The rat looked dead.

It was face down, arms splayed, in the big shallow pan of water placed near the fence as succor for the wildlife suffering in adjacent woods left blistering hot and deadly dry by Texas' ongoing drought.

Every morning, we'd fill the pan with clean, cool water and then watch as a steady parade of wildlife trickled from the woods to slake their obviously considerable thirst or nibble at the mix of millet, sunflowers, shelled corn and other food we scattered for them.

There were cat squirrels, swamp rabbits, possums, coons and all manner of birds.

It was an all-day procession, a sure sign the deepening drought was causing wildlife that normally survived by living wary and crepuscular lives to do something they normally would not do — abandon the cover of the forest and expose themselves in a wide-open yard during the middle of the day to get a drink of water or a bite of food.

The rat was the most telling.

A pair of barred owls and a Cooper's hawk haunted the trees overlooking the backyard, perching in the shadows and watching the water pan for the same reason deer hunters set their blinds to overlook a corn-spewing feeder.

Visiting the water pan became very dangerous, as regularly evidenced by scatterings of feathers and fur left from owl or hawk picking off an easy meal.

SHANNON TOMPKINS/Chronicle

But thirst and heat can override the fear of being eaten. And such was the case with the wood rat floating face down in the water pan in the middle of a 100-degree day.

The rat, it turned out, wasn't dead at all. It was simply floating in the water, trying to keep cool and hydrated. Not until my partner, bearing fresh water, bent over the pan did the "dead" rat come to life, scramble out of the pan and back into the desiccated woods.

Unusual behavior

Such out-of-character behavior by wildlife has become common across the state as the drought deepens and natural sources of water and food become harder to find. Driven by hunger or thirst, wildlife are wandering into yards, road rights-of-way and other places they normally would avoid and at times of the day they typically are not wandering at all.

This puts wildlife, already at risk because of shrinking food, water and cover, at increased risk of predation or fatal encounters with motor vehicles.

It also can put pets and humans at increased risk of unpleasant and, on rare occasions, dangerous interactions with wildlife.

"No doubt, we're seeing things way out of the ordinary because of the drought," said David Hailey, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wildlife division staffer based at the Justin Hurst Wildlife Management Area near Freeport. "They're scrambling to find water and food."

Animals seldom seen or seen almost exclusively at night, dusk or dawn regularly are spotted during the day, he said.

"Coyotes and coons, which you usually only see at night if you see them at all, are moving around during the middle of the day," Hailey said. "We just had a coyote come walking right through the compound, here. That never happens."

The coyote appeared drawn by a water trough, one of the few sources of water in the area, he said.

"The few places that have water are going to draw wildlife," he said.

That has led to some interesting sightings.

"The other day, I saw two deer and a bobcat drinking from the same little water hole at the same time - middle of the day," Hailey said. "It's almost like they have a truce because it's so dry."

Hazardous neighbors

The drought also appears to have greatly reduced the number of rodents, the mainstay of coyotes, foxes, skunks, snakes and other predators.

"When I'm out shredding or disking, I'm not seeing very many mice or rats at all," Hailey said.

Wildlife is moving to where the water and food is. And in many cases, that is yards, where lawn sprinklers and soaker hoses provide the only reliable source of water and decent vegetation for food or cover.

While having wildlife in the backyard can be a thrilling and fascinating thing for homeowners, it also produces problems, some of them potentially serious for both wildlife and humans.

Drought-shuffled deer plundering gardens and landscaping or coons and possums eating food meant for dogs or cats are common and relatively minor problems.

More unsettling and potentially dangerous, the drought is drawing venomous snakes - copperheads, mostly, but rattlesnakes, too, in southern and central Texas - and scorpions to yards and buildings where the creatures can find shade, water and food.

Anecdotally, incidents of snakebites are up across Texas this year. Empirically, Seton Hospitals in the Austin area reported treating 267 cases of snakebite from Jan. 1 through the middle of July, compared with 183 cases over the same period a year ago.

Homeowners should be extremely careful, particularly at night. Snakes and scorpions love porches, flower beds, garages and just about anything that can offer cover.

Drought-relocated venomous snakes can be as much, if not more, a threat to pets than humans. But larger animals can be the bigger problem. Incidents of hungry coyotes snatching Fluffy or Spot and disappearing over the fence increase during droughts.

So to, does other, less violent interaction between wild mammals and pets. And that can be a problem.

Rise in rabies

A rise in rabies infections in Texas' wild-animal population is coinciding with the drought and pushing more wildlife into closer contact with humans and, especially, their pets. In Texas, bats are the animal most commonly found infected with the rabies virus. But skunks, foxes and raccoons also account for high percentages of confirmed rabies infections.

With the drought forcing wildlife to behave in unusual ways such as showing little fear of humans and being active during the middle of the day - both classic tip-offs to potential rabies infection - the best policy is to keep pets and people away from the critters.

The wildlife's probably just thirsty and hungry. But you never know.

shannon.tompkins@chron.com