Date:         Thu, 3 Jun 1999 18:27:05 -0700
Reply-To:     Brent Christensen <bpchristensen@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Brent Christensen <bpchristensen@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject:      Re: Rodent smell
Comments: To: Scott Curtis <SCurtis269@AOL.COM>

**Warning: this e-mail contains graphic descriptions of rodent mortality,***

We had a nice big rat nest in one of our outside walls right behind the
kitchen sink.  I managed to kill one with D-Con, which of course died
*inside* the wall space.  I realized this after about a week (for reasons
you can imagine).  (BTW, I killed the other one with a hand trowel when I
caught him eating the dog's food.  Chased him around the patio while my wife
screamed and tried to follow us with a flashlight - boy did I feel like a
Great White Hunter)

Anyway, now I had to deal with the smell of the urine, feces, AND
decomposing rat.  What a stench!  I opened up the wall, and cleared out the
mess wearing goggles, rubber gloves, and a respirator, then sprayed the area
with a 1/2 & 1/2 bleach/water solution.  After that dried, I sprayed it with
a medium-strength solution of Simple Green.   After that dried, the smell
was pretty much gone.  I think the Simple Green does a pretty good job of
masking smells.

Too little, too late, but I would imagine a Cardinal Rule of Westy storage
is to not keep any food in there while it is stored.  I have also read in
the archives about mouse-proofing a Westy.


Brent Christensen
'89 Syncro Westy "Klaus"
'95 Cherokee Sport


----- Original Message -----
From: Scott Curtis <SCurtis269@AOL.COM>
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 1999 1:07 PM
Subject: Rodent smell