talkmagic.co.uk

Hi all,

anyone know any good tricks making use of a pet mouse?

obviously without long build ups involving hiding the mouse or the mouse being in any way uncomfortable during the performance.

could always try get a small guillotine and use that on the mouse.

Hi MAGIC CHUMP. Paul Zennon does a chop cup routine with a styrofoam cup and a rolled up bill, the finale is the appearence of a mouse under the cup. There is also the cups and balls. Lance Burton uses two lemons and a mouse as his final loads. jim

thanks!

the final load mouse idea is great.

this tiny guillotine. can it be done. it would look rly funny. maybe swap out the mouse quickle for a prop?

It should be done easily mate plus the gimmick you'd need you can pick up for £3-£5 from most decent magic shops.

You'd never make a live mouse hold still long enough for a guillotine, but I like the idea of using a dummy for the effect and then swapping it for the real little fellow.

A very tame and well-socialised mouse should be quite comfy snuggled down in a pocket, as long as it's got enough room.

This is my all time favorite mouse routine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceG7MkgVtIk

I recall seeing Paul Daniels do a mouse-in-matchbox trick. He showed a matchbox from all angles - completely empty, very close up camera. Lo! He opened the drawer and a mouse appeared". Can't find it on Googly though. Very nice ... mouse looked real too.



If anyone else in the UK can't see that clip, use "www.the-cloak.com" (at your own risk, of course) and download it to your disk with the Firefox FlashGot plugin.

Becareful using animals in any tricks if you're performing. Some people don't like the idea of performing with animals and there's a chance that you'll loose bookings if you do or have people walk out on your performances. Also, if you're British I think that there are a number of rules and regulations about working with animals.

Lady of Mystery wrote:Becareful using animals in any tricks if you're performing. Some people don't like the idea of performing with animals and there's a chance that you'll loose bookings if you do or have people walk out on your performances. Also, if you're British I think that there are a number of rules and regulations about working with animals.

True enough, and something to think about very hard. I was picturing just someone messing about at home for friends and family.

If you're doing it as an actual show for the public, there's all kinds of laws to watch out for. In the UK, there's the sweeping Animal Welfare Act 2006, which lays down the owner's responsibility for the animal's psychological as well as physical welfare. The Performing Animals (Regulation) Act 1925 is also still in force and covers any aspects not addressed in the Animal Welfare Act. For a start, anyone training or exhibiting a performing animal must be registered with the local authority.

PAWSI (Performing Animals Welfare Standards International) is currently working with DEFRA to draft new laws about performing animals, so things are currently in flux to some extent.

But if the animal is going into the pot anyway and then we'd only have to treat it with the same respect we treat battery mice.

We british (with apologies for readers who are not british) are sooooo inconsistent.

aporia wrote:But if the animal is going into the pot anyway and then we'd only have to treat it with the same respect we treat battery mice.

We british (with apologies for readers who are not british) are sooooo inconsistent.

Trust me, it's the same way on this side of the pond and damned frustrating at times. You'd think animals have more rights than human beings, especially when it comes to the "quality of life" issue...
... don't get me started!

well this particular mouse has been found guilty of treason so he has to be put to the guillotine. thems the rules.

Craig Browning wrote:

aporia wrote:But if the animal is going into the pot anyway and then we'd only have to treat it with the same respect we treat battery mice.

We british (with apologies for readers who are not british) are sooooo inconsistent.

Trust me, it's the same way on this side of the pond and damned frustrating at times. You'd think animals have more rights than human beings, especially when it comes to the "quality of life" issue...
... don't get me started!

In Canada it is getting very difficult to use live animals in public venues. Not sure about dead animals.

What irks me most about all the animal rights B.S. is that 99% of the idiots involved haven't a clue as to what is required when handling and working with certain types of critters, such as primates whose nature is to challenge for leadership somewhat frequently and thus, you (the trainer) must meet such challenges with greater force or simply let the chimp (or whatever) rule your life and set you and your family in a full time state of uncertainty.

I was walking through a park one afternoon with my doberman. Some ladies fluffy lap dog thought it a good idea to nip at Osiris's heels and in return Si say the fluff ball as a nice snack...
... I dropped, rolled with my dog and pinned him to the ground using a knuckle "punch" into a key pressure point in the shoulder. This is a very common tactic used by trainers of larger (oft times more dangerous) animals.

The dingbat owner of the fluffy thing started ranting about how I was being abusive to my dog. I asked her if she'd rather my dog eat her's because she hadn't taught it to not be stupidly agressive toward animals ten times its size... needless to say she turned her nose into the air and in an audible huff, went on her way.

A similar thing happened with an old friend, Lloyd Cooper who handled the chimp for the old show BJ and the Bear. The ensuing legal action taken on by the yuppies for puppies cult cost the man his career within the film and Tv industry and nearly cost him his licensing and yet, not one single member of the group or legal team had any background in working with exotic animals of this sort or even a large/muscle breed k-9 that may require some more direct modes of handling.

I absolutely not condone any sort of animal abuse, but I also know the difference between abuse and control methods. I also know that some animals simply cannot be trained or contained via passive techniques; some friends of mine had a wonderful red wolf (I can't recall the exact type he was but at 9 months old he was taller than me when on his hind legs and already weighed more than me... and he had another year of major growing to go). But this guy, as loving and fun as he could be, would bite through a very high voltage "weasel wire" (as we call them) in order to get out of his yard. He would likewise rip off the siding of the house (literally eating it) and loved to play fetch with large rocks... or any small animal in the neighborhood. And I do mean "Play" but given his size and nature, play was a bit more agressive and thus, more deadly when it came to the smaller critters.

Being able to control such an animal... a very good animal for the most part... required the owner/trainer to be a bit more "intense" but the ignorant saw his actions as being "animal abuse" and ultimately, because their passive modes of training didn't work and they saw the animal as "dangerous" they put him down... which I guess isn't inhumane when it comes to how fools look at animal welfare and understanding how to properly handle them.