night time visitors
Discussion
Purity14 said:
Wild camped at night in a rush and woke up covered in 100,000's of ants crawling in and around my sleeping bag and all over my body.
In my sleep I reached for a bottle of coke and I put it away without fastening the lid, I woke up because I felt wet, and discovered that my skin was crawling.. once my eyes adjusted I fought my way out of the tent without actually unzipping it.
Put my leathers on and then rode 800 miles trying to get home.
There was still ants in my pants when I got home.
Did you get bitten, or were they just harvesting the sugar?In my sleep I reached for a bottle of coke and I put it away without fastening the lid, I woke up because I felt wet, and discovered that my skin was crawling.. once my eyes adjusted I fought my way out of the tent without actually unzipping it.
Put my leathers on and then rode 800 miles trying to get home.
There was still ants in my pants when I got home.
A friend of mine spilt coke in his brand new Apple keyboard, back in the G4 days. It had a transparent chassis, so you could see all the workings. Luckily we had an anthill in our garden that summer, he left it out for 24 hours next to it, returned to find it spotlessly clean.
DeuxCentCinq said:
Purity14 said:
Wild camped at night in a rush and woke up covered in 100,000's of ants crawling in and around my sleeping bag and all over my body.
In my sleep I reached for a bottle of coke and I put it away without fastening the lid, I woke up because I felt wet, and discovered that my skin was crawling.. once my eyes adjusted I fought my way out of the tent without actually unzipping it.
Put my leathers on and then rode 800 miles trying to get home.
There was still ants in my pants when I got home.
Did you get bitten, or were they just harvesting the sugar?In my sleep I reached for a bottle of coke and I put it away without fastening the lid, I woke up because I felt wet, and discovered that my skin was crawling.. once my eyes adjusted I fought my way out of the tent without actually unzipping it.
Put my leathers on and then rode 800 miles trying to get home.
There was still ants in my pants when I got home.
A friend of mine spilt coke in his brand new Apple keyboard, back in the G4 days. It had a transparent chassis, so you could see all the workings. Luckily we had an anthill in our garden that summer, he left it out for 24 hours next to it, returned to find it spotlessly clean.
I know it's not strictly tents or camping but the funniest thing I ever saw was a neighbouring farmer getting rats out of his barn. I was just calling to see him about borrowing a tractor when he decided it was time for them to go.
They were nesting under his hay and had been for months, so he sent his old trusty ratting terrier in to get them out. 5 minutes later and following a lot of growling and screeching coming from the barn, he went in to investigate. He armed himself with a baseball bat to whack any stray rats. There was a lot of scuffling coming from under a pile of hay but no visible signs of what was going on.
In his wisdom, he decided to move a couple of bales of hay to have a look. As he did, he uncovered a massive writhing pile of rats with a dog scrabbling about in the middle.
As Mr Gearchange stated...when cornered they go for your throat...so the rats then spied freedom and launched themselves in the general direction of daylight, not being bothered that Mr farmer might be in the way. One or two ran up his legs, so he started kicking about to get them off, then one did actually jump up, landed on his chest and ran straight up towards his face. Needless to say, that rather spooked him. His options were limited, but his choice was a classic one. He hit out at the rat with his baseball bat.
What he forgot, was that the rat was by now attached in the region of his face. This didn't deter him though and he swung as hard as he could, completely missed the rat and bust his nose wide open. The remaining 30 seconds or so, before I ran off laughing, was a scene of a dog still biting anything small and furry, a farmer doing a wardance to get rats off his legs whilst shouting and swearing through a sea of blood running down his face.
I never went to see him again after that, he was too dangerous to be around!
They were nesting under his hay and had been for months, so he sent his old trusty ratting terrier in to get them out. 5 minutes later and following a lot of growling and screeching coming from the barn, he went in to investigate. He armed himself with a baseball bat to whack any stray rats. There was a lot of scuffling coming from under a pile of hay but no visible signs of what was going on.
In his wisdom, he decided to move a couple of bales of hay to have a look. As he did, he uncovered a massive writhing pile of rats with a dog scrabbling about in the middle.
As Mr Gearchange stated...when cornered they go for your throat...so the rats then spied freedom and launched themselves in the general direction of daylight, not being bothered that Mr farmer might be in the way. One or two ran up his legs, so he started kicking about to get them off, then one did actually jump up, landed on his chest and ran straight up towards his face. Needless to say, that rather spooked him. His options were limited, but his choice was a classic one. He hit out at the rat with his baseball bat.
What he forgot, was that the rat was by now attached in the region of his face. This didn't deter him though and he swung as hard as he could, completely missed the rat and bust his nose wide open. The remaining 30 seconds or so, before I ran off laughing, was a scene of a dog still biting anything small and furry, a farmer doing a wardance to get rats off his legs whilst shouting and swearing through a sea of blood running down his face.
I never went to see him again after that, he was too dangerous to be around!
zoom star said:
AS am I 
Although the part about welsh chavs playing football..
That cannot be true, I thought we could not play football,singing,now if you said they kept you awake singing, I could believe that..
As to camping,here in Wales, it sounds dangerous, there has to be rats around a fishing lake.
I will have to sleep in the LC
They never broke into song, it was definately a football, but they had fAlthough the part about welsh chavs playing football..
That cannot be true, I thought we could not play football,singing,now if you said they kept you awake singing, I could believe that..
As to camping,here in Wales, it sounds dangerous, there has to be rats around a fishing lake.
I will have to sleep in the LC
k all ball control. Earlier, they had procured an old oil drum, used by santa pod for litter, and found some wood, which looked like fence, to burn thus allowing them to stay a bit warm. They had a nova with a cracked front screen and at one point, could be heard discussing how hard it would be to steal a screen out of another Nova. Class. GAjon said:
Mr Gearchange said:
Whilst fishing I once woke up with a rat the size of a Yorkshire terrier sat on my chest whist I was zipped up in the bag.
Obviously I went bat-st and threw if off - but my tent was a dome type that zipped up from the bottom so although the door was mainly open the first 18" or so were zipped up.
I suspect that the rat just jumped in - but in the panic he couldn't get out again. So I was trapped in a tent, with a fking massive rat, in the dark. I was screaming - the rat was screeching - when cornered they go for your throat you know and their teeth can chew through concrete.
In the end I killed it with a metal pole - but it wasn't a clean dispatch and I had to hose rat guts out of my sewn in groundsheet.
I'm sure that none of this will happen to you though. Sleep well
Have you ever considered working for the samaritans? Obviously I went bat-s
t and threw if off - but my tent was a dome type that zipped up from the bottom so although the door was mainly open the first 18" or so were zipped up.I suspect that the rat just jumped in - but in the panic he couldn't get out again. So I was trapped in a tent, with a f
king massive rat, in the dark. I was screaming - the rat was screeching - when cornered they go for your throat you know and their teeth can chew through concrete.In the end I killed it with a metal pole - but it wasn't a clean dispatch and I had to hose rat guts out of my sewn in groundsheet.
I'm sure that none of this will happen to you though. Sleep well
ETA,
again at the Farmer story above. Never anything in a tent but last summer we had a wild boar raid our bin in the cote de azure. We were staying in a mobile home so were safe. It was just a bit disconcerting being woken up at 3am by something making snuffling noises under the floor in a caravan that is jacked up 3ft of the ground.
Nothing too serious here in the German Eifel.Nice cuddly Deers,Wild Boar families the odd Pinemartin, or if you were camping on our patch, a Fox who will just sit and listen while you talk to it!
The Field and Bank voles are quite amusing, sit on a grassy bank and wonder where the nice green Dandelion just dissappeared to, just like a cartoon.
The Field and Bank voles are quite amusing, sit on a grassy bank and wonder where the nice green Dandelion just dissappeared to, just like a cartoon.
Zelda Pinwheel said:
you need one of these!
No creepy crawlies, sand, snakes, or other unwanted nighttime visitors.
Not guaranteed 100% bear or lion proof.
Been there, done that.No creepy crawlies, sand, snakes, or other unwanted nighttime visitors.
Not guaranteed 100% bear or lion proof.
My camping is purely weekend fishing trips now,1 or 2 nights.
Defender way too agricultural,I got rid, and upgraded to a Land Cruiser
Zelda Pinwheel said:
you need one of these!
No creepy crawlies, sand, snakes, or other unwanted nighttime visitors.
Not guaranteed 100% bear or lion proof.
They are definitely not elephant proof. Perfect height for an adult elephant to poke their nose into your business. I speak from experience.No creepy crawlies, sand, snakes, or other unwanted nighttime visitors.
Not guaranteed 100% bear or lion proof.
While camping on the Isles of Scilly I woke one morning to a lovely sunrise and a day full of the promise of adventure.
I put the kettle on the stove and started to get the bread, bacon and butter out to make a nice crispy sandwich to start me off.
I put my hand in the cool bag containing the bacon and recoiled in horror, there was a creature in there, Arrgh ! a rat thought I.
Further investigation revealed a fat sleeping hedgehog, no bacon, no bread.
I put the kettle on the stove and started to get the bread, bacon and butter out to make a nice crispy sandwich to start me off.
I put my hand in the cool bag containing the bacon and recoiled in horror, there was a creature in there, Arrgh ! a rat thought I.
Further investigation revealed a fat sleeping hedgehog, no bacon, no bread.
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