Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Bird its whats for dinner

How about this ?

Ida know. That might subject the mouse to emotional trauma before it gets et.

It has been proven that frozen chickens will break the window out of the cockpit of an aircraft when fired with force, how about a simple trap that is always set??? I am thinking a sort of PVC pipe that extends out over the pond to drop them in like BSF larva, all you need is to hang a piece of cheese out beyond the opening of the pipe and when they reach for it they fall in, you may need to use Pam nonstick spray on the end of the tube, like the carnies do to keep you from winning the ring toss and such, this way they are sure to slip in the pond, heh heh. That's my idea lets see if it bounces off anyone else with a twist.

Young Blood, I smell a thesis in this somewhere.

Great idea Joe G... There is no doubt we as a group can engineer the perfect device. Furthermore, there is no doubt this device would have some entertainment value. As we brainstorm and toss device ideas around, I believe we need to address the feeding aspect. Does anybody have access to data that would tell us the crude protein content of a field mouse. If it isn't documented, I have some biology guys that could run some tests and tell us. Its amazing what can be accomplished when you trade a 12 pack of beer. This test I'm told is straight forward; blend a mouse into liquid (gross) and do a protein assay(sp?) I don't know what any of that is but they could tell us the crude protein.

I have several quotes etched in my feeble mind. One of my favorites came during a sampling expedition.
While electrofishing at Savannah Dhu in upstate New York back in 2004, we were netting too many 12-14" skinny bass from the Lodge Pond. Overcrowded fish, not enough forage fish, to say the least.
As the fish came into the live well, I noticed one with a bulging belly.
After we collected enough fish to stop, weigh and measure, our crew went to work.
Intern Dave Beasley, had the quote of the night that night. Many of you met Dave at the Pond Boss conference.
Every one of those bass, all 70ish something of them, were carbon copy, cookie cutter copies of each other...except the one with the punchy belly. As the guys did what they do, I saw one of them grab that bass. I asked him to pass it to me. One look down the craw of that 12 inch bass and I started to laugh a little. There were feathers sticking out. I grabbed the tail feathers, gave them a little tug, and out came a barn swallow. Beasley looked at the semi-digested bird, looked at me, looked back at the bird and said, "I never knew bass could fly!"

You might think I'm crazy but I remember watching a show on discovery channel about pest control and a guy had built a contraption that catapulted mice into a collection container in the center of the room. I can't remember what it was called though.

Try the sparrow trap I mentioned earlier. It is much easier and works great.

I am reminded of the movie "Never Cry Wolf" where actor Charles Martin Smith portrayed a Biologist who, studying arctic wolves, subsisted on nothing but mice and beer.

There was also a scene where he did his impression of Brettski on ice.

After blending the mice, measure out 10 mg in 100 ml of 98%sulphuric acid. Boil until dissolved. Add 1 ml methyl red and titrate with 50% sodium hydroxide. Then go to the nearest feed mill and look up the protein content % on their chart.

Elementary!

I don't wanna brag or anything, but this mouse-catching project is easily solved when a finely tuned engineering mind like mine is put to the task. I whipped up this drawing on a napkin at Chili's last night.
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Theo wrote: "I am reminded of the movie "Never Cry Wolf" where actor Charles Martin Smith portrayed a Biologist who, studying arctic wolves, subsisted on nothing but mice and beer.

There was also a scene where he did his impression of Brettski on ice."

(Theo, please don't take this the wrong way...)

Freak.

Is there a right way to take it? :P

I have seen bass jump out of the water at barns swallows, I have never seen a barn swallow get caught. About 7-8 years ago I watched a 4 lb. bass jump out of the water at a duck that was coming in for a landing.

WOW, this thread is getting crazy, and I know crazy.

This thread is great.

As far as %protein goes...

http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

Just remember that nutrition is relative to the organism. What is the most nutritious for a dog, is not the best for a cat, which is not the best for a fish and so on.

JHAP knows crazy, now why does this not shock me???

Burgermeister- If thats elementry, then I am truely ignent!

Dras- With those numbers that you have provided (thank you by the way you just saved the blending of one mouse), how do we apply them to fish nutrition? If we assume a product like Game Fish chow has the right nutritional makeup for optimal LMB growth, then couldn't we just compare the numbers from a mouse to determine if the nutrition would be adequate?

JHAP- This is only the begining of crazy from MNFISH. I have six years of pent up "what ifs" when it comes to pond raising fish.

Attention Dr. Griffin: Stand by for "Aquamax Large Mouse"

Im sure PETA will be along shortly

To be honest mnfish,

I have no clue. I am more of a reptile guy.

What you have suggested is probably the most sensible thing to do.

Comparing them to a optimal LMB formula is a good start.

I had a ready supply of dead mice that I used to feed to my catfish. I was able to grow 15 to 20 pound channel cats in a 1 acre pond. My wife runs a genetics lab and they grow mice. The ones with the wrong genes would get destroyed. She would bring them home and I would throw them in the pond with the fish food. The catfish would gobble them up.

Nothing like third party verification to validate an idea.

I started this thread to post my first picture and get some stories from fellow pond owners. I had no idea this thread would end up...with a reptile man and geneticly alterned mice being fed to catfish. This is the greatest forum for free thinking, period!

Uhm...I'll admit...years ago, when working on the hog farm, I used baby mice for bass bait. Man, when they hit 'em they HAMMER the things. Present wife does not approve of such carnage, but I still laugh at the thought...

Can't tolerate snakes, but a buddy used to use lil ones, too. What a blast to watch...but it just gave me a little shivver. I'm a wuss when it comes to slithery things.

The funding for the Mouse Launcher TS, has been approved (I got my wife's permission to proceed). Why ST? Out of respect for T heo and S unil I have completed the concept phase with 2 soild approaches. If anyone cares, I will be documenting its progress throughout the next 2-3 months.