A badger has decided to use the space under my floor as his gaff during the day. He's got in through one of the air vents in the foundations that are used for ventilation.
A couple of nights ago I put a metal vent across the hole, secured with a bolt and a plate behind. But he ripped that off in his efforts to get back in. So last night when he'd vacated I put a couple of large rocks and a piece of paving slab across the hole, but he somehow managed to move these out of the way and get back in. He's also had a dig around the other (smaller) vent holes.
I could send a terrier in there, but I don't want to end up lifting the floor to get them out if they get stuck. So it looks like I'll have an evening waiting for him to show his snout, then give him some of Mr Eley's finest, and try not to take out any windows in the process!
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Bung a couple of Jamo speakers down there and then play some Sabbath or D/Puple all night :}
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As luck would have, the local farmer was fixing his electric fence this morning, so he's bringing along a trap this afternoon. So as long as I can keep my dogs out of the trap when I take them out last thing at night, we should have a badger in the morning. I hope he enjoys his last meal of egg and honey.
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Get Lud to come along and have a chat with Brock, he will soon jack it in and leave!
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We had problems with a badger digging up our recently-buried deceased cat last year. A bit of research showed that they don't like change, so we put a small wrought iron sculpture with a solar light by the grave and it hasn't been back. Perhaps put something that you can light, or as a variation on one of the tongue in cheek suggestions, a radio, outside for a few days near the vent?
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>> Perhaps put something that you can light
Flame thrower?
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I caught a badger in my fox trap (uninjured). He looked most unhappy...Not come back since.
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Once caught one in a Fox-snare! - he was caught around the waist and he were none too pleased! We had to tranquilize him with a tap on the head with a spade before we could get near enough to release him. When He came round a few seconds later, he just picked himself up, had a good shake and wandered off mumbling to himself! They are surprisingly solid creatures for their size
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>> They are surprisingly solid creatures for their size
You can say that again. One ran under my car once at night on a bend and made a huge dent in the front valance of the car below the bumper (car an Estelle).
Even baby ones are surprisingly heavy and chunky. Played with one once. It was very cute in a blinking, snuffling sort of way, but you could tell it could never be tamed even at that age.
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>> Get Lud to come along .............
I remember Lud. People used to go up to him and say "You are Lobby Lud and I claim the Westminster Gazette prize".
:-D
Last edited by: L'escargot on Thu 2 Aug 12 at 13:24
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>> Bung a couple of Jamo speakers down there and then play some Sabbath or D/Puple
>> all night :}
>>
See, now, you haven't thought this one through properly have you. You don't want the neighbour turning up at 0400 with one of Mr Eley's finest, do you?
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>> I could send a terrier in there, but I don't want to end up lifting
>> the floor to get them out if they get stuck.
You could, but be careful it doesn't come out with it's face torn off (the terrier's I mean).
Watch out if it gets caught in the trap. They are immensely strong and can be vicious if backed into a corner.
Last edited by: corax on Mon 30 Jul 12 at 14:42
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>> I could send a terrier in there,
Dachshund means badger hound. I think corgis were originally bred for that too, low-slung but brave little dogs.
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I ave told this tale before, but ...
When we lived in Hastings (it was actually St. Leonard's on sea, but its easier to say Hastings) our back garden was a on a Badgers run and the critters would regularly dig blimmin oles all over the shop.
I had it all fenced orf and re-turfed, went to Cornwall for 2 weeks, came back to find said garden looking like the Somme c1916!
I was sooooooo blimmin livid, I went out and bought a 22 hunting rifle with a Superscope, taped a powerful torch on the barrel and went out after em one night in the early hours.
I copped eyes on the critter at close range, aimed and fired, he ran orf but I definitely hit him (I couldn't really miss)
Believe it or not they rarely bothered me after our 'meeting' ...(please don't try this at home!)
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Sheesh... and I though I had problems with mice in my house.
Caught one yesterday, using a sticky glue trap.
Had to bludgeon it to death with a spade, though, and shove it down the drain...
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What a cruel lot you are....they will all come back to haunt you. You will be reincarnated to whatever it was you mistreated and I'm off to report you all to the RSPCA.
Live and let live.
Pat
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With Badgers tho` its not all Black and White, there are Grey area`s!!
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>> What a cruel lot you are....they will all come back to haunt you. You will
>> be reincarnated to whatever it was you mistreated and I'm off to report you all
>> to the RSPCA.
>>
>> Live and let live.
>>
>> Pat
>>
Hey, Pat, the last thing I need is mouse poop and urine all over my worktops.
Anyways, bludgeoning with a spade was the best option. I decided against the lighter fluid and viking funeral.
On a similar note, a mate of mine had rats in his attic. So he sets a rat-trap. Ratty comes along, grabs bait, trap slams down onto his snout.
so now we have a dazed rat with a smashed face dragging a rat-trap through the roof spaces. TGHAT would have been fun to watch1
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I'm now Googling for the Cape Town equivalent to the RSPCA!
Pat
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>> I'm now Googling for the Cape Town equivalent to the RSPCA!
And the badger is in Norway I think. Or is it Sweden Dave lives? Anyway not the RSPCA.
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>> >> I'm now Googling for the Cape Town equivalent to the RSPCA!
>>
>> And the badger is in Norway I think. Or is it Sweden Dave lives? Anyway
>> not the RSPCA.
>>
tinyurl.com/btapa5n
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To be honest, pat, I had considered cleaning mousie up a bit, and setting it free in the wilds. But I suspect 15 minutes in the twin-tub trying to get the glue off would have done for him anyway.
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Thank you L'es...Ian, I'd quit while you're in front if I was you!
Pat
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But Pat, I AM ahead!
Ian 1 Mouse 0.
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We had a ratsnake in the roof of our house in Ceylon. Never saw it myself, but it was quite big and used to make a terrible racket up there catching rats or whatever in the middle of the night.
The naval captain who lived next door had tamed a couple of mongooses. They ran wild but would come for their food when he rattled a saucer on the verandah in the evening. One came into our room one morning and drank my sister's cup of tea. But they didn't get into our roof. That would have been very unfortunate (see Rikki-Tikki-Tavi).
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'm off to report you all to the RSPCA
Funnily enough I popped into the local office the other day - very cramped - you couldn't swing a cat in there....!
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tinyurl.com/d6rudj5
"The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 makes it an offence to kill or injure a badger (except under licence); cruelly illtreat
a badger; use certain prohibited firearms; dig for a badger; damage or destroy a badger sett or obstruct access to it, or
disturb a badger in it; cause a dog to enter a badger sett; and tag or mark any badger (except under licence). The Act
permits the granting of a licence to take or kill badgers, or to interfere with setts in certain circumstances - such as for the
purpose of preventing serious damage to land, crops or other property."
The above may only apply to the UK ~ I don't know.
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>> The Protection of Badgers Act 1992
That's a UK Act so yes UK only. Maybe there's something similar where Dave is? I hope he comes up with a humane way of deterring it entering his property.
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... hope he comes up with a humane way of deterring it entering his property...
He has - he's a good shot.
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No badger protection act here! The season starts 1st August, but you can deal with them any time if they're damaging property, land or livestock. They usually send a terrier down the hole, and then spend the next 3 hours digging.
The trap's all set, so if I can keep my own dogs out of it we may be in luck.
Here's a picture:- www.hundgubbe.se/page10.html
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What happens after you've caught it?
Hosepipe from the car exhaust into the trap?
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Badger Ham is wonderful ( I am reliably informed).
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>> What happens after you've caught it?
>>
>> Hosepipe from the car exhaust into the trap?
>>
>>
>>
A .22 expanding in the back of the head I'm afraid.
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The bigger your roof the more snow falls upon it (old Persian saying)
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What its actually saying Martine is "if you live in a barrel like Diogenes, you'll have a lot less to worry about!
:}
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I'll look it up Guv. Honest......(0:-:0)
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It's 1-0 to brock so far. The trap's still set, and the bait is still there. Maybe he's gone of his own accord, but I'll cover the hole today to see if there's an movement.
At least Pat will be happy.
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>> Maybe he's gone of his own accord,
badger drives a Honda?
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You've hurt his feelings now, that's what it is!
Pat
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>> What its actually saying Martine is ..........
How did Miss Escutcheon get into this?
:-)
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>> >> What its actually saying Martine is ..........
>>
>> How did Miss Escutcheon get into this?
>> :-)
is she key to this?
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Well he seems to have done a runner, as there's been no movement for the last couple of days. I'll give it a bit longer, but it seems he's gone off to 'badger' someone else.
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I've managed to 'dispatch' two mickey mouses in the last couple of days using Rentokil traps.
I don't mind the critters living ere, but their blimmin teeth do a lot of damage, so I send em orf to kingdom come!
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INTERNET HATE CAMPAIGN 'DROVE BADGER INTO HIDING'
Mr Brock, a middle-aged badger said by friends to be 'shy and retiring', is believed to have gone into hiding since an internet campaign, apparently launched by a Sweden-based hacker, went viral and exploded into a global campaign of savage criticism.
'Badger is very sensitive and easily upset by this sort of thing,' a vole-like friend who refused to give his name was reported as saying. He refused to confirm to reporters that Mr Brock has been given refuge by the Argentinian chargé d'affaires in Reykyavik, Iceland.
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You'll could write copy for The Daily Wail, Sire (if you don't already that is!)
:}
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No such luck Perro. If I did I might have Lud's sort of bread, dig?
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In a way I'm glad. I don't have Pats's softness for anything furry, hairy, or feathery (have I missed any others?) but I didn't fancy the image of a dead badger with a bullet through the back of it's head.
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Pat's got a thing for baldness too, Corax - search the forum for 'sexy maturity' and you'll see what I mean. She doesn't seem so keen on hooves and horns, though, so while you feathered types might need to watch out I'm in the clear.
}:---)
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I',m a balding hairy beekeeper...
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Yes, so you are madf, and I've been meaning to ask you something!
Those things you see in garden centres, made up of small wooden tubes for bees to spend the winter in, do they work?
Are they worth buying or would I have plenty of natural places around an old fashioned garden with hedges, sheds and greenhouse they will use?
I have seen so few bees this year that I'd like to encourage as many as possible to stick around for next year.
Pat
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>> Yes, so you are madf, and I've been meaning to ask you something!
>>
>> Those things you see in garden centres, made up of small wooden tubes for bees
>> to spend the winter in, do they work?
>>
>> Are they worth buying or would I have plenty of natural places around an old
>> fashioned garden with hedges, sheds and greenhouse they will use?
>>
>> I have seen so few bees this year that I'd like to encourage as many
>> as possible to stick around for next year.
>>
>> Pat
>>
Depends where in britain you live.
'My bee eats because I'm a Londoner", and all that.
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Thems for Solitary-type Bees Pat, not Honey ones! - but instead of buying one why not make one out of a few old truck hoses sealed at one end, an siliconed together in a heap!
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>> Yes, so you are madf, and I've been meaning to ask you something!
>>
>> Those things you see in garden centres, made up of small wooden tubes for bees
>> to spend the winter in, do they work?
>>
>> Are they worth buying or would I have plenty of natural places around an old
>> fashioned garden with hedges, sheds and greenhouse they will use?
>>
>> I have seen so few bees this year that I'd like to encourage as many
>> as possible to stick around for next year.
>>
>> Pat
>>
Do they work>
#
Yes.. If they can be installed so the ends point downwards to prevent water getting in. If that means water getting in the other end, no
Are they worth buying?
If you want to spend money on something you could make for far less but do not have the time, and place them in the correct place and have local bumble bees.. yes.
(not honey bees: just solitary bumble bees).
Personally we leave lots of areas of the garden untided for wild insects etc..
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So do I, so probably not worth buying one, but a fun attempt at making one and placing it under the arbour (which is covered in Jasmine and Wisteria) may be worthwhile.
Am I allowed to have a look and see if there is anything in there all winter?
Pat
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>> Are they worth buying or would I have plenty of natural places around an old
>> fashioned garden with hedges, sheds and greenhouse they will use?
"Where the bee sucks, there suck I:
In a cowslip's bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat's back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough."
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That's now copied and pasted in my poetry folder L'es, thanks.
I love poetry, but only if it takes me somewhere nice.
Pat
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>> That's now copied and pasted in my poetry folder L'es, thanks.
No probs.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Thu 2 Aug 12 at 08:56
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That took me back a bit to my schooldays and Eng Lit .( well more than a bit actually 50 years plus)
Thats yer actual Shakespeare .......
Sung by Ariel in the Tempest IIRC
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I love poetry, but only if it takes me somewhere nice.
How about going down the pub Pat?
One of my favourite poems .........
THE VILLAGE INN
"The village inn, the dear old inn,
So ancient, clean and free from sin,
True centre of our rural life
Where Hodge sits down beside his wife
And talks of Marx and nuclear fission
With all a rustic's intuition.
Ah, more than church or school or hall,
The village inn's the heart of all."
So spake the brewer's P. R. O.,
A man who really ought to know,
For he is paid for saying so.
And then he kindly gave to me
A lovely coloured booklet free.
'Twas full of prose that sang the praise
Of coaching inns in Georgian days,
Showing how public-houses are
More modern than the motor-car,
More English than the weald or wold
And almost equally as old,
And run for love and not for gold
Until I felt a filthy swine
For loathing beer and liking wine,
And rotten to the very core
For thinking village inns a bore,
And village bores more sure to roam
To village inns than stay at home.
And then I thought I must be wrong,
So up I rose and went along
To that old village alehouse where
In neon lights is written "Bear".
Ah, where's the inn that once I knew
With brick and chalky wall
Up which the knobbly pear-tree grew
For fear the place would fall?
Oh, that old pot-house isn't there,
It wasn't worth our while;
You'll find we have rebuilt "The Bear"
In Early Georgian style.
But winter jasmine used to cling
With golden stars a-shine
Where rain and wind would wash and swing
The crudely painted sign.
And where's the roof of golden thatch?
The chimney-stack of stone?
The crown-glass panes that used to match
Each sunset with their own?
Oh now the walls are red and smart,
The roof has emerald tiles.
The neon sign's a work of art
And visible for miles.
The bar inside was papered green,
The settles grained like oak,
The only light was paraffin,
The woodfire used to smoke.
And photographs from far and wide
Were hung around the room:
The hunt, the church, the football side,
And Kitchener of Khartoum.
Our air-conditioned bars are lined
With washable material,
The stools are steel, the taste refined,
Hygienic and ethereal.
Hurrah, hurrah, for hearts of oak!
Away with inhibitions!
For here's a place to sit and soak
In sanit'ry conditions.
John Betjeman
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I like that!
I thought it was taking me to our local pub, but then found myself in the newly opened '2 meals for the price of One' pub recently opened in our local town.
I think we'll just stay in the village!
Pat
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I admit, I'm not keen on horses....I would never hurt one but they scare me a bit. When I try to make friends by rubbing their jaw bone they always bite my boobs! I think they sense my fear of them.
I love pigs though, big, fat mucky pigs!
Pat
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>>they always bite my boobs!
Thats it! I`m off out now to give Neddy a good booting! then I can come back as one! ;-)
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>> >>they always bite my boobs!
>>
>> Thats it! I`m off out now to give Neddy a good booting! then I can
>> come back as one! ;-)
bad news, horses also try to bit my nipples (every horse I have ever come close to has tried to do that)
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No Z! - you`re supposed to breathe gently into their nostrils, not breast-feed them! ;-)
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>> (have I missed any others?
Yep! - Scaley!
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I'm not bothered what type of bees they are, I just like to see them lazily buzzing around the hanging baskets which are in full flower at the moment.
Pat
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Yes they do work. Easy to make from some old hollow bamboo canes.
apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=648
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Solitary bees are important too, Pat. You may have mining bees, which have bright orange abdomens and are good for pollinating fruit trees; or leaf cutter bees, which will be the reason for any flying green discs you see crossing your garden - and for mysterious damage to my tomato plants, for which I'd previously blamed l'Es and his gastropod cousins.
If your wooden tunnels are wide enough, there are even scattered reports of carpenter bees making their way here from the Continent. These are amazing things, black all over, 30mm long and with a rumble like one of Cliff's tractors.
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That's an interesting link CG, thanks.
I have some Bamboo than needs trimming and a lot of old canes so I think I'll try making one.
W de B, they are all welcome in my garden, I don't discriminate at all!
....apart from Vine Weevils.
Pat
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>>
....apart from Vine Weevils.
As you said in a previous thread, you come back as things you have harmed!
Hello Mrs Weevil!!
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If I can live all winter in a heated greenhouse with an enormous Begonia corm to eat, it won't be a bad life!
Pat
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I'm a tolerant person Pat but please don't mention Vine Weevils.
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You have them too?
I've tried Nematodes this spring so I'll see if it makes a difference next year.
I suspect not!
Pat
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Devastated my Fuschias - Interested to know how you get on with the nematodes.
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chucks is what you need! = not for Badgers tho` for weevils!
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Not really - vine weevils do their worst to plants in containers. A load of chickens tearing up the garden not likely to help much!
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They`ve got to get in from somewhere! ;-)
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Think they arrived in some new plants from the garden centre and spread throughout the overwintering plants in the greenhouse. Nematodes seem the answer.
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I think mine came in when I brought some plants in tubs inside for the winter. I do occasionally see adult ones in the garden.
Pat
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Badger under the floor!! - Zero
