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[GreenMarine]

I'd like to make a baby zoo. Is there an effective and safe way to cage babies? Will they grow up or starve while caged? Or do they effectively freeze while caged?

[xdarkcodex]

The only way I know how to cage a friendly is if the infant is wounded and walks on the cage trap or you make a cave in in.They will need food and booze while caged IIRC and they will still age.

[Sphalerite]

In order to cage a baby, you will first have to separate it from its mother.  This is difficult as dwarven mothers hold their children at all time and will cancel any job to find and pick up their children if they are ever separated.  I have at times noticed that forcing the mother into running water will knock a child out of her arms, so some kind of water-based system should work.  A well over open space next to a waterfall perhaps.

Then you have to cage the baby.  Cage traps only work on hostile or unconscious creatures, so you will need to knock the baby out to get it in a cage.  I don't know if being stunned from falling is enough.  You might have to arrange for a nearby cave-in to knock the baby out with dust.  Be aware that crawling babies have no self-preservation instincts whatsoever, and will happily crawl into water or lava or off cliffs to their doom.

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

In order to cage a baby, you will first have to separate it from its mother.  This is difficult as dwarven mothers hold their children at all time and will cancel any job to find and pick up their children if they are ever separated.  I have at times noticed that forcing the mother into running water will knock a child out of her arms, so some kind of water-based system should work.  A well over open space next to a waterfall perhaps.

Yeah, I've been slaughtering babies willy-nill over the past week as I experimented with waterfall-splashing-down-a-spiral-stair designs; I eventually had to put grates all across the drain holes just to keep the system from washing every baby in my fort out into the chasm.

I suspect that if I'd put cage traps at the bottom of every ramp I'd have caught more than a few babes. I'm not sure if the falling would be enough to knock the babies out, though. Does "stunned" count or do they have to be unconscious? They get "stunned" when the water hits, since babies can't have swimming skill.

[lordcooper]

DF forums:  Where this discussion is perfectly acceptable.

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

DF forums:  Where this discussion is perfectly acceptable.

You should've seen my girlfriends' reaction when I explained to her why I had a room filled with dead puppies and babies with all their limbs broken (that was before I took out the staircases and left only the ramps). Seriously, it was like one "died after colliding with an obstacle" message every fifty frames or so.

[nordak]

Bump

Bridgeapult

[Hyndis]

Water works fine.

In my current fortress, due to an Unfortunate Accident involving setting up a plumbing system, I had an infant flushed into the fortifications carved on the edge of the map. The infant did not drown. But it was stuck and couldn't leave, and then died of starvation in the fortifications. There isn't any way to remove it, aside from trying to flush it with water from another direction.

The infant skeleton has been tormenting my plump helmet farm ever since. 


Edit:
Or magma! I can reroute magma from my smelters to the other side of the map, near my farm. Then deconstruct the farms (I have like 10,000 roasts in my stockpiles, I'm good for a while) and flood the farm fields with magma! That should vaporize the infant skeleton. Once the infant skeleton is gone, the magma will drain off the edge of the map. When all 1/7 magma puddles are gone I can reflood the fields, rebuild the farm, and get growing the plump helmets again!

I can even experiment with my horizontal magma teleportation device, which works great for short distances, but this would be a good test for long distance usage!