#not mice and rats though

[arrgh-whatever]

On your hierarchy of animals, it looks like it's supposed to be shaped like a pyramid but the tip is missing. Was it intentional? Is there a secret caste of animals you didn't talk about yet?

...or am I reading way too deeply into a post.

it's me. i'm the secret animal

okay in truth placing birds of prey and big predators at the top just didn't feel accurate

It's hard to imagine that giant bears (omnivores) and moose (herbivores) won't be taken seriously and even respected by them at least to a certain degree. The hierarchy isn't very strict and has a lot of exceptions so no animal feels like it should be at the top

[royalarchivist]

Pac: Does this look like a mouse? Is this good?

Pac drew the Ratinhos! (And totally didn't forget to ask if he could erase part of the chalkboard first 😅)

[kedreeva]

Anyone keeping rodents or rabbits or parrots in the market for some mulberry chews?

We had to take down two mulberry trees in the bird pens today in order to allow for redoing the overhead netting and repair of a support post, so I have a TON of fresh, organic, pesticide-and-fertilizer-free mulberry wood I can dry and bake for chews right now. The wood is sweet-smelling and on the softer side, and it tends to shred instead of chipping like apple wood. My mice and rats loved shredding out pieces and putting it into their nests. Wood will be cut, air-dried in the house, and baked.

Safe wood for at least rats, mice, rabbits, chinchillas, and guinea pigs to chew and safe for parrots EXCEPT possibly neophema species (diuretic effects were noted in just this species when consuming leaves, but play it safe).

[tiger-moran]

No

(also I hate Disney Ratigan anyway not in a 'he's a great villain and I love to hate him' way I just hate him, I hated him as a kid and nothing has changed now)

[squeakywebs]

Thank you for feeding a weak thing like me

[fernclans]

What the heck is the deal with these wolves!? Did Flintclan eat a pup or something???

nope! unfortunately after the wolves' first raid on FlintClan, some of the youngest pack members learned that cats can be found in that area for a quick and fun meal. basically imagine if the clans' found an entire nest of rabbits, or something of that sort

cliffstripe's attack, however, was targeted due to the lucky strike he got off on one of them during the raid

(in-game explanation: i got SO many big dog prompts you wouldn't believe it)

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

Would you ever consider getting a decorative mouse?

A DECORATIVE MOUSE …… very good idea anon. what kinda decoration r we talking tho…….

i used to have one of these little guys :3

i loved him very much . i should buy more mouse/rat plushies actually……….

yk what since you brought up the mice have some silly ari lore; my family used to have . a lot of pets when i was a baby right? lots of cats all throughout my childhood but when i was super young we had a dog and fish and birds…. and at one point we had . rats ? LIKE . domesticated rats that we bought lmao . i don’t remember them but apparently i brought them with me on my stroller and snuggled with them 😭😭 so that’s… a thing.

[theyarebothgunshot]

i saw a very big rat today, just wandering down the street like it was nbd. absolutely madness. and nobody wants to see the picture i took :(

[thatweirdo466]

I got a 50%😢

new fun trend: take this quiz and tell me your score

[dexaroth]

feels a bit awkward for xor's mecha form be so different color-wise from his organic design.. i've already tried having the mecha form have a similar gray coat pattern but it just looks bad. awful even

i also dont feel like adding gray details on the mecha would look good either. im thinking maybe i could redesign him to fit a bit more but i can't deny that his current design is way more detailed than what black and white really allows.. plus hes cuter bc of the white eye arch. but the one without that looks more.. critter-like..? sigh

[chainsandcherries]

i wish this was an april fool's joke but guess who explained away the ginormous 16+ sq. foot guinea pig cage in the bedroom as a "sex thing" 🙃 maintenance guy came by to check on some chipping dry wall and i didn't close the bedroom door so he def saw the cage but thankfully our resident cavy was hiding and not so thankfully my mouth was already moving

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

ARIII !!! haiiiii :333 im working on some fanart 4 u n i was wondering if ur ok w me drawing u based off the picrews that uve done ? ik u dont want 2 post ur face so i was wondering if that sentiment extended in2 fanart somehow !! if not thats oki :333 u will always b the Cluster of Mice 2 me ^_^ a mice version of a rat king, if u will [i just searched it up turns out rat kings can b made out of rats OR mice !! thats so kewl ,,,,,,]

FALLS ON THE GROUND . FANART? FOR ME?????? 🥺🥺🥺 ashley you are such a sweetheart…….. you’re more than welcome to!!! if you really want to!!!! i don’t mind at all!!!!! that sentiment doesn’t extend into fanart hehe, feel free to draw me as a rat king or a silly little human guy or whatever you’d like <3333

[omg-rodents]

My male breeder rats will go from screaming at each other over a lady and slap-fighting to sleepy snuggling with each other in a pile of babies while moms go eat food. They're (mostly) very good boys.

My mice are also surprisingly tolerant. I can usually keep boys with their fathers and brothers with brothers into adulthood. As long as there are plenty of areas for them to take space when they need it.

Rats vs Mice

(To be clear, this is not an anti-mouse post. Small cute animals should be allowed to be a little fucked up.)

[hensunrik]

Never met a cat that didn’t smell or ate live mouses so rabbits>>>

I'm not sure what this is in reference to and at this point I'm too scared to ask but hell yeah anon speak your truth

[charlietheepicwriter7]

some ideas i have for the Teen Villain Alliance

Dr. Danny "I stole my PhD from Harvard at gunpoint" Fenton is Damian's best friend despite being at least six years older than him, while Crown Prince Phantom Dark is more of a father figure to Damian despite them being the same flipping person.

Sam is still Damian's favorite though, she's the one who he approached to join.

someone suggested that each "squad" of teens has a different pest as their squad name. So the inner circle (Danny, Jazz, Sam, Tuck, Dani, maybe Klarion since he was there first) are Wolves, with each having a squad under them. Phantom doesn't have a squad, but Fenton's mad science squad are called rats, Jazz has mice, Sam reclaimed bats from the batfam, tuck has his flies, etc

Phantom and Pharaoh tuck pretending that they have no idea what Tennessee is because Wally mistakes them for the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Damian is convinced that the inner circle are Prince Phantom's harem and convinces Dick of that too when he joins.

I really want to add Dick to the Everlasting Trio guys, I really do, but this is about the Teen Villain Alliance, not young adult villain alliance, so the oldest I feel like I can make the trio are 20, with Dick being 24, so if anyone has any problems with that... i guess you can leave, I've already decided on this plan of action.

The first time Red Hood encounters the TVA, they threaten him into buying them alcohol, he buys the nastiest shit he can think of to mess with the brats. Klarion throws up, Sam drinks straight faced

Red Huntress originally liked being an official justice league recognized super hero, but the stress of work and being constantly relied on to save people wears her down. She confronts Phantom for setting these ghosts on her, but he hasn’t done anything, this is the regular amount of ghosts. In fact, he asked that most of his rogues limit their visits to once every two weeks, so its actually less. Valerie has a mental breakdown and joins the TVA

[bonefall]

"How big should a Clan territory be?"

For the dozens of people who have asked this over the last couple of years!

This question comes in a lot of forms; "How big are the Clan territories?" "How much space does one Clan need?" "How much land should I give my Clans to exist in?" The answer is a bit complicated, and depends on the type of land, what you're going for exactly, the setting, so on.

But, broadly, there's TWO particular factors at play here; How anthropomorphic you're portraying your warriors, and how productive the land is.

Factor 1: The Anthro Scale

I'm starting with this one because it could you the simpler answer. The Erins write Clan cats like humans in cat bodies, with massive social units and communal living. Realistic feral cats don't act like Clan cats. They are only semi-social, due to domestication.

See, a Clan cat will "share" territory between all of its members, and some Clans have canonically hit populations of over 50 individuals. Real feral colonies consist of "overlapping circles" of somewhere between 2 - 15 cats, most of them related females.

This is relevant because, even in densely populated areas with as much food as they can eat, truly feral colonies will have about 2 cats per 5 acres, capping out at about 15 members. Queens will hang out together and raise their kittens communally, but they will hunt and patrol in their own "circle." These boundaries are violently enforced against outside cats, especially if it's too crowded.

(Toms have circles 5x as big as a queen's, overlapping several territories. They're also considerably less social.)

So, if you wanted to incorporate some cat behavior into your Clan's mindset about how big their territory should be, while still being willing to sacrifice a bit of "realism" for groups over 15-ish members, simply take Clan population and multiply it by 2.5 acres.

30 cats = 75 acres. That's a little under 57 football fields, if you're American, or 50 football fields, if you're European.

Extra reading: How realistic cat territories work. Contains the numbers I'm referencing.

It's also very important to know; feral cat density is completely tied to food availability, the big numbers numbers are for cats whose needs are met. Cats are solitary hunters, and when they feel like they have to work for their food, they become VERY territorial. The density of cats in rural areas can be as low as 1 molly per 15 acres, even lower for toms, and they will leave if hunting is not easy.

THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT FEED FERAL CATS. Please GOD they are SO invasive, please do not give colonies food, they still hunt when they're full so you just end up concentrating a ton of predators in one place. They are not warriors with a law against disrespecting food, they are just kitty cats with silly kitty instincts

I have a suspicion that most of the people who are asking the question aren't really looking for a "realistic cat" answer, though. We LOVE our big cat Clans with their complicated politics around here. You're probably wondering how much land you need to feed your population!

Factor 2: Land Productivity

The exact amount of space is going to vary a lot, because it's more about productivity of the land to sustain a prey population than it is raw size. Remember what we learned back in Warrior Bites: Dietary Needs; a 30-cat Clan will need approximately 3 pounds of meat (10,500 calories) per day, which is about 2 rabbits, or 105 mice.

Here's some visual examples of what I mean. This one (1) acre homestead...

Has 20 patches of high-value crops, plus an orchard, AND livestock pens. This territory alone could attract enough crows, mice, rats, rabbits, and sparrows to feed all those cats daily. That's not even counting the humans themselves, who may be friendly enough to the colony to toss them kibble occasionally.

(this is why cats domesticated themselves. Even without the free food from the humans, farms are extremely productive hunting grounds.)

Meanwhile, the Edmonton Mall, which is a whopping five (5) acres...

Would be utterly barren. Best food you're going to get out of this wasteland is the leftovers humans toss out, and maybe the rats and pigeons that scavenge as well. It's 5x the space, and yet, infinitely harder to feed the same amount of cats.

So, the most helpful bit of advice I'm gonna give you is this; DON'T ask yourself "how big should this territory be?" You're starting with the wrong question. Start with a real location, and think about how you'd find 3 pounds of meat a day in that area.

It will be a LOT easier to think about the logistics in those terms, and this will lead you to the waaay more productive (and fun) worldbuilding questions. Such as;

"Where would the good hunting spots be?"

"What kinds of animals would they be eating? What sorts of beasts can threaten them, here?"

"How many of these animals would my 30 cat Clan need to hunt a day to equal about 3 pounds?"

"Where would these animals be getting THEIR food?"

"Is there enough habitat in the area for the prey to breed and nest? If not, is there more land beyond the territory that the prey is coming from?"

"Where would infrastructure like dens, walls, and dirtplaces go? What would these be made of?"

"Are there any neat spots for the cats to casually hang out on?"

"What would make for a super cool arena for my climactic narrative boss fights?"

"Does this area have unique stage hazards that my cats would have to learn to deal with?"

"Which sorts of plants and herbs would they encounter?"

If your Clan is tool-using, like BB!Clans are, then you can ask even more advanced questions. Like, where you'd find kindle for fire, what objects you can use as crafting materials, and what might make for unique trade goods.

Think about other things related to your Clan's biome-- in a tundra or desert, there will be less for prey to eat, so the territory will be large to cope with the low density. If there's a major body of water, they might have a constant supply of aquatic prey from upstream. Hunting grounds might change based on the seasons.

Also remember not to underestimate how fast small animals breed, and how many of them there can be in one area. Even using low estimates, 1 female mouse has 6 pups, 7 x 6 = 42, 42 x 6 = 252, 252 x 6 = 1,452. It takes only 4 months for mouse population growth to get exponentially ridiculous.

Finally, remember that prey can vary. A well run Clan would be able to generally understand when they've been overhunting one particular species, and start shifting gears to lift the "pressure" off that population.

(In my cultural expansions series, this management task is assigned to one of the new roles-- the Head of Hunting.)