To throw away two frying pans and a saucepan that I found mouse droppings in this morning

[mimimilk]

Dp thinks i am and WW3 has broken out this morning as i am now not able to make the pancakes everyone wanted for breakfast!

The most annoying thing is its because Dp has left open sacks of dry dog food in the pan cupboard that we have attracted mice in (we live in a rural area). Up to now I have been 'sterilising' things as best i can but it was the last straw this morning.
he moved the food a few months ago saying 'they won't come back now the foods gone'. i told him then that of course they would and please could he block up the hole int he back of the cupboard but he has not done it yet.

he has now stormed off but not before engineering a row about me being 'depressed' that i cannot make the effing pancakes'

Wash the pans and give them a good scrub.
You don't need to throw them away.

Food- yes, materials and stuff, yes,
but metal pans, no.

Enjoy the panckaes

YABU - you don't need to throw the pans away, just give them a good wash.

BUT your DP (or you) should defo block the hole up and look into ways of getting rid of the mice.

Why on Earth would you THROW AWAY two good frying pans and a saucepan when you can wash them out?

I don't buy cheap cookware, so I'll be damned if I'm going to throw it away except when it's completely and utterly done.

Oh my god have just scared myself half to death reading about something called hanta virus (admittedly in USA) that is virtually 100% lethal to humans and IS FOUND IN MOUSE DROPPINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

was it a House script?

The moment you turn your oven on, butter or oil in your frying pans, they will be totally sanitized (provided you have washed them first)

DO not throw away your frying pans.

(I use a cooking pot for my kids to be sick in during D&Vs for this very reason - I just boil them out after, it cant be any cleaner than that!)

Mp ewhat do you mean 'House script'?

I think you're insane to throw away your pans. Just wash them. And go and get mice traps. Blocking up holes isn't going to make them go away. I expect they live in your house now.

Wash the pans.

Mimi, I'm from an area that has hantavirus.

It's from the droppings of a species of deer mouse you don't even have in the UK.

It's also not 100% fatal, although it does have a high mortality rate.

please do not throw them away

wash them thoroughly
buy mouse traps and mars bar
you block up the hole

Cant you board up the hole of the back of the cupboard if your dh is unable to??

Why would you throw them away? Wash them in hot soapy water, boil some water in them if that makes you feel better, and cook away!

Hi Expat
thanks for the info!
I am not a clen freak, honest! And I can't keep affording to buy new pans, its just the though of actual poo being in the pans thats making me feel sick about it!

Poo per se is fine (have been a nurse for 13 years so don't really mind it- in the right place lol!) just not in thre pans.

At least not in imminent danger of dying of hantavirus lol!! The dangers of googling!

All the people who've gotten hantavirus, too, have been in an outdoor setting - camping, trailrunning (one of the first cases was in a teenage American Indian track athlete), cleaning out a garage or barn, that sort of thing.

Mouse poo is fine, honestly. Just wash them.

I had pet mice as a child and they used to poo on my hands. I would just wash them afterwards. I'm still alive

Not just unreasonable, but also wasteful and hysterical.

Hey, raw chicken can contain harmful bacteria too, maybe you should throw your pans away every time they come in to contact with chicken? And pork. And rice. And eggs.

I'll take them off your hands

I agree with lawks
stop arguing with your dh

fill the hole yourself so no more come in then buy traps to catch the ones living in your house

wash the pans and stop being so silly

Give the pans a good wash; they'll be fine. Block the hole up yourself and get some humane mousetraps in. Make sure you check them daily and release any mice a reasonably long way from your house so you don't get them making their way back home!

I can totally understand the want to throw them away. I found mouse droppings all over my entire collection of casserole dishes and bowls etc.

BTW apparently mice are incontinent so they wee everywhere. Don't just wash where the poo is...wash everywhere that they might have been.

Anyway I did wash all my dishes etc. Made dh block the hole up and now keep my dishes somewhere very far away from potential mice. I sterilised them as best i could and threw away the dishcloth I used to clean them with.

You can get this squirty expanding foam stuff (polycell make it) which you just spray in the hole and it fills it up. nice and easy although not particularly attractive but it does the job!

Also give your cupboards a really really good cleaning with some disinfectant and then when you put your clean pans away, put them in UPSIDE DOWN.

It seems really obvious when someone says it, but when I had a mouse problem a friend recommended this. No more mousies in my pans. Also I killed the little buggers with a stack of poison and then bought a cat

I read somewhere that the best thing to fill the holes to keep the critters away is wirewool, do you have any brillo pads?