talkmagic.co.uk

greedoniz wrote:I shoot pandas in my act.

I like to buy hamsters so that I can do mean things to them with a fork. That little squeal that they emit is like music to my ears.

And, they go well with a cup and ball routine, as final loads. I've found, though, that breaking their legs just prior to the performance is important, as it stops them from getting out of your pocket early and it keeps them in place once they've been produced. I use "Electric Touch" to get them to be a bit more lively once produced.

On a larger scale, I use my dog to produce him out of a box. I have a small transmitter, which I sewed into his ear, that emits a high pitch frequency noise. This gets him to shake and prance about after he's been produced. The audience loves it.

Training my monkey was easy. I use a cattle prod. As soon as I heard Peter Gabriel's tune, "Shock the Monkey," a little light bulb went on inside my head. Gabriel's song is like a manual of how to train a monkey. Works a charm.

Mike.

Mandrake wrote:

Michael Jay wrote:now everyone jump in and tell me what a vicious and torturous and nasty man I am

Not at all !

I take it all back !!

To post again or not to post? obviously I am posting. Although I agree that some of the arguments presented are quite compeling and worthy of note in making your decision. I stand by my original post. There is a wondeful book, okay it is boring, but well worth reading it is called "When Elephants Weep" It may change ones views on this subject matter, even down to arachnids.

As an aside, the issue I have with dove magic even when the animals are being properly handled are the acts always leave me hungry for chicken.

If I remember right, our good friend MagicDiscoMan has a great story about working with Doves where one of the poor little blighters died just seconds before being produced.....

greedoniz wrote:I shoot pandas in my act.

Ok, I just laughed for a straight ten seconds off of this.

If I remember right, our good friend MagicDiscoMan has a great story about working with Doves where one of the poor little blighters died just seconds before being produced.....

ah yes the produce dove, say shhh shes sleeping, kiss dove and hand to my then assisitant, also r.i.p, who carried the poor little soul away trying not to burst out crying right then and there.

I have been seriously thinking about using a couple of gerbils in a change bag for a childrens show. I can't see that any cruelty will be involved, they will be in the bag for no more than a few minutes, will be transported to and from in good conditions and will only be handled by me.

Having read the above I am now having second thoughts about this. I thought that the children would see it as cute as well as very magic to produce a couple of live animals from an empty bag.

Does anyone have a good experienmce of using live animals or is it all dead parrot, sorry dead dove stories?

gerbils, doves and change bags, back in ther good ol days the only concern would boing the empty bag move.

mirror / perspective boxes also not a problem, most spaces were bigger than a lot of cages.

balloon busters / drop cages would probably be ok even today as your producing the whole travel cage, same for circus wagon and fish bowl productions / vanishes.

best check with rspca regarding whats legal with the new rules in effect regarding livestock and pets.

Don't try Hamsters... SPG will get ya... !!!

I've been considering doing comedy-magic where I don't hurt real animals, but use a replica of a goldfish, dove, etc and the gimmick is that I am such a lame magician that I am putting the animals in grave peril. But, you know, they're fake.

I've searched online extensively for realistic toy goldfish to no avail. Any advice? I'm more of a comic than a magician in every way, and I live in the US, so any recommendations would be appreciated.

seige wrote:Don't try Hamsters... SPG will get ya... !!!

Darling we are the youngs ones...HAVE WE GOT A VIDEO.

That made me laugh.

comedynerd wrote:I've searched online extensively for realistic toy goldfish to no avail. Any advice? I'm more of a comic than a magician in every way, and I live in the US, so any recommendations would be appreciated.

If you know anyone in the UK who can buy these and send them on to you, cut and paste (the link doesn't work directly) http://www.hawkin.com/rkmain.asp?PAGEID ... &XPAGENO=4 - come to think of it, they're probably available in the US as the dollar stores and similar low price outlets.

There's an effect called Little Fishy by Diamond Jim Tyler - fish, bowl, water, the whole shebangl gets produced. Google around but you can get info at http://www.worldmagicshop.co.uk/little- ... -4223.html

How many days in advance you buy the fishes ?
1. What do you use to carry the fishes to the venue ?
2. What is the maximum time for the small gold fishes to survive inside the gimmick [edited by mods]?
3. What do you normally do with the fish after production, keep them for the next show or giving it out to one audience ?

Just to comment on a few others "Knocking" the idea, Working with live animals is a wonderful idea (as long as there not harmed) the spectators really get into it and almost believe that "Magic Can Be Real" because it raises the Question and Comment "that must be magic, How can he get the goldfish to do that"


Answering Questions

1. Id Purchase the Fish no more and no less then 3 days in advance, Considering your obvious lack of knowledge of the fish id get a few Extra then needed (wouldnt want to work with dead fish, not as immpressive)

2. To Keep the Gold Fish Happy and more alive, they should be kept in a heat aquirium at the hotel or house, move them into a sealable bag with its water from the aquirium in them, make sure that the water of the bag is somewhat equal to the water of the gimmick to avoid shock.

3. Spectators love to interact, Why not invite a couple of them up for a small Mentalism effect and give them one each to take home afterwards, everytime they see the goldfish, they would remember you, almost as good as handing out a business card in a effect huh?

4. If your Gimmick uses water, (im sure it does) survival rate is more then fine

greedoniz wrote:I shoot pandas in my act.

I sincerely hope you don't perform too often then! hehe....