Got critters in mines?

[dungeon crawler]

Hi all I am a wildlife ecologist and wanted to know what animals you have seen in your underground explorations. It would be interesting to start a discussion and post animal pics (if others already haven't) on what critters you have seen in the mines. Scats, tracks, nests, middens and bones would also be interesting. I am particularly interested in mines being used as rattlesnake (or other snake types) brumation dens, Bat hibernacula, predator dens etc. I will share pics and stories if you will...

[Joanne]

First, welcome to the forum!

I don't have near the experience that some of the other explorers on the list have, but I have seen just a few animals. When we sleep inside of a mine near the adit, we often see rodents during the night hours. Primarily mice and the occasional rat. Further in the mine we generally find bats. (You can tell I have NO wildlife training). That is really all that I've ever seen.

We did kick up this guy outside of one of the mines in Delamar.




I've also seen a doe and her fawn up there. Closer to Vegas I have photos of a herd of big horn sheep. They are beautiful!

Joanne

[hightech]

Guardian to the Underworld - Turkey Vulture with eggs in 90'


This mommy was at the dead end of a 90' adit. Crawling on my hands and knee we can face to beak.
(sorry, not sure how to post this photo larger)

[KDT1970]

My avitar is what I usually see in mines.

[Rubyredvet]

My avitar is what I usually see in mines.

I've found a few of those.

[tdt1994]

I have seen a rattle snake close to a mine and i was about 2 feet from it when i had actually noticed it.

[lobster68w]

Rats are by far the most common thing I've come across followed closely by bats. I've also run into rattlers and the occasional bird.

[Dawn_CL]

Only critters ive ever seen while looking thru mines was cave crickets, brown recluses, field mice and wood rats. Ive never came across any snakes in the mines yet but ive seen a few shedded skins.
Actually in my mines theres mostly field mice and wood rats. I was blasting in one of my mines one day and when i went back down the shaft i was working to muck the rock i noticed two wood rats laying on top of the freshly blasted rock. One was dead, the other was still alive with no harm done to him. I tried finding his nest so i could return him and since i couldnt locate it and since he could barely walk and his eyes not yet open, i decided to take him home. Ive had him for nearly three years now and he seems like hes still going strong. At first i was a bit skeptical on keeping him since i know many rats carry diseases and i had initially decided to release him back into the wild once he was able to fend on his own but after close examination of his habits and very good study online about his species i decided to just keep him as a pet, and to be rather honest, im glad that i did as hes became one of THE best pets one could ever have.
He rides on my shoulder when im cleaning the house and stuff and will eat right from my fingers. He has never tried biting or anything. He became so well adapted that i would feel really bad had i actually set him back into the wild. One day i accidentally left his cage door open after feeding him and he got out of his cage. The FIRST thing that came to mind was hes gone but come to find out he was hiding in a hole that was in one of my walls (which was patched afterwards). How i found this out was i seen toothmarks around the hole to make it bigger so since i knew his habits and knew he loved vienna sausages i came on an idea. I put his cage door in front of the hole and put a piece of vienna out in front of his cage between the hole and his cage door. About 2 minutes later here he comes out of the hole and eating his vienna i had set out. It was then i just veered him back into his cage.
All in all, if any of you are looking for very CHEAP pets these guys are the way to go. But a word of caution, if you catch these make sure they are infants because then they will adapt very easy to you.

[Kiel]

I can see some people trying to gran full grown rats now!

[Dawn_CL]

I can see some people trying to gran full grown rats now!

Actually i have caught full grown rats as well as those small squirrels when they was down in the shaft of my mines with nowhere to go. It was either i caught them(with very good leather gloves on) to get them up out of there or they wouldve just died down there with the stink for me to contend with while i was working the shaft. Those little squirrels ( cant recall right now of what kind they are) are fast little critters.


Heres a couple of pictures of my rat i got from one of my mines. These are recent. The first one is him standing up after i had just got done rubbing under his chin and chest. The second one he was standing there waiting for his food on the door of his cage while i was feeding him.

[Joanne]

Hi Dawn,

Cute pictures of Mickey! Is he a rat or a mouse? In the picture he looks small like a mouse, but of course I can't really tell.

How are things down in Kingman?

Joanne

[Dawn_CL]

He's a wood rat. Thier mainly vegetarian. He eats alot of greens and very few meats except for those viennas he likes. When i did my research on his species it was mentioning that they get thier water sources from grasses and stuff out in the wild. Of course, hes adapted so well that he drinks from one of those upright water bottles like is used in a hamsters cage and a small bird water dish i put in there. Hes larger than a field mouse and with the colors of his fur he really blends in well with weeds and stuff. I use grasses and weeds for his bedding which he makes his nesting from. Once not long ago i tried sawdust and for some reason he hated that. He refused making his bed with that and was sleeping one on of the upper decks in his cage so i felt bad and replaced the sawdust with the stuff he was used to. After that he made his bed. Was funny as hell. His actions all in all are funny as hell because i wouldve never dreamed about how picky these guys are. He wont eat anything thats not fresh. He setup one side of his cage to do his duty in and the other side to bed in. LMAO


Things are good here in Kingman. Ive just been busy working with some cave-ins and new shoring out at my newest mine. For some odd reason back when that mine was worked, they dug a large pocket right above the main haulage tunnel near the entrance and just left the tailings and ore up there. Im guessing there was, at one time, timbering up in there with possibly a chute to load all that stuff from into the ore cars below but im thinking that through the years, people have went in there and torn down the timbering to use for firewood or whatever and as a result the cave-in ive been working on occurred. Im thinking at the pace im going i should have all that out of there by spring. Once i get the cave-in taken care of then i need to de-water the mine so i can get down to the lower levels. LOTS of work out there yet to be done.