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Post by larataylor on Nov 21, 2014 13:43:55 GMT -5
I found a super-yuck box in the basement that somehow got soaked with water and was all moldy. And I found a book in it … one of DH's books. He let this title sell out and did not reprint because it was big and expensive to print, and he had it made into an ebook instead. But when we find a hard copy, someone usually snaps it up for $50 or so. So (wearing rubber gloves) I brought this book over to show DH … and said, "I think you might need to give a steep discount for this one."
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Post by misssue on Nov 21, 2014 14:32:14 GMT -5
I agree about not needing to have squalor to find something totally gross. Here is my story!
About two years ago, I was going through my pantry in the kitchen. This was a closet, the ex and I turned into a pantry, with wire shelving. It works very well, and my ex was very handy, the shelves are adjustable etc. But there is not a light in it, we divorced before he could do that. I can see in there, and at night, put the light on in the bathroom across from it. It is up to the ceiling also, and I am 5 ft 1.. on a good day.
I had, and still do a lot of food. I believe in buying things on sale, and stocking up a low price. I am not LDS, but I can see the wisdom in having a full pantry. I also love to cook. I worked a product rep, and got a ton of free things. I fed a few people in the 3 years I worked doing this, and of course, ended up with things I liked, like 15 bags of Starbucks coffee etc. My guy friend with 3 kids, I kept saying will your kids eat this? Finally he said they eat anything.. he lost his career good paying job, and was making 10 an hour. Nothing like MissSue to drive up with a trunk full of pizzas or 15 fresh sub sandwiches. That was the good side of it, the hoarder side, I had a lot of stuff...
I could smell something in the pantry. I thought, did a potato fall out of the basket, be on the floor, behind all those bags of coffee? I have a lot of things, why I am here, but a good housekeeper or was! I started taking things out of the pantry.. and I thought what the heck is this awful smell. Did something open and spill and go bad. Yick, darn it, a bottle of olive oil was leaking. I got a lot of olive oil in my job for a while. Any time I cooked something I had to buy a brand new bottle, and that could be 5 days in row.. so of course I took them home or gave away. I thought what is that smell. So I started taking the cans and things out, that had oil on them.
Then I found the bottle, a bigger one and as I put it down on the floor I thought.. what is that smell, this is horrible, and out of the corner of my eye I saw it. THERE WAS A DEAD MOUSE ROTTING IN THE BOTTLE of olive oil. OMG. I screamed and put it on the floor.. it was on my hands, the oil. The BF came running and I said take that to the garbage and get it out of here RIGHT NOW. I almost gagged and let me tell ya, that smell I could smell in my mind for a long time. This was totally gross!
I think the mouse had chewed a hole in the bottle and fell in and drown in the oil and then was preserved in it, but the SMELL. The visual was not too great. It took my brain that slit second to see it and then register. BF said you did not drop it Thank Goodness. We later speculated this is what happened, but really, not too interested in the logistics of it.. he took it right out to the trash for me.
I started washing my hands like I had OCD. Then I cleaned up the floor and then I went through that pantry and got rid of anything that it dripped on like pasta or cans. Anything that was not near there, I wiped off with bleach spray and paper towels. Even on the top shelf. I had to put Vicks under my nose. I am a strong minded type person, but this was bad. I live in on a huge wooded lot so we just have mice.. I know what they smell like if they are dead. ICK. Sorry, there is no humane trapping here, you do that, they come back and they multiply. They say for every mouse you see or trap, 10-20 more.
After I bought the ex out of the house and on my own, I did set mousetraps in the basement, I had to alone. I just could not pick them up, even with food service disposable gloves. I tried taking my fireplace shovel and pushing in a bag.. I ended up taking a long old barbeque tongs and used that to drop in grocery store bag the mice and traps. I marked the BBQ tongs, MOUSE with a big masking tape tag and a sharpie. I hate mice. I have no squalor.. except when I find what those destructive little and I seldom use this word .. Little F**Kers! It applies to the mice!
I found where they may have come in, and got hydro cement and patched where the central air pipe where the hole was coming in the basement. I put steel wool under the sinks, where there was some gap. They get in my garage.. and one year a huge bucket that I keep under the hot and cold water faucets in my garage, they knocked a bag of birdseed into it. The mice climbed in and could not get out of the bucket.. serves them right, in the spring I found 12 dead dried mice carcasses. Did not bother me one bit..they got in my bag of potatoes in the garage recently. My overhead door is not that tight..
SO that is the worst thing I have ever found.. and just glad that I was not entertaining or cooking and went in the pantry. I hate those mice. The only thing worse, is to have one run out when you do have guests..
I dedicate this to 60, my friend here who is MIA, and fearless mice fighter. She really fought those little F**Kers also.. and braver than me. She used a live cage trap, and drown the mice. Sorry, but they can ruin your wiring, chew holes in the woodwork, destroy things..
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Post by larataylor on Nov 21, 2014 16:45:10 GMT -5
misssue - that was so horrible -- poor you! Having lots of stuff can be a problem, even if it's not squalorous, just because it hides things. But of course it can be good, too! I do NOT have such problems with food -- we're doing well if we have enough food for a day or two. I guess I wouldn't pass a CPS inspection because they want you to have TWO WEEKS' worth. Wow. I would LOVE to stock up just a little … just a backup *whatever* to the one that we're using. Or to be able to stock up when there's a sale. Once, long ago, I had a melon explode on a shelf. We're also surrounded by mice … which invaded the hoard in the basement and pooped and nested and multiplied. They were pretty much gone when we got here … maybe the four cats help keep them away, though the cats have never caught one. DBIL mentioned that he saw one a few weeks ago in his corner … he was very casual about it, like: oh yeah, there are mice around here, and they can get in. But I noticed that he had a bag of bird seed sitting open in his corner. When he wasn't here, I put the bird seed into plastic containers. I also removed dead plants from his corner, because bugs could be living in those, and swept down all the cobwebs from the rafters. I felt like I had "the right" to do that much.
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Post by lesaulerouge on Nov 21, 2014 17:28:52 GMT -5
Yep, mice here too - house mice, pygmy shrews, voles and some things called 'lerots' which are sort of pompom tailed garden dormice, quite big things. We used to humane trap and then drive to the woods. Sod that, this year we are poisoning, in vast quantities. Our cat has died, not that he ever helped in the slightest, but it means I can leave poison sachets down and not worry about him getting weirdly inquisitive. Reminds me, I haven't out down more in the spare room and all the sachets went from there overnight. Off to do it now. And here too, not to do with squalor, just to do with an old farmhouse in the countryside that is full of holes!
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Post by cyn on Nov 21, 2014 17:31:12 GMT -5
Missue, eewwww yuck! Lucky you didn't drop that bottle! I have a very bad mouse story, only DH knows, and I'm only sharing here because you're all sharing your stories. I had my pride and joy leopard print couch destroyed by mice. And I'm actually thinking rat, not mice. Because that couch is right beside my rats' cage (females) and I'll bet it was a male that smelled them, and was drawn to them. Thankfully, the bars are nice and close, so no baby rats, ha.
But my couch: I had it covered with a big comforter, and the seating area was taken up by a whole line of throw pillows. I didn't want the dogs on it, so that's why all the pillows were there. Really nice pillows, a gorgeous couch...until one day I noticed a blob of white. Huh? It was a big blob of polyester filling, like a dog toy...but it was coming from one of my favorite pillows. WTH? So I looked closer, and crap - the pillow's corner was torn to bits. But not by dogs. More WTHs later, and after tearing off the comforter, I discovered that the rat had chewed the corners off of all the couch seat cushions, totally destroyed an entire back of another, ruined the zippers, just effed them up completely. Now I don't care if the dogs destroy it. My beautiful couch is no more.
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Post by imamess on Nov 21, 2014 17:34:43 GMT -5
On my property there is a huge old barn that has not had a domestic animal in it in over three years. Before ordering cow/horse feed, I bought a gallon pail of poison packets, punched a tiny hole in 5 or 6 and threw them down in the room I planned to put the feed. The next day, the mice/rats had eaten ALL the packets. I bought another gallon pail, in two days it was all gone. I bought a third pail and after a few days, they finally left a little poison on the floor. That is almost $100.00 of poison in less than a week. I can't imagine going in that barn at night; it must have been absolutely crawling with rats. The kind of poison I bought makes the critters go to water after they eat it, so I have not found anything dead in the barn.
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Post by larataylor on Nov 21, 2014 17:56:53 GMT -5
cyn - I'm so sorry about the couch. imamess - Wow. That's a lot of critters. I'm glad you got them before they got you! Or your feed. My sister and I were scared by a vole when clearing out our old garage long ago. For some reason, it looked about ten times bigger than it was … (shadows, maybe?) and we didn't know WHAT it was. We called DH … he's my critter guy. He came out and caught it, and wanted to KEEP it. He set up a big aquarium for it, and then, after looking online, discovered that they tend to die quickly in captivity. So then he had to get it back out of the aquarium, which was really difficult because he'd given it so many nice places to hide. He got it into a small-critter carrier, and we took it to the park, very carefully, because boy was it MAD! We named it Francis, because we'd put a small St. Francis picture into the aquarium (clutter from previous Catholic homeowners). Every time we went to the park, we thought of Francis, and wished his progeny well.
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Post by misssue on Nov 21, 2014 18:13:08 GMT -5
I started using the bait, which is does make them thirsty. I have no pets but was concerned that my owl ( well she lives here forever in my woods) might eat the mice outside. I was told they will not get that far, and the owl will not eat anything dead. It can stink, but seriously, they will dry up.. sounds grous, but rather that then run all over and yes they will chew up everything.
I found out that the blue cubes have to be against a wall.. and then figured out if I take a board and put nail in it, that is what the hole in the cube is for.. DUH.
I can not find any mousetraps.. and they are expensive, and sometimes the mice, just eat the bait and not spring the trap. The good ones, I just can not unhook them and resuse. Iamamess..I am going to the Farm and Fleet and get a smaller bucket of that bait. Much cheaper, and we have Tractor Supply here, and I have always wanted to go in there< And then there is this, and believe me I am tempted. Google mouse bucket traps.. big bucket, fill with water, built a ramp or better yet a soda can on a wire, spinner, they go for the peanut butter. Fall in bucket and drown. Seriously, I am thinking of it..
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Post by cyn on Nov 21, 2014 18:21:26 GMT -5
I love your vole story - I have a similar story: one day at 6am, I saw a white puff in the bathroom floor vent. I didn't know what I saw, being so tired, but I was sure it was a little critter of some sort. DH thought I was seeing things, but then the dogs were going nuts under the couch. He checked out why, and saw the white animal. It was a baby stoat, a wild ferret. I couldn't put him outside, because it was the dead of winter. I had an aquarium with a wired lid (from before my rats got their awesome Critter Nation cage) so we put him in there.
DH named him Freddy (the Freeloader) and we fed him like we fed our rats. He had a hiding shelter, and it was easy to clean the tank because he always went in the same corner, and he hid in his cave while cleaning. I warned DH to never touch him, and never try to tame him - he was going back outside as soon as it was warmer, so he'd not return to the house. It was so cool to see him start turning brown as spring came. He started growling at us too, getting mature, and bolder.
One nice spring day we hauled the tank out to the back porch, and carefully opened the door and then jumped back - didn't want to get attacked by the wild growly little beastie. He sat there, in the tank, in no hurry to leave. So we took the lid off. Same thing. I put a 2x4 in, for him to climb out. Same thing. DH got bored and went inside. I got bored, and dumped him out of the tank, onto the floor, expecting him to bolt down the stairs. He ran through my legs and then sat under the table, in no hurry to leave. Silly stoat! Sometimes I wonder if it was Freddy who ate my couch, since that tank was in the same spot. Maybe it was his instinct to return to his warm winter abode?
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Post by desireelafleur on Nov 21, 2014 18:21:26 GMT -5
We live in the woods on the edge of a swamp. As I have said we have had mice, chipmunks, and a bat inside the home. (They get in when the garage door is opened.) But I have a quandry. We have recently found out that we have a juvenile skunk living under our shed. He has actually been helpful by digging up yellow jacket nests from around my raised garden beds. But technically he is vermin and we might be treated with unwanted spray just trying to use our shed. It's very cold at night now. He is probably hibernating by now but should I try to catch me with a have a heart?
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Post by desireelafleur on Nov 21, 2014 18:24:20 GMT -5
I started using the bait, which is does make them thirsty. I have no pets but was concerned that my owl ( well she lives here forever in my woods) might eat the mice outside. I was told they will not get that far, and the owl will not eat anything dead. It can stink, but seriously, they will dry up.. sounds grous, but rather that then run all over and yes they will chew up everything. I found out that the blue cubes have to be against a wall.. and then figured out if I take a board and put nail in it, that is what the hole in the cube is for.. DUH. I can not find any mousetraps.. and they are expensive, and sometimes the mice, just eat the bait and not spring the trap. The good ones, I just can not unhook them and resuse. Iamamess..I am going to the Farm and Fleet and get a smaller bucket of that bait. Much cheaper, and we have Tractor Supply here, and I have always wanted to go in there< And then there is this, and believe me I am tempted. Google mouse bucket traps.. big bucket, fill with water, built a ramp or better yet a soda can on a wire, spinner, they go for the peanut butter. Fall in bucket and drown. Seriously, I am thinking of it.. Tractor Supply is a great store, but a bit pricey. You may find it's cheaper to hire an exterminator rather than spend money on things that only have limited success. On a different note yard clutter can be just as dangerous as house clutter as far as vermin. At one point we had so many bees nests I was afraid to let the kids outside! Yikes!
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Post by cyn on Nov 21, 2014 18:40:32 GMT -5
Desiree, I had a skunk under my porch before, and he never bothered me. I'd leave him where he is, if it were my decision. He'll probably head off to a quieter location on his own. But I'd *love* to have him here, since we have zillions of ground wasps. It's wasp central: in our woodpile, everywhere!
Missue, the best mouse traps I've found are the black plastic snap traps, with the big thick spiked lever - not the metal ones, they're useless. The black ones are also very easy to reopen - it's just a matter of getting over the squeamishness of the situation. But as you say, those litter effers can literally destroy a home, chewing wires, starting fires. So we can't be nice and leave *them* alone.
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Post by chadow on Nov 21, 2014 19:10:23 GMT -5
Desiree, you might want to think twice before using a live trap for a skunk in an enclosed space or on any surface that is porous or susceptible to the caustic nature of skunk spray. I have, as a part of my job had a live trap set for a cat on concrete accidentally trapped a juvenile skunk. The little guy sprayed several times before I arrived to release it. There is a burn type mark still there some 9 years later that was caused by the spray. The scent remained for months, even though we treated the area with Nature's Miracle skunk remover. There is good info about making these guys want to leave on their own, on the web. But a live trap is a guaranteed way to get them to spray. best of luck to you and your visitor. chadow
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Post by larataylor on Nov 21, 2014 19:23:39 GMT -5
We had skunks fairly often around our old house, and we never got sprayed. They seem pretty mellow if you don't bother them … but it could be a problem if you go into the shed and he's there and feels trapped or scared.
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Post by brenda on Nov 21, 2014 19:30:39 GMT -5
When I was a child I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from a tub of peanut butter and ate it. Afterward I went to put it away noticed a dead mouse in it.
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