I saw this animal the other night in the pasture, it resembled a guinea pig, but not a guinea pig, about the size of a small rabbit. It had a tube shape body, short stubby tail 2 inches, snout like a possum, large nocturnal eyes, short stubby legs and it was a fawn color and the inside of it’s feet and belly were a lighter color. It was on the ground and jumped on a wooden fence and balanced on the fence until it got out of sight into some bushes.

The animal was in North Georgia and I never saw a creature like this before. Any ideal what this critter may have been?

May have been a very young feral hog. (thought coloring sounds almost like a chipmunk)

Sounds like a short tailed shrew from the description, but not sure on the size.

It’s did not look like the picture of the short tailed shrew, the tail was not correct and the animal I saw moved very graceful. The short tailed shrew looked like it would be rather clumsy as would a very young feral hog.

Edit ot add:

I’ve searched the net and so far I’ve not seen an animal the looks like what I saw. I beginning to wonder if it maybe be a pet someone released or escaped. It was not a guinea pig the nose was not right.

Sounds like a weasel to me:

pointy snout, light feet, short legs, short tail, tube-shaped body, rabbit-sized . . .

Could it have been on of these or there young?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara_(mammal)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capybara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coypu

I immediately thought weasel too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel

Very fierce nasty critters, by the way. Don't get too close to one.

No nothing so far picture a guinea pig with a weasel body, and a nose like a possum and large eyes. I had a light on it for a while and I was about 8-10 feet away. It was raining hard at the time.

looks a little like this hamster, but the nose is not right.

http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/interme...sp?curGroupID=5

Maybe check out the pictures there, separated by similar body types and/or relationships, and see if any look familiar.

As stated earlier it may be someone's escaped/released exotic pet.

When you say "fawn colored" does that mean with white spots too? That makes me think agouti paca. Some people like to eat agoutis, which may explain why some connoisseur would be keeping them in georgia (escape).

Nutria?

Immature Nutria, maybe? This is a stab in the dark as it's tail is longer than you describe.

The white was on the inside of the belly and inside of the legs, Nutria too long of a tail and wrong hair coat and nose. The agouti paca very similar, this animal had no spots on the sides or back and was not as round in the belly.

Could it have been a ferret? They can get rabbit sized and they come in all sorts of colors nowadays.





and speaking of tube shaped body's.........

The face is like this animal, the hair coat was a little longer and smoother, can't see the tail on this animal. The one I saw had a short stubby tail.

A good size Gerbil.

Fascinating! If you see it again, I certainly hope you have a camera with you.
You've certainly aroused my curiosity with your description of this little beasty.

you sure its not one of these?

http://gallery.photo.net/photo/4635753-lg.jpg

Could it have been a groundhog?

Click to view attachment

No it was not a chipmunk or a groundhog.

I've looked for the thing again but have not seen it, I had walked out to check on a cow calving that night and was not expecting to see an odd animal.

I considered a woodrat for this, but again the tail is problematic (long and bushy).

Among small (but not too small) mammals in North America, your choices for "short tail" aren't many. In Georgia you've got weasels, mink, woodchuck, chipmunk, and actual rabbits. Cotton rat might look like its tail is short, but it's body size is till pretty small.

Perhaps it was something common that lost a piece of its tail . . .

I think it could be a lost pet, also I am new here and I am only 11 so does anyone have some tips?

Read everything you can find at :
http://www.squatchopedia.com/index.php/Main_Page and
http://www.bigfootencounters.com/ is a start! Welcome,
to the forum, enjoy!

Some scary sighting reports at: http://www.bfro.net/

Click to view attachment

As for the animal sounds like a variant colored wood rat.
But could be some form of weasel or an escaped ferret

thanks, I will check those out and see what I can learn.

If you were a lot further north it could've been a pika, but they only like the colder regions I think.

The pictures of the pika are very close and the movemant is about the same can't say for sure but it is close. It looked like a cross between a rabbit, possum,
and a gerbil.

I have a pasture right next to my house. We get coydogs very often but not in the spring. I keep hearing like a howl. If anyone has ever watched Lost Tapes on the one where Rachel Glen was doing things to stop poachers form killing Black bears (I think atleast). She got very close to the creature. If you pause the video you can see it looks like the Skunk Ape. She would hear bloodcurdling howls and that is close to what I hear at about 3 in the morning.



Coydogs are Dogs that have been in a house with a family and have been let lose or ran away and have been killing deer,rabits ect. ect. And have gotten used to living with a pack or all alone but that is not very often they are alone. Just the other day I was walking through the woods and I saw a Coydog. It stood about 4 feet on all fours. I heard it howl and started running. I heard panting and feet hiting the puddles. I ran into the nighbors house and told them to lock the door. We found out that the Coydogs and broken their little girls dogs leg.

An escaped ferret would not last very long in the wild. I had a ferret that got out and we found it in the field dead the next week. If it was a ferret it would of had a normal food souce to eat and it would be not be dead

its the rare and elusive (redundant) Rabposserbil. See why you're supposed
to always carry a camera.




dav

If it resembled the pika and you saw it in the south, it's most likely a Chinchilla. They're very similar to the pika, but they are only adapted to warm climates. They usually have fluffy tails too, but some varieties don't.

Coydogs

From Mikipedia



Link

11?! Well, welcome to The Bigfoot Forums, wildgirl! I was probably about 11 when I first really got interested in the bigfoot phenomenon. It still fascinates me even now that I've got my own kids about your age.

Just a word of caution - sometimes the "grown ups" among us will slip some bad words and other things into their posts. Also, be sure you let a parent know that you're participating here on an internet discussion board with adults. Don't get too friendly with anyone and never give out any more personal information than you already have. Once you're set using your best online safety, prepare to have a great time and learn a LOT. Some of the smartest people I've ever "met" are regulars here at the BFF - it's a great place to learn about nature, science, psychology, anatomy, evolution, photography, movie special effects, Native American culture, etc - all kinds of stuff. Oh, and you can learn more about bigfoot here too.

Be safe, have fun,

~The Saskeptic

Great advice from Saskeptic.

Welcome to the BFF wildgirl!

Chinchilla might be the answer. According to a search, they grow to be about a foot long.

That looks a whole lot what I saw, the big ears, short tail, big eyes and possum like snout, what I saw was not as fat as the one pictured, and the color was different, but I believe that is what I saw.

Anyone know if a chinchilla is native to North Georgia?

They come in different color, and could have been a released pet, hence the "skinniness"

sorry I have not been on in a while, thanks though!

Thanks for reinforcing what I've told her! She's a very bright child & intensely interested in this, so I checked it out first. The Nickelodeon site didn't offer any in the way of bigfoot!

But, are they good eatin'?

I have no idea how to post pictures, but have you ever seen a Martin? Young Martins are bigger than weasels and look a bit like what you discribed.

We haven't been able to close the book on this yet? Wow.
I came back to this thread to see if the mystery had been solved yet. Still has my curiosity piqued and I haven't run across any possible contenders. Hmm...

How about a pack rat, they get rather large and look very similar to a Chinchilla however yellow or fawn, or agouti in color and not nearly as cuddley....and they pee on everything....you can find pictures of all of these things on the web.

I suggested woodrat (aka pack rat) back in March, but the thing apparently had a short, stubby tail. It sounds to me like a woodrat that lost some tail, perhaps in a trap or to some predator.

Chinchillas are native to South America. They are fairly common as pets, so its possible one could have escaped or been let go and you found it. Was the animal tame or did it take off like a shot when it saw you? I really don't think a chinchilla would last long in the wild in Georgia.

Im guessing pica!

I am pretty sure the Pika can get that far south, yes. I think that is the likely answer myself. THey are known to be Crepuscular, and have very short tails.

A pika may seem to fit the general description, but note that pikas don't occur naturally anywhere near Georgia. It would be just as odd for a pika to be running around loose in Georgia as it would be for a chinchilla. (Actually, pika is a lot less likely, because there is a pet trade in chinchillas and I do not know of one for pikas.)