Oh, Rats!

[skychaser]

I've never had the honor of interacting with a dog de Boudreaux. One of my previous interactions with an English mastiff almost cost me a few fingers trying to flick a few pieces of kibble into its cage.
Normal dogs respond to people. Mastiffs will, eventually, maybe, after they think about it, when they are are ready, if they feel like it, maybe, if they know the person, sometimes I swear somebody bred the insolent TYSAT (take your sweet ass time) passive aggressive gene into them. They know what you are saying and they'll get back to you when they feel like they are good and ready for it.
I'll be having an awesome training session with mine, then all of a sudden this well behaved dog suddenly goes screw you to the simplest command. They know what you want, they've done it six times already in the last 10 minutes , but all of a sudden it becomes a hell no. Lay down, nope, Lay down, nope, lay down or else, hell no. The problem is you have to always win as the human because they know exactly what you are asking of them and they are just refusing to do it.
I've owned an Australian Shepard before and think they are close to one of the smartest breeds around. I think the cane corso may just about tie with them but it's hard to tell because the passive aggressive nature kicks in and they do what they think is best vs what you, as the mere owner are over there yelling and screaming about. It almost feels as useless as trying to train a cat sometimes.

lol Train a cat. Funny you mention that. I have 2 cats that are brothers. They are the smartest cats I have even known. I bet my sis I could train one of them to shake hands before she could get her dog to do it. It took a week to train one of them. He will do it 9 out of 10 times now. With no bribes. Just a good pat on the head and a little petting and telling him what a good boy he is. Now he has become a nusanse. I get the foot all the time without asking because he wants some attention. And he is an excellent hunter. Both are. The foot cat specializes in rodents. Not a pocket gopher left in the 2-3 acres around the house. Last night he brought me a flying squirrel. His brother brings me everything from mice and gophers to snakes, rabbits, marmots, birds. skinks, etc. If it walks. crawls or flies and isn't too much bigger than he is, he will catch it and bring it home.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I just shewed a magpie away and removed a dead cat from the road. I wonder if I should go door to door to find the owner before he ends up being pecked to bits. It's 8am on a holiday.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I just shewed a magpie away and removed a dead cat from the road. I wonder if I should go door to door to find the owner before he ends up being pecked to bits. It's 8am on a holiday.

It seems they don't know where it is, now that it's in the grass. They must take the lazy route of scanning the pavement for food.

 

[deluxestogie]

I hacked into the garage cam, and carefully watched it overnight. This capture was from 3:30 am.



Bob

 

[skychaser]

It looks to me like it came from Seattle or Portland.

 

[deluxestogie]

["The researchers found not all rats like to be tickled and that some rats emitted very high numbers of calls whilst others did not, and these calls are directly related with their emotional experience. Rats which emitted the most calls had the highest positive emotional response to tickling but those who did not emit any or few calls did not show a positive response."]

Do rats like to be tickled?

Not all rats like to be tickled but by listening to their vocalizations it is possible to understand in real-time their individual emotional response, according to new research by the University of Bristol. The study, published today in Current Biology, suggests that if this same relationship is...

phys.org

Bob

 

[plantdude]

["The researchers found not all rats like to be tickled and that some rats emitted very high numbers of calls whilst others did not, and these calls are directly related with their emotional experience. Rats which emitted the most calls had the highest positive emotional response to tickling but those who did not emit any or few calls did not show a positive response."]

Do rats like to be tickled?

Not all rats like to be tickled but by listening to their vocalizations it is possible to understand in real-time their individual emotional response, according to new research by the University of Bristol. The study, published today in Current Biology, suggests that if this same relationship is...

phys.org

Bob

Wow, and sometime I feel like my job is pointless... Beats being a rat tickler I suppose

 

[deluxestogie]

Six traps. I saw a mouse in my kitchen 3 days ago. I set 4 new traps, each with a fresh, aromatic gummi bear wired in place on the triggers. I still had a trap behind an open door in my hallway, and a trap on the floor in my study--both with months-old gummi bears.

This evening, I discovered the trap with the stale gummi bear behind the hallway door was sprung. Then I found a totally dead mouse caught in the trap in my study. (I had left my study at about 9 am today, and worked out on my front porch for the remainder of the day.)

So this mouse ignored the 4 aromatic, fresh gummi bears, and instead went for the 2 that have been sitting there for months. While that is a mystery, the mouse is now enjoying an afterlife in the tall grass of my overgrown lawn.

With no pets in the house, I had also set out a chunk of poison, which shows no tooth marks.

Regardless, it makes one more sympathetic to the farmer's wife who felt compelled to mutilate three vision-impaired mice that could not plausibly have intentionally run after her.

Bob

 

[plantdude]

Six traps. I saw a mouse in my kitchen 3 days ago. I set 4 new traps, each with a fresh, aromatic gummi bear wired in place on the triggers. I still had a trap behind an open door in my hallway, and a trap on the floor in my study--both with months-old gummi bears.

This evening, I discovered the trap with the stale gummi bear behind the hallway door was sprung. Then I found a totally dead mouse caught in the trap in my study. (I had left my study at about 9 am today, and worked out on my front porch for the remainder of the day.)

So this mouse ignored the 4 aromatic, fresh gummi bears, and instead went for the 2 that have been sitting there for months. While that is a mystery, the mouse is now enjoying an afterlife in the tall grass of my overgrown lawn.

With no pets in the house, I had also set out a chunk of poison, which shows no tooth marks.

Regardless, it makes one more sympathetic to the farmer's wife who felt compelled to mutilate three vision-impaired mice that could not plausibly have intentionally run after her.

Bob

Now the question becomes is the mouse you caught the same one that sprung your other trap and/or the one you saw in the kitchen

 

[Ifyougotem]

Greetings, sorry to duck out on the festivities: work hassles, wildfires and other exigencies hereabouts. Never cobbled together the envisioned trap, and you may not need it, plantdude, with Duke #110s cheap and readily avail. at Ace. Was thinking for hole peekers that a strangle trap might make better sense than a deadfall: less messy, and could be rigged to choke El Raton out such that it's body would remain in the ingress hole, blocking further intrusions. Just a thought.

 

[plantdude]

Greetings, sorry to duck out on the festivities: work hassles, wildfires and other exigencies hereabouts. Never cobbled together the envisioned trap, and you may not need it, plantdude, with Duke #110s cheap and readily avail. at Ace. Was thinking for hole peekers that a strangle trap might make better sense than a deadfall: less messy, and could be rigged to choke El Raton out such that it's body would remain in the ingress hole, blocking further intrusions. Just a thought.

Got em under control out here, for now...

 

[plantdude]

Greetings, sorry to duck out on the festivities: work hassles, wildfires and other exigencies hereabouts. Never cobbled together the envisioned trap, and you may not need it, plantdude, with Duke #110s cheap and readily avail. at Ace. Was thinking for hole peekers that a strangle trap might make better sense than a deadfall: less messy, and could be rigged to choke El Raton out such that it's body would remain in the ingress hole, blocking further intrusions. Just a thought.

My last reply was a little short since my problem seems to be under control for now. However, I'm sure if you come up with a better mouse/rat trap others may find it useful. By all means feel free to share

As an unrelated question do you find any particular varieties better for snus than others? I've noticed you have posted on the subject before and some users that are snus fans might enjoy the info.
Personally I don't mind chewing tobacco, but just the idea of snorting snus makes me want to sneeze - I don't think I could handle that. No offense intended for those that use it that way though

Hope the fires are improving in your neck of the woods.

 

[Ifyougotem]

No shortness perceived in a succinct comment, 'dude- glad you're having some success (or at least respite) w the invasive rodentia. I have a good arrangement/mod of some old and proven trap elements, but lack a sketch app currently. The thing is, it's quite bulky and involved compared to a little spring strangle trap. Have you considered trying one of those #110s from Ace or elsewhere for your hole borers?

Some interesting diversions in this thread. Figured Cane Corso would have to do w the Latin root Canis (as with Canary Islands), rather than "cane", and learned that corso would refer to the breed's use in "coursing"/chasing game. Neat dogs, glad I got a chance to be made aware of the breed. That dark one is certainly an impressive-looking animal. Large V-formations of Canada Geese, comprised of hundreds of birds, are staging in So. Oregon for their southward migration now. Some remain through the winter (I have no clue why, but may have to look into it), and their clamour brings back fine memories of goose hunting in my teen years, incl. shoulder bruised-up from magnum loads in Grandfather's old 12-gauge Remington, with its brittle and half-collapsed rubber recoil pad; the cacophony of the massive flights; a thinner, longer roast bird served alongside the Christmas turkey- draped by Grandma stem-to-stern w bacon, as we couldn't manage the plucking and skinned them. W/re. to snorting snus, the wet "dip" oral tobacco that typically is tucked under the upper lip in Scandanavia, and for some reason the lower one here in the U.S., I've never considered doing that- I've just experimented w pulverized raw, dry tobacco leaf, as I had some broken leaf last summer and wondered what to do with it. I've changed my opinions & preferences somewhat since then, and will post about it in the Smokeless section fairly soon.

 

[Ifyougotem]

No shortness perceived in a succinct comment, 'dude- glad you're having some success (or at least respite) w the invasive rodentia. I have a good arrangement/mod of some old and proven trap elements, but lack a sketch app currently. The thing is, it's quite bulky and involved compared to a little spring strangle trap. Have you considered trying one of those #110s from Ace or elsewhere for your hole borers?

Some interesting diversions in this thread. Figured Cane Corso would have to do w the Latin root Canis (as with Canary Islands), rather than "cane", and learned that corso would refer to the breed's use in "coursing"/chasing game. Neat dogs, glad I got a chance to be made aware of the breed. That dark one is certainly an impressive-looking animal. Large V-formations of Canada Geese, comprised of hundreds of birds, are staging in So. Oregon for their southward migration now. Some remain through the winter (I have no clue why, but may have to look into it), and their clamour brings back fine memories of goose hunting in my teen years, incl. shoulder bruised-up from magnum loads in Grandfather's old 12-gauge Remington, with its brittle and half-collapsed rubber recoil pad; the cacophony of the massive flights; a thinner, longer roast bird served alongside the Christmas turkey- draped by Grandma stem-to-stern w bacon, as we couldn't manage the plucking and skinned them. W/re. to snorting snus, the wet "dip" oral tobacco that typically is tucked under the upper lip in Scandanavia, and for some reason the lower one here in the U.S., I've never considered doing that- I've just experimented w pulverized raw, dry tobacco leaf, as I had some broken leaf last summer and wondered what to do with it. I've changed my opinions & preferences somewhat since then, and will post about it in the Smokeless section fairly soon.

Regards, Ifyougotem

 

[Ifyougotem]

When I was 6 years old I was savagely attacked by an individual specimen of the world's largest rodent species. I'd tell the harrowing (and absolutely true) tale if prevailed upon by two forum members. (What this has to do with tobacco, I haven't a clue- except that somebody, perhaps a Brazilian member, could conceivably encounter one or more of these critters raiding their tobacco garden- hence, a legit tobacco pest: rodent, reference. Also somebody probably had a pack of smokes in their shirt pocket within maybe 100' of the incident.)

ifyougotem

 

[Knucklehead]

When I was 6 years old I was savagely attacked by an individual specimen of the world's largest rodent species. I'd tell the harrowing (and absolutely true) tale if prevailed upon by two forum members. (What this has to do with tobacco, I haven't a clue- except that somebody, perhaps a Brazilian member, could conceivably encounter one or more of these critters raiding their tobacco garden- hence, a legit tobacco pest: rodent, reference. Also somebody probably had a pack of smokes in their shirt pocket within maybe 100' of the incident.)

ifyougotem

I’ll play. Need one more member.

As an aside, John Deere had to come pick up my tractor yesterday due to mice or squirrels chewing up a wiring harness. It was bad. When I was a kid the only wiring on a tractor was a switch, starter, and battery. Now they have computer control modules, sensors, and miles of wiring. I saw that rats nest (literally) of wires and decided I better disconnect the battery. I had to YouTube how to open the stupid hood and I grew up on a farm and worked at a body shop. SMH. Finally found where to push the hood release but the hood didn’t pop, the release rod did. It fell down into the engine compartment so now I can’t open the hood or disconnect the battery or figure out how to get to the hood release rod that fell down in the engine compartment with the hood still closed. I kicked that can down the road and did exactly what John Deere expected when they designed it. Called the dealer. Could probably buy a nice simple old tractor for what those mice are going to cost me. Stupid mice.

 

[GreenDragon]

Don't keep me in suspense!

 

[Ifyougotem]

Sorry about your tractor problems, plantdude. I can't stand all the damn techno-BS gee-gaws they put on vehicles now days- even an S-class Benz has friggin mylar-ized plastic bumpers. Excuse me: "high-impact thermo-resin polymer." Shouldn't we have lithium battery-powered tractors that you program to do all the work while you kick back and have a smoke by now? (*and that don't cost more than a house.) Is that a second to the motion, GreenDragon?

 

[GreenDragon]

Sorry about your tractor problems, plantdude. I can't stand all the damn techno-BS gee-gaws they put on vehicles now days- even an S-class Benz has friggin mylar-ized plastic bumpers. Excuse me: "high-impact thermo-resin polymer." Shouldn't we have lithium battery-powered tractors that you program to do all the work while you kick back and have a smoke by now? (*and that don't cost more than a house.) Is that a second to the motion, GreenDragon?

Yes!

 

[Ifyougotem]

OK, soon I will tell it. It was a rather traumatic experience, which I've only spoken about only a few times over the 50 years which have elapsed since the incident. As part of my self-healing process I'm utilizing cognitive behavioral therapy techniques (deep breathing exercises, rationalization of the facts pertinent to the situation: that the capybara and I were both simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, that it's apparently malevolent intent to cause me grievous bodily harm was merely a natural defensive response to a perceived threat, etc.) Please allow me a short intermission to regain composure- the intent being to, you know, basically comfort and heal the "inner child" (hopefully before Don Henley finds it and kicks its little ass, the big brute.) In the interim, I'm recommending the online video short "The incredible index defies gravity and climbs a dam. Worth seeing, i.m.o.