Our Fur Kids

Teddi and especially Lily continue the transformation of their compound into a replica of World War I trenches. We had a mole hill in the back of their area yesterday and after about 20 minutes of digging I thought Lily had captured another mole. They were looking at the ground and barking so I walked out to investigate. At first I couldn't find anything but then I came across this.

It is a Cicada Killer (Sphecius speciosus) a wasp that rarely stings humans. It is a predator of cicadas and attacks them in flight. The Cicada Killer stings them and flies them back to the nest for consumption. They nest in the ground and the females dig tunnels and lay eggs. Cicadas are caught and killed, placed in the tunnels near the eggs so the larva have something to eat. The one in the picture was about 2 inches long.

In the following pictures you get an idea what Teddi and Lily dug out this morning. The darker colored dirt is what came out of the holes. They are a very busy pair and this only represents one area where they are actively digging.

In an attempt to stop their digging in another area we put river rock in the holes in spots up to a foot thick. This picture shows you how totally ineffective that effort was.