HI Image - Warning - Not for the squeamish

[Mike Lamb]

The bathroom in an occupied house. 

Yes.  I that is human excrement in the bottom of the bucket.  

[Marc]

Poor thing.  Probably couldn't jump high enough to get out.

[Chad Fabry]

10 hours ago, Marc said:

Poor thing.  Probably couldn't jump high enough to get out.

Is there another plausible explanation that includes the rat dying there of free choice?

As an AHJ, I condemned a house after a small fire because the people inside had been using buckets for toilets. Both toilets were broken (and full to the seats). I guess using a bucket isn't all that bad, but when thy used buckets and just got new buckets as the buckets were filled- that's where I really have to draw a line. 11 full buckets. 55 gallons of poop. I shit you not.

 

[Jim Baird]

BTW, as Marc noted a mouse can't jump high enough to escape.  I caught two mice in my wife's honda that had built a nest in the glove box.  Their babies tumbled out while she was sitting in traffic and reached for  little duster she uses to dust the dash.

I bought a shiny new slippery sided 5 gallon bucket and put it in the back seat with some oatmeal in the bottom.  Took a cpl of overnight settings to catch them one at a time.  I used the catch and release program, made them promise not to come back.

[Schulman]

Imagine the horror of that for people who are afraid of mice. I hope your wife wasn't, Jim. haha

[Jim Katen]

On 11/9/2018 at 5:57 AM, Jim Baird said:

I bought a shiny new slippery sided 5 gallon bucket and put it in the back seat with some oatmeal in the bottom.  Took a cpl of overnight settings to catch them one at a time.  I used the catch and release program, made them promise not to come back.

2

Oregon mice might be different. The ones in my garage can jump right out of a 5-gallon bucket unless I put a bit of oil in the bottom. 

[Marc]

Jim, its hard to forget your tendency to experiment with things.  Were you a scientist in a prior life?

Edited November 22, 2018 by Marc

[John Ghent]

My take is Jim was born with a good deal of street smarts.

[Jim Baird]

On 11/21/2018 at 2:48 PM, Jim Katen said:

Oregon mice might be different. The ones in my garage can jump right out of a 5-gallon bucket unless I put a bit of oil in the bottom. 

I don't take credit for inventing the method.  I think I actually learned it from youtube, but it worked very well.  The species was a little mouse not a woodrat.  My cats have caught some wood and field rats with seven-inch tails that could probably jump over a row of buckets.

How many here have stepped on one of those glue kind of traps during an inspect?

Edited November 26, 2018 by Jim Baird
omission

[Bill Kibbel]

Stepped on many and also stuck to firearms in crawlspaces.

[Jim Katen]

1 hour ago, Jim Baird said:

I don't take credit for inventing the method.  I think I actually learned it from youtube, but it worked very well.  The species was a little mouse not a woodrat.  My cats have caught some wood and field rats with seven-inch tails that could probably jump over a row of buckets.

1

Ours were field mice. Tiny little things that must have a pair of springs for hind legs. They can jump straight up like superman. It's actually quite alarming. 

1 hour ago, Jim Baird said:

How many here have stepped on one of those glue kind of traps during an inspect?

Don't get me started. I got one stuck to the back of my head in a crawlspace this summer. . . and it already had a dead mouse on it. . . 

[John Kogel]

On 11/26/2018 at 9:38 AM, Bill Kibbel said:

Stepped on many and also stuck to firearms in crawlspaces.

Would that be your 'forearms' maybe? Firearms vs. mice in a crawlspace, we'll want to see the video.  😃

There's a deer mouse that has long hind legs like a kangaroo. Also those are the ones linked to the Hanta virus.

Mice babies in the glove box, you could blame that on the wife's dust cloth, a cozy baby blanket.

[Jim Baird]

Mice babies in the glove box, you could blame that on the wife's dust cloth, a cozy baby blanket.

The invasion of unwanted species came during, we are fairly sure, a retreat weekend in the NC mountains where we parked the little car on some steeply sloped ground where the uphill side came really close to soil/grasses.  Cabin air filter plus outside air ports we think were entry points.  Cabin air is right behind glove box.  Cabin air filter material was first nest.

Edited November 28, 2018 by Jim Baird
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