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Clean mice

 
John F Dean
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I made the mistake of cleaning in my basement today.   I located 2 bars of soap…sort of.    There was a full bar of Dove unscented in an untouched wrapper and, beside it, the chewed wrapper and some crumbs of a bar of Lava.  I would love to hear some input on this. First, is there any hope of Lava killing my basement dwelling friends off?   And, why would Lava be clearly selected as the better food source?

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Soap, especially highly scented soap like Irish Spring, is often suggested as a rodent repellent.  It repels me so... um, anyway...

So I stuffed some Irish Spring down a rat hole.  It was gone in two days then they broke into my Irish Spring stash and ate most of it.  

The rats have since gained size and vigour.  Next to try - unstinkable laundry beads so long as I can put it somewhere the chickens won't find it.  I shall either send the rats scampering or breed a mighty army of soap-strengthened rats.  

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Which reminds me, I did have some Irish Spring to repel deer.   I wonder if that is gone?  

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Jan White
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It makes sense to me that rodents would eat soap. It's mostly fat, so it would be a great, calorically dense food source for them.

If we don't keep our soap contained in our outside shower, mice, packrats, squirrels will all nibble on it or flat out steal it.
 
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Only bar soap I ever lost to mice was part of a bar of Fels-Naptha.
BUT
A funny thing, I looked up bar laundry soap to remember the brand of soap that was eaten, and a brand I saw in my browser says "Ideal for Catfish bait." Well now. The things I learn.... I wouldn't have thought of soap for catfish bait.

Wonder if your mice burp bubbles?
Maybe the soap makes them less tasty to your cat?

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What Jan White said - they're attracted to the fat.

Hubby bought some "wax" for saw blades for cutting metal, and apparently the mice adore it. I have to store the tube of it inside a second sealed bottle - only plastic, so one of these days they're likely going to chew through the plastic? I had tried putting it on a very high shelf, but they were motivated to climb as high as I could reach (6 feet about) to get to it.

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John F Dean
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So, implied is that Lava has more fat than Dove?

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r ranson
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John F Dean wrote:So, implied is that Lava has more fat than Dove?



Dove usually doesn't contain soap.  It's a cleansing lotion.

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r ranson
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from the Dove website: https://www.dove.com/us/en/washing-and-bathing/beauty-bar.html#:~:text=That's%20because%20Dove%20isn't,and%20germs%20and%20care%20beautifully.

That’s because Dove isn’t soap, it’s a Beauty Bar.  

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Anne Miller
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Any mouse that showered with Lava soap has got to be clean:




https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/rat-showering-like-a-person/

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I think if they ate your lava soap there is not much else for them to eat and maybe they are stuck in there.

I would much rather use lava soap than dove.  dove feels horribly toxic and lava feels kind of ok.

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Matthew Nistico
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Just the other day a friend had the same experience: cleaning out his garage, he discovered a mess where mice and roaches had devoured a stash of soap.  It struck us both at the time as odd and unexpected.  But as pointed out here, it actually makes perfect sense.  If the soap is "real soap," then the primary ingredient is animal fat!

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Barbara Kochan
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Thank you for this very useful thread.... I'd have never thought it. I best put my (outdoor) kitchen bar into something rather than just having it on the sink. I would like to see this moved out of "meaningless drivel"
Staff note (John F Dean) :

Hi Barbara,

This thread also appears in Homestead and Nibblers.

 
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