Curiosity killed the cat (not really)

[Larebear]

One of my shed cameras picked up this curious kitty snooping around an area where mice and birds have their meals and drinks.

This camera is about 12 inches above the ground and records mice, insects, birds and any other critter that shows up under the lean-to.

No animals were harmed in the making of this video. eaceful:

 

[alphawave7]

Handsome cat..spots and ringtail...proof once again the interwebs were made for cats.

 

[Larebear]

Yeah, this cat and his/her twin brother/sister show up at my place almost every night. When the weather warms up, my motion activated sprinklers will give them a good drenching.

 

[alphawave7]

When the weather warms up, my motion activated sprinklers will give them a good drenching.

That vid should be fun, too! Also if it attacks humans (your sprinkler, not the feral)..please put'em up!

 

[Larebear]

I have the two motion activated sprinklers set up to work with my VeraLite (z-wave) controller so that they only work during the night. The UPS and FedEx guys wouldn't be too happy if they got drenched coming through my gate during the day.

 

[alphawave7]

I have the two motion activated sprinklers set up to work with my VeraLite (z-wave) controller so that they only work during the night. The UPS and FedEx guys wouldn't be too happy if they got drenched coming through my gate during the day.

Partypooper!

 

[Larebear]

That vid should be fun, too!

You may have seen this one before that I posted last year with the old fat cat vs motion activated sprinkler.

 

[alphawave7]

You may have seen this one before that I posted last year with the old fat cat vs motion activated sprinkler.

I missed that one..LOL! He burnt a few fat cat calories on that scramble!

 

[klasipca]

Lare what sprinklers, do you use? I've tried "dumb" sprinkler once. Motion detection wasn't great and no way to turn it off during certain hours.

 

[Larebear]

I use the ScareCrow sprinklers. They run off of 9 volt batteries but I wired one of them with a 9 volt power adapter so that I don't have to keep changing the battery. There's an outlet on the outside of my shed to plug it into.

I have hoses from Orbit sprinkler valves going to the ScareCrows. I use relays controlled by z-wave switches to turn the sprinkler valves on at night and off during the day. The z-wave switches are controlled with my VeraLite HA controller and set on a schedule. The sprinklers will still activate during the day but no water is available due to the valves being shut off.

These are the sprinkles I use. I see they've gone up in price. I think I paid around $70 apiece for them a couple years ago.

http://www.amazon.com/ScareCrow-Motion-Activated-Animal-Repellent/dp/B000071NUS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1453227891&sr=8-3&keywords=motion+activated+sprinklers

 

[klasipca]

Thanks! i believe I tried that, I was hoping for some out of the box solution, but looks like I will have to design something like you did.

 

[Larebear]

I guess a person could just use a low priced outdoor faucet timer to supply water at night and then off during the day. I wanted to be able to control the sprinklers when away from home using my phone or tablet, so decided to go the z-wave route.

 

[Larebear]

I see that Orbit now has a motion activated sprinkler with day/night settings and it's lower in price than the ScareCrow.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009F1R0GC?dpID=41Kxokj3XfL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_SL500_SR160,160_&refRID=NEMSZAG68DBMKBRZGYDN&ref_=pd_lutyp_im_1_1

 

[Kawboy12R]

I wonder how long it'd take to train the neighbourhood cats to stay off my porch without spraying too many visitors, mailmen, paper carriers, etc? Or me, for that matter. I like cats but there's one that uses my front railing as a scratching post and it's getting a bit ragged. Motion activated sprinklers would be pretty much guaranteed to make me the least favourite guy on the block if someone popped over and got sprayed unless they're set for, say, midnight til 5:30 and that trained the cats to stay away 24/7 fairly quickly.

 

[Larebear]

Yeah, you definitely need to have it timed so that visitors don't get sprayed during the day. The UPS and FedEx guys can only come through my front gate for deliveries, which I program to open at 8:00 AM when I'm expecting a shipment. One of the motion activated sprinklers is pointing directly at the gate because of feline visitors crawling under the gate.

If the delivery guys got drenched, I'm sure they would probably just throw the packages over the fence in future deliveries. eaceful:

 

[Larebear]

I set up the motion activated sprinklers again, now that the temperature is staying above freezing. Here's a capture from three different cameras as a cat was attempting to invade my yard. The second camera got a two for one. A second cat was on his way to join the first. eaceful:

The first capture was taken with a Huisun 10x PTZ zoomed in on the gate, second capture with the spider web was a ESC IPC1-V varifocal, third was taken with a Dahua 12X PTZ.