I took the boys out to the property at 0-dark-thirty this morning to start the resurrection. Along the way I was visited by 2 neighbors from down the road and a newspaper reporter from Taylor and then went and met my neighbors from across the street. I hope we worked everything out. I hope it's all cleared up. I had a nice chat with the gentleman across from me and he seemed like an ok guy. I gave all of them my phone number and told them that if there ever was a problem to let me know and I would be right out there.

We rebuilt the wall as best as we could without taking the entire structure down and starting from scratch. Then we put galvanized t-posts in all four corners, the ends on the front, at 1/3 and 2/3 of each of the three other sides and in about 6 places along the rebuilt wall.

Then we dumped a few bags of sacrete in the rebuilt sides' blocks' holes.

Tried again to calm down the lady doing all the complaining. Headed back home and took the boys out to a late lunch.

Went home, tried to nap, ate dinner, tried to nap again. Watched some TV.

2100 hours. Yup, got another call from Wilco Comm. Seems the neighbor two houses down found a caiman in her pool. When we got there the people who live all around us on the road were already there, and had it covered, roped and wrangled. As it turns out, they run a snake rescue and had all the necessary equipment, and one of the guys had actually done it before where he used to live. Talk about a stroke of luck. We all went back to my property (2 sets of neighbors, Terri, Cody and Deputy Eric) and released Daisy back into the pond with the other girls. At this point I think this should be the last of them.

Our new neighbors seem to be good people. They had no problem with me, my family, my creatures or my enclosure. They said they'd keep an eye on the property. They told me that they'd help with the fence and look to see if they had some extra "No Trespassing" signs when the time comes to take care of that, and that they'll happily call the Deputy if they see people on my property.

Now to finally get some sleep!

Oh man! Any idea how Daisy got out? Good luck with everything!!!

__________________

At least she knew to go to the RIGHT house.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

We obviously miscounted the bobbing heads. At this point I think we may have had 2 or 3 escape and we've returned 2 to the pond. So, either we got them all, there's still one in the tank at the house with the complaining lady, or there's still one truly on the loose!

(I hope we got them all. I should be able to get a better take on it when I go to feed them next Friday.)

In all fairness, considering you already have a complaining neighbor, I would suggest that you should make sure that all are accounted for now!
Having one on the loose, and should it hurt someone, you may find yourself losing all of them.
Law enforcement and lawmakers, frequently take a dim view of our animals anyway.
Lets not give them any more ammunition.

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Oh, you're completely correct. I had the Deputy out there last night with the complaining woman who said that there was one in her water tank and I offered to get it out and she said, "NO". So I asked if I could come on her property and take a look for myself and she said, "No". So I asked her if she would like to keep it; that I would give her a care sheet; and she, of course, said, "No".

The Deputy wrote it all down and called me later to tell me that he spoke with the county attorney and the liability issue is no longer on me, if she or her animals get hurt because I did my due diligence.

And that if it didn't work itself out that I could have her charged with possession of stolen property, since she refuses to return it. I told the Deputy that I hoped we didn't need to go there, with new neighbors and all, that I would remain vigilant and see how it plays out.

But you are right. Reptiles get a bad rep and I certainly don't need to help that rep go down any further.

Too bad about her knocking my wall down, causing this whole situation!

Well, as long as you offered to fetch it for her. $100 says she didn't have one at all in her tank though. Seems like a reptile drama queen. Probably related to my mother-in-law somehow.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

People are always looking for something to complain about. If it wasn't your reptiles it would be something else.

__________________
“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I found it!) but ‘That’s funny…'"
- Isaac Asimov



TKE:TT:118