Do you have children? How do you propose we 'sterilise' 99% of our possessions, including toys, books, beds, bedding, clothes etc to a level where you'd be comfortable placing them on/around your child, knowing the level of disease that was present on them beforehand?
Homeless with the kids for Xmas because of bloody mice!
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Do you have children? How do you propose we 'sterilise' 99% of our possessions, including toys, books, beds, bedding, clothes etc to a level where you'd be comfortable placing them on/around your child, knowing the level of disease that was present on them beforehand?
Better not let your kids play in the park or the woods then... The level of disease must be massive!!
Sorry but as much as I feel for you having a bit of upheaval, especially at this time of year, I suspect a large dose of hot water, bacterial solution, bleach, use of washing machine and dishwasher usage would "reclaim" most of your supposedly disease ridden possessions.
As for the house, just rent somewhere else.
Sounds like a right dump anyway
Sorry but as much as I feel for you having a bit of upheaval, especially at this time of year, I suspect a large dose of hot water, bacterial solution, bleach, use of washing machine and dishwasher usage would "reclaim" most of your supposedly disease ridden possessions.
As for the house, just rent somewhere else.
Sounds like a right dump anyway
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Better not let your kids play in the park or the woods then... The level of disease must be massive!!
Sorry but as much as I feel for you having a bit of upheaval, especially at this time of year, I suspect a large dose of hot water, bacterial solution, bleach, use of washing machine and dishwasher usage would "reclaim" your supposedly disease ridden possessions.
As for the house, just rent somewhere else.
Sounds like a right dump anyway
Meanwhile, back in the real world...
By your reckoning everyone here on this farm was lucky to survive with all the various animals ****ing and ****ing everywhere, every day for the last 70 years..
Cats constantly bringing in mice and letting them go, only to see the little blighters make a run for it across the living room carpet whilst watching TV in the evening..
How the **** we evolved for 200,000 years I'll never know.
This IS the real world, I think you have been wrapped up in too much cotton wool!
Cats constantly bringing in mice and letting them go, only to see the little blighters make a run for it across the living room carpet whilst watching TV in the evening..
How the **** we evolved for 200,000 years I'll never know.
This IS the real world, I think you have been wrapped up in too much cotton wool!
He's going by the advice and knowledge from paid professionals, just because you're comfortable living in **** it doesn't mean the rest of us are
Wow, way to over-react. Calm down dear, it's just a forum. I'm not sure how I've been wrapped in cotton wool; I've spent most of my life hunting vermin and working on farms and I'm no stranger to the odd stow-away.
It's quite something else when your property is over-run with dozens and dozens of the buggers, chewing literally everything to pieces and leaving pools of urine and smears soaking deep into everything you own. As I said, Environmental Health have become involved the problem is so bad, and it was they, and Rentokill ("One of the worst residential cases I've ever seen") who said it was so bad that we needed to bin everything off.
When it's a choice between spending time and money on trying to salvage the things that haven't already been chewed to shreds, and 'merely' soaked to the core in urine and droppings, or claiming for new goods via the landlord's insurance, I know what I'd choose every time.
The place stinks to high hell of pee and ammonia, and it's full of sawdust where they've chewed through everything. I don't think you're realising just how severely affected we are, and how severely damaged our goods have become. For example, there's a large four foot by three foot by three foot chest of solid wooden (antique) drawers in the back room... in less than 12 hours the mice have managed to strip it back to the frame. It was fine yesterday!
No offence (honestly), but I'll side with the advice of the head of Environmental Health and Rentokill over the opinion of a guy on a forum who thinks I'm over-reacting even though he's not seen the extent of the problem.
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Being that 90% of bacteria harmful to humans are killed at 60 degrees Centigrade, I'd suggest those professionals do some further research.
On the other side of the coin they are never going to advise someone to keep the items because there is a risk even if if it is infinitesimally small as they would leave themselves open to having their ass sued.
Has no one the ability to do a bit of risk assessment themselves these days without taking things said to them less then literal.
On the other side of the coin they are never going to advise someone to keep the items because there is a risk even if if it is infinitesimally small as they would leave themselves open to having their ass sued.
Has no one the ability to do a bit of risk assessment themselves these days without taking things said to them less then literal.
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Outdoors mate. We live adjacent to an arable field (i.e. crops) and the house is so knackered, to be frank, that they are running in and out at will. There are dozens of access/exit points, most of them deeply structural (i.e. ill fitting doors and frames, missing flooring, broken concrete flooring) that it's impossible for us, as tenants, to fix or bodge. As such they're nipping out to feed, and coming in to breed in the cavities. Then they're playing merry hell in the house itself at night time. :\
You're right. I'll be sure to put the toys, books, furniture and electrical goods in a boil wash and not worry about all that mousey grossness ever again.
You're right. I'll be sure to put the toys, books, furniture and electrical goods in a boil wash and not worry about all that mousey grossness ever again.
A bleach like substance and a tub of feckingly hot water for the toys and electrical goods to be wiped over or scrubbed can reclaim them too.
But then why would you want to do that when you can claim for new..
Have your rolleyes back
Edit* judging by that last post about the state of the place anyway, why the hell have you put up with it for three months or more. Your heating bills must be insane with all the gaps, let alone the resulting infestation. I fail to see how it can get as bad as it sounds without you doing something about it before now.
Why aren't you thinking of the Children
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Yes, the small snippet you quoted ended in a full stop, not a question mark. I was making a statement (or rather, relating one made by EH and Rentokill), not asking a question.
I honestly don't see what the fuss is about mate. I posted up to rant about being made homeless, the fact the agency are being worse than useless, and that we've had a ton of stuff destroyed. Picking arguments about how salvageable some of our goods may or may not be isn't really helping. As for your above post about wanting to just claim for new... If I can salvage stuff (eg PCs) I will. But if you have children (you never answered above) would YOU put them into beds that had been so badly 'abused' by dozens of mice, wrapped in similarly knackered bedding, wearing bedclothes that had been saturated in mouse pee for a month?
Even for items that are 'technically' salvageable like cutlery and crockery... are you seriously telling me you'd be happy to scrape a few hundred droppings off, wipe up the urine, and just give them a good scrub before settling down to dinner? I know we wouldn't. No offence bud but you can think what you like. If we were just out for a good compo claim we'd be holed up in the Hilton at the agency's expense, with a no win no fee solicitor billing them for room service. As it is we're on an over crowded floor at a relative's house, living on beans on toast and waiting to find a house off our own back. Give us a break mate, yeah?
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Yes you posted up a rant about being homeless and having
I found the last bit severely over the top, but you've since renegaded on that saying
Excellent, now we are getting somewhere..
Glass half full instead of being half empty!
All that's left for you to do is find a new place to rent and stick two fingers up to the landlord, the letting agent and the mice..
Have a read of the other thread somewhere on here about legalities of leaving due to the state of the place...
Sounds like you are in a good position to get some compo / rent returned at least.
I found the last bit severely over the top, but you've since renegaded on that saying
Excellent, now we are getting somewhere..
Glass half full instead of being half empty!
All that's left for you to do is find a new place to rent and stick two fingers up to the landlord, the letting agent and the mice..
Have a read of the other thread somewhere on here about legalities of leaving due to the state of the place...
Sounds like you are in a good position to get some compo / rent returned at least.
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Soldato
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Although it's too late, some revenge on the mice is in order. It's clear you're wasting your time with poisoned mouse bait (cereal based I'm guessing) that they aren't taking. So turn their wood chewing againt them. Just buy a cheap chest of drawers from Ikea, soak liberally in Brodifacoum and leave in the house. Then try and take some solace in the rodent slaughter that ensues.
I appreciate what you're saying mate, but I stand by the fact that (1) I was relaying advice from trusted sources, and (2) except in exceptional cases - such as expensive custom built PC - it'll get binned and we'll suffer the consequences. If we can claim back some cash to help buy essentials (clothes, beds, etc) then I will. Not only for the 110% scientifically accurate "are germs surviving the cleaning process" but for the pure unashamed gross factor. Strangely, as I said, we don't want to be scraping off droppings and pee to make dinner.
I know you're only trying to be constructive, and I apologise if I was a little acerbic, but under the circumstances I hope you can see where I'm coming from. We have indeed lost the majority of our possessions, due to chewing damage as much as anything, and HAVE been advised to bin the rest. With odd exception, I'll be taking that advice. It's not worth the risk, and frankly I wouldn't WANT to keep most of it given the state of the house. Surely that's understandable?
Here's less than 6 hours activity on one part of the kitchen side (which was previously 'clean'). The neighbour said she could see mice running up and down the window ledges last night and lo:
As you can see, the damage is widespread and there are loads of the little sods. Now bear in mind that this photo shows just one ~18" section of the worktop, whereas the whole house is similarly affected from floor to 4' high and everything in between. Now realise that this much extra chew and waste damage is occurring every ~6 to 12 hours and you'll soon have an idea at just how ruined the house and contents have become. A quick wipe down doesn't even begin to cover it and they've chewed the place (and the contents) to buggery.
I know you're only trying to be constructive, and I apologise if I was a little acerbic, but under the circumstances I hope you can see where I'm coming from. We have indeed lost the majority of our possessions, due to chewing damage as much as anything, and HAVE been advised to bin the rest. With odd exception, I'll be taking that advice. It's not worth the risk, and frankly I wouldn't WANT to keep most of it given the state of the house. Surely that's understandable?
Here's less than 6 hours activity on one part of the kitchen side (which was previously 'clean'). The neighbour said she could see mice running up and down the window ledges last night and lo:
As you can see, the damage is widespread and there are loads of the little sods. Now bear in mind that this photo shows just one ~18" section of the worktop, whereas the whole house is similarly affected from floor to 4' high and everything in between. Now realise that this much extra chew and waste damage is occurring every ~6 to 12 hours and you'll soon have an idea at just how ruined the house and contents have become. A quick wipe down doesn't even begin to cover it and they've chewed the place (and the contents) to buggery.
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Although it's too late, some revenge on the mice is in order. It's clear you're wasting your time with poisoned mouse bait (cereal based I'm guessing) that they aren't taking. So turn their wood chewing againt them. Just buy a cheap chest of drawers from Ikea, soak liberally in Brodifacoum and leave in the house. Then try and take some solace in the rodent slaughter that ensues.
Yeah I had a similar thought. The sweet smelling stuff the council left was ignored, so I started placing Eradibait around last night. It's basically corn cob pellets which isn't poisonous but due to rodent anatomy it coats their intestine, swells up, and due to their inability to vomit kills them and then mummifies them. Cool.
I put a handful on the aforementioned chest of drawers, and the kitchen side, last night and it's all been chewed, half eaten and scattered about by this morning. Suffer, fools.
Can you not just fill every hole/under every floor/outside every wall/all over the attic with the most powerful mouse/rodent poison you can get?
you know the stuff that will leave piles of dead cats outside your house after a few days.
might not get rid of them but might keep the numbers down.
you know the stuff that will leave piles of dead cats outside your house after a few days.
might not get rid of them but might keep the numbers down.
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