Please - tell me why - I'm so grossed out !

[ReddWing]

This is serious, not a joking matter to minat all.
I finally made my 1st batch of soap-i did a whipped oil's floating type. I did several small differently scented & colored batches.
Some colors went from beautiful to poop colored quickly. Some colors stayed and baby powder went to dirty diaper, and so on. But I've read and I understand and even laughed over some, but what I NEED to know is why does it draw rodents ?
Seriously I thought my name was changed to Pied ! I was taking a break from making before clean up, I noticed the tops of all but 3 of my soaps not just had little foot prints all over they also had the teeth razing and couple very deep. I just wanted to cry !
I got a knife and cut 1/4-1/2 inch off the tops. My work bench is in front of me-but those things were so fast they'd gotten to them again, and again. The only one I saw was the SOB that crawled up my leg (wearing a dress too-shudder) and i sware he gave me the finger before I stopped screaming.
My son and his friend came to check on me-it took the two of them to keep them off the soap while once again I smoothed and removed some tops, put in bags and carriex inside of the house.
I'm not going to use any but the 3 they didn't get-but I did want to see the in side patterns and colors Ect.
It just made me sick.
I've not read anywhere that rodents like soap, but seriously ... wtf ????
I can't even figure out if I should laugh or start crying hysterically or what.
Has anything like this happened to anyone ? If not I might have to believe my Gran... She claimed we had wee-folk blood in us and she had smuggled some of them into the new country when she come over....I'm not ready to believe that. What happened tonight ?

 

[Swampy]

I used to work at an Aluminium extrusion plant and we used Sodium hydroxide in large vats to dissolve the ally left in the dies.The rats would eat the Sodium hydroxide straight out of the bags.They loved it.God knows why.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I used to work at an Aluminium extrusion plant and we used Sodium hydroxide in large vats to dissolve the ally left in the dies.The rats would eat the Sodium hydroxide straight out of the bags.They loved it.God knows why.

"Dats a spicy meatball!"

I take it that it killed them?

 

[Swampy]

"Dats a spicy meatball!"

I take it that it killed them?

I guess so.Maybe they turned into soap?

 

[SuzieOz]

Yes I have heard that mice like to eat home made soap. I don't know about commercial soap.

The mice that get into my workplace like eating my crayons! The wax ones, not the oil based ones.
Then they leave little coloured droppings through my craft supply cupboards.

I heard one teacher tell me they crawled up the walls to eat the pasta paintings her young students had done.

I've not yet seen one wearing a dress though ...

 

[paillo]

Several years back I made very special custom wedding soaps for a friend. Really spendy ingredients in mini hearts. We have cats and I'd never seen a mouse in the house, but went to check on them one day and half of them had been gnawed. Too late to make another batch to cure. Drat and rats! Wound up making organza gift bags with little bath salts and I can't remember what else , and there were enough soaps intact for one per guest in the bags. My most horrifying order by any stretch of the imagination, needless to say...

 

[Susie]

Rats/mice love oils. Soaps have oils. Crayons have stearic acid in them.

 

[Navaria]

Are you kidding me?? I never would have dreamed! We live in an oldish farm house on a working farm. Mice are just part of life around here. The cats do a pretty good job of keeping them at bay, but this time of year they have a full time job of it. Knock on wood, I have never seen evidence of them going after my soap. And I cure in my basement where the cats seldom go. Now that I know this, I'll have to be extra vigilant with soaps. I would be ticked if the little vermin got into them!

 

[Obsidian]

You aren't the only one who has had mice in their soap, you might have to start soaping in the house. I remember reading that castile is good to use as baits in traps.

 

[DeeAnna]

One mouse targeted my beer soap. Left the others completely alone. Go figure.

I've wondered if they're attracted to the salty taste that some soaps have more than the fats, since my superfat is consistent and on the lower side (usually 3%).

With the hope that it will make you feel less alone with this problem, here's what my mousies did:

 

[Navaria]

One mouse targeted my beer soap. Left the others completely alone. Go figure.

With the hope that it will make you feel less alone with this problem, here's what my mousies did:

Holy smokes! He was hungry! I hope the little bugger farted bubbles for a week! It would serve him right!

 

[BlackDog]

I had this happen once as well - I had put an ounce or so of leftover batter in a small cavity mold and set it in the kitchen out of the way to set up. When I walked in the next day after work, it had little mousy teeth marks in it. I was horrified lol! Went upstairs to my curing area to check and luckily that stock had not been targeted. Little mouse just really wanted some of that Black Raspberry Vanilla, I guess.

 

[KristaY]

Today I'm SO thankful I don't have mice or rats! I would freak if they decided to move in and eat soap. Not to mention the rest of the grossness they bring with them. The only time we see mice and HUGE packrats they're dead, in many pieces, in the garage. Gifts from our kitties. Those are the days my 2 outside female felines get extra hugs and treats.

 

[IrishLass]

Yikes! As with Krista, I am very thankful that we have no mice or rats in our house. The only time I've ever seen visiting vermin inside our house was when we were having hole in our roof fixed and our roof tiles replaced (a few years before I started soaping). Part of our attic was exposed to the open sky for a day or 2 while the repairs were being done, and that's when a family of mice moved in. It took about 2 weeks or so of trying different baits and traps before they were finally done in by peanut butter and spring-loaded traps.


IrishLass

 

[Arimara]

I want to say yuck but I was more fascinated than grossed out. I'm also thankful this hasn't happened to me to date. That said, I'm sorry you had that experience.

 

[TeresaT]

Nice!! Makes me kinda hungry... I found a dead rat in my toilet last year. It grossed me out. Then, to make things even worse, I went over to my dresser (which is used to store clothes from one season to the next) to pull out some things for winter, there were chew marks in the clothes. Gross!! Then, I opened the drawer where I store my tights and dead pink hairless rats were nesting in my tights. Apparently, the mother rat drowned. EVERYTHING in that dresser went into the trash. I totally freaked out on the dogs because they bark at squirrels outside, but apparently it's OK for a darned rat to move in. They listened to me rant about how stupid and lazy they were. We all felt better afterward.

 

[PerthMobility]

Add Warfrin to your batch at trace. Problem solved.

 

[Arimara]

I take it that soap doesn't kill them, huh?

 

[PerthMobility]

I am afraid not. They are well able to use the fats in soap as part of their diet. In fact they thrive on it.

If you want more info the active ingredient is Brodifacoum

 

[KristaY]

Add Warfrin to your batch at trace. Problem solved.

Seriously??? Warfarin, as in Coumadin, the blood thinner? Do they die of internal bleeding so now we have bloody mice and rats running around the house then dropping dead? What a visual......

OMG. I just read this about brodifacoum "This rodenticide is effective against warfarin resistant rats". Great. So they become resistant to it. Who knew they tested anticoagulants as rodent control. PerthMobility, that's who!