Wildlife in the Forge!

[chyancarrek]

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

LOL! - Believe me, after pretty much giving up my shop for a month while my GF did the "foster mom" thing, I wouldn't mind doing a little hammering on their tiny noggins!

[Frosty]

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!

I KNEW there was a reason I didn't even think about moving to Africa! I grew up around rattlesnakes and black widow spiders but just reading about Boomslangs, cobras, blackmombas and the like makes me happy all I have to worry about is the occasional moose or bear. Really, you just have to pay a LITTLE attention to not be surprised by either, they're both pretty big and bear have a strong smell.

Frosty the Lucky.

[ianinsa]

I KNEW there was a reason I didn't even think about moving to Africa! I grew up around rattlesnakes and black widow spiders but just reading about Boomslangs, cobras, blackmombas and the like makes me happy all I have to worry about is the occasional moose or bear. Really, you just have to pay a LITTLE attention to not be surprised by either, they're both pretty big and bear have a strong smell.

Frosty the Lucky.

Mambas both Green & Black you don't wanna mess with, in fact most guys that come across them in confined spaces are inclined to emit a strong smell ! (fortunatly they tend to avoid humans) however the troop of monkeys that we get through our garden every morning helps you smile and other than pinching a couple of paw paws & teasing the dogs trey do no harm. Where we live its sub-tropical and 5 deg c is considered cold, none of your clawed slippers needed! All the best Ian

[bigfootnampa]

F. C. that's just a one shot mousetrap though. I stayed in a forest service tin cabin with a sand floor up in Washington where we had so many mice that it was real tough to sleep. You'd try to drift off quickly but they started running about the instant the lights went out and the worst was when you'd feel one running over your feet towards your head... no squirming would daunt him and in a moment he'd have raced across your face with his little claws on your eyelid and stuffing his toes between your lips!! I had our packer bring in some poison bait and put out about 5 boxes but by the morning it was all eaten and the mice did not seem any fewer (I think maybe the bait was shared among so many that few, if any, got fatal doses). After that I found an old mousetrap that I recognized from my extensive bushcraft studies and baited it up with peanut butter. It was a 5 gallon tin with the top cut out and fitted with a heavy wire through the sides near the open top... an old condensed milk can was pierced through both ends and installed on the wire like a roller. I tied string around the roller and stuck wads of bread with peanut butter under the string. Then I filled the can with water and set a plank up to it as a ramp. Turned out the lights and SPLASH SCRITCHA SCRITCHA scritcha scritcha SPLASH SCRITCHA SCRITCHA scritcha scritcha... this went on for an hour until the can leaked out so much water that the victims could touch bottom and then they could just jump out. 25 critters in there when I emptied it the next morning. A little work with some pitch and I got her to hold water most of the night. In about ten days the population had dwindled so drastically that there were small patches of sand floor that had no mouse tracks in the morning! Even on poor nights I would get ten or twelve though. It was nearly as bad having to listen to the SLOWly dwindling scritchy sounds as having them running across your face! Even though they had to find the ramp, run up it, leap across a void to get to the roller, they found their way in droves. Unlike your neighbors trap this one stayed set, as soon as one jumped to the roller his weight made it turn and he would drop into the drink. By baiting a strip around the roller it would work all night (or until too much water ran out of the rustholes). It were QUITE the experience! I think about 37 or so was my record kill for a night. Well it works pretty good but NOT so well as a cat. I have had cats that were absolutely obsessive and would hunt to EXTINCTION within their domain!

[Dave Hammer]

Hummingbird

[Mainely,Bob]

Hummingbird

Those little fellows are just simply amazing aren`t they?

[ThomasPowers]

I had a nice little scorpion in my house last night. I took it outside and let it go in a more appropriate place. I generally heartily approve of critters that eat bugs!

[Marksnagel]

Like John I have a plethera of skink here in eastern NC. Lots of spiders and snakes too. The larger critters like coyotes keep their distance. Possums, racoons and mice prevail.

[kcrucible]

I had a nice little scorpion in my house last night. I took it outside and let it go in a more appropriate place. I generally heartily approve of critters that eat bugs!

As long as they're outside, and leave me alone, I agree with you.. inside spiders and *shudder* scorpians have violated the armistice!


(yes, I have a thing about scorpians... They're the devil's pets. The most unholy looking creatures imaginable. They give me the heebie jeebies, and it hasn't been helped by some video games that I've played or mories I've watched!)

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I just caught a small 1"+ scorpion in the house, catch and release.

I actually find them very interesting. I have one large one in an aquarium now. I have had a couple of pregnant females come through here. I thought they laid eggs, so I was surprised to find 20 little white scorplings the next day.


Sorry about the monster sized picture.

[Frosty]

Goodness Guns, you drowned the poor scorpion in the aquarium!? Wouldn't it have been more humane to just step on it? On a serious note, the itty bitty babies are a lot more dangerous than the adults. Like poisonous snakes the babies inject all their venom on any sting where adults adjust how much venom to inject depending on the situation. Poisonous snakes have been known to give "dry" bites to back you off. I don't think poisonous spiders "dry bite" but I have HEARD adult scorpions can. That IS HEARSAY, do NOT take it as anything to trust, I JUST heard it said.

I don't think I've seen a scorpion outside a Terrarium in a good 40 years, though I dumped more than a few out of my boots camping in the Mojave back when. A friend had a battery powered black light and we'd look for them at night, the flouresce(SP?) under UV.

Frosty the Lucky.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

It's OK Frosty, all of my aquariums are currently full of dehydrated water. I don't kill the scorpions, just release them outside normally. I want to get some good pictures of this one before releasing it.

This particular scorp is a Hairy Scorpion. The are the largest in N. America, and can get up to 6" long. The largest I have had here so far was close to 4". Even though the are a little aggressive they are one of the more popular ones kept as pets. These are not dangerous unless you are allergic to the venom; like bee stings. I have been stung once by a one round 1" long. Felt like a bee sting, and didn't last more than a couple of minutes.

As critters go, scorpions are pretty impressive in terms of what they can endure; heat, cold, radiation, etc.

Alaska is quite the 180 from the Mo-Jave. Had your fill of triple digits?
I always tap my shoes together upside down before putting them on.

[Dragons lair]

Do the 6 ft blacksnake in my desk drawer count? Mikey lived in the shop for yrs till I screwed up and used a lot of carb cleaner in there. he moved to the wood pile till i cleaned that up. moved to the front porch then to the road. Bad move.
Only issue was when he did the cobra thing next to my bike(in the dark) Hard to ride after that.
ken. PS I don't care what it is as long as I know where it is.

[Frosty]

I don't kill much unless if violates our agreement, don't bite me and enjoy life. Please don't put your web RIGHT across the doorway! Eat stinging and biting bugs and WELCOME to the Frost homestead!

Hairy scorpions aren't particularly dangerous unless you're alergic, heck, they're not even particularly aggressive nor defensive. Like tarantulas you really have to aggrivate or scare one to get stung. I don't recall what they're called but the little pale green tree scorpions are probably the most toxic in the US. The ones we used to see the most often in the desert were the tan ones maybe up to 1 1/2" long. They can be kind of aggressive but not too bad. A little respect and you're fine.

I used to to the shoe bump till it dawned on a buddy of mine to bring a plastic bag to put them in. It worked fine unless your feet were really sweaty.

Temperatures humans were meant to live in is one of the reasons I moved north west so far. Population pressure and different culture more so. I sure miss the beach and there used to be the coolest salvage yard on earth in Burbank, filled with everything from WWII sea mines to space junk like Apollo capsules, a service module, Agena boosters and four Saturn five engines. It was hands down super cool. Dad used to shop there every now and then looking for exotic metals. It's the salvage yard the old TV show "Salvage One," was based on.

Frosty the Lucky.

[Reverend]

Built my forge in the lean-to off the side of my utility shed. Open on three sides so I get all kinds of things wandering through. Mostly my dog Mocha.

Also seen wolf spiders, garter snakes, mice, bats, a doe with a couple of fawns, a fox, and I apparently have a rabbit hutch under my shed. Spooked a bunny more than once heading in there to work.

Haven't seen him in the forge yet, but there's a Great Horned owl in the woods out back. We see him sometimes close to dusk when we're out taking a walk.

[Dragons lair]

I am with Jer on this one.Don't care what lives in the smithy. YOU bite or sting me ya gonna find out how hot the forge is. Or how hard i can swing the hammer
As a former wildlife rehabber I have had lots, Starlings, possums,rabbits, hawks
snakes, Gave it up too many calls on Sun nite. "My kids been playing with this rabbit the cat caught on Thurs. Now we need to go home come get it NOW

[Sam Falzone]

Haven't seen him in the forge yet, but there's a Great Horned owl in the woods out back. We see him sometimes close to dusk when we're out taking a walk.

He's probably more interested in the bunnies that your forge ;)

[Sam Falzone]

<br />Hummingbird<br />

<br /><br /><br />

HAH!!! Cool.

Boy did he take a wrong turn

Have you ever seen a hummingbird nest? It's the size of a shot glass ... really.

[Bentiron1946]

Scorpions! They sure are interesting critters. Our neighbor found one in her dogs water bowl so she just reached in and pulled it out with her hand, it stung her, they don't drown easy. The pool man was cleaning our other neighbors pool when I heard him screaming like crazy, he got a Giant Hairy Scorpion out of the bottom of the pool and was pulling it off of the net when it stung him. They last a long time in water, that's where they came from originally or so some folk say, I don't know for sure, but do not drown easy.
The Bark Scorpion is the worst to get stung by, it will make you sick. There is now an antivenin for it understanding here in Arizona that is on track for FDA approval. That's good news for the young and elderly, hey I getting there for that last group.
The Giant Hairy Scorpion's main prey is other scorpions. It eats lots of things but it likes to eat other scorpions smaller than it is, even it's own kind. We find them run over on the road frequently where they have been feeding on some other dead critter, like a pack rat or a mouse, I think they are doing that just for the moisture.
Bark Scorpions are one of the few members of the local scorpion population that can climb walls, not glass, but walls and crawl along the ceiling. I still check my shoes after 55 years out here, no telling what you will find.
All scorpions sure go pop, fizzle in the forge!! :P

[Dillon Sculpture]

These burgers just wont stay out! Then they get trapped because of the skylights. I tried to rescue one the other day by tying a fish net to a 20' stick of iron, was to fast but finally got it to fly out....

[Mainely,Bob]

When I worked in an aluminum plant the bats used to fly thru the air curtains on the open doors.There was so much noise that their sonar wouldn`t work properly and they were pretty much blinded by the bright light so they would just slowly fly up and down the main aisle.
When this would happen they called either me or the night shift welder to put on our gloves and come and play catch and then release it back outside.They flew into the gloves like a slow pitch softball.
I mention this because bats have a way of appearing in the shop if I leave the overhead door open.
They`re much harder to catch in my shop than they were at that plant.

As far as the humming birds go.
Have you noticed if there is a particular machine running that attracts them Mike?I know bright colors,especially red,seem to attract them.Maybe they`re attracted to the forge and hot steel.
Hate that they`re so traumatized by the visit,they are fascinating to watch.

[Sask Mark]

These burgers just wont stay out! Then they get trapped because of the skylights. I tried to rescue one the other day by tying a fish net to a 20' stick of iron, was to fast but finally got it to fly out....

I would probably drop dead in your shop too with all the cool equipment and works of art that you churn out.

[Conrad Hodson]

My smithy has a tin roof on posts and two open sides. In rainy season it has the only dry dirt around, and all the cats in the neighborhood think I built it just for them. When I start a forge run, the first move is cleaning up the little mounds of dust with a shovel.

Besides the cats, we get occasional visits from possums, raccoons and nutria. The smithy is shaded by a big walnut and smaller filbert tree, so squirrels often bury nuts among the coal.

Conrad Hodson

[the branch]

I got worms... oh and a cat once + the ocational bird flying into the window. But mostly worms The coast of SouthWest Norway realy doesn´t have many different animals ^^
+ Im glad we dont have any dangoures poisonous animals or reptilians here. Im getting all icky reading about black widows and scorpions.

[Marksnagel]

Just found this pic of frequent visitors in late summer.