What is hiding dog kibble in our clean laundry?

March 14, 2006 7:39 PM

What is hiding dog kibble in our clean laundry?

We live in Tucson Az. Since the weather is always good, we hang our laundry to dry on the clothesline. On a regular basis my husband or I will pull on a pair of shorts fresh from the line and find a piece or two of dry dog kibble in the pocket. We've actually found kibble in a pocket that was buttoned closed. Since there are no squirrels or other cute ground animals where we live, I presumed it was birds dropping the food, but how good could their aim be?

posted by TorontoSandy to Home & Garden (13 answers total)

any practical jokers in your neighborhood?
posted by subatomiczoo at 7:42 PM on March 14, 2006

I presumed it was birds dropping the food, but how good could their aim be?

Some birds very carefully store food in nooks and crannies for eating later, which explains the one in the pocket that was buttoned.
posted by frogan at 7:52 PM on March 14, 2006

Like this one.

And this one.
posted by frogan at 7:55 PM on March 14, 2006

Could it be a neighbor throwing kibble, either for their dog (no idea why anyone would do that, but I hate dogs), or for other animals or birds? It could be hitting your clothes and falling down in to the pockets.

If you want to stop it, just hang the clothes upside down.
posted by crabintheocean at 7:59 PM on March 14, 2006

Jays love to hide food.

I once raised a baby jay that had 2 broken legs. When it got better, if I gave it more live treats (e.g. grashoppers) than it wanted to eat right then, and I was letting it fly around my living room, then it would hide the grashopper. Favorite places were between the pages of a book.

And do you know what the recommended major component of baby bird food is? Dog kibble!

And since you are in AZ, I bet a lot of people feed their dogs outdoors. So I bet you have a large population of birds who get a fair portion of their food from outdoor pet bowls.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 8:54 PM on March 14, 2006

Since there are no squirrels or other cute ground animals where we live,

You really need to get out more. There are plenty of squirrels and other cute ground animals in AZ.

Though the first thing that comes to mind is not a squirrel, but a
pack rat. Though I don't know how prone they are to dropping things in random pockets. That is, unless you had something better in there for them to trade. Do you leave any change in your pockets?
posted by [insert clever name here] at 8:56 PM on March 14, 2006

#[insert clever name here]: the first thing that comes to mind is not a squirrel, but a
pack rat.

Nope, pack rats store their bootey in urine soaked middens.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 9:11 PM on March 14, 2006

Roof rats? I had an infestation of them briefly when I lived in LA. My neighbor'd leave food out all the time for his dogs (until I had the health dept. pay him a visit) and the rats'd feast on dog food. I'd find little caches of dog food on top of the suspended ceiling tiles in my apartment. They're arboreal and often travel from house to house via utility wires, which is not unlike clothesline.
posted by tiny purple fishes at 9:37 PM on March 14, 2006

We've actually found kibble in a pocket that was buttoned closed.

Was it rebuttoned? I'm just thinking it's those damn Johnson kids again (God luv'um).
posted by dgaicun at 12:10 AM on March 15, 2006

Mice? I know that in my last apartment, the mice would sneak out and steal some of my dog's food (if I forgot to empty his dish at night), and hide it in various places around the apartment.
posted by antifuse at 2:43 AM on March 15, 2006

Any chance you could hook up a Web cam (or even a regular video camera) and point it out the window at the line? Whatever or whoever is doing it, it'd be funny to catch 'em in the act on tape.
posted by Gator at 3:58 AM on March 15, 2006

I would collect the kibble over the course of a few days, and then mention it to your new neighbors casually. If they have dogs, they will most likely be able to ID the kibble visually (they see enough of it). If somebody's constantly leaving food out for their dog, they might be able to adjust their habits so the Mysterious Kibble Stealer can't get to it.
posted by MrZero at 7:16 AM on March 15, 2006

I can almost guarantee you have a Western Scrub Jay caching food in your clothes. They are good at finding odd places to store food. The only way to know for sure is to become a wildlife biologist for a day - hang the clothes and wait patiently with your binoculars.
posted by shifafa at 11:03 PM on March 15, 2006