Do my dogs need special paperwork to travel?

“I’m going camping in Canada and I want to bring my dogs with me. Do they need any special paperwork?”

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which regulates the import of food, plants, and animals, has a section on their website for people who are considering bringing their pets to Canada. A healthy pet dog that is over eight months old and accompanied by its owner requires a rabies vaccination certificate, but no other paperwork that we can find. The certificate must state that the dog has been vaccinated. It needs to include the dog’s sex, breed, color, and weight (for identification purposes), the date of the vaccination, the vaccine’s serial number and trade name (also known as a brand name – for example, Tylenol is a trade name for acetaminophen), and it must indicate how long the vaccine will be effective. (If there is uncertainty, the vaccine will be considered effective for one year after it was administered.) This certificate must be issued and signed by a licensed veterinarian.

According to the Center for Disease Control website, dogs must also have a rabies certificate to cross the border back into the United States. They require a little more information, including the owner’s name and address and the veterinarian’s name, address, and license number. Otherwise, the requirements are about the same.

The website GoPetFriendly.com gives a few more tips. They recommend that, if our patron thinks their dog’s health might be called into question, it’s a good idea for them to get a health certificate from their vet as well, just to prove that their dog is not carrying anything contagious.

GoPetFriendly also calls attention to a law against pit bulls or “a dog that has an appearance and physical characteristics substantially similar to any of those dogs” in Ontario. The full law can be read on the Ministry of the Attorney General’s website and states that “It is against the law to bring pit bulls into Ontario, even for a short visit” and that no exceptions are made for tourists.

As our patron prepares for their trip, they can also bring up to around 44 pounds of pet food, so long as both the food and the pets it will feed are with them when they enter Canada, and so long as the food is of United States origin, and commercially packaged. (Sources vary as to whether or not the packaging can be opened.)

If our patron would like more information on camping and Canada specifically, they are welcome to check out the Lonely Planet Guide to Canada and Vin T. Sparano’s Complete Guide to Camping and Wilderness Survival, both of which are available here at the library.

How can I find the address for a house?

“Is there a way I can find out the address for a house? I don’t know who owns it, but I know the road it’s located on.”

This information is in the public record and can be found at the county auditor’s office. Often, it can also be found online using the property search function or plat map on the auditor’s website. We used the search function, since our patron knew the intersection where the property was located. (There are also options to search by the address, owner’s name, and parcel number, among others.)

First, we were prompted to choose the community from a drop-down menu. Since we didn’t know if the property was officially in Newton Falls or not, we selected “undefined/rural.” Then, we were given the option to select two roads from drop-down menus. Once we’d done this, a map came up showing parcels of land. Our patron selected one and we clicked through to see a picture of the house (which confirmed that we’d selected the correct parcel, because it was the house our patron had in mind), along with information including the names of the owners and their tax mailing address, the value of the land and annual tax, and the house’s address and school district.

We also have the 2010 Trumbull County Land Atlas and Plat Book available for checkout here at the library.

Can praying mantises change color?

“I saw a white praying mantis in my garden, and a few days later, I saw a praying mantis about the same size, but it was green. Was it the same one? Can they change color?”

It could have been! One of our circulation clerks happens to raise mantis nymphs as a hobby, and she told us that, depending on the species, mantids can change color as they molt. Like caterpillars and many other bugs, their exoskeletons do not grow with their bodies, and must be shed in order for the mantids to grow. Once they are adults, they will no longer need to do this. An adult mantis can be distinguished from a young one by the wings, which only adults have.

Mantids may turn pale for a while immediately after shedding their skin, which may have been what our patron saw. Molting is a delicate time for them and they should not be disturbed. However, if our patron saw the same mantis later, it seems to have survived the process.