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Cacti theft general discussion- incidents,prevention

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I don't know how I would react if this happened to me and the idea makes me break out into a cold sweat. I would imagine most of these thefts have occurred because the wrong sort gained knowledge of a collection and bam plants gone. The majority of people have no idea the value of certain plants and they are not the easiest thing to resell, sadly that means inside jobs, people with some knowledge of cacti collections and their worth. Obviously there's always the chance columnars get stolen by people with no interest in cacti.The reason I posted this topic is a new,recent member, described it happening to them some years ago and they were just starting all over again.Over the years here I have heared the occasional theft mentioned and I was hoping to hear some detail not only of the thefts and what was targeted, but people's opinions as to why/how they were targeted in the first place.Thoughts on prevention and security. As for my self I am very careful about showing people my collection let alone any great amount of detail with regards to individual plants.

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Well, in the USA, under homeowner's insurance you can get your landscaping covered up to usually about 5% of the value of your home ($5'000 on a $100,000 home) with a typical maximum of $500 USD per plant. So photographing your collection once a year, documenting the plants' value, and speaking with your insurance agency about your "landscaping" or "personal property" coverage are all good ideas.

Cacti theft happens quite frequently in the Sonoran Desert, from residential, businesses and from mother nature. Saguaros are typically what are stolen here because of their value. There is a system in place for making sure saguaros are tagged and permitted.

On the flip side, there are so many cacti here that when people get their landscaping done you can literally walk through neighborhoods and find piles of cuttings that are going to get dumped with the next bulk trash pickup. Though, finding columnars of interest is extremely rare.

In terms of a cacti collection, I think general discretion, fencing and other common security options are sensible choices.

Hcc

Edited by Happyconcacti
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It is hard but don't tell anyone about what they are except for a drought resistant easy to look after plant. If u start blabbin to all ur mates about your "trippin" cacti you have prolly told half the towns dwuggos where to find some obscure newfangled high, and really u have only urself to blame. Keep it to urself, don't skite

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I posted about a run of cacti thefts when I lived at my old place. I put it down to trading to much with people I don't know on the forums and local members/people visiting.

Also the tradies who read meters etc can be dodgy folks. Like incog said tho... Or keep them away from the address you trade seeds/cuts to. What I did was find a permanent spot for the plants I love in my families yards and only keep regular jo's around

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"I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom I can tell you I don't have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my CACTII go now that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you, but if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you."

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Whoaa, that would probably do the trick.

 

"I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom I can tell you I don't have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my CACTII go now that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you, but if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you."

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Seriously LMFAO Glimpse, I like where your heads at! Is that adapted from a movie or a piece of your own making? Interesting on the insurance thing in the states HCC, would be interesting to see if that was a possibility here.I suspect not but know little about insurance land. I do remember one time saying not as a direct warning but more a general comment that I would react violently if my plants were being stolen. They looked at me like I was crazy, was never sure if it was because the couldn't fathom how much I cared for some cacti or because they thought the fire in my eyes was directed at them. Poor guys they were pretty harmless types, but as per Incogs scenario I would rather have the second hand info be followed up with " if your gunna do it be careful cause if this guy catches you he WILL fuck you up and he is crazy, we saw him kiss one..".(Ario.Retusus...I liked it,I might even do it again..true story)

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Or...plant more Cholla

wonderhowto-get-these-excruciatingly-pai

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Is that adapted from a movie?

Taken

 

 

Perhaps you could just put Liam Neeson in your cactus patch. It'd deter me.

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I have my plants just out in my backyard, basically easily accessible. The year before someone even stole my bike from my backyard, after midnight in a rainstorm. So I kind of worried that someone might come and steal some of my plants. Until I realized that a rare Monadenium that I was amazed to find at the nursery is not as interesting to people as it is to me. Though I do have some youngish kinds renting the apartment above me. So I feel there is a certain risk that one of them could become wise about some of my collection...

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I actually have my hole collection out the front of my house and was in the dark about the properties of my trichs, till a passer by told me more information about them. So in over 2 and a half years i have had a small bridgesii pinched and one barrel cacti stabbed with a stick. Recently though i have install sensor lights and have a cattle dog who sleeps under the front of the house and lets me know if any one walks past. I just hope people can appreciate the garden and leave it alone, which is very naive but time will tell. By having my cacti out the front i have had many more plants given to me by fellow collectors than stolen so there is positives and negatives i guess.

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I had a trich butchered a while back.

I did have it in my front yard, so i guess i was asking for trouble... but someone came up my driveway on a saturday morning and hacked the two biggest colums off. Id been growing it for about 8 years, moved it with me everywhere i went.

Was the first cacti i bought, got it one australia day from bunnings, a nice fat tip cutting, had the intention of growing it for a year and likley doing something illegal with it on the following year... never did bring myself to sample it, loved watching it grow too much. Id put it in the ground where i buried my old dog...

if i caught the bastard it would not have ended well. In the moment i saw it, and for a few days after i was furious!

I calmed down after a while. It started healing, and i didnt loose anything to rot, onky had to clean up a little from poorly done cuts.

Figured Karma would get the prick in the end. Sometimes id kinda hoped they stole it for a cheap high... whatever part of my old mate Floyd made his way to the he plant would have torn the bastard a new one. Envisioning their horrendus trip made me smile.

Speaking of that cactus, i really do need to get it back into the ground. Just moved, Vic to Qld, and its in need of a spot at the new house. Just cant decide where. Best get it into a pot again for now. Also got a bunch of cuttings to deal with. Drove them all this way, now just need to make a place for them.

Two guard dogs, keeps everything in my yard safe, and they have learned not to mess with cacti!

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Interesting comments, I too recently had problems with a cactus being stabbed, by my landlords brat kid. The little shit stabbed one of my bridgesii three times with a screw driver I had lying around. Didn't notice the holes till the next day and put two and two together, I was not happy. I've given her kid a life ban from my house.She offered to pay for it but I only insisted on the ban, thankfully the plant healed just fine. I have considered an IR light for the backyard and have plans for a reinforced hothouse at some stage. Anything to make life harder in the unlikely event someone had a go. I've just too much time, love and money invested. That's a friking awful story FS, get it in the ground and cranking again...it would take me quite some time to get over something like that as well. I won't even put one cacti in my front yard. Nice to hear there are some positives to it though Nrivers!

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dont be too pissed with the kid stabbing it. He/She might just grow to be one of those types who will come to post some comic video of him/her (the by then mr/mrs ego, mr/mrs tough) jumping onto a cactus and screaming like a shot pig. Like the one we were blessed to see last year on youtube. The plant itself will get them back one day. such is life =)

edit -

I did much stupid stuff like that as a kid. Over the years to come i was to learn that nature would pay me back 5 times over for everything i did wrong. And they say three is a special number.. Nah, for me it's 5. seems to be a sacred number.

Edited by ghosty
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Ha true you just gave me flash backs to when I was about 13. I used to shoot my BB gun at my step dads( we never did see eye to eye)banana trees and I'm pretty sure I may have stuck one with a knife a few times. What a little cunt I was, that could be an almost perfect example of karma/payback right there!

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He/She might just grow to be one of those types who will come to post some comic video of him/her (the by then mr/mrs ego, mr/mrs tough) jumping onto a cactus and screaming like a shot pig. Like the one we were blessed to see last year on youtube.

I always wondered why kids do this kind of shit?

Is it for the sake of the # of views? Are they copying the guys from jackass?

My hand is always scared by spines and a year ago I one spine punctured me and caused a nerve inflammation. I used to get shivers/numbness in my right side of my body. I stayed like this for a month or maybe a little more until the spine got decomposed beneath my flesh.

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depends... I have "stolen" a fallen bit from a nursary here and there, or taken a cutting from a huge and neglected plant from some yard... but it rarely happens here... get some "interesting" plants stolen... some neighbours have complained the gypsies have stolen their plants.. well not mine...

it all has to do with yr culture.. its a timothy leary thing.. if you over do it, then you've got problems like these..

pioneers should be careful with what they teach to easily impressable youths...

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Don't show anyone your plants and never explain the shamanic properties to people who are unaware.
Kanje and I lost both of our collections, thousands of dollars worth of plants about eight years ago. It was absolutely devastating. They cleaned out the entire hot-house in the night. Never found out who did it. CUNTS!
Almost forgot about that...

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Fuck THAT Prier, so someone targeting plants of value to collectors? Known knowledge of value, not just pricks chasing eatin cacti hey? What breaks my brain is those plants or at least some are prob still around. I know I would recognise a lot of my plants in years time, specially with the photos I keep of them. Your story bought that cold sweat revengey darkness over me...I read in Arizona , I think some council took to RFID chipping there Golden barrels as so many we're getting stolen. I'm going to get a pack of attack ferrets to live in my greenhouse fed on nuthing but meth and ferret! I'll train em to believe ever cacti pot is rammed full of methy goodness ment only for them! Watched over by my all seeing all recording IP cameras to HD recorder and IR flood lights ready to film the carnage.

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Also I shall have two dried , 2 ft sections of thispost-6697-0-81507000-1433671735_thumb.jp glued to either end of a broom stick, so I can run out and dispense some ninja style cacti justice to said thieves after my attack ferrets have had their way with them.

post-6697-0-81507000-1433671735_thumb.jpg

post-6697-0-81507000-1433671735_thumb.jpg

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EDIT - ^ lol

Once there is an obvious "value" attached it brings another dimension of thieves.

Edited by waterboy 2.0

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If the subject of certain kinds of value has ever come up, I've been quick to throw in the " some of these plants can also kill you if ingested or blind if you get sap in your eyes" comment. I like to sprinkle my collection with the occasional columnar of African origin.

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I just tell everyone I don't know the name of them but I like them because they grow fast. If they ask how much they cost I just say they're really cheap on ebay and will poison you if eaten.

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Strange, I've been watching this thread over the last few days and just tonight my housemates ex boyfriend was over, picking something up, he asked about my Trichocereus 'bogan' specifically if it was a san pedro. I just played dumb, even though I knew this guy a few years back for some reason I don't trust him or his riend circle. This sucks as I've been so excited to bring the rest of my collection from my parents to my place.

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I had a plumber over a few months ago, and he was very interested in my cacti in the back yard. He said he was a collector too, but what worried me was a comment he made before he left. He said something like "if any of them get stolen I suppose you'll think it was me". U mean ffs, who says something like that?

I always make a show of having padlocks on all my gates whenever someone I don't know comes to my house, and I mention what a close knit bunch of neighbours I have, and how a cop lives next door.

And yeah, I don't tell anyone that my cacti are anything but common varieties available at bunnings for five bucks.

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