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Author Topic: Purring Maggot - The Other White Meat  (Read 618 times)

Paul

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Purring Maggot - The Other White Meat
« on: February 24, 2007, 04:21:00 pm »

Apparently, live purring maggots are being counted as meat. Every time I try to milk them, some get eaten.

When they are in the cage, nobody will touch them; but when they are taken out to be milked, people will eat them as meat. I have abundant food supplies in my dining room, so most dwarves go for the cooked meals. But if they happen to be carrying a maggot when they get hungry, they eat it.

I have seen maggots used as food several times now, and noticed them disappearing constantly. The first time I noticed it, I had told my animal trainer to tame an elephant that I had just caught. I had previously told my farmers to milk the maggots. One was on the ground after being milked, and instead of it being taken back to the cage, the animal trainer ran and picked it up, and fed it to the elephant.

The second time I noticed it, a hauler had just picked up a maggot, was about to take the 2 steps to the cage, and he decided he was hungry. He cancelled the hauling job to eat, and then I saw him carry the maggot to the table to eat it.

And then just now I told my farmer to milk the maggots, then locked all the doors to the room hoping to keep someone from eating them. The farmer was in the process of milking the maggot when he decided he was hungry. He just stopped and ate the maggot he was supposed to be milking in the workshop! Then he just grabbed another maggot and continued milking.

I've been catching a handful of purring maggots every winter (when the bats are inactive, plus my farmers can double as trappers), but I never get any more of them due to them being eaten every season when I try to milk them. I've probably caught 50 or more of them so far, yet my cage only has 9 left now.

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Eiba

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Re: Purring Maggot - The Other White Meat
« Reply #1 on: February 24, 2007, 11:15:00 pm »

Reading the innitial premise I was going to suggest that cat's were the true culprit (as they do tend to kill the poor maggots), but I see with your examples that this is clearly not the case...

I do find the situation highly ammusing though.

And for the record, Toady has said in the past:

quote:
Nah, purring maggots aren't intended as wriggling delicacies or anything like that.

So I guess this really is a bug.
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Paul

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Re: Purring Maggot - The Other White Meat
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2007, 12:17:00 pm »

The first time they were disappearing I thought that was the case as well. This time I have no cats, and I kill every cat that comes along. But now I realise that its the damn farmers eating them.

I also had a bunch of live lobsters in a pond earlier, and then I saw one on the dining table in the noble's room. Apparently the noble that likes lobster for their beauty also likes them for their taste  :)

They seem to be safe in the glass cages set to aquariums though, since nobody seems to be able to take animals out of cages for eating (or cooking) as long as they are set to be in there. If they aren't assigned there things can happen though. I had 3 baby bonobos get born in a cage, and I was going to leave them in there as part of the zoo, but I didn't think to assign them to the cage. Next thing I know a peasant arrives, takes one out, and  beats it to death. Since it wasn't assigned there, I guess he was going to move it or release it or something, then it attacked him.

It is rather amusing though. Watching the farmer switch from milking to eat and immediately eat the maggot he was milking had me laughing.

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Toady One

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Re: Purring Maggot - The Other White Meat
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2007, 08:38:00 pm »

I remember this being reported on IRC, but I guess I didn't put a bug entry in (or I'm not finding it right now).  It'll be on the bug list next time I refresh it.  Not sure what's going on right now.
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Chthon

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Re: Purring Maggot - The Other White Meat
« Reply #4 on: February 27, 2007, 02:03:00 pm »

Mmm.... maggotts... prrrr....
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