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Game Camera Anomoloies

3K views 45 replies 17 participants last post by  TheGunClinger 
#1 ·
I'm stumped. I've got a Bushnell Digital Land Camera w/ Night Vision (model 119512B). It works great, and has for every application I've tried, day or night. My shooting friend, Denise, wanted to track some mysterious things going on around her house, so I lent it to her. It's acting very strange, to say the least...

She has a houseplant - a Christmas Cactus - sitting on a table in front of a window in the living room, and it has been having the potting soil seriously disturbed in the night by something. Since she's recently quashed a mouse invasion, I suspected a mouse, but nothing has touched the half dozen mousetraps she has around this plant, not even stealing the bait. So I loaned her the camera last week, programmed it to take three-shot bursts when triggered, and set it on her computer desk next to the table with the plant on it. She did a bit of hand waving to test it, and all worked well - good, sharp images. So she left it set up for a while until last weekend when we downloaded the images.

The camera correctly caught her hand waving from the last time she set it - Friday night - right before she went to bed. The next time it was triggered was about an hour after that, and when we checked the images, all it caught was three completely white images in rapid succession. I looked at these and determined that this over-exposure could be caused by somebody spotlighting her living room window, so I moved the camera to a different vantage point facing away from the window on Sunday night. She again tested the setup by wiggling her fingers in the plant before going to bed last night.

I just talked to her a few minutes ago, and she reports that the images she downloaded tonight clearly show her wiggling her fingers about 11PM last night, but that was followed in the wee hours of the morning by two triggers, each producing three completely white images! That's 6 completely over-exposed images in one evening from a camera that is facing away from the only potential source of light - the window. And yes, the soil has again been disturbed inside the pot without any of the mousetraps being touched.

What the heck is living in that pot? Any suggestions?
 
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#9 ·
I think there's an answer here, and it has to do with placing the camera too close. Just re-read the manual and it recommends no closer than 10', while we've got the thing set at about 2' distance. I'm going to figure a way to rig this camera from the ceiling, I think. If I catch the culprit, I'll post the picture! Thanks, everyone!:D
 
#10 ·
I'll bet you have your answer. Another poster nailed it too....reflection of the IR flash.
I have a suggestion for the plant....I'll bet what's disturbing the soil is living in the soil. Repot it and while doing it sift through the soil in the pot. If it's a cactus, it's probably mostly sand and will likely fall away from most of the roots anyway.
Post results! it's like a murder mystery!
 
#11 ·
don't be icked out by this answer, but here in florida where i live i saw the same thing on a christmas cactus. we keep ours on our back porch. we noticed dirt dug out. no way for an animal to get on the porch with the dogs sleeping there.

we eventually found , by coming out at night for unrelated reasons. a roach disturbing the soil!
 
#13 ·
don't be icked out by this answer, but here in florida where i live i saw the same thing on a christmas cactus. we keep ours on our back porch. we noticed dirt dug out. no way for an animal to get on the porch with the dogs sleeping there.

we eventually found , by coming out at night for unrelated reasons. a roach disturbing the soil!
That would not surprise me in the least. In our area we have what the locals call 'water bugs' but I know to be sewer roaches. The reach enormous sizes here, up to 3" long, and occur anyplace there's moisture. That could easily be what's living in that pot.
 
#12 ·
A flying moth. Seen their reflections on my game
Atmosphere Text Photograph White Monochrome photography
camera.
 
#19 ·
I just talked with her about it and she's got a new plan. She's got a table to set the pot on, all by itself, in the middle of the room, and a high shelf for the camera. If she catches anything good, I'll post it, even if it's nothing more interesting than a Mojave Sand Trout.
 
#24 ·
I'm sorry to report that we have been unable to capture the mysterious beastie with the camera. Inside the house, no matter where the camera is placed, the image is over-exposed when the lights are left off. The camera works fine with a little background lighting on - it only takes a tiny bit - but the critter won't leave its hidy hole in the pot if there's any light on at night. At least, when she leaves a dim light on, the potting soil remains undisturbed overnight, but the camera takes great pictures.

I suggested we immerse the pot in boiling water and see what scurries out, but she's grown fond of the plant. Oh, well...
 
#29 ·
I'm sorry to report that we have been unable to capture the mysterious beastie with the camera. Inside the house, no matter where the camera is placed, the image is over-exposed when the lights are left off. .
You might try experimenting with some filters over the flash. red transparent plastic, if you can find something like hard blister package thickness then see how many layers it will take to get the flash right.
 
#27 ·
It might be a lot easier to identify it after setting out a couple mouse traps.
Then again, perhaps if she takes some before after pictures of the dirt and then contact a local university with an expert on local plants or even post them on here, bet a couple of us would enjoy researching it.
 
#28 ·
It might be a lot easier to identify it after setting out a couple mouse traps.
Then again, perhaps if she takes some before after pictures of the dirt and then contact a local university with an expert on local plants or even post them on here, bet a couple of us would enjoy researching it.
I'd like that too.
 
#30 ·
Did that Christmas Cactus happen to spend part of its time outside last summer? If it did perhaps, something came back in with it in the fall. Perhaps a toad?

If it wasn't left outside, then I think it has to be a ghost playing tricks on you.
 
#32 ·
I just talked to Denise, and she's going to try putting tape across the LEDs to reduce the flash intensity. But she did discover some mouse turds nearby today, so that may be the answer. One way or another, she's determined to catch the sneaky culprit. If we can't do it on camera, she's decided to insert a couple of copper electrodes into the potting soil and charge them from an extension cord. That's how she usually gathers worms for fishing, so she has a high level of confidence that it will encourage our shy beastie to make an appearance above ground in daylight. I concur, but I'm going to suggest that she wear my 30kV work gloves when she does the deed; a woman this good I don't want to lose to an electric shock!:D
 
#34 ·
I doubt the electrodes would do much good either.Maybe "charge" a couple of old automotive ignition condensers and carefully set them in there.I'm sure the "old timers" like me have had this "surprise" before. It might scare them enough to stay out of the pot at least.
 
#43 ·
soundguy I bet you're right on track with the "big bug" theory.We have what I've always called "water bugs".I've seen them 2" long before.I've also heard people call them florida bugs.Being in FL as you are I know you know the bug I'm talking about and probably have seen bigger ones than me.You probably know the correct name for it.But up here we usually only see them in warm weather.I don't know if they have them where rawright lives.Something like that or possibly a frog or tree frog is my bet.I've seen little tree frogs in the winter before.Those super-sticky traps you lay down like a sheet of paper might solve our great mystery.
 
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