Under the front steps....

Definitely not a cute little bunny underneath the front steps. My guess is that it's an armadillo, and a big one.  The piece of metal chicken wire that my husband put on that hole by the steps was moved away this morning. Not simply moved away, but flung away, as in "Who the heck put this chicken wire right in front of my hiding spot?!"

I left the chicken wire right where it landed. I think we'll have to put the catch/release trap at the entrance to that hole. (I say "we" but I really mean "my husband.")  Any night-roaming animals are sound asleep for most of the day, hiding out in whatever cozy and dark place they've built for themselves. And the animal that's under those steps has built a tunnel going from under the palm leaves to under the front steps, with a long entrance-way hollowed out underneath the paving stones. Sort of like NYC's Holland Tunnel, but Texas-style.

Oh well, that's tomorrow's project..... setting up the trap....... hoping to catch the critter when it comes out for tomorrow night's foraging.... and then we can drive the caged animal to the lake and release it there. (I say "we" but I really mean "my husband.")

Armadillos aren't the smartest of animals..... they will walk right into a trap if you either put the trap right in front of them, or direct them towards the trap with wood slats set on top of the dirt outside their hiding place.

One of our neighbors has re-located nearly 50 armadillos by using pieces of wood to form a direct line from one part of their garden to the catch/release trap at the other end.  Each and every time, an armadillo will get itself from the flower garden to the wooden 'highway,' and then just walk along and follow that wooden trail right into the trap.  The neighbor drives to the lake area in a nearby town and releases the armadillo into the woods there.

We all joke that the little town and the woods around its lake will soon be over-run by an influx of armadillos from this town. Hopefully, one of those re-located armadillos will be the one from underneath our front steps.