Today when I went over to the shop there were signs of ninjas in the sand-tray.
Those little hand-prints are so cute. They’re about 1/4″ across.
Does 2300F destroy hantavirus? Asking for a friend.
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Today when I went over to the shop there were signs of ninjas in the sand-tray.
Those little hand-prints are so cute. They’re about 1/4″ across.
Does 2300F destroy hantavirus? Asking for a friend.
It does. How do you, a-hem, I mean how does your friend plan to get the entire structure to that temperature?
Tiny rodents might be cute, but they are my sworn enemy ever since voles destroyed most of my bonsai collection and set me back about ten years worth of work. I feel no remorse in setting up traps or, when the opportunity arises, hitting them with a shovel. I feel no pleasure either but I see it as a job that needs doing, since I no longer have a cat.
Wild rodents are still vectors not only for hantavirus, but also rabies, toxoplasmosis and some species even plague.
I would set up traps indoor and get a barn cat for the outdoor. Or, in my experience even better, convince a pair of barn owls or kestrels to nest on the property.
A friend of my used snakes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculapian_snake) to get rid of mice around their fruit trees. This was also where I learned that a) there are snakes of 160cm and longer in Europe and b) transporting snakes in bags on a bike is not the safest method.
Have fun,
nastes
Speaking of snakes as pest controllers, where I live we have grass snakes Natrix natrix natrix living in the wild. These snakes are neither venomous nor aggressive, which is why they were highly regarded in Latvian pagan mythology. They were the symbol of wisdom, they were perceived as sacred, people believed that they bring wellbeing and fertility to humans. Killing a grass snake wasn’t allowed, as that would bring bad fortune and unhappiness for whoever killed it. If a snake started living next to you home, it would bring good fortune and lots of milk to your cows. Grass snakes were also associated with the afterworld where souls of dead people live. Their main source of food are frogs, but they can occasionally eat some mice as well. This might be another explanation for why pagans liked these snakes so much.
That’s pretty hilarious. However I’m with Charly on this one: I have a trapping program in place and check my traps every morning. I can not afford to get hantavirus… or the plague. Not to mention the destruction to wiring and so on the cute little things cause.
@Ieva Skrebele, #4: that’s pretty interesting! Here in the US I’ve heard all sorts of “old wive’s tales” (as they say) which are pretty much the exact opposite of the ones you are relating: there is even a snake here called the milk snake ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_snake ) and myth has it that they would suck milk out of the cows which is how they got the common name. **head/desk** Your pagans sound like far more sensible people.
kestrel@#5:
That’s pretty hilarious. However I’m with Charly on this one: I have a trapping program in place and check my traps every morning.
I’ve finally set up a trapping program at the house, and killed over 2 dozen. Finally, the mouse poops abated.
There isn’t any food over at the studio, but it’s a comfy hangout. But I’m going to start a program of trapping there, too. The problem is I’m not over there every day so there are going to be some gross leftovers in some of the traps.
kestrel @#5
Well, there’s a somewhat similar Latvian pagan myth about grass snakes. If you treat the snake that’s living next to your home well, then this snake will go to other people (your neighbors) and suck milk from their cows. And then this snake will return back home to your cows and give this milk to them. Basically, the snake steals milk from your neighbors and brings it to you. Yay!
Well, probably, yes. But it depends on the animal. Grass snakes are venerated in pagan myths only because they aren’t poisonous. In Latvia we also have the common European viper (Vipera berus) living here. In myths vipers are portrayed significantly less positively.
I really like the portrayal of werewolves in pagan myths though. I have written about those myths here https://avestra.deviantart.com/art/Becoming-a-Werewolf-175664456 (see the description below my drawing).
We actually had a rat this spring…he has disappeared, thankfully. The damn thing literally ran right across my foot one morning. Ewwwwww. It literally ate chunks out of a potato I had left on the kitchen table.
It avoided the traps, but it appears to be gone.
bmiller@#8:
Rats are pretty amazing creatures.
I had a traumatic rat experience when I was a kid in Paris. I saw a cat go under a parked car and bent over to say “hi” to the kitty except it was a gigantic sewer rat I found myself face-to-face with and it started sidling toward me threateningly and I ran like hell.
If you live in the country, you get used to sharing your space with rodents. After all, they spend much more time in your home than you do.