US forces drop dead drug-poison killer mice from helicopters

Not quite

No the mice doesn't have to be alive, hence why you can buy frozen chicks \ pinkies \ mice for warming up and feeding to your pet snake or reptile. In the UK theres legislation that prevents you from feeding live food to your pet snake \ reptile unless its a last resort and plenty of people keep them as pets!

Ancient Jokes R Us

No, the real problem is whether the snakes can get to them before the parrots eat 'em all.

Absolutely

That's exactly what I thought: snakes don't eat dead mice (at least in all cases I know of), what are they thinking about?

Maybe.... maybe not....

These aren't corn snakes, and different snakes have different habits, I suspect that wild snakes are more likely to eat whatever they can find that smells about right, the big problem with domestic (captive bred) snakes is that their instincts are dampened by regular and unchallenging feeds, I never feed my snakes the same amount on the same day of the week, sometimes I let them gorge and sometimes I let them fast, this maintains their "strike" and you have to brumate them properly, taking the temp down during winter and feeding them less often rather than a steady temp all year and constant feeding (this is doubly important if you want to breed from them, I had 60 babies one year). My snakes (especially the anerythristic corns for some reason) would hapily eat a defrosted mouse just chucked in the viv, any movement and they'd have your arm off, but also they are OK to handle, as long as I don't smell of dead mouse (no big pointy teeth in the traditional sense, but fine razor sharp "ratchets" that can draw blood), so I assume the smell (taste) of the mouse is more important for a corn.

I guess what I'm trying to say is not that this will work, but it's wrong to say it isn't going to, after all, the feeding habits of king snakes (which are close enough to a corn to interbreed) prefer lizards to mice and other snakes only eat birds, there's some very good reasons why it will work, I suspect that it will as wild snakes are not as fussy (fussy snakes starve to death in the wild), oddly enough if it works this will wipe out the snakes which eat carion, leaving the fussy ones, so it will be a bit of selective breeding and not a complete solution anyway.

@Matt Bradley, snakes, falling mice and monkeys in trees...

@"Dropping cold dead mice into the tree canopy is unlike to attract many snakes, if you ask me."

But at least the monkeys get a free snack and no lasting headache after having dead mice dropped on their heads!

LOL!

Chortle.

It's...

Melton Mowbray, home of the famous Melton Mowbary pork pie.

+1

Internet for you

Ha!

You mean like several types of bird?

Quite so

Because of the proximity of Canada to the US, this is also the practice here.

To howls of outrage by my British wife (who is a nurse), they regularly use the brand name Tylenol when referring to paracetamol (acetaminophen) in the medical profession which is an insanely mad thing to be doing. Tylenol is a brand name covering a range of different products all using paracetamol in their formulation so the name is not specific enough when talking medically about prescriptions for patients.

The overuse of brand names here is a testament to the power of drug companies and their marketing, especially for drugs that have gone generic for so many years,

Deep roots run deep

The mass hysteria and confusion caused by American misnaming is not a recent problem. Probably the original example would be our (at least here in The South) referring to all varieties of carbonated sugar water as "coke" (recall that Coca-Cola was originally marketed as a medicine). It is a little known fact that this confusion was the true cause of the American Civil War. A visiting Yankee asked for a bit of Coke in his julep. When his host, the Most Honorable Major Colonel Bogardus the Third, politely inquired as to just what kind of coke he preferred, the situation escalated in a who's-on-first style exchange of words. Ultimate result: a death toll of billions.

Though, now that I think about it, I can't recall ever having been confused by the name 'acetaminophen'.

Tylenol |= codeine

Tylenol that you can buy over the counter in the US does not contain codeine. Codeine is a controlled substance and can only be bought via prescription. There is a drug called Tylenol 3 which does contain codeine. It makes happy faces............

Not quite

I'm no pharmacist, but in the US (Canada may be different; codeine is much easier to get there I believe; I think you can even get "real" cough syrup without an Rx) OTC Tylenol does NOT contain codeine. Dentists and other doctors will often prescribe acetaminophen with codeine, called (I think) by various names, but most commonly "Tylenol with Codeine".

Oddly, the purportedly more liver friendly "Vicuprofin" (with ibuprofen instead of acetaminophen) is nearly impossible to get a script for because the MD's seem to think junkies might abuse it, but won't abuse the vicodin for fear the acetaminophen would do in their livers.

No, I couldn't make this stuff up...

Wow - flying pigs

The successor to the Paris Project!

how often could you get to say this

"We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area."

Can't have that

You can't finish them off with an opiate overdose. They might actually *enjoy* it!

No stupid questions only stupid answers

Plenty of places actually raising rodents for sale as food. When I was at school they were supplied euthanised and plastic wrapped for freshness, and kept in the freezer. Just like value burgers from Iceland or farmfoods, albeit with a higher meat content.

As for dosing said pre-euthanised rodents, I would envision a highly paid technician armed with a large syringe full of Calpol (Brand named childrens paracetamol suspension) and no squeamishness as to which of the two orifices (s)he roughly inserts it.

And if that thought doesn't make your eyes water....

Paris? I leave that one to your imagination