Mouse in the house. DON'T :biteme:

[ronaldj2]

Just writing to let everyone know, after my most recent hunt I failed to clean my safari. It had been drizzling out with some showers, I was hunting a schoolyard/baseball field. The grass had been recently cut and my coil had wet grass clippings on it as well as a little bit of muddy dirt. Instead of cleaning my machine right away, I set it on the floor on top of the case. My wife hadn't been feeling well for a few days and so I went about helping out with dinner,some house work, and just helping her out. Mean while I forgot about my safari and it spent the night on the floor on top of its case. When I finally remebered to clean it I noticed little bite marks on the coil cover and then on the top edge of the coil. The weather here in New England is getting a little cooler at night and as best I can figure a mouse found its way into the house. The bite marks are deep, but It doesn't look like it bit trough the thickness of the plastic. The point is I should have cleaned the machine immediately and put it in it's case. This is a lesson learned and almost a costly one. Hope this helps so nobody makes the same mistake as I did. Ron

 

[edjcox]

You got a cyber mouse who's eating plastic.....

Recommend a bit of mouse poison to stop this critters meanderings in your home....

 

[ronaldj2]

n/t

 

[The Fog]

I wish they made the foam handle out of a different substrate, that thing is impossible to clean and I can't imagine how much urishiol is soaked into that foam. they could have at least made it a smooth foam and not a porous sponge-like foam.

 

[ronaldj2]

I agree Fog, it does get pretty nasty, and like you said almost impossible to clean. And a quick question, What is urishiol ? Ron

 

[dippodigger]

agreed. good post

 

[NiagracountyNY]

The darn critters get into my house in the winter too(old farm house).We have 2 cats and still get one now and then..They will chew some weird stuff.They can do major damage too.Some poison in the basement and a few traps baited with peanut butter (That peanut Butter gettsem everytime).I always try to wash my very expensive Toy after each use..Wife wont let me get another one! Good post..HH Get that mouse!!

 

[undatakr]

Hi guys - This is for The fog regarding the foam handle on the Safari. I take a damp / wet cloth with a little dishwashing liquid and VERY gently clean it up. Squeeeze the detergent onto the foam. Don't rub!!! It is like a sponge and soaks everything up. The trick to clean it is to take a Dry cloth and squeeze the moisture out of it. Do it a couple of times and you're good to go. Let it dry over night. What I do next may help to stop all the crud the next time out. Take some Glad Press and Seal and wrap it around the clean foam. I have been doing it since my buddy ronaldj2 and I went mding a couple weeks ago and got kind of muddied up in the rain. Works for me!

 

[ronaldj2]

I contacted Minelab about the mouse chewing on the coil, they told me 1/16th of an inch isn't deep enough to damage any wires.

 

[The Fog]

Urushiol Oil is the active ingredient in poison ivy, oak and sumac.
And since I do 95% of all my detecting in the woods I get poison ivy ALOT.
Here are some fun little tidbits about the oil.... which is definitely in my foam handle.

Only 1 nanogram (billionth of a gram) needed to cause rash
Average is 100 nanograms for most people
1/4 ounce of urushiol is all that is needed to cause a rash in every person on earth
500 people could itch from the amount covering the head of a pin
Specimens of urushiol several centuries old have found to cause dermatitis in sensitive people.
1 to 5 years is normal for urushiol oil to stay active on any surface including dead plants, clothing, boots, tools, etc.
Derived from urushi, Japanese name for lacquer

 

[ronaldj2]

I knew that word looked familiar but I couldn't remember where I had read it. I now remember reading it on the label of some poison ivy killer. Thanks fog for reiterating it . Ron

 

[Barry NY]

i have read on another post to wrap the foam area with the replacement grips for tennis racquets which are sold at sports stores for $5 - i hear it works great - i bought the tennis grip but haven't wrapped it on my e-trac yet cause I'm putting the e-trac together right now...yippee

 

[Onus]

When deer hunting I had a mouse in my camping trailer. He would come out and run around in the floor looking for food as soon as I lay down for the night. So, I built a mouse trap. I took two pieces of 2X12 aabout 2' long and set them one flat on the floor and stood one up behind it to be a backstop. Then l loaded my .45 ACP pistol with a shot cartridge, laid a piece of a cheese cracker on the bottom board and waited. Sure enough, here came the mouse who went to the cracker as big as you please. Then I popped him with the .45 shot that also knocked down the board used as a backstop and it also fell and squished him. The other guys in camp came running thinking I had shot myself accidentally. To this day they joke and laugh about my "better mouse trap"! I quoted to them, "Build it and they will come"! Onus