Search...
Home Subscribe
Pie
Home Subscribe
Recent topics Flagged topics Hot topics Best topics
Search...
Search within meaningless drivel Search permies
Advanced search Google search
Register / Login
rocket mass heater dvd
  • Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
solar dehydrator with pie you get 2 thumbs up and 1 thumbs down Full online Permaculture Design course video Free Rocket Mass Heater Plans Free heat movie
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • John F Dean
  • r ransom
  • Nancy Reading
  • Timothy Norton
  • Jay Angler
stewards:
  • paul wheaton
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Eric Hanson
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • M Ljin
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Megan Palmer
  • Benjamin Dinkel

Clean mice

 
John F Dean
master steward
Posts: 8111
Location: southern Illinois, USA
3070
I like...
goat cat dog chicken composting toilet food preservation pig solar wood heat homestead composting
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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?

I want to be 15 again …so I can ruin my life differently.

 
r ransom
steward & author
Posts: 44398
Location: Left Coast Canada
17104
9
I like...
art trees books chicken cooking fiber arts
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 14
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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.  

how permies works
homegrown linen | crazy chicken lady grows yarn!

 
John F Dean
master steward
Posts: 8111
Location: southern Illinois, USA
3070
I like...
goat cat dog chicken composting toilet food preservation pig solar wood heat homestead composting
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Which reminds me, I did have some Irish Spring to repel deer.   I wonder if that is gone?  

I want to be 15 again …so I can ruin my life differently.

 
Jan White
pollinator
Posts: 1455
Location: BC Interior, Zone 6-7
520
I like...
forest garden tiny house books
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 8
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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.
 
Pearl Sutton
steward & bricolagier
Posts: 15808
Location: SW Missouri
11804
2
I like...
goat cat fungi books chicken earthworks food preservation cooking building homestead ungarbage
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 7
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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?

Gardens in my mind never need water
Castles in the air never have a wet basement
Well made buildings are fractal -- equally intelligent design at every level of detail.
Bright sparks remind others that they too can dance
What I am looking for is looking for me too!

 
Jay Angler
master steward
Posts: 14525
Location: Pacific Wet Coast
8807
I like...
duck books chicken cooking food preservation ungarbage
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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.

Visit Redhawk's soil series: https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil
How permies.com works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads

 
John F Dean
master steward
Posts: 8111
Location: southern Illinois, USA
3070
I like...
goat cat dog chicken composting toilet food preservation pig solar wood heat homestead composting
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
So, implied is that Lava has more fat than Dove?

I want to be 15 again …so I can ruin my life differently.

 
r ransom
steward & author
Posts: 44398
Location: Left Coast Canada
17104
9
I like...
art trees books chicken cooking fiber arts
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

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.

how permies works
homegrown linen | crazy chicken lady grows yarn!

 
r ransom
steward & author
Posts: 44398
Location: Left Coast Canada
17104
9
I like...
art trees books chicken cooking fiber arts
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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.  

how permies works
homegrown linen | crazy chicken lady grows yarn!

 
Anne Miller
steward
Posts: 18275
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4636
I like...
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 7
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Any mouse that showered with Lava soap has got to be clean:




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

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
Samantha Lewis
gardener
Posts: 1990
882
13
I like...
homeschooling hugelkultur trees medical herbs sheep horse homestead
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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.

Perfect The Dwelling Land and support the kickstarter! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/garden-cards?ref=90v0pa

 
Matthew Nistico
pollinator
Posts: 825
Location: Clemson, SC ("new" Zone 8a)
190
11
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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!

Blazing trails in disabled homesteading

 
Barbara Kochan
Posts: 204
Location: Southwest Washington 98612
44
2
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
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.

 
If a tomato is a fruit, does that mean ketchup is a smoothie? What if we mix in a tiny ad?
Learn Permaculture through a little hard work
https://wheaton-labs.com/bootcamp
reply
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
Boost this thread!
Similar Threads
More...