodo-ish look for awhile, and leaves a distinctive round scar.

The first of the defective wildlife I began watching was Lumpy the squirrel. So there's a weird kind of nostalgia attached, which probably is a sign that I am a major freak.

I suggest not googling, unless you have a remarkably strong stomach.
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  • 32 comments

  • Writing Poems For Wolves (NSFW)

    I have been wandering around feeling itchy, like I need to do something to prove that I can still move pixels around a page into a shape more…

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