What to do with food that was in a pantry...

[Granny square]

Lol, have you looked at how many rat hairs are allowed in your peanut butter?

Basing a decision on a hanta virus issue rather than the billion aid mice that randomly liv win stores homes warehouses etc is pretty much reaching.

Let your mom deal with her own issue the way she wants. She sounds like she has a better sense of logic and history.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Wow. We have mice all the time it seems (live next to three fields of corn/beans). If I had to throw everything out every time I saw a mouse turd, I would be broke!

I live in a bedroom community now, but I've lived in the woods and I've lived next to a big meadow. If we tossed all our food every time we saw a mouse in the house, we'd've gone broke!

(This is also why it is good to have at least one cat who has enough barn or feral cat in him/her to make a good mouser! Only the dumb mice come in and they never leave <insert evil mu-hah-ha here>.)

 

[North of Mouse]

that mouse droppings were found?
I was visiting parents, and was getting something out of the food pantry when I noticed what I thought were mouse droppings in the bottom. Upon our investigation we found alot of droppings on jars and cans and packages.
I put on a pair of gloves and we removed all the food.

I am of the opinion that everything in there should be thrown out. My mom refuses to throw out perfectly good food just because there were mouse droppings on the outside of the package. She said she can wash off cans and jars and its okay. I said well what about the cardboard packages? She said well if she doesnt see droppings on them they are fine. I said its obvious the mouse or mice were all over everything even if there is no droppings on them how do you know they didnt pee on the cardboard and such. I said what about the viruses and such that could be on these packages? She said "stop over reacting" and said she was not throwing out food period to the point of her getting mad.

Am I over reacting or is she just refusing to accept she needs to throw it out because she doesnt want to throw out "perfectly good food"

Wow, talk about lots of over reactions on this subject!

Do you all wash the tops of cans before opening them? I do, because the lid often falls down into the contents, and you never know what has come in contact with them in stores - yes, as others have said, there ARE mice and roaches (gross) that touch them before you ever buy them!

All your mom needs to do (as pp's have advised) is to wash the cans with a bleach solution, and wipe down all unopened boxes. Throw out opened things. Treat/mouse proof house and areas that are allowing access. Wipe down the pantry, put out traps near the door, catch the mice that slips by these precautions.

For the over reactors, do you not think that they are possibly running over your clean dishes, cooking utensils, etc. in the process of finding food????

I have a feeling that a lot of you are much younger than this mom (and myself) and haven't seen/experienced some of the things we have. Also, 'many' people have dogs/cats inside the house - do you think they are always 100% clean? I've seen babies being licked by dogs that (the dogs) have recently licked their behinds. Now, to me that is as disgusting as this subject.

 

[Granny square]

I live in a bedroom community now, but I've lived in the woods and I've lived next to a big meadow. If we tossed all our food every time we saw a mouse in the house, we'd've gone broke!

(This is also why it is good to have at least one cat who has enough barn or feral cat in him/her to make a good mouser! Only the dumb mice come in and they never leave <insert evil mu-hah-ha here>.)

Hahahahaha. Indoor kitties at my house. But we live on the edge of the woods. I'd take a little list mouse (and trap him!) over giant flippin wood spiders any day of the week!!

 

[Minnesota!]

I would keep any cans/jars that and wash them before opening them. Any boxes that have an inner plastic bag that is unopened I would keep ( but throw away the cardboard box). Everything else would be gone.

A lot of over reactions on this thread.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

This. Wash off the jars/cans. Most box stuff has inside bags anyway. If the package is not damaged (holes, tears) it's fine. Opened stuff I would throw out.

Same here.

That being said, OP, go and get trash cans and locking lid type storage and put all of your clean stuff into that until you rid the house of rodents.

In addition look in all the drawers. I find that to be one of their favorite nesting places.

After that you need to search out how they are getting in. When it is night use a flashlight in the house with someone outside to find any space to the outside. Basically if you see light it is exposed. Fix or use steel wool to block their entrance/exits. Pay attention to cabinets esp. under sink cabinets. Look for the mouse holes.

Also if you do not want to use food a little trick about capturing them with a trap is to use a half QTIP.

 

[NHdisneylover]

A lot of over reactions on this thread.

Yep--I think it is the same sort of culture of worry/fear that leads to running to eh doctor with every sniffle (there is another thread about that).

 

[kamik86]

When we first moved into our house there was mice droppings on alot of stuff. 3 cats have since made the problem much smaller but we still have some spots to clean out again (cleaned before we moved in but the mice were still in the house) What I did is any empty containers get washed in the dishwasher any jars or things with bags that had no holes were fine... cans were fine... so must stuff we kept.

In addition to the grocery store comment... you do know the number of maggots etc allowed in food by the FDA isn't 0 right? Given that I can't imagine the number of droppings is either...

 

[Granny square]

Best thin to put on a trap is half of a little tootsie roll. Smush until soft then wrap it around the little piece of "cheese". They have to tug hard to get it!

 

[U2_rocks!]

Wow. We have mice all the time it seems (live next to three fields of corn/beans). If I had to throw everything out every time I saw a mouse turd, I would be broke!

No kidding!

 

[Piper]

As someone who is living on a retirement income, I have to say that maybe your mother cannot afford to replace all her food. If I were you, I would make a list and go buy it for her. I would also get square containers to put the boxes of new food into. Just take out the inside bags, cut off the directions and put them into the containers.

 

[Shutterbug]

We didnt wear masks while pulling the food and such out(didnt know we should). Ya think the chances of contracting the Hantavirus is pretty low? According to the map there has been zero reports in the Ohio area, so I would think that would be the case.

This is what she is doing. The cans and jars she is going to wash and clean and hopefully sterilize as well. She is taking the food that is in out of the cardboard containers and putting it into a bag as long as that food was also enclosed in a packaging inside the box. Food that was in plastic packaging but not open she is putting into into new bags and throwing out the packaging.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Best thin to put on a trap is half of a little tootsie roll. Smush until soft then wrap it around the little piece of "cheese". They have to tug hard to get it!

That is a good one.

We liked using the qtips because it does not spoil. Mice love bedding and will tug at a qtip. Cut it in half and place in the trap, fuzzy side out.

 

[Ponygirl]

I live in the country and occasionally the nasty little vermin come to visit. I used to set out traps with some success. Finally, a plumber was nice enough to tell me about these;

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Farnam-1-lb-Mice-and-Rat-Bait-Chunks-3006274/100662166

They come under different brand names but they REALLY work. He told me that what you want to do is keep the mice from coming inside and advised me to chunk these under the house and in the garage. Keep them away from animals but it doesn't take long. I have never found any dead mice nor smelled them. They just eat and go away and die.....Yay!

I hate those meeces to pieces.

 

[Granny square]

That is a good one.

We liked using the qtips because it does not spoil. Mice love bedding and will tug at a qtip. Cut it in half and place in the trap, fuzzy side out.

My husband will love this suggestion. Remembering to buy tootsie rolls is our downfall.

 

[crz4mm2]

Thanks alot you guys.
Opened the silver ware drawer and lo and behold mouse droppings.....

 

[scrapquitler]

Thanks alot you guys.
Opened the silver ware drawer and lo and behold mouse droppings.....

Toss them in the dishwasher with a little bleach, use air heat dry cycle as well. The most important thing is to try to figure out how the mice are getting in the house and close up those holes.

 

[MomofKatie]

Dealing with any little "home invaders" is no fun. We had a problem with ants and other creepy crawlies several years ago. We now take all dry goods out of cardboard boxes, bags, etc as soon as they come in the house and put them into airtight glass canisters or heavyweight Tupperware containers. We also have a few metal containers with tight fitting lids for things like bread, flour, and pet food. Keeps the contents safe and the critters out!

 

[crz4mm2]

Toss them in the dishwasher with a little bleach, use air heat dry cycle as well. The most important thing is to try to figure out how the mice are getting in the house and close up those holes.

I wish I could figure out where they are coming in. We have a very old farmhouse.... I am sure it is full of places.

 

[Lilliputian]

I agree that it's safe to keep the food if you just follow some basic safety precautions. One other one that you might consider is getting her one of those can openers that doesn't leave a sharp edge because the lid doesn't go into can as much with those can openers. It's possible if you drop it or something, but it usually doesn't. I bought mine after I cut myself on a can and needed stitches. I wish I'd switched much earlier. I love the way they work, although every once in a while I do have problems with tomato products.