Toadfish Monastery

I think the males of the native species back home are quite large and indeed vegetarian.

Last _{didn't like them much either} Post

Iirc that is generally true for mosquitos and their relatives.

Last _{a bunch of Carmillas} Post

Quote from: Swatopluk on October 21, 2023, 07:17:26 AMI occasionally see something fluttering about at dusk outside that I assume is a bat since the movement is not really bird-like but it's too fast to see enough details to be sure.

I inadvertently tested the limits of bat sonar earlier this year; one was feeding near the surface of the water when I was fishing. Apparently they cannot detect something as small as fishing line, because it managed to hit the line as it was flying.

Last _{the bat was fine} Post

I wonder what types of net they could detect and which types would be 'transparent' for them.
A notorious problem for whales (incluidng dolphins)

Last _{What is the marine equivalent of a bat? Afaik rays do not use sonar} Post

To go off at a tangent, I've had or have mice. I saw two. One was rather small so probably not yet adult but the other one seemed rather large and fat. (I think we are not supposed to say fat any more). I had a man from the council and he put poison down but they didn't seem to find it attractive. I know we are supposed to deal with them humanely but I am terrified of them and just want them gone without my risking seeing them. I screamed and screamed when I saw them. I thought about climbing on a chair which is the classic action, but I was in bed and no chairs around so I had to accept that being in bed was sufficient.

Last _{I don't know if they have gone, or not.} Post

Time for catcalls?

I mostly see mice on subway stations.

Last _{usually in the track bed but recently once on the platform too} Post

Do people drop food on tracks or platforms? Otherwise they must starve to death.

Last_{I am still trying to fathom how avatars work, nothing makes sense} Post

My wife said she saw a mouse outside close to the bird feeders.

Last _{so long they stay outside...} Post

I went to battle with the rodent clans this year over my vegetable garden. Due to a series of atmospheric and biological events (heat dome two years ago caused the trees to produce a larger crop of seeds last year, because they figured they might die and had better reproduce to the max now) it was a major rodent year. I noticed it mostly with the voles, which I rather like, but were very prevalent starting in the spring. Voles look like chubby mice with short tails, are active in the day, and not nearly frightened enough of humans, so I'd see them moving around frequently when working in the garden. One swore at me in the spring when I was setting up the greenhouse; I had laid a tarp down on the earthen floor to suppress weeds after shoeing one of these little "mouseies" out of the structure. Apparently it wasn't impressed with the changes, as upon its return I heard a loud and very definitely profane 'squeak-sQUeaK-SQUEAK-SQUEAK!!!' from 20+ ft away.

Throughout the season, they periodically would clip off one of my pea vines, but it was a tolerable level of loss (I surely harvested over 1000 pea pods over the season). I mostly tolerated them in the greenhouse, until they started to nibble the tomatoes. The tomatoes are a sensitive topic as, pre-greenhouse, I lost 10+ lbs in 24 hours to a hungry deer. I went on a bit of a trapping binge to clear the greenhouse one weekend, and was catching voles as fast as I could reset the traps. I also caught quite a few deer mice, mostly at night, and unfortunately a couple of jumping mice, which are pretty little things that I would rather not kill. Traps are not selective. I suspect the deer mice were the main culprits in attacking on-the-vine tomatoes as voles prefer to operate at ground level.

I doubled down when my zucchini started to get nibbled. I often left heavily damaged squash in place for the little nibblers to focus on (some ended up being more than 50% eaten), but they would attack almost every fruit in at least a couple of places, leaving teeth marks and scars. I had 17 zucchini plants this year    so it wasn't really denting my production, but it made them unappealing to give away to friends. If you've grown zucchini, you'll know that 17 plants necessitates a lot of give-aways, even if picked small. I suspect the voles as prime suspects in this case, as they are vegetarians, but there were probably some deer mice involved too.

Several traps disappeared from the squash patch in a short amount of time; it was driving me crazy trying to find them as they were nowhere to be found. I suspect a pine marten found the traps with a recent catch and hauled them off to eat the carcass. My winning bait turned out to be a tomato jam I made by boiling cherry tomatoes with sugar until thick. Sticks well to to the traps and is very delicious to mice. I ended up losing my small pot of bait to a pine marten, which came up on the back porch one evening while I was watching, knocked over a covered pail where the bait was hidden, grabbed the pot, and ran up a tree. It did drop the pot when I yelled at it, then bounded down the trunk, grabbed the bait, and headed for the woods. Pine martens are cute but frustrating... when a bear is on the back porch it will run away when I open the door and yell at it, but the last time a marten was on the back porch and I opened the door (a crack) to yell at it, it looked keen to come inside and settled instead for sniffing around the door after I closed it. Little shits...

In the end, I'm not sure how much vegetable damage I prevented with my murder spree, but it will help future vegetables. The compost charcoal pit is well supplied with nitrogen in the form of several dozen rodent carcasses and several pounds of fish offal. I waited until the bears were in bed (I hope, there's been snow on the ground since late October and no bear tracks) to add the latter. I think the martens have been digging in there, though... 

Last _{wild tale} Post

I guess a simulated cat* will not work? Are there cat rentals for the purpose of pest control?

Or a mechanical mouser? I think there would be a market for it.

Last _{or would robocat only go after mechanical mice?} Post

*sound emitters, urine samples etc.

Clearly there is potential for AI to aid in pest control, to not only get rid but also to stop them returning.

Last _{but AI might see humans as pests} Post

Or it could join with the pests and become the rAIt king.

Last _{or The amAIzing Maurice and his educated rodents} Post

Quote from: Swatopluk on November 10, 2023, 08:20:19 AMI guess a simulated cat* will not work? Are there cat rentals for the purpose of pest control?

Or a mechanical mouser? I think there would be a market for it.

A Shi-mi? Perhaps. I could get a cat (had always intended to) but a cat outside would likely take a heavy toll on the songbirds, especially the chickadees that pester me for seeds, will eat out of my hand and occasionally land on my head. Then there's the eternal issue of predator/prey dynamics... house cats are not alpha predators around here. If it was only let out at night (to protect diurnal songbirds) I'd fear it would be dinner for an owl, a lynx, a cougar or some other hungry forest creature. There are foxes in the general area, but I've never seen one out this way.  There are few if any coyotes around this area, as the wolves scare them off.  There are too many rodents in the area for a cat to make much of a difference. The martens are at least as effective as rodent predators, and don't require additional care.

I did buy a tin cat, which has caught a few rodents; it's a live trap, but unlike a Shi-mi it does not contain a food dispenser and must be checked daily to prevent horrific ends to the captives.

Last _{starvation to the point of cannibalization is too Stalinist. A quick death by snap trap is acceptable.} Post

There is (real*) armor for dogs, so why not for cats?**

Last _{I guess it's to dangerous to try to put it on the cat without wearing armor oneself} Post


*both historic (for war and hunting dogs) and modern (e.g. the CoyoteVest)
**https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/cat-mouse-armor-jeff-deboer

The cat armour will not let me pass the subscriber wall. I can think of several places that could stand for a paw(s) in the fighting.



Last _{Would a French AI feline be powered by Chat GPT?} Post