Nutria Rats...

The only problem with Alligators is that they sometimes hit Bass lures!

2 Foot or less I try to get the hook out, BIGGER than that and I just cut the line.
 
Nutria rats are fed to the Gators at the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine, FL. I've seen the show, and those gators jump almost full body out of the water and snap the rats from a rope. The gators snap their jaws down on the whole rat a few times before swallowing and you can hear the bones snapping from 100 feet away. The nutria they use are about as big as my 40 lb Bassett hound.
 
"The only problem with Alligators is that they sometimes hit Bass lures!"

Oh yes they will! I have caught then on Crank Baits, Plastic Worms and live bait too.

Like Zorro the ones 2 foot or less get released back in the water. The ones over 3 feet get realeased into a skillet of hot cooking oil after being coated with batter and seasoning.
 
Nutes are dangerous when cornered! One attacked my dogs and cut the female on the nose...blood everywhere. I shot him with a .22 Beretta and that was the end of the nute. Otherwise I try to avoid them.
 
Man, I've been out hunting for Nutria's and can't even seem to find one. I haven't exactly found your standard MK I swamp either, which is probably part of the problem. Everybody keeps saying there are so many of these little suckers...well not in North LA as far as I can tell. Anybody know the web address of the 'Southern North American Nutria Migration map'???
 
In south Louisiana, a dermatitis has been recognized called "nutria itch," "marsh itch," or "creeping eruption." The possible link between the large number of nutrias and the occurrence of a severe pruriginous rash hours after people have been in water or close to a swamp has been noted.1-3

A 12-year-old boy and his 68-year-old grandfather developed diarrhea and an intensely pruritic rash on their trunks and extremities after working in mud next to a marsh populated with nutrias. After 2 weeks of severe pruritus and no improvement, they sought medical attention. Results of their physical examination showed a maculopapular erythematous rash that involved the chest and extremities, but the grandfather's rash was more severe

(I got this off of a LA state Nutria article, from a state-level CDC type agency. Pretty wild huh?):barf:
 
"mattd", most of them in the state prefer (or that's where the majority are found anyway) is the salt marshes in the southern part of the state. I KNOW there are some up north too but not nearly as many.

As far as that nutria itch I can believe it. There are a lot of different bacteria and virusus and other unsavory critters that love the wetlands. I don't know about this one but most of them though need an open sore or other break in the skin to get a foothold in the body.
 
Carol:

I've seen one. Brave little sucker too, crossed a two-lane highway with me going by at 70 mph. So, I know there's a few up here. My problem is finding swamps around here. Being a California native, my tourist perception of LA was that the whole state was swamps.:confused: Ha! I do love it here though. Anyway, I'll continue to look around.

In a separate incident, I took my first bead on a coyote on a beautiful moonlit night across 200 yds of open field a couple days ago. Wow. A little harder to tag than the Nutria I think. A lot smarter too. Needless to say, I missed by a mile. Beautiful creatures though. It took us almost three hours just to see one...:cool:
 
I've seen Nutria just south and east of Ft. Worth while canoeing down the Brazos River from Possum Kingdom ( no joke) State Park. It looked like a beaver while swimming to the bank. As it's fat butt went into a hole a little above the river line I saw the tail. Definitely looks like a rat tail. It was the early morning hours just after sunrise that I saw that one an a couple more.
 
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