Posted by Anne-ND on November 22, 2000 at 08:38:00:
I can see a few mice if you have cats, but
HUNDREDS?!
Thanks for your help,
Anne
major extermination project - Posted by Anne-ND
Posted by Anne-ND on November 20, 2000 at 17:27:09:
Hi All-
We recently bought a large Victorian duplex at a severe discount from a very motivated seller. The first step of the renovation process is removing the pigeons from the attic and the mice from the rest of the house. The exterminator has left mouse food that will kill the mice, and pigeon food that will drive the pigeons away.
What do we do about all the little mouse corpses left behind? Normally they would run outside and die, but it’s hovering around 10 degrees these days, so I doubt they’ll be leaving. And although I haven’t been in the attic yet, a few pigeon corpses fell on top of the exterminator when he opened the attic stair. He said it was really bad up there, and he wouldn’t give me the name of anyone he recommended for the cleanup job, he just said “don’t do it yourself”.
Anyone have experience in large-scale animal clean-up? We’re talking in excess of hundreds in both cases.
What kills me is the seller had lots of cats (oh, the smell), how can you have both cats and mice?
thanks, Anne
Re: major extermination project - Posted by ScottE
Posted by ScottE on November 22, 2000 at 11:45:37:
Hi Anne!
Great to see you guys making deals!
About your mouse/pidgeon problem-you might try an online search of the heavy-duty exterminators in a large city (i.e. Chicago or New York). Surely they deal with this kind of thing often and could probably help out.
Scott
Re: major extermination project - Posted by BillW.
Posted by BillW. on November 21, 2000 at 09:21:57:
You might try asking some local high school kids if they want to make a couple hundred dollars. It’s messy and dirty. So what. That’s why you got a great deal. Be sure to wear particle masks, etc. and clean down immediately after the job. Spray down the area with a bleach solution after cleanup. Mix it 50/50 with water in a garden pump up type sprayer and spray everything. (Caution: if you have the old “knob and tube” type wiring, don’t spray that. It could cause a short circuit and/or a fire. You can tell if it’s knob and tube by looking for a set of two wires that run next to each other. They will be attached to “knobs” -small ceramic knobs like on telephone poles and where they go through wood, there will be “tubes” - small ceramic cylinders that keep the wire off the wood. The bleach solution will help kill germs and such. Good luck.
BillW.
Re: major extermination project - Posted by Laure
Posted by Laure on November 20, 2000 at 21:27:41:
We have a cat, and we still get a mouse now and then !
Look in the yellow pages for a company that does “fire damage” clean up. If they can’t do it, they will probably direct you to someone who can.
Laure 
hantavirus - Posted by Anne-ND
Posted by Anne-ND on November 22, 2000 at 08:43:12:
Bill,
Thanks for the warning about the knob and tube wiring, I didn’t know that. Rewiring will take place after extermination, so it’s something we should watch out for.
My concern about employing high school or college students is due to hantavirus. I don’t want an amateur getting in there and getting sick because they didn’t have the right equipment. I think we’ll buy some proper ventilated masks and do it ourselves or do as
Laure suggested and call the fire damage people.
I’ll wait til after Thanksgiving though, as it might ruin my turkey dinner to clean up the aviary in the attic.
Thanks, Anne