What does a loir/loiret eat?

[Mrs Trellis]

Continuing scratching behind the wall near the ceiling. Suspect a loir or loiret. We have a humane trap but not sure what would tempt it most. It ate sunflower seeds without getting caught. Apart from the noise, we worry it will go for the electrical wiring - apparently that can cause fires.

We found one in the bath once - minus tail - my husband put it outside and it thanked him by biting. No mystery, we had 4 cats.

[Loiseau]

Aside from electrical wiring, mine chewed holes in flexible duct that ventilated cooker hood to outside, passing through roof space that they subsequently colonised!

I tried googling re food, and have only found:

". The trappers used many different types of bait to entice the dormice. The bait ranged from pieces of fruit to bacon soaked in brandy. During the prime season, trappers could catch between 200 and 400 dormice, depending largely on what kind of trap they were using."

Angela

[woolybanana]

Do you have the recipe they use to cook them? I understand that some parts of Italy still eat them as did the Romans.

[Mrs Trellis]

People tell me they are protected, and I would rather not kill them anyway.

We started with a clump of raisins to tempt it/them.

I wonder how far we'd have to take them so make sure they won't come back!

[NickP]

Ours love peanut butter, they throw themselves on to the traps with gay abandon. As to how far they will have to go to not return? I would take them to Calais, and get a Polish lorry driver to take them to the UK/ [:D]

[Mrs Trellis]

We never have peanut butter, peanuts make me nauseous. Can still hear the little horror.

[ventodue]

[quote user="woolybanana"]Do you have the recipe they use to cook them? I understand that some parts of Italy still eat them as did the Romans.[/quote]

'tis great what you can find on Tinternet (good old Wiki, on this occasion).

"The edible dormouse was farmed and eaten by the ancient Romans and the

Etruscans (usually as a snack), hence the word edible in its name. The Romans

would catch dormice from the wild in autumn when they were fattest. The dormice

were kept and raised either in large pits or (in less spacious urban

surroundings) in terra cotta containers, the gliraria, something like

contemporary hamster cages. They fed these captive dormice walnuts, chestnuts,

and acorns for fattening. The dormice were served by either roasting them and

dipping them in honey or stuffing them with a mixture of pork, pine nuts, and

other flavorings."

Roast honey-dipped dormouse - Yum! Or  .. not?[:-))]

 

[mint]

[quote user="ventodue"][quote user="woolybanana"]Do you have the recipe they use to cook them? I understand that some parts of Italy still eat them as did the Romans.[/quote]

'tis great what you can find on Tinternet (good old Wiki, on this occasion).

"The edible dormouse was farmed and eaten by the ancient Romans and the

Etruscans (usually as a snack), hence the word edible in its name. The Romans

would catch dormice from the wild in autumn when they were fattest. The dormice

were kept and raised either in large pits or (in less spacious urban

surroundings) in terra cotta containers, the gliraria, something like

contemporary hamster cages. They fed these captive dormice walnuts, chestnuts,

and acorns for fattening. The dormice were served by either roasting them and

dipping them in honey or stuffing them with a mixture of pork, pine nuts, and

other flavorings."

Roast honey-dipped dormouse - Yum! Or  .. not?[:-))]

 

[/quote]

Ventodue, have you seen the PRICE of pine nuts recently?[I]

[ventodue]

Ah! Fair point. Maybe I could use cashews instead?

By the by, did you hear about the pine nut ‘harvesters’ coming up from Spain to nick the pine nuts from L’Ile de Ré? And no, I’m not making it up …

http://www.sudouest.fr/2015/01/05/les-pignons-retais-au-coeur-d-un-trafic-juteux-1786070-1381.php