Post Flood Cleanup: Critters

[frodo]

Yesterday I went to my home with the house owners to begin the cleanup. It came as no real surprise that a few critters had taken advantage of the house during the flooding. Besides the frogs and toads that were still living in the downstairs bathroom, or the fish that had been swimming around the living room, I had found some tracks left behind, but I am unsure what kind of tracks these could be. The owners wife and myself think that a rather large snake had also made itself a home. The tracks were found in the downstairs bathroom, along the edge of a wall, and near the utility area. They were not seen anywhere else. Anyone else have a different thought about this?

The little guy who couldn't find his way out.

[katana]

Reminds me of a similar story I saw in Thairath earlier this month, reporting the story of a Thai policeman who found similar tracks in his house in Auythaya province.

Apparently in early October the water level rose to 1.5m and flooded his house so he evacuated with his family to a different province to escape the waters, locking the house up securely behind him. When he returned one month later on 01/11/11 he opened up the door and was amazed to see the tracks of some kind of animal that had been crawling around all over the floor and stairs, leaving tracks in the muddy deposits, some tens of meters long. He thought it might be some kind of lizard or reptile, but searching the house found no trace of it.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:fJ6jrh2df4AJ:www.thairath.co.th/content/region/213595+site:thairath.co.th

[T_Dog]

Pretty interesting tracks! I bet a snake on a slippery tile floor uses a variety of techniques to get ahead. Since there is no pad print of some kind, I would expect a snake, but I am no expert.

http://www.wildernesscollege.com/snake-tracks.html

[somchaismith]

We had a few small dead fish in our living room and also a large deceased centipede.

A couple of weeks ago after the neighbors had fled their flooded homes, leaving behind cats, we had a few of them, who were looking for handouts, take up residence on our rear roof. A female cat was accompanied by a litter of two young kittens and one of them fell off the roof, into the water and drowned. Very sad indeed.

[bino]

I'm guessing that it was a fish, caught in the receding water. I saw this a few years ago (2006) during the floods in Ayutthaya. A fish that was about 5 inches long and 2 inches high was trying to swim in an inch of water. He was halfway down on one side at about a 45 degree angle, dragging his belly while beating his fins and tail for propulsion. I picked him up and threw him in to deeper water and he took off.

[WarpSpeed]

I'm guessing that it was a fish, caught in the receding water. I saw this a few years ago (2006) during the floods in Ayutthaya. A fish that was about 5 inches long and 2 inches high was trying to swim in an inch of water. He was halfway down on one side at about a 45 degree angle, dragging his belly while beating his fins and tail for propulsion. I picked him up and threw him in to deeper water and he took off.

Get's my vote too..

[hedonist44]

I'm guessing that it was a fish, caught in the receding water. I saw this a few years ago (2006) during the floods in Ayutthaya. A fish that was about 5 inches long and 2 inches high was trying to swim in an inch of water. He was halfway down on one side at about a 45 degree angle, dragging his belly while beating his fins and tail for propulsion. I picked him up and threw him in to deeper water and he took off.

Get's my vote too..

I'm not to sure about it being a fish. If it were a fish, the marks on the floor would be it's front dorsal fins? If this was true, then wouldn't the body and tail smudge up all those nice markings as it past?

I'm thinking (don't laugh) that it may be a big 1,000 leg centipede. As a centipede crawls forward, each of it's legs are put in the same place the leg in front if it was placed. See what I'm trying to say. It's like having 10 people standing close together in a straight line and walking forward with everyone putting his foot in the same place as the person in front of him as they move forward. Looking at the markings you can visualize the legs moving as it's crawling thus leaving that arch motion in the mud. You can see it's legs trying to move it forward, or can you?

I don't know, but I think if it was a fish it would be all smeared up and not as clear as it seams to be.

[frodo]

Reminds me of a similar story I saw in Thairath earlier this month, reporting the story of a Thai policeman who found similar tracks in his house in Auythaya province.

Apparently in early October the water level rose to 1.5m and flooded his house so he evacuated with his family to a different province to escape the waters, locking the house up securely behind him. When he returned one month later on 01/11/11 he opened up the door and was amazed to see the tracks of some kind of animal that had been crawling around all over the floor and stairs, leaving tracks in the muddy deposits, some tens of meters long. He thought it might be some kind of lizard or reptile, but searching the house found no trace of it.

http://webcache.goog...:thairath.co.th

That's exactly the same type of prints we had found. Much like the house owner above, a search found nothing in the house, thankfully. I did ask a few neighbors who had cleaned their homes, and they had nothing like these. They found dead fish, but no prints. Whatever the heck it is, I hope I won't see it face to face.

[Semper]

Turtle tracks.

[hedonist44]

Turtle tracks.

Could be that also.

[WarpSpeed]

I'm guessing that it was a fish, caught in the receding water. I saw this a few years ago (2006) during the floods in Ayutthaya. A fish that was about 5 inches long and 2 inches high was trying to swim in an inch of water. He was halfway down on one side at about a 45 degree angle, dragging his belly while beating his fins and tail for propulsion. I picked him up and threw him in to deeper water and he took off.

Get's my vote too..

I'm not to sure about it being a fish. If it were a fish, the marks on the floor would be it's front dorsal fins? If this was true, then wouldn't the body and tail smudge up all those nice markings as it past?

I'm thinking (don't laugh) that it may be a big 1,000 leg centipede. As a centipede crawls forward, each of it's legs are put in the same place the leg in front if it was placed. See what I'm trying to say. It's like having 10 people standing close together in a straight line and walking forward with everyone putting his foot in the same place as the person in front of him as they move forward. Looking at the markings you can visualize the legs moving as it's crawling thus leaving that arch motion in the mud. You can see it's legs trying to move it forward, or can you?

I don't know, but I think if it was a fish it would be all smeared up and not as clear as it seams to be.

i was thinking those marks were it's tail not it's front fins. It slaps back and forth in a half circumference like a tail of a fish struggling to move forward in very shallow water.

Keep in mind also this is not mud, it's a mineral based water staining and quite a bit harder to remove I know I just cleaned my house and it has to be scrubbed off even if wet but most especially if it dries on so it doesn't smear as easily as it may seem and takes quite a bit of pressure to leave an imprint.

Edited November 28, 2011 by WarpSpeed

[hedonist44]

I'm guessing that it was a fish, caught in the receding water. I saw this a few years ago (2006) during the floods in Ayutthaya. A fish that was about 5 inches long and 2 inches high was trying to swim in an inch of water. He was halfway down on one side at about a 45 degree angle, dragging his belly while beating his fins and tail for propulsion. I picked him up and threw him in to deeper water and he took off.

Get's my vote too..

I'm not to sure about it being a fish. If it were a fish, the marks on the floor would be it's front dorsal fins? If this was true, then wouldn't the body and tail smudge up all those nice markings as it past?

I'm thinking (don't laugh) that it may be a big 1,000 leg centipede. As a centipede crawls forward, each of it's legs are put in the same place the leg in front if it was placed. See what I'm trying to say. It's like having 10 people standing close together in a straight line and walking forward with everyone putting his foot in the same place as the person in front of him as they move forward. Looking at the markings you can visualize the legs moving as it's crawling thus leaving that arch motion in the mud. You can see it's legs trying to move it forward, or can you?

I don't know, but I think if it was a fish it would be all smeared up and not as clear as it seams to be.

i was thinking those marks were it's tail not it's front fins. It slaps back and forth in a half circumference like a tail of a fish struggling to move forward in very shallow water.

Keep in mind also this is not mud, it's a mineral based water staining and quite a bit harder to remove I know I just cleaned my house and it has to be scrubbed off even if wet but most especially if it dries on so it doesn't smear as easily as it may seem and takes quite a bit of pressure to leave an imprint.

Ok, I can see your logic somewhat, but looks to uniform to me for that. Again, don't know...

[WarpSpeed]

Get's my vote too..

I'm not to sure about it being a fish. If it were a fish, the marks on the floor would be it's front dorsal fins? If this was true, then wouldn't the body and tail smudge up all those nice markings as it past?

I'm thinking (don't laugh) that it may be a big 1,000 leg centipede. As a centipede crawls forward, each of it's legs are put in the same place the leg in front if it was placed. See what I'm trying to say. It's like having 10 people standing close together in a straight line and walking forward with everyone putting his foot in the same place as the person in front of him as they move forward. Looking at the markings you can visualize the legs moving as it's crawling thus leaving that arch motion in the mud. You can see it's legs trying to move it forward, or can you?

I don't know, but I think if it was a fish it would be all smeared up and not as clear as it seams to be.

i was thinking those marks were it's tail not it's front fins. It slaps back and forth in a half circumference like a tail of a fish struggling to move forward in very shallow water.

Keep in mind also this is not mud, it's a mineral based water staining and quite a bit harder to remove I know I just cleaned my house and it has to be scrubbed off even if wet but most especially if it dries on so it doesn't smear as easily as it may seem and takes quite a bit of pressure to leave an imprint.

Ok, I can see your logic somewhat, but looks to uniform to me for that. Again, don't know...

It is very distinctive and uniform, I agree. It makes you marvel at nature as that is a print of it you don't regularly see except in a rare instances like this..