7/26- The Gulp mug killer has caught itself! Young possum gets into more trouble!

Aloha-

Sometime over the weekend I had a nocturnal visitor in my tiki lounge (in my patio). It knocked over a hula girl and an Accoutrement mug in order to make room to crap on my shelf. I keep all my low end mugs outside on this shelf unit. OK well I can deal with that. We have had a rat in the backyard before, but not in a while. I have seen a possum going into the yard within the past couple months. Very rarely a stray cat comes through the lounge. No racoons. The poop seemed a bit large for a rat, I was leaning possum.

Well when I went outside this morning I noticed something was wrong right away as a panned my eyes across the lounge. I gulped. Gulp is GONE!

I looked on the ground, there he was, shattered. :( Fortunately he is easily replaceable...OK well scratch that, he is sold out on Tiki Farm, just checked.

So anyway, I can't figure out what the vandal was trying to do or get on the shelf. There is no food out there, just spiders. I can't figure out how it managed to knock Gulp off without knocking the three off the bar too! So since I am not sure what it was I am not sure of what method to persue. I have no problem putting out a rat trap and killing the dirty rat who broke my mug, I apologize to those that tollerate wild tiki mug breaking rats in your patio :wink:. But I can't set up snap traps if it is a possum or cat, that would be bad. And I don't want to put repellant because we let our cat in the lounge from time to time when we are out there.

Hmmmmm....any ideas? Any zoologist/scat analysts on here? I will go add some museum wax to the mugs on the shelf and remove the ones from the bar tonight.

-John

[ Edited by: Aloha John 2007-07-26 20:54 ]

[ Edited by: Aloha John 2007-07-26 21:06 ]

I'd say possum, judging by the climbing involved and the poop size. Try finding your local animal welfare group (RSPCA?) and ask them for advice on identyifying the animal, and keeping it out of your house.

I'm pretty sure you can get that mug replaced from Doug Horne himself. Check his website. http://www.swampfirelounge.com

Good luck catching the critter!!

Well I don't know S**t but I I say that looks like a squirrel turd. Ask Little Lost Tiki or Tyger Jimmy they will know and also carbon copy Grog too just for the fun of it.

Chongolio

A curious teenage raccoon, I'm guessing.

But just to confirm, send your broken mug fragments and shit samples to:

Broken Mugs 'n' Shit
C/O Polynesian Pop
CaliTikifornia, 90638

Good call Dr Bunga,
Pop knows himself some S***T too. A specialist if you will.

Chongolio MD

Lost-Isle
Coconut Wired Podcast
Barefoot bloggin'

You may be able to find or rent what is called a "hav-a-hart" trap. It's a cage with two doors that swing down and lock once the "intruder" has stepped in the center of the trap.

At that point you have the choice of releasing it (if it's your cat or a squirrel, or something non-noxious) releasing it elsewhere (coon, possum, etc) or euthanizing it (rat, odd acting coon, daylight skunk, what have you)

Adolescent coon looks to me. Bummer. Get a semi rabid tomcat to watch over things.

Kinda looks like 'burnt shrimp' !!!

Aloha...

Well no new carnage or steamy ones this morning. I went with the Tom Bodette method and left the light on for them. It's been pitch black in there usually. Even if they don't mind the light and come back at least they can watch what the hell there are doing! :)

Gulp actually isn't available on Dung, I mean Doug Hornes website. :wink: There's some on Ebay and perhaps still in some stores too. I am not too worried. But if someone on here has an extra to sell...?

No chance it's a squirrel or a raccoon. Does that deer scaring bamboo clacking fountain scare other animals besides deer?

I could put my lounge lighting on a motion sensor, but that actually might make it more relaxing in there for the varmit to do his business...

What's on Poly Pop's Scat Analyst Resume? I think that may have been before my time here on TC. He's just down the freeway from me, so I could deliver them fresh (if I get new ones)!

"Aloha John's Pu Pu Platters- We Deliver"

-John

You can probably mark off possum. They are not much for climbing. They have those soft "hands" and stick to the ground, or very easy climbs. No trees, etc. Not squirel either at night, though it could be a flying squirel, they don't poop that big. I think that leaves raccoon as big enough, nocturnal and a climber.

Maybe you could block the access. A while back I had a problem with a skunk digging for grubs in my front lawn and making all these little holes, so I searched for a benevolent way to keep them away. I ended up with the suggestion to mark the boundaries of the lawn with mountain lion urine, apparently available at local nurseries. Calling around, I did not find any, but a friendly nursery lady advised me thus: Since it is really the scent of carnivores that scares a skunk, all I would need to do is eat steak three times a week, and I could mark my territory myself then! I did like that cave man approach in theory, but could not revert to the cave man diet enough to see it through.

Possum's can definately climb. They were getting into our chicken coop through a hole up near the roof, which involved scaling a 6 foot wall of T-111 to get there!

I've seen more of them in trees than on the ground, historically.

But they are not fans of light.

The "hav-a-hart" traps are very inexpensive ($15-35) and quite effective in my experience. I've used them for rabbits, chipmunks, and even one skunk. Never a problem with the catch and release . . . even with the skunk.

i vote for it's the nocturnal manifestation of kristin gehring

On 2007-07-17 08:58, Johnny Dollar wrote:
i vote for it's the nocturnal manifestation of kristin gehring

I was leaning that way myself.

What adds insult to injury, the little devil not only knocked over your mug, but also proceeded to poo on it to show you he/she did it.

Swanky- in these parts possums ARE excellent climbers. I have seen possums in my large pear tree that is 10 feet from my lounge. Once there was a pair courting on a branch about 15 feet up. I went outside and heard strange noises that after searching the area with the flashlight I found them up way them.

bigbrotiki- screening in the lounge is an option I had considered before. Eventually I just may do that. For now I think I'll just try some repellant in the area where I think the possum comes into my yard (the hole in the fence), and put a higher wattage bulb in the light I can leave on (now it's low for correct mood lighting). The territory marking technique sounds like fun, I think I have a couple friends that eat enough beef that would gladly pee on my fence. :)

-John

That's what I thought: Beat them at their own game, fight poo with pee!

On 2007-07-17 08:50, timidtiki wrote:
The "hav-a-hart" traps are very inexpensive ($15-35) and quite effective in my experience. I've used them for rabbits, chipmunks, and even one skunk. Never a problem with the catch and release . . . even with the skunk.

I've worked with a few feral cat groups and can atest to to the efficiency of this trap.

Now, what to use for bait...

Dude, that SUCKS! Those damn racoons are always in my trash, spreading it all over the driveway. I recomend bottle rockets! Now only the "newbie" racoons hit my trash. The wise ones stay well away from small explosive noise.

Tiki Bill.

I'm in SoCal as well. Last week I went out to my tiki bar and found the protective covering slipping off my vintage bamboo sofa. I reached over to adjust it and found myself nose to nose with a possum. He/she was just spending the afternoon napping. At that point I just apologized and covered him/her back up. Later I went back and took a few photos. After dark, I evicted him/her and haven't noticed a return visit.

N.

If you REALLY want to know the culprit, visit this website. It is a guide to scat identification.

great gooogly-moogly, I never thought I'd be trying to ID scat on TkiCentral. And yet...

On 2007-07-17 07:33, bigbrotiki wrote:
...all I would need to do is eat steak three times a week, and I could mark my territory myself then! I did like that cave man approach in theory, but could not revert to the cave man diet enough to see it through.

Time to send in The Jab!!!

On 2007-07-17 07:33, bigbrotiki wrote:
Since it is really the scent of carnivores that scares a skunk, all I would need to do is eat steak three times a week, and I could mark my territory myself then! I did like that cave man approach in theory, but could not revert to the cave man diet enough to see it through.

Sounds like a Tiki Oasis seminar to me.

Count me in!

Aloha John, I have that mug available in my shop. PM me if you want...
K.

Monkey Scat, it's gotta be... I've seen this before, nasty little buggers...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYuIYNaKynI

:lol: That was hysterical. Those critters don't monkey around!!! They know how to nab a free drink.

You can probably borrow a trap from the humane society. Tell them them it is for ferrel cats. Bring the cage back and ask them what the hell kind a cat is it.

I think leaving the light on, keeping an inner gate closed, and spraying some repellent at the outer gate has done the trick, either that or the Tiki gods have punished the little fellow somehow, because he has not been back since the night Gulp hit the floor. Thanks for all the suggestions and miscellaneous entertainment. :wink:

UPDATE*

Since this is still on page one, and I don't want to drag it out, I won't bump it with the update. But if anyone is interested I was passing through my garage tonight when something caught my eye in my garage trashcan. Oh well look at what we have here, a possum!! Aparently it was climbing around on top of my 40 gallon air compressor and slipped off and fell into the trashcan.

I have know idea how many days the cute little fella had been in there...but considering how hot my garage has been getting during the day, I'd say he got his just punishment for busting my mug and pooping in my lounge. :) So I got out my axe and ....

...just kidding!!! I let him go the way he probably came in- thru the hole in my gate my dog made years ago...see the tail?

Hopefully he learned his lesson and won't mess with the Tiki Gods at Aloha John's again. :wink:

[ Edited by: Aloha John 2007-07-26 21:04 ]