Prairie Dog Town — Attraction in Lubbock

I love prairie dogs so much! They're such complex creatures who are such an important piece in the ecosystem puzzle.

These guys used to be very popular pets in the late 1990s. Since they're wild animals and require a ton of work and knowledge, I ended up being a rescue contact in Houston. So if you come out here to the park, here are some tips!

bring a peace offering! Carrots, green leaf lettuce, fresh yellow corn on the cob (husks can stay on), and Timothy or alfalfa hay like you can get at Petsmart are all good choices. In Texas, their mating season / torpor begins around Halloween and lasts until Valentine's day or so. During that time, they're less active above ground and will likely be a little grumpy! If you hear them chattering their teeth and/or flaring out their tail like a bottle brush, give them space, because they're irritated. Their bites are strong enough to go through your fingernail and hit bone on both sides. Not likely, but possible. Babies are born late March, early April, so time your visit for maximum cuteness Prairie dogs are ecosystem engineers. They depend on other species as others depend on them. See if you can spot any other species near the mounds, like the burrowing owls who live here full time as well. Since they're highly communicative with each other, sometimes you can "hack the system" and get a whole coterie to respond to you. Pretend to cough or sneeze. If you're lucky, you'll see them jump up, front legs thrown up in the air, and they'll let out a big "yah-HOOOO" in unison! This might not occur as often at this park just because of the sheer volume of visitors. Don't forget...

This place is pretty cool. There are prairie dogs all over. Sometimes they are in the spots. They're not supposed to be, but that's okay. And the golf course has balls that you can In the outfield, bring your old scraps of food to feed the little guys. They like to bark at you while you're approaching their area and warn the others. There's parks here and it's a good place for gathering. This area is good for picnic. Scattering with family having birthday parties or holidays as long as the weather is permitting. There's actually a couple of parks here I think. I go to this park sometimes if I have time to kill between shifts. It's a very peaceful place to think if you need to always very quiet and not really crowded most of the time. I even come in the rain and the prairie. Dogs do some cool stuff when it's been raining because the water gets in their holes and they have to dig it out. We also unfortunately found a little skull of a prairie dog who didn't make it. I guess. That was kind of sad but no worries. Because there are plenty plenty, plenty plenty. Plenty more prairie, dog fun...

We showed up with a bag of carrots. We were grateful to leave with our lives. Do not arrive empty handed, because I think the fat ones are living off the remains of humans who brought no food.

It was like a scene from West Side Story. The bag of carrots opened and prairie dogs started coming out of everywhere. I expected them to break out knives and into a dance number. My wife didn’t let go of one carrot in time and had a prairie dog hanging onto her finger. She was screaming, the prairie dog was squealing, but in the end the ‘dog walked away with his food.

Assuming she doesn’t die later of rabies (they don’t carry rabies), it was hilarious. But don’t do that. You don’t want ‘Killed by Prairie Dog” on your tombstone.

Seriously, these guys will come up and take food from your hand. But…again... don’t play tug of war. They will win based on...