My camera shoots fascists4d ago

Bathroom remodel and pack rat eviction day.

There's been a pack rat under the bathtub and in the wall between the bathroom and my bedroom for years. It got in through the bathtub drain penetration that was never sealed up when they remodeled the place in the '90s.

It finally got too smelly to the point where even though this is not how I want to spend my time, energy and money at the moment, I couldn't ignore it anymore.

First picture is my contractor friend prying the old tub up. Second picture shows the mass of pack rat poop, cactus thorns and nest material that had accumulated under there. The red things are from a bush I have outside called Sophora davidii. It has gorgeous cobalt flowers and beige pods full of bright red seeds. They are not edible, but I think the pack rat just thinks they're pretty.

#Remodel #Gross #Remodeling #JoysOfHomeOwnership

Show threadMy camera shoots fascists4d ago

I was wearing an N95 respirator, but once I got into it I was seriously wishing I had put on a Tyvek suit. After several rounds of sweeping and cleaning and scooping and vacuuming, with an exhaust fan blowing dust out through the window, I took my clothes off in the laundry room and went straight to the shower.

Now Michael is in there bleach mopping the whole room. We're gonna let it dry out before going back in and doing more work.

Show threadMy camera shoots fascists4d ago

Rat shit around here may contain Hantavirus and Leptospira bacteria.

The nests are also home to "kissing bugs" (family Triatominae) that spread Chagas Disease. The kissing bugs feed on your blood and poop on your skin. When you itch the bites, possibly unconsciously in your sleep, you can spread the feces into the wound, providing an entryway for the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi that causes Chagas disease.

I knew this was gonna be a big, gross job, which is why I had put it off for so long. But doing a search for what illnesses pack rats in Southern Arizona might carry, plus the increasing smell, was enough to convince me that It Is Time.

And just for fun they were cockroaches living under there too.

Show threadCedar Fen Farm Cedar Fen Farm

@Mikal

You need snakes. They clean out rats.

Apr 4 at 2:26amWeb
Show threadMy camera shoots fascists4d ago

@oldoldcojote

If you look at my #BikeHerping hashtag you'll see that I regularly go out at night with lights on my bicycle on the back roads and look for snakes just for fun. I have seriously considered grabbing the first big giant gopher snake I find and letting it go under there. But it doesn't really matter, because then the snake would get hungry again and leave and eventually another pack rat would find its way into that opening. Even without the rat, the years of poo had to be cleaned out and the opening sealed up.

Show threadCedar Fen Farm Cedar Fen Farm4d ago

@Mikal

I've been trying to import enough gopher snakes onto my herbacide free farm to take care of the enormous rat population that descends on us from the neighboring industrial dairies. The fields around me get sprayed so nothing migrates in. I've had some success.