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Pappy

Joined
Mar 1, 2002
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Somebody please tell me where I can get some Castor Beans. I gassed a few Gophers but those bombs are just a bit dangerous to people and pets.
The beans are too but they will be down in the holes.:)
 
Someone may correct me here, but my understanding is that Caster beans aren't exactly easy to get your hands on as Ricin is a byproduct(or possible by product) ofreduction of castor beans into caster oil
 
Pappy, have you tryed black powder? I have heard stories, but maybe that would be too loud and you wouldent like filling in the holes.

Of course that could be illegal too... but what do I know?:D
 
I suspect that nowadays attempting to obtain castor beans is a good way to attract unwanted attention from Dept. of Homeland Security and a myriad of other Federal agencies that like to compile dossiers on citizens. The gophers are probably less of an annoyance.
 
"where I can get some Castor Beans" "I gassed a few Gophers "

Pappy, I absolutely do not want a recipe for that "chili".:eek: :barf:

Sarge
 
Pappy, have you tried the beans for gopher control yourself? I've got an awful problem with the little beasts, and trapping doesn't work that well. Don't want to use poison, either. If castor beans work, I'll sure give it a try.
 
I've got an awful problem with the little beasts, and trapping doesn't work that well. Don't want to use poison, either. If castor beans work, I'll sure give it a try.
Click to expand...

Castor beans contain poison.

That's the idea.
It's a protein, and it's possible to extract the oil without having any of the poison contaminate the oil. Ricin, as it's called, is one of the most toxic substances known, in terms of how many molecules are needed to cause death. Maybe other substances win weight-wise, becuase a single ricin molecule is pretty big. The substance kills any cell it encounters by shutting down protein synthesis. The beans don't contain much, but they don't have to.

There is some evidence that ricin has been investigated by terrorist groups and there is a high degree of alertness on the part of security agencies. Purification/concentration is pretty low-tech except for avoiding exposure.

Lethal Dose:
...It is also mentioned that 1 g is enough to kill 36,000 people. From chewing the beans themselves it would probable take between 2 and 8 well chewed beans. The minimal lethal dose is around 1µg / kg body weight, that means 1/15th of a milligram could
kill a 150 lb. person.

http://www.chemsoc.org/exemplarchem/entries/2002/hook/ricin.htm
 
Sorry, I misspoke. I meant any poison that is likely to leach into the water table afterwards. From what I'm hearing, the worst that can happen if a gopher doesn't eat a bean, is that I get castor bean plants.
 
Sorry, I misspoke. I meant any poison that is likely to leach into the water table afterwards.From what I'm hearing, the worst that can happen if a gopher doesn't eat a bean, is that I get castor bean plants.
Click to expand...

Which make more castor beans which aren't conveniently tucked away in gopher holes. Depending upon the area this could be a real problem. Chewing a single bean could easily kill a toddler.

There is no antidote--filling the stomach with activated charcoal and using a stomach pump to remove unabsorbed toxin is the only treatment. After that, It's a matter of how much of the intestinal tract, and mojor organs like spleen, liver and kidneys die over the next few days. Kinda nasty.

But you're right about the water table, and ricin won't be persistent in the environment.
 
From the looks of the plants, they are kind of hard to miss. I can easily pull them out if they start to grow.
 
Pappy, try this. I use it. They don't use the same hole again.

Mixture of:

Bleach or water

Louisiana Hot Sauce

Chili Powder

Dawn Dish Soap

Pour a little down each hole. Kills their smelling senses , WHICH THEY DEPEND ON. (probably burn their mouth or nose, too) I presume the odors drift down thru the tunnels.

Have seen a few ground squirrels that look awful under nourished, going after my bird feeders.

WORTH A TRY
 
Naw Pappy, you need this guy;)

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Sarge
 
From the looks of the plants, they are kind of hard to miss. I can easily pull them out if they start to grow.
Click to expand...

That can work:) Any leftovers may not all germinate the next season though, so it would be good to watch for them for a few seasons.


Like I said depends on the area--using them at a daycare center wouldn't be too bright IMO. Pasture, enclosed private property, or whatever is different. BTW, dunno if any livestock would eat them. Anybody know that?

Do those spring traps that you put over mole tunnels work for gophers? They send a spike down into the tunnel from above when the beastie runs through. We also sealed up the openings and pumped in car exhaust. That combo did a pretty good job on a mole population explosion.
 
"We also sealed up the openings and pumped in car exhaust."

I heard a long time ago that you needed an older car without all those emmision control gadgets for this to work. Dunno if it's true though.
 
Had the same problem at my folks house when I was a teen. Gasoline down the hole, and a home-made super fire-cracker took care of the gopher. Or at least scared it from the property forever. Though the neighbors werent too happy with my solution.
 
I got a 1983 Ford LTD that needs new headgaskets in order to run... yall can have it if yall want it!

I am asking $200 for it, but right now I am about ready to give it away. The cadilitic converter is there, but it dosent work (as the mechanic who replaced the exaust system told me a few years back, and it has one of the old 2 barrel 3.8L 6 cylinder engines. Without the headgaskets it would be even more toxic to those bastids, but it could only run for 15 min or so before it would overheat.:rolleyes: ;)
 
"He lost in the end, didn't he?"

It was all in the script.

Hey, maybe Brendan can ship Pappy those cats that are bothering him, they can deal with the gophers in a natural, non-toxic way, and we can all join hands and sing a rousing rendition of Elton John's "Circle of Life".:rolleyes: Naw, on second thought, just poison the beggars.

Sarge
 
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