Some months ago now, Tom worked with me on another of my crazy projects; to create a Mammal Maze for the rats, mice and possibly squirrels in my garden. Inspired by the mouse mazes that BBC Springwatch have created in the past, I wanted to create something bigger and in a vertical plane so the mammals had to climb vertically within the maze to reach a food reward. We played around with quite a few ideas before Tom came up with the idea of using wooden blocks within a frame grid. These blocks could be moved around to create different pathways or spaces.
It was a pretty major construction! The whole frame is pivoted in the centre, meaning it can rotate to a horizontal plane, like a table, and the front perspex front can be opened. I can then move the blocks around and load it with tempting treats!
I started to use it earlier this week, setting it up in the garden where it can be seen by the PTZ camera so I can live stream it at night. I also have a dedicated camera on it so I can film it 24-7. It didn’t take long for the rats and mice to discover the food on the initial lower level.
Next, I arranged the books so there were a series of steps that had food at each level. Within one night, they had that one sussed!
Next, I created some steps and then a larger jump up on to one of 2 platforms. Again, it was not long before both the mice and the rats had achieved that too!
Tonight, I have raised the last two blocks so they are higher… I can’t wait to check back the footage in the morning! This is great fun and I already have some other ideas of challenges I can set them within this set-up….. so check out my wildlife PTZ cam live feed in the evenings when I will switch to the maze.
Comments