[him a layin]

when the price of bread doubles or triples because all the granaries are full of mouse poop, we'll be singing a different tune.

[Leofric]

Be a lot more mice around.

Are there a lot of mice in Ireland ? !

[AzCal Retred]

Cats, badgers, stoats, mink, pine martens, foxes, kestrels, buzzards, herons and owls keep Irish mice "in check", sort of...

https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/arid-20300215.html#:~:text=Probably%20the%20most%20significant%20predator,Irish%20carnivorous%20mammal%20eats%20mice.
There are other factors that control house mouse numbers during the months when most of them live outdoors. One of these is predation. Lots of other creatures eat mice, making them an important link in the ecological chain. Probably the most significant predator in Ireland is the domestic cat, though every Irish carnivorous mammal eats mice. Badgers seldom catch adult mice but they dig out nests of young. Foxes have a specialist mouse-catching technique which involves locating them by sound and pouncing on them with a straight-legged jump. Stoats, pine martens and mink hunt them regularly.
Kestrels, buzzards and owls eat a lot of mice, though short-eared owls don’t because they are winter visitors when the mice tend to be indoors. Even herons like a meaty morsel as a change from their usual diet of fish.
But the question of whether predators control the numbers of a prey species or whether it’s the other way round is another topic that’s much debated by ecologists.


https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/arid-20300215.html#:~:text=Kestrels%2C%20buzzards%20and%20owls%20eat,their%20usual%20diet%20of%20fish.

[him a layin]

predator and prey, locked together in a dance of life and death.

[AzCal Retred]

HOME! 

The Living Desert; 1953

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUKUavEZ3B8

[Leofric]

Yes. That kind of thinking is why the world is such a shit show right now.

Yes, in some cases but I was talking about snakes.
(better not start a war on here !)

[Leofric]

Cats, badgers, stoats, mink, pine martens, foxes, kestrels, buzzards, herons and owls keep Irish mice "in check", sort of...
That's the point I was making ,there are no snakes in Ireland and they aren't needed there to keep mice down.
ps but I think this has probably now gone far enough off topic.

[GlennF]

Cats, badgers, stoats, mink, pine martens, foxes, kestrels, buzzards, herons and owls keep Irish mice "in check", sort of...
That's the point I was making ,there are no snakes in Ireland and they aren't needed there to keep mice down.
ps but I think this has probably now gone far enough off topic.

If the main predator keeping pets under control is snakes and you remove them, there i sno guarantee something else will replace them anytime soon.

Australia has numerous imported pests - Rabbits, Cane Toads, the Prickly Pear Cactus all being good examples - where no home grown predator emerged and they reached plague proportions and in the case of Cane Toads still are in plague proportions.

[Leofric]

If the main predator keeping pets under control is snakes and you remove them, there i sno guarantee something else will replace them anytime soon.

Australia has numerous imported pests - Rabbits, Cane Toads, the Prickly Pear Cactus all being good examples - where no home grown predator emerged and they reached plague proportions and in the case of Cane Toads still are in plague proportions.

I take your point , but can't snakes eat rabbits and toads ?

[AzCal Retred]

Rabbits & Cane Toads are both snake food. The age of the prey and geographic location come into play. Snakes able to eat full grown rabbits and 9" cane toads are comparatively rare. Cane toads are also toxic, surviving ingestion can require another adaptation. Rabbit survival strategy is to outbreed its predators, they can have a litter a month. Snakes take a while to digest prey, sometimes 2 weeks or more for a single large meal.

There will always be an equilibrium position reached, it just takes time. The terrain changes in response to the animal & plant species interaction. The final equilibrium state may not be suitable for a particular species survival, so often there are collateral extinctions. Introducing any new species into a complex biological equation changes the final outcome, sometimes dramatically, sometimes not.

People are very adaptable even at the Stone-age level. Fire, sharp sticks and clothing allowed us to cover the Earth pole-to-pole. Many species always disappear when we enter a new territory.

[Leofric]

Grey squirrels are a problem here, carrying a virus that has killed off a lot of the nice red squirrels that everybody likes.

[AzCal Retred]

Grey squirrels also outcompete and harass red squirrels. Sounds like a good part-time job for someone with an RWS Diana. Good baked, fried, roasted or stewed. Save the red squirrel and save some on groceries too.

https://www.diana-airguns.de/en/

[GlennF]

Skwerlz be 3vil.

[him a layin]

Skwerlz be 3vil.

this one clearly wears the Mark of the Beast on its forehead.(yes, we have white squirrels here)

[Richard230]

We have both grey and all-black squirrels here. A few years ago I did see a weird fox squirrel, with a narrow read face. I didn't like its looks. It went away and I haven't seen one since.