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Oh yuck!

Just been cleaning out the shed at a customers, now going to be a log store. Pulled down a bag of straw (used to keep the pond clear) from up high and the biggest, ugliest, fattest, rat I have ever seen bounced off my head and with a hefty size thirteen up its derrière it flew out the door. I have to admit to then having a serious hissy fit with lots of foul language and plenty of arm waving and head brushing! Seriously seriously yucky! The customer disappeared almost as fast as the rat and I could hear gales of laughter! It's funny now 2 hours later but then I had a major sense of humour failure! It's all okay with the customer by the way:)Have you had a similar experience with our wildlife?

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  • PRO
    Haha, sorry mate but that is funny...;-) when I first started gardening I was clearing out and old compost area when I saw something moving in the compost, had a "idiot" moment and put my hand in to move away the layer of leaves only to be bitten by an Adder, soooooo painful and my hand puffed up to 3 times the size of what it normally is, nausea and vomiting constantly, massive reaction, needless to say I learned from my mistake lol
    • PRO
      Oh god! Only three things make me squeal......rats, snakes and sharks. (Think I saw Jaws to young:)) so big yuck to to your snake also!

      On a serious note let that be a lesson to us all. There's nothing in this country that will kill you with a bite but they'll give it a damn good go just in case.
      • PRO
        Yeah and I should have known better, I was born and raised in Australia, one of my best friends was killed right in front of me when I was 15 by a great white, we were surfing off an island just off the coast of Australia with my older brother and his mates, there were no shark nets, and one of the guys earlier that day had cut his thigh open with a fin off his board, blood was in the water and the scent stays for a long time apparently, right place because the surf was awesome on this particular stretch of coast, just the wrong day...
  • I can handle most wildlife apart from swarms of wasps. It's dog mess that still churns me every time though!

  • Andy, that sounds pretty grim!

    Only last month I visited a client to discuss winter works.  He pointed at a gutter downpipe and told me it was blocked.  There was an intermediary running outlet around 7ft up and my first instinct was to put my hand in it (without gloves - why oh why, I never do that!) and feel around for any trapped debris.

    There wasn't much at all that I could feel - just a small handful of 'moss' which I seized with my fingers and brought down towards my head.  Two maggots from the carcass of a bat dropped on my forehead - and then I did the Indian rain dance manoeuvre!  The client will dine on that moment!

    Grim, yuck, 'orrible - call it what you will, those 'discoveries' are always the worst ones when gardening.

    Cheers, Eugene

  • Thanks for the laughs.

    But seriously, be careful out there. People buy themselves all these exotic pets and then when they get too big and they can no longer handle them, the pets "escape". 

    You never know what you may find.

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