If you spend more you can get one that will send you a text with photo in real time, sends the photo seconds after it takes pic.
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Would you please post the link for the model you recommend. Thank you.
It is very hot here.
Friday night, we only managed to get one camera facing the roof. I didnât see anything but there was sound probably from small animals.
I was too tired yesterday, and the bearded dragon stayed near the patio so I set the camera on the ground trailing him to make sure he was safe. I didnât even turn on the lights at night. About 1am, when I was at the open kitchen window, there was like a cloud of foul smell gusting in. I was pretty sure whatever there was walking on the brick wall, but it had to be a big animal, not a rat. I set a camera facing that direction but fell asleep soon after.
This morning I saw a bird diving down and I had to chase a squirrel around the backyard until it got out, I hope. That bird was too small to catch the squirrel. I think it got in on a small break between gate and the column where there is no hardware cloth. I fixed that. The squirrel only ate a little on a Burgundy plum so I think it was in only for a short time. What puzzle me is, if it got in that way, it would pass all the plum and pluot trees with ripening fruits before getting to the Burgundy plum. So far this year, with no protection except some old spin wheels, we lost no fruits in that section. I donât know what keeps the animals away, but I am not going to try to find out, too risky now, maybe in the fall after the trees drop the leaves.
Yesterday there was a big snake longer than two feet on the ground. I was freaking out, but when my daughter saw it she kept saying âItâs so cuteâ, and tried to catch it with her bare hands. I made her wear the gloves.Turned out she knew it was a garter snake. She and my husband released it somewhere.
Last night I didnât turn on the lights or cameras.There were big and small animals coming on the roof all night, but I donât think any of them got onto the ground. We didnât see trace of any fruits eaten, and the bearded dragon went exploring again. Maybe the snake scared them. I was putting pavers on the slope and that might disturb and make the snake show up. I really hope there will be no more snake.
The county worker put three insect traps and one beetle trap on the Tiger fig next to the driveway. He said they like figs and if there are enough of them the county will spray the whole area. We havenât lost any figs to beetles this year.
Insect trap
Beetle trap
My husband took a picture of my daughter smiling happily holding the snake, I really donât know where she got that gene from. I was going to post it, but found out that there are ways to identify a person from the picture. My daughter has her drawings online. To keep her privacy, here is the picture of one of my favorite roses instead.
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There are so many animals in the area. The neighbor across the street reported that all the tomatoes were gone. Some of the green Elephant Heart plum and persimmon in the front yard were eaten. My next door neighbor offered to send her little dog over, because she is part terrier and bred for hunting varmints. She has three other big dogs but knows they scare me. The catch is, the little dog is afraid of the birds because, according to her, one of the wild birds declared war on the little dog and she is afraid to go past the patio now. I wish she owns the bird and sends it to me instead, so I had to decline the offer. That is the reason I donât put pinwheels on some places in the backyard so the big birds can hunt for rodents in the morning.
I spent the last few days putting one or two feet high 1/4" hardware cloth on top of the fence in the front yard next to the rental house. It was so hot so I could only do it late in the afternoon until dark. I also trim all the bushes and trees next to the fence. The final touch was to paint the oil based, aluminum color, Rust-Oleum around any parts that will be in contact with human to prevent accidental cutting because the hardware cloth is sharp. I put Ziplocks on the plum and persimmon for the bird and beetles later when the fruits ripen. I also made a six foot high hadware cloth wrapping around the Elephant Heart tree.
All the cameras are quiet tonight so hopefully the animals canât get in anymore. Also if they can make it through all the hardware cloth, I think they deserve the fruits.
This is the painted hardware cloth on the top line, needed a few coats but is smooth enough to prevent accident.
We always talk about hybrid fruits. I donât know if it apply to flower. While doing the fence I noticed this rose tree doesnât look the same as before.
This is the rose two months ago
The followings are from the same plant now, note the new shape of the petals.
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The tulle on the Elephant Heart plum didnât look nice in the front yard so we only left it there for one night and removed the next day. I put ziploc bags on all the fruits. It was nice that somehow all the fruits are on the lower branches. We still have the six foot high hardware cloth around the tree.
The Tiger fig is in the front yard. It only has the three foot high hardware cloth around, and some of the branches are getting lower with fruits. Somehow the squirrels were on the tree yesterday. I put some the Irish Spring Original soap around the top of the wire loop. I didnât have time to finish. When I came back, a squirrel inside the wrap tried to get out. It was funny to see him climbed up the wire, saw/smelled the soap, backed down and went to other section. He got out finally. At the end of the day I had soap around the wrap and on the lower branches. There is no squirrel, no partially eaten fruits, or fig leaves, on the ground today.
This morning I put soap aound the Elephant Heart at about three feet high, half way the hardware cloth netting. I cut the bar into 8 slices with a sharp knife, and secured by wire twist tie.
Tiger fig tree
Elephant Heart tree
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Update:
The trailcam works well on the front yard. We move it to wherever we think the squirrels got in, and mostly set it on the ground. The screen is pretty small for me, so we take out the sd card later to review the picture/video on the laptop inside the house. I am happy with the quality of the results.
Some drawbacks:
- Only work with regular batteries, not rechargeable, need eight AA
- Maximum sd card is only 32 GB which is not included. After viewing, we deleted the unwanted picture/video.
- Power adapter needed: 1.5A , 6V which is not included, in case you do not want to use battery. The tip size adapter is not standard so have to order from the company. The link does not work anymore. On Amazon I see the trailcam that looks the same listed under company/seller Sesern not Vikeri
- We donât have AC outlet in the front yard so we use regular batteries. So far we didnât need to change them yet.
Glad its working. I find them useful. I didnât necessarily mean to endorse a particular one, just an example.
Iâm on my second model, canât remember what went awry with the 1st one, maybe a broken mount.
8AA batteries lasts for maybe 6 months for me. Thatâs manageable. Bringing in the card is the biggest hassle. It would be nice if it could connect to wifi, or maybe bluetooth dump to a phone, or something. I usually leave it without a card for weeks or months when I bring in the card to look at. Rarely do I remember to bring out another card to swap in at one go.
edit: after confirming I like having a trailcam, I found this stand very convenient, as opposed to finding something to strap the camera to:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TH72RHG/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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My front yard is mostly covered with pavers and river rocks because of the gophers so I donât think I can push the stand into the ground. I usually open the unit into an L shape and set it on a paver in the shade. It covers the ground and about 8 feet above, with a good wide angle.That is enough to capture the actions, mostly walking birds and the squirrels climbing the fence.
It is really good at night, when the cameras inside stop working and only show the reflection on the glass of the window.
Thanks again for your help. It is fun watching the video and see exactly how the animals get around.,
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Well itâs gud to hear that soap works for others. FML. I must have the only squirrel species that prefers it. I do as you do with the ties and hang on tree trunks or branches they use as expressways and also to the entrance of their burrows. These gifts are the real kickers as they never are to be found even after only a few hours time. I joke that they drag it into their homes and use it all the while whistling like that character did on the commercials back when.
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In my experience only the Irish Spring âOriginalâ soap deters the squirrels, other varieties do not. At the beginning of the year, a rat actually ate the soap for the fat everyday when it couldnât get out of the yard. Only after I removed them that it got in the trap.
We actually got some squirrels in the trap the last few days, after I put up the soap so they couldnât get any plums. They were too hungry or thirsty.
Do you, or anyone, know if this trail camera can detect the motion of cold blooded animals like the bearded dragon?
Yesterday, after panicking and a long search because we couldnât see him anywhere on the ground, we finally found him resting on the brick wall about 20" high. He climbed up a HDPE netting. A week ago he could barely pull himself up a 6" paver. Today we set the trailcam to track his movements because it is very hot outside. The camera was activated when the leaves moved, the ants went along a branch which I removed, but not when he disappeared. I only need to know which way he went so I thought it was simple. We will bring him in because without water he may get sick.
It seemed like the trailcam wouldnât record the movement of the bearded dragon. We set up the camera system in the backyard to view on the monitor inside. It was way too hot to walk outside. We had the simple water bath in the shade. We had to put him in a few times, but he could get out by himself. He canât drink, but absorbs the water through the body. He stayed in the shade nearby until it got cooler, and my daughter fed him when she got home.
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Depends on the quality of the camera and how you have it positioned, how cl8se to the ground do you have it?
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The camera is on the ground outside like this
The intake is at the top so the bearded dragon body would be completely covered. It did record my fingers dropping some water on his mouth.
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Why didnât I think about this earlier?
A few minutes and the pet has a âhidingâ place on the patio. We can see him from inside the house. He can goes whenever he wants, to but he has stayed there since noon. Now I will build a ramp and try to train him to get into the bath to hydrate himself. For now his favorite fruit is watermelon.
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With the heat wave continued a lot of animals were desperate. Something got into the back yard and ate the Garnsey figs in the enclosures It was too hot for me to check out the fence.
The enclosures have bird netting, but are open at the bottom since we got the bearded dragon.They chewed through the fiberglass window screen, but not the weed barrier fabric wrap.
There were so much figs everyday for drying, and I made jam from the overripe ones. Boiled in the pot with some water until soft., used the hand blender to have the right consistency, and boiled again. The jam was so sweet already I didnât add any sugar. They will go into the freezer. When wanted, they will be good with yogurt after a day in the fridge.
Jam made from Garnsey figs with a few splitted Brown Tukey
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Finally stopped the rats from getting into the backyard. We couldnât have done it without the cameras and the motion sensor lights, especially during a long heat wave.
The cameras showed the rats running around the figs enclosure, after we had the weed fabric on. It was too hot they didnât stay, so there were no clean up and no rodent smell like in winter. It was hard to trace how they got in. Fixing the obvious places didnât stop them. The break came one evening, when one of the sensor lights was activated when it was still bright outside. Oher lights that are exactly of the same model only work when itâs dark. A few hours later that light was on again so we knew their way. I should have fixed that little place a month ago, but I was so tired and hoped the animals didnât see it. Wishful thinking I know. There is no more sign of rats in the yard. I cut the high of the weed barrier aound the fig enclosure down to 20" so I can see the inside, and still stop the walking birds to get in,.in the morning, before we let the bearded dragon out.
The Elephant Heart plum was well protected in the front yard. We didnât lose any fruits to the rodents since we had the hardware cloth and the soap on. We had some 2â and 3â cloth so the total height would be 5â or 6â.
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Since midnight there is a very big racoon in the backyard wanting to break in the fig enclosures. I saw it in the cameras. I have been fighting it with the water hose. We changed the motion sensor lights to regular so we can see better.
Any suggestions? and no, we donât have a gun.
Seemed like it ididnât want to stay under the lights, I opened the window shades so the lights inside the house can get out. Now I think it may be waiting on the roof, because I hear the noise.
The racoon could stand on its hind legs to pull down the weed barrier wrap. Too bad, that section has the window screen under, so it couldnât get into the enclosure. It did that while the whole family were watching, and I was talking loudly to it, and making noise. That didnât bother it at all. I stopped when my daughter said I would wake up the neighbors instead. It only went away when I used the water hose, and then came right back. The on and off motion sensor lights was a nightmare when I chased after it with the hose, so we changed back to the regular ones and turned them on. I really donât know which way it went away, or if it is hiding somewhere.
It will be a long night. Tomorow I will buy some solar lights to put under the trees that have fruits, but I think I will pick most of them just to be sure.
After reading that racoon can eat turtles, I went out to put the three step stool on top of the cover of the turtles pool and made sure that the two turlles were still there.
Then a tiny rat showed up, looking at the mess the racoon made on the fig enclosure. I went out to put the weed barrier back up. They sure love the Garnsey figs. I try to pick them everyday, but even one ripe fig left will attract ants, and the animals probably can smell it.
There was a big noise on the roof now, so I just knocked on the window to tell whatever there that I am still here, and it stopped. .
I am pretty sure after today I have to find good reasons to keep all the fig trees. Actually, the Janice Seedless is not so good so I was thinking about replacing it with a Cot-N-Candy aprium. It is really good and ripens at the beginning of June, so hopefully will avoid the heat wave.
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my brother doesnât like killing nuisance animals either so when he had problems with them in his garden he bought a paintball gun. doesnt hurt them permanently but stings like hell. hit them once, they move on. funny to see them running around painted in different colors.
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