What IS this?

**Toby's my baby** · 02-16-2007, 09:46 PM

Well, I'm guessing its a meal worm, thank god. At first I thought it was a worm from one of the dogs or something, but then I saw the legs. I killed it a long time ago. I picked it up with a kleenex, cut off his head, and rolled a pen over its body to squish it just in case.

It's kinda weird that it was in my bedroom though..

O well, I just hope I don't find anymore!

**areias** · 02-16-2007, 09:50 PM

Looks like a meal worm to me, too. No harm.

To kill mice-the most effective thing is "rat poison"...small green block things, they will eat and die. I do NOT however recommend doing this with the dogs in the house-if they eat a block *or* a dead mouse, they will become very ill. I only recommend it if you have a pet free home for a while, and can handle little mouse bodys bleeding all over your house. Otherwise, sticky traps worked for us a while back. Is there anyway you can find where they are coming from? Walk around your house and check your foundation for apparant holes, if you find any then use steel wool in the hole.

**coco-bean** · 02-16-2007, 09:59 PM

Originally Posted by areias

Looks like a meal worm to me, too. No harm.

To kill mice-the most effective thing is "rat poison"...small green block things, they will eat and die. I do NOT however recommend doing this with the dogs in the house-if they eat a block *or* a dead mouse, they will become very ill. I only recommend it if you have a pet free home for a while, and can handle little mouse bodys bleeding all over your house. Otherwise, sticky traps worked for us a while back. Is there anyway you can find where they are coming from? Walk around your house and check your foundation for apparant holes, if you find any then use steel wool in the hole.

BLEEDING?????
i put the poison in cabinets with closed doors and im making the dogs stay in the same room as me so they dont go sniffing for anything!
I would set traps for them but im too affraid to see them. I know i know, it sounds like im contridicting myself when i say im not scared then i am scared and so on. But im not scared like OMG DONT KILL ME, but scared like EWW gross their loose in my house touching my stuff.
I just dont want to see them struggling in the traps on even have to pick them up when their dead to dispose of them. Of course if the dogs were even thinking about sniffing them i'd pick them up, but just a preference to not touch them @ ALL!!
i dont really want to go to bed either, i was told when it gets quite they come out...well if they come out and im sleeping that means they could die in the open...then im gonna have to see them! YUCK! plus my boyfriend is gone out of state so that mean im gonna have to get rid of them with my own two hands!!
(just talking about it makes me wanna throw up, but i've never had a mouse problem before)

**coco-bean** · 02-16-2007, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by BOBS DAD

CoCoBean... on a very serious note. Most house mice are merely field mice which come indoors to get out of the cold. They are relatively harmless and far more frightened by you than you of they.

Put out your poison and set your traps (there are a variety of mouse traps which do not snap and kill them - one is the famous mouse house) and don't be afraid too much.

My boyfriend told me about them coming in when it's cold...and so that made me feel better but then i think about them crawling on my clean clothes, and on my counter where my food is...plus around my dogs(which i know they could prolly take care of themselves, with the size thing you know) but still.
i just dont want to wake up and have one sitting on my chest looking at me...or like i step down outa bed and theres like a million on my carpet overrunning my house! YUCK!(i kinda have a wild imagination when it comes to stuff like this...i always think the worst as you can tell) (bad habbit i know, im working on it haha)

**elizabethann** · 02-16-2007, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by coco-bean

i just dont want to wake up and have one sitting on my chest looking at me...or like i step down outa bed and theres like a million on my carpet overrunning my house! YUCK!(i kinda have a wild imagination when it comes to stuff like this...i always think the worst as you can tell) (bad habbit i know, im working on it haha)

You've seen too many horror movies.

But on a serious note, good luck.

**areias** · 02-16-2007, 10:07 PM

Sending you a PM Cocobean-I would rather not share this with the whole forum.

**coco-bean** · 02-16-2007, 10:13 PM

Originally Posted by areias

Sending you a PM Cocobean-I would rather not share this with the whole forum.

Anxiously awaiting the message arrival

**ramanth** · 02-16-2007, 11:24 PM

Definately a meal worm. Shame you didn't have any geckos or bearded dragons for pets. They love 'em!

**AdoreMyDogs** · 02-16-2007, 11:34 PM

Lol it's a harmless meal worm. The only thing that is in danger is the pile of Quaker Oats and maybe the slice of apple laying around

**buttercup132** · 02-17-2007, 12:52 AM

Originally Posted by ramanth

Definately a meal worm. Shame you didn't have any geckos or bearded dragons for pets. They love 'em!

That's what I was thinking. When I had repis I would love to have found a nice juicy FREE meal worm. Those things can get expensive.
BOBSDAD you seem to have gotten very immature latley...

**Twisterdog** · 02-17-2007, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by BOBS DAD

...Put out your poison and set your traps (there are a variety of mouse traps which do not snap and kill them - one is the famous mouse house) and don't be afraid too much.

CocoBean .... Do NOT take this advice! I'm am telling you from personal experience, DO NOT put out rat or mouse poison in a house where dogs or cats live! EVER!

When I bought my first house, the previous owners had left some blocks of mouse poison (D-Con) in the crawl space under the basement. I had no idea it was there. When we were moving in, my dad was putting some seldom-used items down there for me, and my dog was, of course, following him around and exploring the new place. He found a block of poison and ate it. My dad fortunatly saw him, and we rushed him to the emergency vet so they could induce vomiting and pump his stomach full of charcoal. The vet proceeded to tell me about all the dogs and cats he had treated that were not so fortunate.

Mouse and rat poison is a chemical called warfarin. It is a blood thinner. It is exactly the same ingredient as the human prescription blood-thinner Cumidin, used by heart patients to keep their blood thin after heart sugery. My mom is on it. But the human dosage is VERY small compared to the amount in poison. The mouse or rat eats it, and it does nothing at all for a bit. Then it causes massive internal bleeding, and the animal literally bleeds to death from the inside out. If your dogs were to eat the poison or the dead mice that have eaten it, it could potentially be very harmful or fatal to them. My vet said by the time you see the bleeding, most times too much damage has been done to save the animal.

INCREDIBLY irresponsible advice, BobsDad. Potentially deadly advice. Do some research before telling someone to do something that could potentially kill their pets.

**Miss Z** · 02-17-2007, 12:25 PM

I'm pretty surprised how this thread has turned out. Four whole pages! And all for the sake of one little mealworm

.

I hope that you're OK, Beth, after all this.

**Twisterdog** · 02-17-2007, 09:29 PM

Originally Posted by BOBS DAD

INCREDIBLE THAT YOU WOULD ACT SO INDIGNANT AND ALL KNOWING.

It is COMMON SENSE to not put poison around anywhere where your dog or cat can access it!!! That part would seem to be obvious. I guess I should also tell you not to eat any of it yourself.

If you had read the entire posts you would have seen that this suggestion was already made and that I was merely reiterating the comment. If you use poison you have to place it in your floorboards or crawlspaces under the foundation - where the mice are actually entering your structure. If you believe this to be an unsafe and unwise choice for you then by all means, do NOT. But do not be so presumptious to suggest that everyone is naive and irresponsible in their efforts to eradicate a few troublesome mice by very conventional methods.

And yes, Warfarin is actually a blood thinner that causes clots from forming or platelets to build up causing blockage in the arteries. I am also on it. Thanks for the education and post clarification. I think yours was a very worthwhile addition to the thread, although I believe you could have left your personal jabs out!

Are you serious?? YES, I AM indignant when I read assinine, incorrect and dangerous pet advice given on a pet related site. As for being all-knowing, again I ask, are you serious? I spoke on one very specific topic that I have personal experience with ... and suddenly I am "all-knowing"? Give me a break.

Of COURSE it's common sense to put poison where dogs can't get it. I hardly think that you needed to mention that. No one is stupid. However, has there NEVER been a case of a dog getting into something that an owner was SURE was out of his reach? Gee, dogs are never sneaky, clever, or just plain unlucky, huh?

And we will all make sure to tell those mice to be sure and drag their bleeding little bodies to a safe and secure place to die. Dying is ONLY allowed in crawlspaces and floorboards, mice, listen up! How rude, 'naive and irresponsible' of them to die where our dogs might find them and eat them! So everyone, make sure your mice know precisely where they can and cannot die before you poison them, says the all-knowing one.

**Kfamr** · 02-16-2007, 09:48 PM

Glad you've gotten it taken care of, Beth. Maybe one of the dogs brought it in? My dogs play with bugs all the time.

Originally Posted by BOBS DAD

OK... don't listen to me. Who am I???

You're the same as the rest of us here who believe it to be a harmless mealworm. However, you claim it to be a "knarp worm" which no one has heard of or been able to find any information on whatsoever.