Wildlife in the Forge!

[JamesG]

My forge shop is near a apple tree, So I have hornets and bees around also spiders and did i say spiders. and stray cats. No snakes yet I do get to smell a skunk about once a week.

[Dave Budd]

My last workshop was on a small farm and I found cows wandering through my workshop on more than one occasion, also a sheep tied to my anvil for some reason once

I used to have a wren nesting in the bed of a lathe; the mother would sit there watching me grinding a few feet away!

My present workshop is in the middle of some woods, so I get lots of birds/dragonflies/hornets flying through. Many many mice of course. Oh and a lost looking roe deer stuck his head around the door once, sadly didn't stay for a chat

[Sam Falzone]

What's your address Sam and how many do you want? I'll pay the shipping!

Sorry ... not ready for a shop cat yet

They're really cute though ... but my two house cats wouldn't take kindly to a new addition.

[hildenmw]

now that you mention mice and their nests, I've had a mouse build a nest, get this, inside the tuyere of my solid fuel forge. I went to crank up the heat the other day and I noticed my fan wouldn't turn. i reached in an turned it by mand a time or two and it started right up. then I saw there was still not very much air flow. I took the fan off and saw the pipe was full of little mouse nesting fluff. I've made sure I fire up that thing once a week now that I now it;s prime realestate for critters

I use my forge nearlt every day. They build a nest over night. Not a rgular occurance but $10 for insulation and $20 for shipping. One day I saw a mouse run past on a eye level beam while I was working at the post vise. 1 min later along came 2.5 foot milk snake natures great to watch

[Ulric]

Got some possums and a fairly large, 3 legged racoon that it appears I share the space with. So far he seems content with the current arrangment, don't think I really want to get into a discourse over ownership with the furry bugger.

...course he may be hoping for some shiny bits to run off with.

[Double Y]

For the most part I get only a few spiders and an occasional mouse. The mouse get "Bar Bait" and haven't been a problem. The spiders get left alone for the most part, because of the heavy mosquito problem we have along the Yellowstone River.

However, this past weekend some neighbors stopped by and their grandsons found a wolf spider about 4 inches across....I have now used Tempo bug spray on the entire shop. Bugs should not be that big in Montana!

Other than that my Golden Retriever "Duece" takes up space and Saturday night my Black Angus bull was standing on the slab infront of the shop. The fence was repaired and the bull went back where he belonged. The remains of the forage supper the bull had eaten became a fun hair treatment for Duece...he has been sleeping in the garage because of it.

[Marcus Hopfinger]

We also have a local roadrunner but I chase him away as I like the lizards and snakes!

I hope you don't try dropping an anvil on the roadrunner....never works well for the coyote. :lol:

[Marcus Hopfinger]

Rattlers I just relocate with my snake tongs

Are those a new specialty tong from Off Center Products?:blink:

[ThomasPowers]

I'll trade you a equal weight of smaller black widows for that wolf spider! My wife likes spiders and was upset when the tarantula they found in my youngest sister's room didn't survive capture and re-location; but even she draws the line at black widows in the house!

A co-worker's wife got spider bit on her foot recently---looks like something drug up out of a lake now so probably a recluse bite.

[mike-hr]

I can't verify this personally yet, but I was talking to a Washington state smith at a hammer-in a couple weeks ago, when he leaves his shop for the night, he lights a stick of mulberry incense. He reported zero spiders in the shop for a couple years now.

[pkrankow]

I know a number of boat owners who use fresh Bounce brand dryer sheets to do the same inside their boats. Bugs and spiders do not like the smell.

Phil

[Frosty]

Happily we have VERY FEW cases of brown recluse or violin spider bites in Alaska, virtually all riding in on freight. No snakes that aren't pets either.

Attached is a pic of one of the only dangerous critters we have to watch for locally, the bears stay away but moose HATE dogs and often seek them out. Moose may be in the deer family but they're far from timid, outside of humans wolves are their only regular predators and they will go after any wolf they cross paths with, dogs are wolves as far as moose or bears are concerned. A human walking the dog is just another pack member so moose will punch your ticket too.

The one in the pic was eating buds from a pile of birch slash, I'd drawn it in with the chainsaw noise some weeks earlier and it hung around all winter. Once it learned I wasn't going to hurt it it felt free to ignore me, the dogs or thrown rocks. Moose who who are comfortable around humans are NOT a good thing. Unless you have room in the freezer, it's season and you're in an open area or have the right tags.

Frosty the Lucky.

[Sask Mark]

Frosty, it didn't hate you because it thought you were it's friend the Sasquatch, when it saw your feet.

[Bentiron1946]

Nice moose you got there, reminds me of my mother. She was a bra and girdle fitter at JC Penny for most of her life off and on. One night she had this customer come in so like usual she ask her is she could help her and the woman replied "No, I'm just browsing", before she could stop herself mom said "Are you a moose?". Oh, did she ever get in trouble over that! :lol:

[John NC]

I have a bunch of five-lined skinks in and around my shop. This pic is of an adult, the juveniles have bright blue tails.

[Jreed]

I have a family of mice in my mine also have bats that live in the attic of my little shop.

[fciron]

I've always had my shop in an urban area. That means I'm limited to Racoons, opossums, snakes, and spiders. I've always had cats around so mice aren't a problem.

I used to lend my cat to the machine shop next door. Those boys had an awesome mouse trap. They would balance a ruler on the edge of the desk with a cookie on outer end. Place a standard office type metal trash bin underneath and when the mouse went out to get the cookie all came tumbling down into the trash can. Hot tip of the month ;-)

[tzonoqua]

Lots and lots of mice. I made the mistake of leaving a bag of trail mix on the shelf once, next day you could see the mice had a real party!! I did find one drowned in my big metal bucket I use for a slack tub once... that was unpleasant, and since I've moved it so there no chance one can fall in again. The other day I had a giant wood wasp fly in- that was freaky.

Otherwise it's just the occasional sheep wandering past, the highland cattle being driven past (the farmers always warn me to shut my door, last thing I want is one of those beasts with those horns paying me a visit in my wee shop!!)

But then there is the red deer that wander through the farmyard! Never had one come in the shop, they're smart enough to know where the feed store is...

[tzonoqua]

Oh, yeah, and I forgot to say, I don't think I'd be so happy to go into work if there were massive spiders, or poisonous ones lurking about!!!

[jeremy k]

The wildest wildlife in my forge.... - a couple yrs ago I was cleaning the shop for a hammer-in, and every now and then I noticed a bad smell. Well after lots of cleaning and not finding anything I figured I fire up the forge to relax a little bit. When I removed the chimney opening cover I discovered the smell - a Mallard Duck had gotten down the chimney and had passed away. Once I had a client that had me put screen around a chimney cap due to the same thing about 3 yrs after I installed the chimney cap - I figured that was a once in a lifetime event..... well I've seen it twice now. - JK

[Frosty]

Frosty, it didn't hate you because it thought you were it's friend the Sasquatch, when it saw your feet.

I don't think it was THAT confused, nobody mistakes a Frosty for an abominable! Heck, I go bearfoot all winter so I'm sure it knew what was what. Then again, it WAS just a yearling, adult moose are a LOT larger.

Frosty the Lucky.

[Frosty]

Nice moose you got there, reminds me of my mother. She was a bra and girdle fitter at JC Penny for most of her life off and on. One night she had this customer come in so like usual she ask her is she could help her and the woman replied "No, I'm just browsing", before she could stop herself mom said "Are you a moose?". Oh, did she ever get in trouble over that!

That's a good one, I like your Mother! There's an art gallery down on Turnagain Arm that used to have a big sign by the highway that said, "Browsers Welcome" and I thought it'd be fun to bring a moose and see how serious they were. On the other hand, moose are darned tasty so I might not've gotten the reaction I was expecting.

Frosty the Lucky.

[Ferrous Beuler]

I've had the usual assortment of intruders, weird spiders, birds, bats, mice, northern water snake, stray cats and potentially the scariest of all because it could have gone bad- a three year old boy.
I had been in the shop, a one car garage which is only about five steps from my back door. Came into the house to answer the phone and was back out in the shop in less than two minutes, there he was just standing there in the middle of the floor. Right in front of him was the anvil with a hinge resting on it that had faded to black but was still screaming hot, hot tongs, hot hammer, could have been really really bad. Just as soon as I saw him there through the open front doors his Grandma, my neighbor emerged from her back door and said have you seen... I just pointed at him and she called his name. I don't think little Tommie will be back any time soon after getting his hide tanned by Grandma...

I'll wager I've had the biggest foreign critter of anyone in their shop- a Belgian draught horse that wandered in from the next road over when I lived in Geneseo. That shop was in the barn there which had no doors on one end so he just wandered in and hung out for awhile. Scared the crap out of me because it was dark and I had gone out to retrieve something, turned the corner and was face to face with likely the biggest horse in the county. He was real freindly though and had feet bigger than Frosty's :)

[millhoff]

Cats . . . lots and lots of cats . . .

A Polydactyl momma and 5 mutant babies showed up about 5 weeks ago . . . My GF is a cat whisperer so I was doomed from the start.
My shop is now a feline halfway house - the only satisfaction I get is watching them scatter when I fire up the power hammer

WOW, U do a nice job forging. That Black Cat you made looks so lifelike, .

[ianinsa]

Nothing as large as a moose, but the Boomslang (The boomslang has extremely powerful haemotoxic venom) that arived one summers day managed to clear the shop faster that someone shouting "beers up" on a Friday!. The guys have learnt to live with(read leave quickly, no need to run) the occasional Mozambican spitting Cobra.Cats give these a wide berth, dogs are braver but dummer!