+Ukulele Andy Posted June 25, 2002 Share Posted June 25, 2002 I have looked for two travel bugs that according to the website should've been in the caches I found but it was not to be. I've also discovered two other caches with log entries indicating the same. Is this a common problem? I was considering buying and releasing a travel bug but now I'm not so sure. If I release one I want it to actually travel - not become an addition to a travel bug collection. Any thoughts? UKULELE ANDY Quote Link to comment
Attila Posted June 25, 2002 Share Posted June 25, 2002 It does sound like it is a bit of a problem. They just up and vanish. I too have been thinking of releasing a couple bugs (with very ambitious goals). But, when I look at the cost of the bugs, and then imagine it getting to 1/2 dozen caches before it's gone, I start to have 2nd thoughts. "I've never been lost. However, I did misplace the camp for a few days." - Daniel Boone Quote Link to comment
bug_zapper Posted June 25, 2002 Share Posted June 25, 2002 Don't be discouraged. Just don;t attach a bug to a gold coin or the Hope Diamond or anything and go for it. Some folks just hang on to bugs for a few weeks. i.e. maybe they got the bug and got sick or went out of town or just plain forgot to log it. I have seen bugs show up after they were deemed lost. Quote Link to comment
skydiver Posted June 25, 2002 Share Posted June 25, 2002 It also helps to attach an info card to the bug to explain what it is, and how to log it. I won't go into details here because this topic has been discussed greatly in other threads. ( There were some great ideas in this one.) From what I've heard so far, those bugs with cards attached seem to go missing less often. Some people even go so far as to put the bug and card in their own ziplock baggie, which seems to work really well. --------------------------------------- Friends don't let friends NOT geocache. --------------------------------------- Quote Link to comment
+nyisutter Posted June 25, 2002 Share Posted June 25, 2002 The bugs I am about to release will have both a card and their own baggies. I also made big labels for the baggies with "Travel Bug Inside! This is not a normal trade item, please only take if you are willing to follow the instructions" written in bold letters underneath the Travel Bug icon. I am also putting a large baggie, in the Tatooine cache that I am getting ready to place, just for travel bugs so that they will not get mixed up with the other trade items. I will probably do this for any other caches I place as well. Quote Link to comment
custer Posted June 25, 2002 Share Posted June 25, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Ukulele Andy: I have looked for two travel bugs that according to the website should've been in the caches I found but it was not to be. I've also discovered two other caches with log entries indicating the same. UKULELE ANDY I just noticed on the page listing caches close to me that "mindy" was recently placed in "bubbling crude" - yet if you search for the bug it states it's present location is 'daily Crofter". Apparenly the previous person was savvy enough on how the site works to log the fact he found the cache and listed what he put in it - but either forgot or didn't know how to update the bug itself. I plan to go to this cache myself tomorrow and if the bug is there I will take posessionof it and so get it back in the system, but dues this happen often? Quote Link to comment
custer Posted June 25, 2002 Share Posted June 25, 2002 quote:Originally posted by The Bug Zapper : Don't be discouraged. Just don;t attach a bug to a gold coin or the Hope Diamond or anything and go for it. Some folks just hang on to bugs for a few weeks. i.e. maybe they got the bug and got sick or went out of town or just plain forgot to log it. I have seen bugs show up after they were deemed lost. Hookit up to something not easily carried in a pocket. One connected to a pocketknife or a mini flashlight might be carreid around for awhile and forgotten or lost. I just had one that was connected to a piece of a model train car that was too bulky to pocket,a nd so it found it's way into another cache in only a couple of hours. Quote Link to comment
padfoot Posted June 26, 2002 Share Posted June 26, 2002 I have released (3) Travel Bugs. (2) with goals (1) with the only goal of hitting as many caches in 90 days. The ones with goals have many miles moved very few times. The one with no goal has few miles but many caches. I did not put cards on them, but will on any future bugs. They have been fun to watch, and I will do more. Quote Link to comment
BassoonPilot Posted June 26, 2002 Share Posted June 26, 2002 Several times I've been to caches where travel bugs were supposed to be located, and although the previous visitor had assigned it to the cache, the bug was gone by the time I got there. In two of these cases, someone else simply beat me to the bug; their logbook entry indicated that they had claimed it, but it took them a day or two to post their log online. No problem there. In at least another half dozen cases, however, the bugs had simply vanished; the previous holders of the bugs had assigned them to the new caches, but on visiting the caches, there were no entries in the logbook subsequent to the bug's having been dropped off nor bugs to be found. After a period of time, most of the TB owners removed the missing bug's assignment from the cache page, but I notice that a couple of them remain assigned to caches more than 6 months after the bug went missing ... Three times I have visited caches and claimed travel bugs that had not yet been assigned to those caches; apparently, my visits were so close to the time the bugs had been dropped off, the last holder hadn't yet had time to assign them. Apparently, submitting logs out of sequence causes logistical problems with the tracking feature. Unfortunately, I have no solutions to offer for missing bugs. A few times, after a couple of months of inactivity on bugs I had been tracking, I've sent friendly e-mails to whomever had picked the bug up last. Most of the time, I received a friendly note back similar to: "Oops, I haven't gotten around to it, thanks for the reminder." And in a couple of instances, I received no reply. Quote Link to comment
pdumas Posted June 26, 2002 Share Posted June 26, 2002 I have a cache that I oversee and it had a bug in it, two people log the cache without takeing the bug, so I went out to see and found it wasn't there. Then two days later someone logs on that they took the bug when they were here on vacation and just got back home. So and delay can take place, so keep at it and have fun. Quote Link to comment
Zuckerruebensirup Posted June 26, 2002 Share Posted June 26, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Ukulele Andy: I have looked for two travel bugs that according to the website should've been in the caches I found but it was not to be. Ahh, those bugs must have been "No See-ums". ------- "I may be slow, but at least I'm sweet!" Quote Link to comment
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