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Anonymous
Interesting experiences with wildlife thread. Let's hear some of those stories, /an/, I know you have them!

My story is very brief. When I was a kid, I had ant farms. That was simply the only pet I ever kept. I never grew out of them, however, and now I do Entomology research for a major pesticide company. Certainly you all have had more interesting experiences.
>> Anonymous
I used to have an ant farm like that, make sure they aren't small enough to crawl out of the air holes. I put scotch tape over the hole and then pricked it with a needle, that kept them in.
>> Anonymous
A hummingbird once got caught between the screen and the pane of my parents' garage window. I fished him out and released him outside. He flew off and appeared to be just fine.

Feeling that little heart beat in my hands was totally worth getting pooed on by a hummingbird.
>> Anonymous
one time when I was working in a drycleaning store during high school, a bird got into the store. It kept trying to get out through the huge picture window, but obviously couldnt. after a while, I waited till it settled down, then grabbed it, walked outside and threw it like a baseball in a random direction...which happened to be right at a car. the bird then took flight and left. got the strangest look from the driver of the car...
>> Anonymous
>>50158

I was at the beach one day and saw a bird trying to get a fish out of the water. It was a small shark, far too heavy for the bird to do anything to. As I walked closer, the bird flew off and the shark was left thrashing on the tideline. I picked it up, set it in somewhat deeper water and it swam off.
>> Anonymous
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I had two lorikeets clinging to the doorframe to my balcony the other morning chirping at me. I got a handfull of breadcrumbs and they came into my apartment, sat on my wrist and ate them. It was awesome. Particularly as I live in the city.
>> Anonymous
I had an ant farm once, those bastards didnt grow shit.
>> Anonymous
>>50178
lawl at mitch


i had an antfarm. after they all died it sat in my room for a few more years.
>> Anonymous
I ended up rescuing a bat that had flown into my college dorm. One of the downstairs windows was open without a screen, and the bat flew inside, up the stair well, and through the perpetually propped open fire door on the third floor. Apparently he had been in the hall for a while and my door was open, so he got spooked into my room. My roommate screamed her head off and I shut the door and got a pillowcase. Covered my hand with the pillowcase and scooped up the bat when he landed on my curtains, went downstairs and outside and let him go. No big deal. Walking back to my room, my TA peeks her head out of her door to warn us about the scary bat and to tell us that it's okay, she's alerted the police.
The police. For a little brown bat.

Anyway, I'm a zookeeper now, so go figure.
>> Anonymous
>>50158

do you make enough to live comfortably? I remember being very excited as a kid when I found out that there are people who get paid to study bugs, since insect-hunting occupied a lot of my time, but then I ruled it out as a careerpath because I was worried about not being able to find a job. so tell a bit about what your typical day is like?
>> Anonymous
I screw my cat nightly.
>> Anonymous
>>50209

tight, ain't it?
>> Anonymous
Well, I roomed with a couple of girls who really liked snakes in my freshman and junior years of college. At one point, one of their scorpions (Yes, they were keeping scorpions, as well as several snakes and some other things) escaped from the room. We searched the entire room, the hall way, the closets and trash rooms, and finally had to start knocking on doors. We finally found it in the closet of the room right next door.

Also, we had a snake escape into a hole in the dresser of another room, never to be seen again, despite partialing dismantling the dresser and trying to lure it out with food.
>> Anonymous
Why is the ant farm on your stove? (;O.O)
>> Anonymous
My neighbors found an injured cat and came over and asked me if it was mine and when i said no he intended to leave it there. So I grabbed a towel and got the cat myself. Its legs were broken, it smelled and was very emaciated but it purred alot. I tried to help it but when I got it to the pound(vet told me to go there first) they just left him there and he died.

When I was younger my dad was a corrections officer for the prison and him and the inmates would walk along the highway picking up trash and my dad would bring me home snakes, baby rabbits, turtles, etc, for me to nurse back to health(if injured) and released.

I have tons more stories but there's just far too many.
>> Anonymous
>>50267

That's terrible. Your cat story.
>> Anonymous
Quite a few years back my father and brother were at a Staples and my brother wandered through the briefcase section. The small planners, bags and those things and he started just opening them. In one of the bags he found a sleeping bat. A bat? How the hell does a bat get in one of those?

Someone had to have caught a bat and then smuggled it into Staples for the sole purpose of putting in a bag.
>> Anonymous
After watching a movie, me and a few friends hung out outside to waste some time. We found a praying mantis and started to play with it, putting wood chips and stuff in front of it to see how it would react. Then this guy driving a car with a bandanna pulls up and says "What is this, some sort of g-g-g-gayfest?" and drives off. So now whenever I think of praying mantises I think of "gayfest".
>> Anonymous
>>50497
I posted about him on /an/ a few months ago.
It was really sad 'cause even though he was all hurt, he wanted to be pet and would make this yowling noise if he couldn't see me.
>> Anonymous
A long time ago my family and I made an epic journey through South-Africa. Once, on a mountain, there were these lots of little guys called klipdassen. They chewed our soda pop straws. tWas not very disgusting to me seeing as I was young back then. It's really terribly disgusting though.
>> Anonymous
i live in southern california

Recently when i was out walking, i saw about 20-30 small black colored birds (they were too small to be black birds) flying into the top of a giant palm tree then flying back out in the direction they came from.

They would return to the palm tree a few seconds later and repeat.

I watched them until they stopped and then they all met up on a power line on the other side of the road.

I imagine they were getting some kinda berries out of the tree. Maybe playing a game? Exercise? Deciding who's the next chief?
>> Anonymous
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>>50541

They're awfully cute, but I don't know if I'd want to drink from a straw pre-chewed by one of them either.
>> Anonymous
>>50158
Whoa, cool ant farm.

What do they use for the gel? Seems like it'd kill the ants.
>> Anonymous
>>50553
You've never seen these before? The gel is also food. The ants are often sealed off completely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A85TskjfGxo&eurl=
>> Anonymous
>>50553

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/6fd6/
>> Anonymous
>>50566
What happens when they run out of gel though ;_;
>> Anonymous
>>50659
related question: what if you dont have any gel to start with?
Does anyone here know how to make this gel? Or do i have to ask NASA?
>> Anonymous
>>50676
Probably just some kinda high-water content sugar based gel with a NASA stamp on it.
>> Anonymous
>>50659

ants' lifespans are short. they die befoer the gel runs out.
>> Anonymous
From what I've read of the reviews on it, ants hate it and will do their best to get the hell out of it before making tunnels.
>> Anonymous
The problem I remember having with ant farms (back in elementary school lol) is that it was getting harder and harder for teachers to get their hands on queens for class ant farms. I can only assume now that it's near impossible. What are the possibilities of getting a queen?
>> Anonymous
>>50541
>>50548
according to wiipedia, their english name is "hyrax"...whodathunkit?
>> Anonymous
Once, a bird got caught in my house and my dad went ape shit trying to get it out. We took video of it and everything.

http://www.tourettesguy.com/videos/birdinthehouse/