Rodent disaster

[Peterjay]

Just out of interest, what does a rodenty smell, smell like?

I have my boxes/frames in a shed. I have caught a couple of mice in the last few months, but luckily no damage to any boxes, comb etc.

I’ve sealed any gaps I can see, so hopefully that’s the end of them.

My other shed at the apiary site wouldn’t be as secure (corrugated roof), so I don’t tend to store much equipment there. But not seen any signs or smells of rodents yet.

Other than droppings and nibbling, what else should you be looking out for?

It's very hard to describe a smell. In the case of mouse activity it's more of a benchmark niff that I would use to give comparison for other pongs. It's not pleasant, but even when you know that it's mice, you are unlikely to find it puke-inducing either. You won't need to have a description of the smell of a several day's dead mouse; you will just know something is wrong. Both smells are forever recognisable after first experiencing them.

 

[Macbear]

There are likely to be statistics about the number of rat deaths caused by gnawing electric cables!

Shocking if there are not!

 

[Garry R]

It's very hard to describe a smell. In the case of mouse activity it's more of a benchmark niff that I would use to give comparison for other pongs. It's not pleasant, but even when you know that it's mice, you are unlikely to find it puke-inducing either. You won't need to have a description of the smell of a several day's dead mouse; you will just know something is wrong. Both smells are forever recognisable after first experiencing them.

Can only agree. Some years ago we had a terrible smell in the house and it gradually went away over a week or two. Realised it was a rat between floors in the house but would have been expensive and a huge upheaval to investigate. The whole thing was resolved and over when the bluebottles stopped flying out of vents in the bathroom. It really was disgusting. Never got to the bottom of how or where they got in but it has never happened since thank God

 

[juno]

I think you had Beavers.

 

[Peterjay]

Can only agree. Some years ago we had a terrible smell in the house and it gradually went away over a week or two. Realised it was a rat between floors in the house but would have been expensive and a huge upheaval to investigate. The whole thing was resolved and over when the bluebottles stopped flying out of vents in the bathroom. It really was disgusting. Never got to the bottom of how or where they got in but it has never happened since thank God

In a previous job I frequently went into otherwise perfect houses that had been unoccupied for a number of weeks. As well as the tell-tale mouse smells that my nose had become an expert on, there was often another infestation indicator on ceilings. Dead rodents that eventually liquify as they decay, can leave a stain from their bodily fluids as they soak through the plasterboard. Yuck!

 

[Swarm]

There are likely to be statistics about the number of rat deaths caused by gnawing electric cables!

I remember discovering a rat problem in Pontypridd with a number of telecom cables gnawed and causing faults.