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rotting rats smell nasty...

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 5:41 pm
by TrollFromDownBelow
I live in an older community, near a large body of water that carries extensive commercial traffic, hence, we have rats.

Yes, now you know my dirty little secret.

Those buggers found a 2 inch gap along my patio slab and my basement wall to sneak in and make a den. I laid out rat poison which is supposed to make them thirsty, leave the den, and die afterwards. After two days, I figured they had ingested enough, and had left. So took a 50 lb bag of Quickcrete and poured it in the gaps. Evidently they didn't get the memo. We can smell them decaying. Ugh.

I realize they are God's creatures too, but dang, they are nasty, ugly, and carry a whole host of diseases. I hate them as much as my wife Shannon hates spiders.

Re: rotting rats smell nasty...

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 6:02 pm
by Amskeptic
From my old profession of HVAC and appliance repair, I have visited every stage of decomposition of every little creature, some of whom met traumatic ends. I had to be professional, that is what made it so much worse. If you'd like the worst story, it has now been 23 years, I can tell it.
Colin

Re: rotting rats smell nasty...

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 7:02 pm
by TrollFromDownBelow
:happy1: 23 years? You make it sound like so long ago...heck, that was only 10 or 11 years before we met. Do tell...and move to Free Speech if need be (as I sit here and type, in the kitchen, and smell the 'aroma' ... no, you don't get 'used to it' have been sitting here for several hours).

Re: rotting rats smell nasty...

Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:53 pm
by Amskeptic
Malfunctioning gas water heater, seemed like lousy draft.

Removed 3" flue pipe and draft hood.
Found a boiled squirrel face that had fried its nose and hair off on the diverter plate, died, decomposed enough to *come apart" as I lifted the pipe. I had squirrel physiology slimily plopping onto the water heater and floor.

I have never gotten over it, I cannot get over it, and still hate God a little.
I remember saying, I remember something like, "it will be $75.00 plus the service call."
Colin

Re: rotting rats smell nasty...

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 6:03 am
by sped372
Amskeptic wrote:
Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:53 pm
I have never gotten over it, I cannot get over it...
A few years ago, I spent a good portion of the day disassembling the interior of my car (thankfully not one of the VWs) to locate the source of a horrible odor. I knew, but didn't want to allow myself to acknowledge, what I would find but kept hoping otherwise. It smelled worse on the passenger side, down near the footwell. I suspected under the dash. With the lower half of the passenger dashboard removed, I still found nothing. The sun was out now and the heat made things worse. I pulled up the trim along the door and peeled back the carpeting. Huge maggots fled and I tried not to vomit as I grabbed them with needle-nosed pliers to prevent them from disappearing further into the vehicle. Still, no sign of the main culprit. I removed the passenger seat and pulled the carpet up even further. I was probably an hour into this horrible job by now.

There it was. A tiny foot. No! Why there!? I had to extract, piece by disgusting piece, a decomposing mouse from the stamped metal floor beneath the passenger seat. There's a bit of structural 'waffle' there and there is no real access, only small slots. I had to use the needle-nosed pliers and peck at rancid flesh, bit by bit, trying to not think about what I was doing. Then I tried to bleach and rinse the inaccessible location. Uck!!! The bits of hair still haunt me. In some ways I feel ashamed that it bothered me as much as it did, in other ways I think it's a completely natural and well-balanced reaction. In any event, I seriously think it was one of the worst experiences I've ever had.

Re: rotting rats smell nasty...

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:46 am
by TrollFromDownBelow
sped372 wrote:
Fri Sep 08, 2017 6:03 am
A few years ago, I spent a good portion of the day disassembling the interior of my car (thankfully not one of the VWs) to locate the source of a horrible odor....
Bought my daughter a used car three years ago, it was summer time. Had this nasty odor; at first we thought it might be the P.O's B.O. I steam cleaned the entire interior 3 times. It seemed to dissipate as the weather cooled down....until you turned on the heater, and it came back with a vengeance. However, my daughter found if she kept it on defrost vs. heat, no smell. By the spring it disappeared completely. Strongly suspect a mouse crawled up in the dash and died. Never did go looking for it though....

Re: rotting rats smell nasty...

Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 11:11 pm
by tommu
I found half a decomposed snake under my bed one time. From a cat that used to leave me presents from it's kills. I was looking for my lighter very early one morning. Found something the same radius under the bed, pulled it out turned on the light and screamed at a snake head staring at me with it innards dangling out of it's half eaten body. That cat was evil. Another time I trod on an internal organ of unknown origin whilst padding to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I'd make it sleep in the garage if it were alive today.

Re: rotting rats smell nasty...

Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2017 6:57 pm
by Amskeptic
tommu wrote:
Thu Oct 05, 2017 11:11 pm
I found half a decomposed snake under my bed one time. From a cat that used to leave me presents from it's kills. I was looking for my lighter very early one morning. Found something the same radius under the bed, pulled it out turned on the light and screamed at a snake head staring at me with it innards dangling out of it's half eaten body. That cat was evil. Another time I trod on an internal organ of unknown origin whilst padding to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I'd make it sleep in the garage if it were alive today.
That is phenomenally hideous. That is a horror movie. Congratulations for still being a coherent productive human being.
I am pretty sure I would still be fighting my way out of a catatonic fugue.
Colin

Re: rotting rats smell nasty...

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 7:36 am
by Bleyseng
Car related: My daughter bought a used 02 Jetta VR6 that was a nice car except when you turned on the AC, terrible smell. Summertime she begs me to find out about the smell as its hot out. Pull apart the AC intake setup and lo and behold the filter is completely plugged with a mouse nest and dead mice. Cleaned it all up after taking a picture for her and she bought me dinner at her favorite sushi place.
In 35 years of construction two stories stand out:
Did a kitchen remodel for a friend and when pulling down the drywall ceiling to install new cans to replace the old lighting tons of rat shit and dead rats feel on the floor. One employee quit that day as it was awful cleaning it all up plus the smell.......
My good buddy bought a farm house and asked me to come look to figure out how to clean up the attic. Ok, I climb with a flashlight and discover the 6' of vermiculite insulation has been a cat box for 20 years. Ohmygod, I helped kick the drywall down so we could shovel the crap into bags to get rid of all the insulation and cat crap. Yes, masks were the ticket with the smell and crappy dust. He is still my good friend today.

Re: rotting rats smell nasty...

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 7:10 pm
by MonoCone
TrollFromDownBelow wrote:
Thu Sep 07, 2017 5:41 pm
I live in an older community, near a large body of water that carries extensive commercial traffic, hence, we have rats.

Yes, now you know my dirty little secret.

Those buggers found a 2 inch gap along my patio slab and my basement wall to sneak in and make a den. I laid out rat poison which is supposed to make them thirsty, leave the den, and die afterwards. After two days, I figured they had ingested enough, and had left. So took a 50 lb bag of Quickcrete and poured it in the gaps. Evidently they didn't get the memo. We can smell them decaying. Ugh.

I realize they are God's creatures too, but dang, they are nasty, ugly, and carry a whole host of diseases. I hate them as much as my wife Shannon hates spiders.
This is one of the reasons I do not use poison. Traps. Buy them on Amazon by the dozen...much cheaper than Home Depot. Then the bodies go out with the trash. We have lots of rats and I hate them.

Re: rotting rats smell nasty...

Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 7:20 pm
by TrollFromDownBelow
the rat poison was used to ensure a quick demise after I cemented up the hole (I have found that poison alone doesn't work). We have rather clever rats...tried traps, but they would just steal the bait.