40d:Vermin

Vermin are small creatures such as rats, bats, and lizards which are difficult to see. The presence of vermin can be noted if you are particularly observant, as they will occasionally blink into and out of view on the screen. The main distinctions between vermin and creatures are that vermin i) do not attack and cannot be engaged in combat or trigger traps, ii) do not provide meat, fat, bones, skulls or skin, and iii) do not breed, but "spawn", spontaneously appearing in their natural environment or biome.

Most vermin can be tamed and then adopted by dwarves, if the dwarf has a preference for a particular type, which is rare. Purring maggots can be milked for dwarven milk. A few have extracts. Occasionally dwarves will eat them as food, even if you have plenty of available "real" food.

Catching and Taming vermin, Pets

Small animal traps are designed specifically to catch and hold vermin. A catch a live land animal order issued at a kennel or butcher's shop tells a trapper to seek out and catch a vermin animal inside one of these traps (mostly from your food stockpiles). The animal will then be brought to an animal stockpile. Alternatively, animal traps can be built and baited, which is a better way to catch outside vermin.

Caught vermin can then be tamed by anyone with the animal training labour active at a kennel. Some vermin (those with the tag [PET_EXOTIC]) require the presence of the dungeon master to be tameable.

Tame vermin can be offered for claiming as pets on the z Status screen under the Animals submenu. Tame vermin will only be claimed by dwarves who admire those vermin.

A dwarf will carry an adopted pet vermin with him as part of the inventory.

Elves will also bring vermin in seemingly empty cages for trade. Viewing the cage will make the vermin visible. These vermin are already tame.

Risks

Vermin are primarily notable for their ability to annoy or accost dwarves, whether by being a general nuisance (e.g. flies, all dwarves) or by triggering disgust ("detests", only specific dwarves). Most dwarves will have thoughts related to such a terrible type of vermin they detest, and will suffer a significant mood penalty any time they spot that vermin. This also applies if the vermin is seen in a cage, thus hateable (see list) vermin make a poor choice for placement in a zoo.

To verify:

• Will a pet vermin carried around by its owner accost other dwarves?
• Will a vermin in an animal trap accost dwarves?
• Will a tame/pet vermin in an animal trap still accost dwarves?
• Will a vermin just being eaten by a dwarf accost other dwarves in a dining hall?

Some vermin will also eat any food in stockpiles they can manage to get a hold on, causing wear on that food. Food that has been protected in barrels will be immune, but food that is exposed will be nibbled at and will eventually wear out and be destroyed. Some particularly tenacious vermin, such as lizards, can work their way through weak containers; metal barrels are over ten times more effective at keeping your food safe. Having cats will keep vermin to a minimum, thus keeping your food safe.

Vermin as Food

Stray, untamed vermin that are caught in animal traps are edible, and will be eaten live as exotic cuisine by any dwarf who happens to be nearby.

Dwarves who are starving will also attempt to find and eat vermin, but if they do not have a preference for that vermin as a food type, they will receive a bad thought from doing so. In a fortress with cats, it may be difficult or impossible for the dwarves to find enough vermin to survive starvation, as even a small number of cats are ruthlessly effective at controlling the vermin population. If they are not pets, it may be best to just butcher the cats for food.

Extracts from vermin

Certain vermin, such as the fire snake, can be used to make extracts. At present, most extracts have no use in the game other than trade goods.

Eliminating vermin

Cats are chiefly useful for their ability to hunt down and kill vermin. Cats will wander around the fortress and surrounding lands killing vermin. As animals do not presently eat, this is done only for sport.^{v0.28.181.40d} This reduces or eliminates the possibility of dwarves receiving bad thoughts for being accosted by vermin—dead vermin do not bother any dwarf—but exposes a risk that a rotting rat or other larger vermin will release a cloud of miasma and upset any dwarves who pass through the cloud.

Another method of controlling vermin is by building animal traps and periodically catching vermin with trappers to be consumed in some fashion. The trapped vermin may be used for a variety of purposes, including being eaten, tamed, or made into extracts, or can be relocated to a cage so that the trap may be used again.

List of vermin

Most catchable fish are technically considered "vermin" by the game, see the fish article for a complete list. Many vermin do not show up in winter. Vermin with no "value" are not capturable (except, perhaps, by elves). The values given in the table below are for tamed vermin; untamed vermin have only half the value, rounded down.

Some "hateable" vermin (tag: [VERMIN_HATEABLE]) can accost dwarves that have the specific "preference" against ("detest") them, giving them unhappy thoughts.

Name	Tile	Value	Biome	Hateable	Notes
Toad	∙	10	All	Yes	Spawns in pools, amphibious
Turtle	☼	10	All	no	Spawns in pools, amphibious, fishable, has shell
Fly	·	n/a	All	Yes	Found in swarms, flier, rots food
Large roach	∙	5	All	Yes	Eats food, sometimes nests in groups
Beetle	·	n/a	All	no	Found in soil, only seen in Adventurer mode?
Ant	·	n/a	All	no	Forms colonies in soil
Monarch butterfly	∙	1	All	no	Flier. Corpse can inexplicably block doors open.
Firefly	∙	1	All	no	Flier, glows
Dragonfly	∙	1	All	no	Flier
Lizard	∙	10	All	Yes	Eats food (carnivore)
Rat	∙	10	All	Yes	Eats food ("gnawed"), sometimes nests in groups,
Worm	~	n/a	Temperate, Taiga, Tropical, Forest	Yes	Found in soil, only seen in Adventurer mode
Blue jay	∙	30	Temperate	no	Flier
Cardinal	∙	30	Temperate	no	Flier
Grackle	∙	30	Temperate grasslands and savanna	no	Flier
Oriole	∙	30	Temperate broadleaf forest	no	Flier
Red-winged blackbird	∙	30	Temperate marsh	no	Flier
Cave swallow	∙	30	Temperate broadleaf forest	no	Exotic pet, flier
Hedgehog	∙	10	Temperate forest	no
Chipmunk	∙	10	Temperate forest	no
Gray squirrel	∙	10	Temperate forest	no
Red squirrel	∙	10	Temperate forest	no
Fox squirrel	∙	100	Savage temperate forest	no
Demon rat	∙	20	Evil	no	Eats food ("gnawed"), sometimes nests in groups, exotic pet
Fluffy wambler	∙	20	Good	no	Eats food ("gnawed"), sometimes nests in groups, exotic pet
Two-legged rhino lizard	∙	20	Savage	no	Eats food ("gnawed"), exotic pet
Knuckle worm	∙	100	Evil	no	Rots food, exotic pet
Phantom spider	∙	n/a	Evil forest	no	Makes webs, bites to inject paralyzing venom, extracts are venom and antivenin, carnivore
Acorn fly	·	n/a	Savage	no	Rots food, found in swarms, flier
Blood gnat	·	n/a	Evil	no	Rots food, exotic pet
Moghopper	∙	20	Savage	no	Spawns in pools, amphibious, fishable, summer only, extract is mog juice
Fairy	∙	10	Good	no	Flier, glows
Pixie	·	n/a	Good	no	Found in swarms, flier, glows
Cave spider	∙	4	subterranean water and chasms	Yes	Exotic pet, makes webs, bites to inject stunning venom, extracts are venom and antivenin, carnivore
Fire snake	∙	1	Magma	Yes	Exotic pet, extract is liquid fire
Olm	∙	1	Subterranean water	no	Exotic pet
Purring maggot	{	2	Subterranean chasm	Yes	Exotic pet (if tamed), otherwise milkable for dwarven milk extract
Bat	∙	30	Subterranean, chasm	Yes	Exotic pet, Flier, sometimes nests in large groups