Help identify the critter

I live in Indiana in a slice of country just a hop from the interstates. Out with my dog this morning, she found something I need help identifying.

It has pinchers, like a crab, but had more of a long lobster-type body. It was at least several inches long and a pale but mottled color. While it did rain about 2 inches last night, we are hundreds of miles from a beach and many more from salt water. This creature was hanging out in the bushes and could have crawled from the woods. It's not a crawdad as those are smaller and darker and I'm familiar with them.

Obviously, this is not the kind of thing a Hoosier expects to find in her yard and I was a bit freaked out by it, but more freaked out that my dog would not heed my command to BACK OFF.

What is this thing??

How about this? Scroll down a bit...looks like a rusty crayfish...average full growth is 4 inches not including claws.

Off the subject, but....my kids just found (in a creek here in Michigan) a crawfish that must have been 8 inches long. If they hadn't found it already dead I think I would have eaten it! So do these rusty guys get out and crawl around on land????

This thread has a scary end-of-the world quality, doesn't it?

I'd second the guess as a "crayfish". We lived in Southern Indiana, but had a large pond (called a Lake) in our backyard. We saw crayfish often, that looked just like you've described (and the picture). Also, we noticed sand mounds in our backyard created by the crayfish.

Geekette

Does your dog run free outdoors? If so, and you think she might eat these crayfish, you might want to keep an eye on her for respiratory problems. Crayfish can carry a larval form of a parasite that develops into adults in the lungs of carnivores. See these links for more information on the dog lung fluke:

http://cvm.msu.edu/courses/mic569/docs/parasite/n/paragonimus.htm
http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/dxendopar/parasitepages/trematodes/p_kellicotti.html

This parasite can be seen in dogs & cats in Indiana, although it is definitely not as common as heartworms or roundworms.

If you think your dog may have ingested crayfish and become infected, your veterinarian can check for the eggs of the dog lung fluke. Be sure to mention your concerns to him/her because some fecal tests are not effective for finding this type of egg.

For those who travel to the Far East, there is a related parasite that causes a similar respiratory disease in humans. See this link for more info:

http://www.dpd.cdc.gov/DPDx/HTML/Paragonimiasis.htm

And don't eat raw crawfish

Evelyn

Thanks, everyone. one of my cohorts suggested scorpion, which of course has scared the crap out of me, since we can't find the thing now!

I guess I wasn't thinking crayfish because we had them at our old house that had a drainage ditch behind it. We don't have water here. Well, several blocks away, and 2 inches of rain in an hour last night. I'll look for mounds, I know what those look like.

They also seem smaller and darker. The linked picture was pretty dark for this guy. The thing I saw was a lot lighter, and maybe speckled? It wasn't a solid color but was more beige than rust. I didn't see the end of him so I don't know what his tail looks like. I'm kicking myself for not getting a better look.

Thank you SO MUCH for the tip about crayfish parasite - my dog has a big fenced yard to cavort in, and we saw this guy out back. I'm soooo glad I have the morning "do a lap" routine with her. It's obvious when she finds something, but it's usually a chipmunk. She wanted to play with it, and I saw pinchers waving and about lost my breakfast. What if I hadn't been with her?

Tonight I found out it's apparently CRITTER DAY here - a baby frog attached itself to the screen outside a dining room window; a baby rabbit took a run across the yard and is still lying out there (I thought my dog saw it but luckily, she hasn't! don't worry, the bunny can slip out the gate); a slug managed to get itself inside and onto the doormat; a giant spider was creeping towards the door.

I have never been so happy to see my husband pull up. Killed the spider, saved the frog and looked and the slug and bunny. I get creeped by creeps. The deer, the bunnies, even the peacock and raccoons, these are charming, I'm good with that. Even the frog when he doesn't peek in the window is welcome here. The other guys, be here if you must, but don't let me see you.

And it gets worse.

Does anyone have a plausible explanation for how 3 bobby pins could end up on our deck? I don't use them and hubby doesn't have a girlfriend, so what else is there but picking a lock? I'm not convinced that the wind and storms brought them and I don't think non-human visitors would bring them. Something set my dog off early this morning so intruder fits.

Anything you got, I'd love to hear it.

wackymother said:

This thread has a scary end-of-the world quality, doesn't it?

Click to expand...

Only if you find one coming out of your stomach.

If it's light colored, it might be a scorpion. They usually don't like water and will find dry ground during wet seasons. I hate scorps most of all the bugs.
If you can get a picture, post it at What's that Bug? and search his site for scorpions and crawfish.

What's That Bug - what a great site!! I'll muster up the stomach to go look at it.

I have not found the creature. He's not hiding under the bushes like he was yesterday. I have not found "crayfish mounds" (I do apologize if I get crayfish and crawdad mixed up).

It was the morning after heavy rains when I found him, but it's hot and humid today - I'm thinking he moved on in search of the creek.

3kids4me said:

Only if you find one coming out of your stomach.

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oh gees, I'm already having enuf shivers down my spine, seeing those waving pinchers . . . no, I don't watch horror movies, have never been able to handle them. Please don't tell me about the Legend of the Giant Thing that someone kept as a pet and it ended up eating the neighbors . . .

Re: Help Learn To Love the critters

Your half way to becoming an amature naturalist. Cray fish come in a variety of tones from beige to dark brown. A flood can move them out of a stream and cats often pick up prey and then drop it off unharmed. The bunny sounds interesting. Why do'nt you put up bird houses and bat houses and start watching animal planet on TV?

Scorpions in Indiana? Really?

When we lived in North Africa, my brother and I would make a game of stomping all over these big "ant" things that scattered in the dirt of the road as you walked. In our sandals. Only later when we were informed these were baby scorpions did we actually look close at them and realized we'd been stomping baby scorpions with sandal clad feet.

Poor little guys. Scorpions eat a lot of unpleasant insects and aren''t all that bad.

Re: Help Learn To Love the critters

mamiecarter said:

Your half way to becoming an amature naturalist. Cray fish come in a variety of tones from beige to dark brown. A flood can move them out of a stream and cats often pick up prey and then drop it off unharmed. The bunny sounds interesting. Why do'nt you put up bird houses and bat houses and start watching animal planet on TV?

Click to expand...

Actually, the house "came with" many bird houses and a bat house. Never did get a bat, tho.

We do watch Animal Planet and usually leave that channel on when we leave the dog for a couple hours.

We refer to Mom as Nature Girl so I do have a bit of it in my blood, just mostly untested ; )

Hadn't thought about the cat angle. Would a hawk eat a crayfish? We do have some rather large hawks in the woods. Maybe there was good reason for the critter to be hiding under the bushes?

Oooh.. What's that Bug.. I've got a good one to send them:

Found it at a lake in the Mammoth Lakes, CA area in 1998:


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Thanks for the "What's this bug?" tip - they already responded. It's a "long horned borer beetle".

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