#sheekee

greecelt said: Do Paski have their own version of the mouse? Something that would get into their food stores and mess with their homes. And what would they use to control it?

Probably the closest thing they have are sheekee, which are little chinchilla-sized things with ugly faces that enjoy eating whatever they can get their little mouths around. Bedding, clothing, toys, and food stores are all popular choices to snack on. They nest basically wherever a group can cram themselves together-- in walls, baskets, plant pots, packs and bags, inside beds...

They aren’t super bright, but their little hands are dexterous enough to open things they shouldn’t, and they’re determined enough that they can squish inside just about anywhere. Their little fluffy tails are used for communication, and many a paski found they had an infestation when they walked into a room and were greeted by the sight of a great many wildly flipping tails running like hell for safety.

Paski generally control sheekee by eating whatever they’re able to catch.

Another-- much more dangerous-- pest is the gituk (GEE-took). I have discovered/decided that paskiland has arthropods, and they are scorpion-like things that are the size of the average housecat. They don’t have eyes, instead possessing six photoreceptors that I might make sensitive to ultraviolet.

They prey on coral. Gituk originated in the ocean, but when coral were genetically engineered to survive on land, and then in vacuum, gituk evolved to follow their main source of nutrients into space. They can survive for a short time in vacuum. Paski sometimes will use them as biowarfare. Drop a dozen or so on a ship you want taken down, and if the engineering crew isn’t paying attention or is unable to eradicate the pests, the gituk can straight-up kill all the coral in the bioship. And when the bioship goes, so does the crew.

Paski deal with them with extreme prejudice. Usually stomping.

I’m undecided if they’re poisonous or not. I’m leaning towards yes for coral, possibly for paski. It might be interesting to give Earthlings total immunity.