Interesting stuff. If your experience had occurred in some parts of the “deep south” (US), the remedy may have been placement of a humane trap. The offender would’ve found itself being “gutted, skinned, and barbecued.

Now I don’t want my flower beds to appear like a bottle collection, but I’d like to try the “water bottle remedy” to ward off the “offenders” in our yard.

Good luck. Can’t wait for the “update.”

John,
First thing…it’s a good time for a little Spanish lesson. “No sé” means “I don’t know”. “No sabe” means “He doesn’t know”. Sé, sabes, sabe, sabemos, sabéis, saben

Next thing…at the shop where I work the men tie little sandwich bags full of water and hang them from the rafters in the eating area so that they hang over the tables. This keeps the flies away. I don’t know why it works but it does. The eating area is not far from the garbage cans and also not far from the bathroom and the dog pens and there are flies in all those places but not in the eating area. Go figure! John, I think you just gotta believe sometimes and forget about science and reason. Have a little faith

Maybe it is the same principle of having half filed plastic zip lock bags of water hanging around which are suppose to ward of flies.
I use to frequent a restaurant in the states that had that on their outdoor patio, for about 3 months.
Either they irradiated the fly population or gave up. Your choice.
Let us know the success of the target area.

BJ – So far so good.
Bob – I always hear No Say (“No sé”) But I checked with Google translate and it came back with “No sabe”. Thanks in nay case I can use all the help I can get.

I have a LOT of faith – however I am a strong believer in preparing a defense for that which I believe or support. So I have to ask.

We also have seen the sandwich bags of water hanging in restaurants (some use part vinegar btw).

Ken – I will keep a keen eye (and feet) on the situation to be sure (not to step in anything). If it works I am going to really press for an answer.

Folk remedies are perfect examples of the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. Someone does something illogical that appears to cause a result: the nonsense of water-filled baggies is a perfect example. The result is then attributed to the illogical action. The classic example is: I get up every morning and the sun rises; therefore, I cause the sun to rise. And I can “prove” it every morning.

I will be interested to hear if your opossum returns for another scat session.

Sometimes you just have to give up the questions and go with it, sounds like you did. It does seem to work, at least here in México. The funny thing is I would be more surprised if it worked NOB.

All this time I was thinking maybe it was ammonia in those bottles I saw outside people’s houses.Raccoons are smart, too, I’m baffled how a bottle of water would intimidate them. Did you hear about the family of raccoons in Florida that attacked a woman who was trying to shoo them off her porch, and put her in the hospital? Not to messed with, those little bandidos.

haha — they fooled you. It’s a town-wide conspiracy (supported by neighborhood hackers who are able to post “supporting” info on the internet) to trick you into putting water bottles outside your door, so that you could be an object of fun. As soon as you did so, “they” stopped placing the scat on your doorway. Everybody but you and Anita are in on the joke…

Just kidding….though sometimes I wonder whether this might indeed be the explanation for some of the stuff I hear…

Seriously — I like the shimmering hypothesis. You could test this by putting out 1) empty bottles and 2) opaque bottles filled with water. I’m sure there are other permutations that the analytical mind can come up with.

PS — my understanding on the water bags/flies is taht the flies are attracted to the moisture/coolness of the water-filled bags, and hang out on or near them (rather than on your food). Seems to work sometimes, and not others…as is typical with phenomena that are influenced by multiple factors, no?

I have never heard of this before, but I wonder if they instinctually avoid sullying any area near water in the vein of “don’t shit where you eat.”

Just a theory though. Curious to see how it turns out for you.

Steve – you silver tongued devil. Coincidence maybe – but consider this when I checked on this entry to make a small correction (see Bob’s comment above) I found this to be entry 666 – yikes this is all too much!

Jonna – I am more with you than Steve on this one. There could very well be a logical answer for the success if it happens. Now why would this not work in the U.S. – different animal mind set?

Bliss – So ask a round and see why your vecinos are doing this.

MCM – This is the back balcony with no access save a sneaky wall walking critter – so don’t think the vecinos are in on this. I have been in places where flies prefer my table to those shimmering water bags. Multiple factors abound!

Flies like all insects have prismatic eyes rather than lensatic like higher animals. That is the eye consists of thousands of prisms consentrated on a light sensitive nerve. The hanging of a baggie filled with water has a concave or magnifying effect. When coupled the the shimmering of the magnified baggie on the prismatic eye has the effect of being viewed as a massive beast. As for higher animals, St. Francis of Assisi decreed long ago to all the animals “thou shalt not have shat near your drinking water”. Hope this helps and the latter is good grammar and the former no shinola.

First off, I barely made it past the title I was laughing so hard!

Around these parts, No Se is the typical answer given to a question. Right after No Hay of course!

Every restaurant I have ever been in that uses the plastic bags is fly free. The flies are all over the bags, not my table, so I don’t care why it works.

Oh, and just so Steve knows, the sun does rise because of me!

John, a few months ago I noticed some of our neighbors had placed these bottles of water in front of their home. I started asking around as to why, and received the same answer – it keeps the dogs and cats from pooping on the sidewalk in front of their house. No one seemed to be able to answer the followup question – why does it work?. If you find out let me know.

Carlos – Thank you for that very erudite explanation – but dogs, cats and (o)possums don’t have this vision condition – what is their story Professor?

Wayne – I’m with you on this – if it works go with it – I won’t even start in about my water witching talent (witches abound!). And hey that’s what I thought – you have been making the sun rise. Certainly for a lot of small children people here in the Hood.

No sense in fighting wives’ tales, legends and all the rest. I was a non-believer of the many wives’ tales that I heard when I first moved here. Tons more while I was pregnant. They can’t be explained, but sure do shock you when they turn out to be true. Glad it worked out for you.

Leslie – It has only been four days – however we were being visited just about every night for the first two weeks here – so I am hopeful this is really working – and yes there are a lot of amazing wife’s tales that seem to be more than just a coincidence that they play true.

I’m thinking about four bottles set next to the tires on my truck when it is parked in Ursulo Galvan (The Hood) Now THAT would be a test

John, at first I thought you were kidding, but then I noticed that you say it works….

Hum, let me state another possibility, these animals are shooed away by throwing water at them, I have personally done that to a cat that lingers around my house……

could it be that these animals see the ‘tower of water’ suspended in mid air and perhaps just to be prudent stay away so the water does not fall on them ? just a thought.

There are literally millions of water filled bottles on the streets of Mexico City for the exact same purpose. I’ve always wondered what the deal with them is.

I listen to a BBC podcast that is always pretty entertaining… Dr Karl and the Naked Scientist. People ask all sorts of oddball questions, so I thought I’d join the queue of weirdos looking to get weird answers to weird questions, and sent off an email to see if he has an answer.

I’ll let you know if there is a result! The podcast can be found here btw…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/drkarl/

Well what kind of animal is it you ask? It cannot be a dog because it cannot climb to the poop deck, it’s not a cat because they always are tidy and use a litter box or bury it in the sand. An oppossum, maybe. Racoons possibly. What you need is a kind of a kind of shaman who knows his shit and how to get rid of it. Just like a man who knows his rocks and how to get them off. This too is no shinola!

Ignacio – accepting all theories.

Gary – Will look forward to that – we use to have an NPR segment called “Ask Dr. Science” – probably a similar program as your UK version. This would be an excellent topic as you suggest.

Carlos – The type of animal is pretty much assure although there is a slim possibility that it is an armadillo rather than a possum. I don’t see the armadillo as being agile enough however.

The latest news is the bottles are warding off the critter – whatever the reason it appears to be working.

I would be honored to have by blog included in your blogroll!!! Thanks. And, I shall do the same, if you like. . .?
Thanks for the kind words.
-MT

Hate to break the spell, but the water jugs in the garden to keep dog poop away, works!!! And, it’s not only a Mexican thing. Growing up in Hawaii, there was a house in our neighborhood – Japanese people – who also had the water jugs placed all around their beautiful Japanese garden in front of their house. And this was a LONG time ago. It worked too! Much to the chagrin of the numerous amused skeptics, who were deep in copious amounts of dog poop, residing in our neighborhood.
-MT

Marilyn – Reciprocation is not required, but gladly accepted.

No spell broken as most of us here are believers – I mean I love a good spell

As stated the decks are clear here and that is the best testimony –

they do the same in Peru and Colombia: they hang plastic bags with water from the corner of a room to keep away flies and mosquitos.

We will try the plastic bags for flies as the bottles for dog, cats and opossums has been working for a week – I am convinced.