Some Wild Shape item absorption questions

I'm new to the druid class and as I was looking through the wording on Wild Shape(5.5e) I noticed potential for a pretty niche use case. I have a scenario in mind, so please tell me if it works RAW:

1- Druid wild shapes into an animal

2- Grabs important item(with a limb or its mouth) OR somehow attaches it firmly

3- Wildshapes a second time into the same animal shape and chooses to absorb the newly equipped item

4- Turns back into initial form and retains the item

^I believe this could be useful in some sort of infiltration plot, pretending to be another partymember's pet and effectively absorbing a firmly held/worn mcguffin into the wild shape. 

Followup question: I know RAI this makes zero sense as this is meant to prevent players from getting gear benefits, but as written, could a druid temporarily disarm a magical bomb by holding it and wildshaping to absorb it? AFAIK the description for Wildshape says absorbed items have no effect. I see this as a wild thing potentially that can occasionally be very useful.

Second followup question: what actually counts as equipped items, when it comes to spells? I think there's a thread somewhere that tackles this issue in respect to Invisibility, but I wonder how hardcore the requirements for this absorption trick have to be. Would holding something with your jaws count? What about having an item strapped to your animal body? Or a blanket that's fallen on top of you? For horses and the like, what does it mean to carry an item? Could a druid absorb a held corpse to hide it? And what happens to the absorbed items, like are they in a state of limbo with no time passing, in a separate dimension? I have so many questions about this feature. 

Third followup: would a transformation into the same exact animal be noticeable to a casual observer, or would there be no visual/auditory clues? What I mean is, how stealthy would it be for a druid to wildshape while in wild shape if they turn from a cat into the same exact cat form? Because if there's nothing in the rules stating that it should be visible, this could be very cool when used for the mcguffin absorption trick. Imagine a cat holding a ring in its mouth, turning its head away and then revealing that the ring is gone :D

I also wonder if Wildshape could be used as a way to temporarily carry a lot more weight than that player's usual carry capacity allows 🤔

Quote from Prusakov_Gaming >>

I also wonder if Wildshape could be used as a way to temporarily carry a lot more weight than that player's usual carry capacity allows 🤔

 Sure it can. If a Moon Druid wildshapes into a Brontosaurus he would have a carrying capacity of 2520lbs (CR5, Gargantuan Creature, 21 STR), and a maximum lifting capacity of 5040 lbs. 

For a lower CR option, the Giant Constrictor Snake (CR2, Huge Creature, 15 STR) has a carrying/lifting capacity of 900/1800lbs.

Being able to carry something heavy is a good utility use of wildshape even at lower levels.

Oh, no, I meant absorbing heavy equipment into your wildshape when transforming to *effectively* carry even more. I theorize that if a druid were to transform several times from one wildshape into another while putting on/holding more items, they could absorb a lot and then resume the normal shape to drop all of those items. Pretty impractical, but I wonder if such an edge case is possible. Could mean that a level 20 druid can absorb humongous amounts of weight by repeatedly transforming, if given enough time. 

Thank you for the clarifications! :D

I see, so it won't be considered "equipped" unless the animal shape can reasonably wear/use it

But what about the term "carrying"? Some spells, like Catapult, are worded to not work on carried items, probably to avoid pulling items from people's hands and the like. So, would not, say, a ring or some other item in a cat's mouth not be considered as carried? If not, can a wizard cast Catapult on, say, a ring held in a cat's fangs and break them or otherwise instantly damage the creature, since the ring is not "carried"? Would a small wooden bucket in its mouth be ignited by Fire Bolt? And how is that different to holding those in the palm of one's hand? So... maybe the criterion for carrying objects is being able to lift and then move them around independently and without straining? In which case, I think there is a case for the absorption trick working without needing to drop the wild shape in my scenario IF the object can be lifted and moved. Though then I wonder if supporting the object with one's head or back not specifically made for it would count according to this definition... like, could a cat-druid absorb a small apple put on their head the same way as if it's carried with its teeth? If not, would that work if the apple were safely secured with a rope? 

And yes, the bomb example sounds excessive, but let's just say the ring the druid tried to steal is enchanted with Magic Mouth, programmed to scream when touched by someone unauthorized, and there's a small delay before the trigger and the effect. Would it still scream if absorbed before it could do so? Or would it only scream when the druid reverts? 

Wildshape specifically says your "equipment" is absorbed; not everything you are carrying. You can carry things that are not considered your equipment. For instance a big beefy barbarian could pick up a sofa and carry it around no problem. But that sofa is not part of the barbarian's equipment, it is merely something the barbarian is carrying. Likewise simply lifting something is not carrying it, that same barbarian could lift up a portcullis to allow others to crawl underneath it, but the barbarian is not carrying the portcullis. 

Firebolt cannot be used to ignite the armour someone is wearing, nor a wooden shield or club they are holding, nor a feathered hat on their head. Firebolt also cannot ignite a creature made from wood or straw such as an animated broom or scarecrow. 

Animals and monsters can hold things even if they don't have hands. However they must have some kind of grip on it to be holding/carrying it, that could be with hands, mouths, tails, tentacles, claws, noodly appendages, pseudopods, tendrils, etc...  As nearly every object will simply fall off a creature without either being equipped or strapped on or held in someway. A sheet that falls on a horse's back will fall off as soon as that horse moves unless it is strapped on. An apple placed on a cat's head will fall off the instant that cat moves its head. Thus neither of those are "held" or "carried". But the corpse on a mouse in the cat's jaws is being carried by that cat. 

In general, in D&D you cannot do anything that would prevent a creature from using its natural weapons and innate abilities without taking away its actions to do so - you cannot break teeth, dull some claws, gag a mouth, cut off a tentacles, or tie down a tail. And likewise enemies cannot do those things to your character. If you want to shortcut combat you can sneak around enemies, talk down enemies, or use disabling magic to charm, stun, paralyze, restrain, or otherwise prevent them from moving or attacking. The one possible exception to this is the optional rule to allow disarming - which in 2014 rules allows an Athletics check to try to knock an object, weapon, staff, wand, etc... out of the hands of an opponent.

Likewise the chance of you e.g. knowing that a particular object has a magic mouth enchantment to set off an alarm before that object triggers to set off the alarm is essentially 0 unless you are the one who created it. Enchantments don't generally manifest as giant glowing signs stating what spell they are. 

Based on these questions, you should be very careful about what group you choose to play D&D with. As most tables are there to enjoy a story of adventure and heroism. They aren't excited about trying to break the game or exploit the rules. There are of course some tables that enjoy trying to find loopholes and edgecases, so you aren't entirely out of luck but be sure to explain to your potential DMs that that is the aspect of D&D that excites you to ensure you find a good fit. 

Thank you for the recommendation! I do have a history of annoying my DM, though I make sure not to abuse these things and keep them mostly theoretical, unless it's something useful in roleplay, like with the cat and ring scenario. Thank you for the clarifications about some common mechanical misconceptions, like being able to do break a cat's fang or about magic mouth

(Although now I wonder it would be reasonable/mechanically viable for someone knowledgeable in magic to use a combination of casting Detect Magic to sense the aura of an Illusion spell on the ring and inspecting it to check if it's an illusion could help with identifying it as Magic Mouth'd)

I think telling DMs early that I'm into this sort of thing is definitely good advice, too