text; un: johnb (critters)

[baum]

[ Honestly, thank god for this thing's text function. ]

Hey everyone, this is John.

Ever since that new sinkhole opened yesterday, the number of those weird alien dinosaur moles that come from them has been growing.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't love the idea of killing them all just because they're in the way. I know they can't stay here, but there has to be somewhere else we can take them. I'm open to suggestions. I just think we should talk about it.

If any of you agree with me, can we maybe get a team together and try to corral them or something? I know Rémi wants to put them down, but I'd like to at least present an alternative.

Comments

[cryptoherpetology]

You know, given how sensitive their senses seem to be, a strong-smelling chemical could work as a deterrent. If you've got any thoughts on what cleaning products we could use for that, sanitation might even have some on hand if you don't already.

The structure of their ears implies they're pretty sound-sensitive as well- which might have been why they burst up here, if they thought the vibrations from the game were their usual prey.

Sound, bright light and strong chemical smells should be able to deter them from one place. If I can get into the stomach contents of one to identify what they're supposed to eat, we could use that to lure them somewhere more appropriate.

[cleaningsolutions]

Good idea. There's always the possibility that a given chemical is similar to something they would eat or a mating pheromone, so I wouldn't distribute something without testing this. It would also have to be something that could be easily produced in large quantities and wouldn't harm the camp or humans, or not permanently.

Chloramine, maybe. Assuming you have the same range of reactions that I'm familiar with it causes coughing, shortness of breath, and eye irritation, but in moderate doses it shouldn't kill anyone.

I wouldn't bet on bright lights. These animals don't seem to have eye-analogues, but I suppose they could still have some ability to detect light.

[cryptoherpetology]

The cave rats had tentacles and venom.

I'm not ruling these things having eyestalks on their whiskers until I've seen their entire nervous system up close.

[cleaningsolutions]

What's so strange about tentacles and venom?

[cryptoherpetology]

They're extremely rare in animals with that much mammalian biology on earth enough to surprise even a guy whose cat has wings and a beak.

But it's pretty obvious at this point that evolution had some very different ideas about taxonomy here.