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Suburban Numbat Ranges

cats>numbats>termites>houses
  (+6)
(+6)
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My part of the world rejoices in houses which make extensive use of timber.

These houses are sometimes ravaged by termites.

Numbats are beautiful, inoffensive, endangered and eat termites.

Cats (an introduced pest species) eat numbats (or just kill them for fun).

The idea is that a reduction in the cost of insuring the wooden fabric of houses might pay for the creation of zones where cats were not allowed, (stray cats possibly being excluded by the planting of a perimeter of coleus canina) and where numbats were introduced and encouraged (by, for example, the provision of hollow logs for hiding in, and very small pet doors in the fences between properties).

When there are no termites in the neighbourhood, the numbats can apparently be fed on egg custard.

pertinax, Jan 29 2011

egg custard http://www.youtube....nDxdKJ-tYQjXfRmWUkw
[pertinax, Jan 29 2011]

coleus canina http://www.cat-repe...-cat-deterrents.htm
[pertinax, Jan 29 2011]

Aaaaaaaah. http://www.google.c...=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=
[pertinax, Jan 29 2011]

Ocotillo fence http://www.flickr.c...845@N00/3671463506/
Ideal for creation of Cat Free zones. [lurch, Jan 29 2011]

http://numbat.org.a...ere-to-see-numbats/ I have included this link just to torment [DrBob] with the suspicion that it may redirect him to Rick Astley. [pertinax, Aug 23 2011]

http://www.zooborns...g-baby-numbats.html This one, on the other hand, is here because it's cute. [pertinax, Aug 23 2011]

Nine years later ... https://www.youtube...watch?v=bzpvnebajCg
[pertinax, Nov 18 2021]

I'm not convinced the cats have read this. https://www.vincent...rohibited_Areas.pdf
[pertinax, May 08 2023]

[link]






       I'm thinking this would have fewer side-effects than introducing a colony of borg to keep down the cats.   

       Don't get me wrong. I like cats. Just not around here.
pertinax, Jan 29 2011
  

       There's that bloke, isn't there, who advocates for the use of marsupials in the same ecological niches as placentals in Australia, so he reckons use Tasmanian devils as guard dogs and keeping quolls instead of cats. It has a neatness to it which really appeals, as has this [+].   

       We have problems with cats here in the North Atlantic Archipelago because they kill relatively scarce small animals. The only time i've ever seen a goldcrest was when one was lying injured on its back, having been attacked by a cat.
nineteenthly, Jan 29 2011
  

       // Cats (an introduced pest species) eat numbats (or just kill them for fun). //   

       #include <EOSSACR.H>   

       // the creation of zones where cats were not allowed //   

       Good idea. How about "The entire Universe". Is that good for you ?   

       //a colony of borg //   

       (1) We are the Borg Collective. You can get a Cube of Borg, but not "a" colony since Collective is singular and indivisible.   

       (2) We are a proper noun, so it's Borg, not borg.   

       // I like cats. //   

       That admission has been duly noted and may be used against you after your summary execution.
8th of 7, Jan 29 2011
  

       The ocotillo (for you limeys, that's "awk-uh-tee-yo") cactus can be cut and woven (see link), or planted and trained up, to form a barrier against just about anything that sticks up further than about snake-high.   

       (My dad's doctor, out in North Tucson, had such a fence around his office. Said it averaged about 3 cats a week, whose carcasses were removed with blacksmithing tongs.)   

       Another two or three years of climate slippage, and you should be able to grow them anywhere south of Hadrian's Wall.
lurch, Jan 29 2011
  

       <Borg Chorus>   

       "Happy days are here again,
The skies above are clear again,
So let's sing a song of cheer again,
Happy days are here again ......"
  

       </Borg Chorus>
8th of 7, Jan 29 2011
  

       //The ocotillo (for you limeys, that's "awk-uh-tee-yo") cactus //
So, after the Aussies have sorted out the prickly pear, got rid of the rabbits and toads, dried out and rebuilt their flattened houses, you're suggesting they introduce another species?
coprocephalous, Feb 02 2011
  

       Can't hurt ... can it ?
8th of 7, Feb 02 2011
  

       //So, after the Aussies have sorted// ... "after" ? No, I didn't suggest waiting until the ocotillo are extinct.
lurch, Feb 02 2011
  

       Is there really such a thing as a Numbat?
DrBob, Feb 03 2011
  

       Yes. You need two of them for a game of num.
MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 03 2011
  

       I'll just have to take your word for it, Max. The chilling alternative is to search for it myself but then I might have been lured into searching for a thing that doeesn't exist and pertinax will be one up on me, which would be an intolerable situation.
DrBob, Feb 03 2011
  

       You wouldn't find much about the ancient game of num online, I'm afraid. These days, it's been largely superseded by wom.   

       (In rougher districts, com appears to be the favoured game.)
MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 03 2011
  

       Witches play Sab.
pocmloc, Feb 03 2011
  

       Look! Look! It's been baked (link)!   

       (Well, it's not actually in the suburbs, it's a little further out, but I'll stretch a point).
pertinax, Nov 18 2021
  
      
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