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[Neoskel]

So i set up a little rat/lizard re-education program where my trapper/animal trainer catches vermin, tames them and sorts them into cages (he caught a firefly once, put that in a terrarium next to the beds but it got out or 'despawned'  ). Now every now and then an occupied animal trap is sitting on the stockpile waiting for taming or theres a cage full of untamed vermin. Some dwarf gets hungry, walks past the barrels of food and devours an unsuspecting rodent or reptile. This wouldn't be as odd if the dwarf had a preference for eating rats or something, but they never do. Sometimes it's the trapper/animal trainer himself who swallows a rat. I guess he knows the quality of the animals he catches....

It's gotten to the point that on a newer fortress i keep a cageful of untamed vermin as an alternate food supply. Seems my dwarves want to be Discworld dwarves... So, wheres the rock hard dwarf bread? I want a Breadmaster Captain of the Gaurd. 

[Awayfarer]

I've had the same problem for a while. My current fort has a population of 195 and it's impossible to get critters tamed before a hungry dwarf walks in and gives the captured rat/bat/cardinal the "chocolate bunny" treatment.

So much for the Give Every Dwarf a Pet project.

[Neoskel]

I'm starting to think it may have to do with the lack of tables since it's just a starting fort and i'm trying to dig it out first.

I have a cage full of random vermin (had a couple lungfishes in there for a while) and my guy had managed to tame a single lizard before the feeding frenzy started, poor thing was stuck in the same cage as the 'food' vermin and every now and then one of his neighbors would get eaten right in front of him. Needless to say i moved the poor fella to a different cage where he can keep my clerk company as she tallies the number of vermin we have.

At least my food stockpile is safe, and the extra food 'stockpile' is a bonus.

[SHAD0Wdump]

Forbid them,when it comes to taming lock them and the trainer into a room with some food and unforbid them.
Hope that works.More likely the trainer will get hungry and get a serious case of exotic munchies.

[Neoskel]

Apparently two-legged rhino lizards go good with tartar sauce. 

[Fossaman]

I was a little ticked when my dwarves started eating the fire snakes I was catching for extraction. "Hey! You owe me 500☼, you scoundrel!"

[Slartibartfast]

I've had the same problem for a while. My current fort has a population of 195 and it's impossible to get critters tamed before a hungry dwarf walks in and gives the captured rat/bat/cardinal the "chocolate bunny" treatment.

You mean like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCrGnd3ljqA ?

[MaxVance]

Interesting. I have never had this problem. Do they still get the unhappy thoughts from having to find vermin, or is it fine since the vermin creatures are already trapped?

[Dame de la Licorne]

I've noticed that some dwarves will prefer to eat caged vermin over anything else.  I don't know why.

[BurnedToast]

I have the opposite problem, I captured some rats and lizards and tried to put them near the food stockpile so the dwarves would eat them to get rid of them - no luck. Tamed or untamed, they never got eaten.

I eventually gave up and smashed them with a drawbridge.

[Neoskel]

Interesting. I have never had this problem. Do they still get the unhappy thoughts from having to find vermin, or is it fine since the vermin creatures are already trapped?

I've received no complaints on the quality of my 'food'. 

[grelphy]

I'm pretty sure this behavior is akin to the French eating snails. Some dwarves just like particular varieties of vermin and will go out of their way to eat them. AFAIK, dwarves will have a preference in their profile for whatever vermin they choose to eat, but I wouldn't take my word for that.

Wait, what?

[Neoskel]

I'm pretty sure this behavior is akin to the French eating snails. Some dwarves just like particular varieties of vermin and will go out of their way to eat them. AFAIK, dwarves will have a preference in their profile for whatever vermin they choose to eat, but I wouldn't take my word for that.

Wait, what?

None of my dwarves have a vermin eating preference on their profile. All of them have eaten vermin from my vermin cage.
Heh, i once modded in pond snails so those dwarves could have been officially french.

[Neoskel]

Well, it's not the lack of chairs or tables. One of my miners just grabbed a rat out of the cage and bought it to his room to eat. Live. Dwarves, they'll eat anything.

[martinuzz]

Fried rat, anyone?