FOUL!!!!!!!

[deeptubes]

My wife and I were looking for our daughter's pacifier. She had it this evening on the first floor. We looked all over, no luck. Started moving stuff, no dice. So I went digging deep. Sometimes she puts things in odd places. I begin to pull apart the mancave. I move my cases leaning in the corner of the mancave. I don't gig anymore, so they haven't been moved in about 4 months. When I pulled them out, I discovered an impressive pile of either rat or large mouse poop. I looked all over and couldn't find how they were getting in. A wave rushed over me. What if they were nesting in my gear? I inspected the cases, which were latched, no damage. I checked the gig bags inside and out, no damage. On the floor nearby, I have a 2x12 sub box. I picked it up and shook it, got nothing. I shined a flashlight in the ports, clean and empty. Looked in my 8x10 port, clean and empty. Looked in the port of my 210 combo, clean and empty. All of the droppings were confined to that one corner. They were about 3/8". We have a Mainecoon cat that loves to hunt - mice, rats, rabbits, birds, squirrels, voles, lizards, snakes. We find unknown innards in the house regularly. Sometimes he brings them in alive and toys with them. On rare occasions, they escape his death grasp. I'm guessing one got away and found a haven amongst the cases, as the cat can't get back there. We also keep the dog's bowls in the cave, so it had access to food and water. I showed my wife, and she told me she discovered a mysterious blood stain on the rug about a week and a half ago. It seems that Ruffie must have re-captured the one that got away. Of course I cleaned up the droppings, and I'll be completely breaking down the mancave and cleaning it top to bottom tomorrow (saturday).

Prepare yourself, and scroll down. I am thoroughly disgusted. I can't believe that nastiness was inside my house. The shiny thing is a dime.

[champbassist]

Note to self - never keep open acoustics in ignored nooks of the house.

[Munjibunga]

Gag me with a spoon.

[Thick McRunfast]

No dry sweeping please.

Here's how to clean up -- http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/cleaning/

[TundraMan]

I played a gig a couple years ago where the headlining band was supplying the PA. They set up a microphone for me (I'm also the lead singer) and when I stepped up to it a foul smell about knocked me over. Turns out, the band hadn't played in a while and mice had made a nest in the box with their mics.

I didn't have my own mic with me to swap out. Lesson learned.

My brother (our drummer) complained about the smell of the mic between every song. However I was the one who had to stick my face in it for a couple hours.

The show must go on...

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Meh, I live in an older tennement building, you pretty used to seeing mice or traces of them being there!

I took my PC apart to changeout the motherboard battery recently and there was quite a number of mouse droppings in the case :-\ (case has ports for water cooling hoses, so they must have been getting in through there).

Keep a tab on them to see if more appear, though sounds like your cat has probabaly been taking care of business!

[JimB52]

That ain't no mouse. Unless it's this one -

[giorob815]

Wait, wait, wait. You have a cat who regularly disembowels small animals in your house, come across unknown blood stains w/ a shrug, but some poop bothers you? Ok, granted, it's a decent amount, but I'm really not seeing the upchuck factor here. Acronyms.

Rob

[deeptubes]

Mancave has been emptied, scrubbed, re-arranged, and re-assembled.

My house is 75 years old. Droppings in the house disturbs me. I've found droppings under the dishwasher, but never in a living space before. We recently had the wall under the sink and dishwasher redone, so those areas are tight now. I've seen a massive possum run into my crawl space. I was very surprised at how quick it was. It's body was about 10" in diameter and just the body was about 2 feet long. I would guess it was about 30 lbs. And I saw my 120 lb wolf hybrid break that possum's neck in less than 2 seconds with just one jerk of his head. I had a new respect for him after that. That's not the only one he's eliminated. I've also found 2 other carcasses in the back yard over the years.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Did you see any trails (granted, not as easy on a hard floor)?

If there are no gaps, your idea of it being an escapee from the cat could be quite likely.

If pets are unlikely to be around there, bait and set some traps, just see if anything appears over the next week.