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Post by meeko77 on Jun 5, 2015 20:24:20 GMT
I was cleaning my garage yesterday and found a bag of bird seed ripped open and spilled all over the floor underneath it. I cleaned it up and thought to myself then "I hope it wasn't a mouse/rat". As I was cleaning up more, I didn't find any nests, no poop, nothing else torn up, so I relaxed a little and figured the bag just got tore some kind of way. Then I found an open storage container with shoes in it. As I dumped the container out to go through the shoes, I find BIRDSEED. Freaking out, I carefully inspect and vacuum out each shoe. No poop, nothing torn up, no nests, nothing. I thought it weird, talked to my partner about it after she got home last night, and while we were grossed out, we figured it was maybe a squirrel. Until today. I was finishing up and found birdseed in the small drawers we keep nails in. Now I am totally grossed out. But still, no poop, no nests, no nothing. So, can anyone please tell me SOMETHING that could have caused this besides a mouse/rat? Needless to say the two bags of birdseed that were not ripped open are now in plastic containers. EWWW EWWW EWWW
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caro
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Post by caro on Jun 5, 2015 20:31:51 GMT
We had a bag of cat food in the garage, unopened, or so we thought. It had been there for months, looked normal. My DS moved it one day.....totally empty. The hole was underneath. We put rat traps out and found out why. I suspect you have a rat or mouse. I have another story but you probably don't want to hear that one.
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scorpeao
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Jun 25, 2014 21:04:54 GMT
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Post by scorpeao on Jun 5, 2015 20:33:49 GMT
We had a bag of cat food in the garage, unopened, or so we thought. It had been there for months, looked normal. My DS moved it one day.....totally empty. The hole was underneath. We put rat traps out and found out why. I suspect you have a rat or mouse. I have another story but you probably don't want to hear that one. I want to hear it! I'm guessing rats. I have had rats and they've only chewed on my car. They left the pet food alone, and I never saw any droppings until recently.
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caro
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Post by caro on Jun 5, 2015 20:39:02 GMT
Well, it involves a rat snake skin in the garage wrapped around the duct going into the attic. No sign of the snake. Can you guess?
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Post by meeko77 on Jun 5, 2015 20:43:20 GMT
EWWW EWWW EWWW. NO NO NO NO NO. It just CAN'T be!
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caro
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Post by caro on Jun 5, 2015 20:48:29 GMT
EWWW EWWW EWWW. NO NO NO NO NO. It just CAN'T be! I'm sorry. Maybe it was a cat that got in or a squirrel? But I doubt it. We had no other indication what we were dealing with. Be afraid.......be very afraid.
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scorpeao
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Post by scorpeao on Jun 5, 2015 20:49:42 GMT
Well, it involves a rat snake skin in the garage wrapped around the duct going into the attic. No sign of the snake. Can you guess? burn the house down....
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Post by scraplette on Jun 5, 2015 20:50:47 GMT
My husband's car had a service light turn on last week. He called service deparent, $500 repair. Being an amateur mechanic he ordered the $30 part, and made the fix over the weekend. The most interesting thing was discovering a pile of small 3/16" H conical white snail shells, empty like they were on a tray, under a frayed wire on the part.
We dont know if rats were eating wires and snacking on snails, or if maybe snails ate the wires then burned in heat of the engine The car is driven on highway twice a day.
Good luck with your mystery. I hope it helps to know someone else has a strange varmint one.
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caro
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Post by caro on Jun 5, 2015 20:54:01 GMT
Well, it involves a rat snake skin in the garage wrapped around the duct going into the attic. No sign of the snake. Can you guess? burn the house down.... Believe me, I felt like it. We NEVER found the snake but wildlife expert who came out told us the snake was in the house somewhere. Gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling, doesn't it?
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Post by hop2 on Jun 5, 2015 20:54:55 GMT
Chipmunks? The chipmunks in the forest behind out house hoard stuff like that. Once about a week after we had a bbq we found a stash of random food under the shed. Chips, pretzels, piece of burger roll, all mushy and gross.
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caro
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Post by caro on Jun 5, 2015 20:56:04 GMT
Oh and the expert told us it was really a good thing because of the snake we probably wouldn't have rats in the house. Yeah right.
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Post by hop2 on Jun 5, 2015 20:56:44 GMT
Send the snake to meeko77 it can eat her critter.
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scorpeao
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Post by scorpeao on Jun 5, 2015 20:57:00 GMT
Oh and the expert told us it was really a good thing because of the snake we probably wouldn't have rats in the house. Yeah right. that would be the ONLY good thing about a snake living in my house.
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Post by meeko77 on Jun 5, 2015 21:12:48 GMT
Y'all are a trip. I just put peppermint oil out all over the garage.
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Deleted
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Oct 6, 2024 17:24:04 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2015 21:18:39 GMT
EWW....I'm both glad and freaked out after reading your thread. We have dog food in our garage and I'll be sure to have DH bring it in for us before he deploys. I'm terrified of mice/rats/snakes.
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zztop11
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Post by zztop11 on Jun 5, 2015 22:44:22 GMT
Since someone wants to hear it, I'll make this quick. Do you want to hear about the time a mouse ran across my husband's after the morning alarm went off? And I was pregnant too!!! NOT KIDDING!!!
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Jun 5, 2015 22:53:22 GMT
depending on where you live, it could have been mice or chipmunks... they could have just been 'storing it somewhere safe' for later. When I lived in Illinois, there was a small gap underneath the back door to my back entryway where I kept my winter boots, etc. I went to put my snow boots on one day, and found a whole bunch of birdseed tucked into the toe area of my boot! That explained why my cats would sometimes be fixated on the back kitchen door; they knew the little buggers were out in the back entryway but they couldn't get to them! (I like chipmunks very much, but they had taken up residence in my basement, so I had to get rid of them, unfortunately. )
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Post by Zee on Jun 5, 2015 23:01:42 GMT
It was a rodent, sorry. Nothing else is going to sneak in and move seeds around. Always keep anything edible like that in a really thick plastic container.
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Post by Karene on Jun 5, 2015 23:18:09 GMT
I have occasionally had mice get into bird seed. But this year I could tell it was something bigger. Usually the mice leave a poop trail but there wasn't anything this time. I put out traps; nothing. I put plaster of paris around where I thought they were to see if I could get footprints. It took a few days but finally got some. Too bit for a mouse.
So I got some rat traps. We have never had rats in 28 years in this house so I am not happy. Nothing happened with the traps and I removed all bird food but I could still see footprints. So I ended up calling a pest control company. He was able to find out where they came in. He put some bait traps out. A week later I found a dead rat on the front lawn.
I haven't found anymore yet though. Hopefully they have gone and died somewhere else. I'll get the guy to come back and check in a week. I got a 3 month service plan with him.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Jun 5, 2015 23:27:48 GMT
It was a rodent, sorry. Nothing else is going to sneak in and move seeds around. Always keep anything edible like that in a really thick plastic container. ^^^ emphasis on 'really thick' part, and also sealed tightly! My parents feed the birds every winter, kept their black oil sunflower seeds in one of those plastic Rubbermaid tubs in their outdoor shed, and the squirrels got into it and chewed right through the plastic. Now they keep their birdseed in a metal trash can with a lid.
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tincin
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Post by tincin on Jun 5, 2015 23:31:15 GMT
Found a nest in my bucket o' gloves last year when cleaning my garage. Complete with birdseed from the feeder in the front yard. I am assuming it was a chipmunk since it was the gloves were on the topmost shelf in my garage and I had been live trapping them from my flowerbeds and the bird feeders all summer. Set out mousetraps anyway but never got a mouse. Quit feeding the birds and the chipmunks seem to have disappeared this year.
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iowgirl
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Post by iowgirl on Jun 5, 2015 23:48:56 GMT
You've got a mouse for sure! I would hold off on thinking it is a rat - LOL!
I live in the country and having a mouse isn't the end of the world. Just set some old fashion snap traps and bait them with just a tiny dab of peanut butter and you will get them. Skip the "easy set" or sticky traps. Just get the wire snap kind. Be prepared to snap your finger at least once #&@^%$!!
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caro
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Post by caro on Jun 5, 2015 23:55:08 GMT
Y'all are a trip. I just put peppermint oil out all over the garage. Well, at least garage will smell good.
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caro
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Post by caro on Jun 5, 2015 23:58:48 GMT
And another thing, if a rat/mouse gets in a trap......they squeal. Lovely I know or maybe, don't ask me how I know. <shudder>
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Post by renateb on Jun 6, 2015 0:02:10 GMT
Please use traps, not poison. When you use poison, the animal runs off and dies some place. Good for you, but not good for the animal up the food chain that will also die. Owls, hawks, eagles household cat will die if they eat a rodent that has gotten into poison. Set traps.
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Post by olbrwneyedgirl on Jun 6, 2015 0:41:45 GMT
I second the metal garbage cans. That's what my folks had to go to. They have plastic tubs of birdseed stored inside metal.
I also want to give a shout out for the battery operated mouse traps. They're pricey but do a great job. You don't have to touch the mice to get them out and they're just as "humane" the tenth time as the first. (Spring traps get loose as they get used...and they don't work quite as quickly or effectively.) One winter when we were overrun, we bought two of the electric types. They were worth the investment!
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Post by 950nancy on Jun 6, 2015 0:45:26 GMT
Years ago I put my hand down deep in the dog food bag and a mouse ran up my arm to my ear and jumped off. I got a cat.
This bag was inside my pantry closet.
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Post by Eddie-n-Harley on Jun 6, 2015 0:48:09 GMT
So, for a period of time I had a storage unit. A nice, indoor, climate controlled one. When the time came to finally get everything out of it, there was birdseed EVERYWHERE.
We didn't have any birdseed in our unit.
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scorpeao
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Post by scorpeao on Jun 6, 2015 0:50:15 GMT
I bought the electric type. If you go that route read the reviews on Amazon. People suggest putting it out with food for a couple days before turning it on. Rats, if that's what you have, are smart and will avoid it. If there's food without any consequence they'll come back and then you can zap them.
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Post by polz on Jun 6, 2015 0:53:26 GMT
We had a mouse living in our walls for a whole month. It was horrible listening to it scurrying around all night. We put in poison after the first week and it took three more weeks for the thing to disappear. Gross!
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