# As God is my witness, I believed mice could fly **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 21, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530 "2010-09-21T13:20:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/21 "2010-09-21T19:58:03Z")
Hm, shooting snakes with a .22 was a common pass time when I was growing up for youngsters that had just gotten their first vermin gun. Seems they just need to put a bounty on the snakes and turn people loose to collect it. What are Guam’s gun laws? I know they are a protectorate, but I don’t really know much about the area. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/22 "2010-09-21T20:01:31Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > > [@CalMeacham](#): > > > > Snake1: Ouch! That mouse landed on my head. Now I’ve got a headache! > > > > Snake 2: Eat a mouse. They’re full of pain relievers! > > Snake1: Die, fledermaus! When Lindsey read that, she gave your joke a Lohen grin. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/23 "2010-09-21T20:07:46Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > > [@tdn](#): > > > > Snake1: Die, fledermaus! > > When Lindsey read that, she gave your joke a Lohen grin. :threatens **Polycarp** and **tdn** with wet trout: ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/24 "2010-09-21T20:09:36Z")
I had a tree snake thiiiiis big… But I took a Tylenol, and it’s gone! ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/25 "2010-09-21T20:12:40Z")
Was mine too obscure or just not at all amusing? ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/26 "2010-09-21T20:30:57Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > > [@Bosstone](#): > > > > I don’t know the particulars of wild snakes, but the corn snake I’m currently caring for will more than happily devour thawed frozen (dead) mice. > > Thanks, do you have to wiggle 'em or do the snakes just go for it? > > ETA **lieu** 😃 To be honest, I don’t know! I feed it by holding the mouse in large tweezers, which is necessarily going to move the mouse around. The snake’s due for a feeding in a couple days, so I can test it then, or else ask the owner directly to see if she knows. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/27 "2010-09-21T20:44:15Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > > [@runner pat](#): > > > > Thanks, do you have to wiggle 'em or do the snakes just go for it? > > > > ETA **lieu** 😃 > > To be honest, I don’t know! I feed it by holding the mouse in large tweezers, which is necessarily going to move the mouse around. The snake’s due for a feeding in a couple days, so I can test it then, or else ask the owner directly to see if she knows. Figures, as soon as I posted this I got in touch with the owner. According to her, one, her captive snake has occasionally gone after a dead, still mouse, but two, wild snakes won’t touch dead critters due to the chance of rot and disease, and captured snakes have even starved themselves to death because of this. I’d say they might get a few snakes who jump on the mice _as they fall to the ground_, before the snake realizes it’s dead, but on the whole it probably won’t work. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/28 "2010-09-21T20:48:02Z")
The cardboard is essential. It makes the snakes just think that the take-out container came apart. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/29 "2010-09-21T20:55:54Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > **As God is my witness, I believed mice could fly** > [Or: there are too many motherfuckin’ snakes on this motherfuckin’ island.](http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/07/tylenol-loaded-mice-dropped-from-air-to-control-snakes/) > > Or come up with your own headline. Oh the humanity! Some has to do it: It’s a helicopter, and it’s coming this way. It’s flying something behind it, I can’t quite make it out, it’s a large banner and it says, uh - Happy… Thaaaaanksss… giving! … From … W … K … R… P!! No parachutes yet. Can’t be skydivers… I can’t tell just yet what they are, but - Oh my God, Johnny, they’re _ **MICE** _!! Johnny, can you get this? Oh, they’re plunging to the earth right in front of our eyes! One just went through the windshield of a parked car! Oh, the humanity! The _ **MICE** _ are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! Not since the Hindenburg tragedy has there been anything like this!" ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/30 "2010-09-21T22:10:10Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > > [@Bosstone](#): > > > > To be honest, I don’t know! I feed it by holding the mouse in large tweezers, which is necessarily going to move the mouse around. The snake’s due for a feeding in a couple days, so I can test it then, or else ask the owner directly to see if she knows. > > Figures, as soon as I posted this I got in touch with the owner. According to her, one, her captive snake has occasionally gone after a dead, still mouse, but two, wild snakes won’t touch dead critters due to the chance of rot and disease, and captured snakes have even starved themselves to death because of this. > > I’d say they might get a few snakes who jump on the mice _as they fall to the ground_, before the snake realizes it’s dead, but on the whole it probably won’t work. According to the snake encyclopedia I was reading this morning, some snakes will scavenge. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/31 "2010-09-21T22:49:10Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > According to the snake encyclopedia I was reading this morning, some snakes will scavenge. Some might, but most won’t. And then you’re left with the snakes that won’t scavenge and are still reproducing. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/32 "2010-09-22T01:09:12Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > Was mine too obscure or just not at all amusing? It kind of took the red-eye flight out of LAX. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/33 "2010-09-22T01:40:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Oh the humanity! Some has to do it: > > It’s a helicopter, and it’s coming this way. It’s flying something behind it, I can’t quite make it out, it’s a large banner and it says, uh - Happy… Thaaaaanksss… giving! … From … W … K … R… P!! No parachutes yet. Can’t be skydivers… I can’t tell just yet what they are, but - Oh my God, Johnny, they’re MICE!! Johnny, can you get this? Oh, they’re plunging to the earth right in front of our eyes! One just went through the windshield of a parked car! Oh, the humanity! The MICE are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! Not since the Hindenburg tragedy has there been anything like this!" Oh! Hugh the Manatee! ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/34 "2010-09-22T01:50:25Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Oh! Hugh the Manatee! You heard 'em people - _ **cue the manatee** _ ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/35 "2010-09-22T01:52:38Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Hm, shooting snakes with a .22 was a common pass time when I was growing up for youngsters that had just gotten their first vermin gun. Seems they just need to put a bounty on the snakes and turn people loose to collect it. What are Guam’s gun laws? I know they are a protectorate, but I don’t really know much about the area. Regardless of gun laws, a bounty on the snakes seems like the obvious solution to the problem. Let the locals figure out how to kill them. Pretty much any garden tool oughta do the trick. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/36 "2010-09-22T03:34:26Z")
“We went to war with the mouse army we had, not the mouse army we wish we had.” I hope the don’t use those mice with fully functional human brains that Christine O’Donnell warned us about. That would be cruel. OTOH, they should arm the smart mice with tiny little automatic weapons and orders to kill all snakes. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/37 "2010-09-22T03:51:11Z")
Wot is your name? Sir Michael of Disney Wot is your quest? To slay the viscous Brown snake of Guam Wot is the airspeed velocity of a mouse suspended between 2 pieces of cardboard? How the devil should I know, it doesn’t say what species of mousahhhhhhhhh. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/38 "2010-09-22T05:15:44Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > > [@Bosstone](#): > > > > To be honest, I don’t know! I feed it by holding the mouse in large tweezers, which is necessarily going to move the mouse around. The snake’s due for a feeding in a couple days, so I can test it then, or else ask the owner directly to see if she knows. > > Figures, as soon as I posted this I got in touch with the owner. According to her, one, her captive snake has occasionally gone after a dead, still mouse, but two, wild snakes won’t touch dead critters due to the chance of rot and disease, and captured snakes have even starved themselves to death because of this. > > I’d say they might get a few snakes who jump on the mice _as they fall to the ground_, before the snake realizes it’s dead, but on the whole it probably won’t work. Easy solution, you tie the mice extremities to the cardboard pieces with strings, that way when it lands in the tree branches you have an instant dead mouse marionette. No? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/39 "2010-09-22T14:35:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Twenty snakes per acre and they’re worried about it? Brazil’s Ilha de Queimada Grande has an average snake density of five snakes per square meter. And they’re venomous. The difference is, the wildlife in Brazil’s Ilha de Queimada Grande knows its way around snakes, evidenced by the fact that the local species have survived to the present day. Many Pacific islands have no native snake population, and other local wildlife didn’t have to evolve with snakes in mind. Guam didn’t used to have snakes, and they used to have lots of species of native birds. Then the brown tree snakes managed to hitch a ride to Guam, and now there are plenty of brown snakes but hardly any birds. The goal here is to make sure that what happened on Guam doesn’t happen on other Pacific islands, e.g. the Hawaiian islands. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530/40 "2010-09-22T14:42:41Z")
“Mouse bomb”… How often do you see that phrase in the news? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-god-is-my-witness-i-believed-mice-could-fly/554530.md?page=3)