Small swimming mammal? North Carolina

[vetbridge]

@Mr. Moto

Have you bought your traps yet?

We’re more the leather type.

[Dinsdale]

@wevets

Sounds like muskrat is a likely guess, with mink and small nutria following behind.

Wait a minute - exactly how many animals did you see?

[BluePitbull]

@Colibri

I agree. A muskrat, which is much smaller than a beaver, sounds by far the most likely candidate. A foot long for the head+body would be about right. They are very common throughout much of North America.

I like minks. Do they keep them as pets like ferretsw?

[Colibri]

@BluePitbull

I like minks. Do they keep them as pets like ferretsw?

No. From here

Do mink make good pets?

No. Domesticated mink do not make good pets. While dogs and cats have been selectively bred for pet-quality traits over thousands of years, domesticated mink are livestock that have been bred for clothing and oil and life on a farm. They retain many of their aggressive traits. Mink have very sharp teeth and claws and can inflict nasty injuries on their handlers. They are also carnivorous and so need a high protein diet. Given the chance, mink will eat your pet guinea pigs, rabbits and goldfish.

If you have heard that mink make good pets, it’s misinformation. We only know of one owner who successfully raised a mink in his home and even he has been unable to reproduce that success with other mink from the same and subsequent litters. Mink have not been selectively bred for pet-quality, so FCUSA does not recommend you attempt to hold and raise them as pets unless you are willing to give, at the minimum, 20 years to the project.

Ferrets, on the other hand, have been domesticated for thousands of years. They make much better pets, but are still a handful.

[DSYoungEsq]

@Wile E

Okay, since it hasn’t been said yet.

Chupacabra.

Hmmmmm, are we sure that we haven’t lost one of the server’s brand new capybaras, and it’s on its lonely trek home to South America??

[Wile_E]

@Gymnopithys

Do goatsuckers swim ? :dubious: I know they can fly… Their scientific name is Caprimulgus = chupacabra.

They’ll do whatever they need to do to get their goat.
Re: Mink. I live in Florida, in an urban area. There’s several large empty commercial lots nearby but no little swampy areas nearby and a few years ago we saw a mink crossing in front of our workplace late at night. My co-worker insisted it was a chupacabra, but we later identified it as a mink. They do range throughout Florida but I really wouldn’t expect to find them in a city. I have no idea where it came from unless someone in the nearby residential area was raising mink in their back yard.

[Gymnopithys]

Could it be a LonesomePolecat ?

[wevets]

@Dinsdale

Wait a minute - exactly how many animals did you see?

They were on parade - the batons, the instruments, the uniforms - it made it difficult to count.