what "was" it?

[Dutch445]

taking a couple interior walls down in our basement, and there was something different
between 2 specific studs, down on the pt bottom plate:

 

[Dutch445]

it had this grey color of dust/debris. i thought it was lint at first,
there are heating ducts that run above where the wall was. (so no
top plate, all hidden above a drop ceiling)
here's a closer picture of the stuff:

 

[MH8675309]

Could have been a mouse nest,, Stranger things have happened.

 

[xtn]

Looks like fur to me.

 

[dusty3030]

Does it taste more metallic / acidic or is it more earthy/ sweet?

 

[brin]

Does it taste more metallic / acidic or is it more earthy/ sweet?

:laughing:

 

[Dutch445]

ewwwwwwwww

didn't smell very good, i'll tell you that!
although not as bad as something with less time to decompose

 

[Dutch445]

we live in the country so critters find their way in.
they must have used those metal heat ducts above that
wall and maybe slipped and fell down, or jumped thinking there was something good
to eat on that "plate" ....lol

funny thing about that area, we have a cat that stays on the main floor, and every once
in a while he'd venture down while we were doing laundry, and sometimes he'd stay for a little
while until we realized it and let him back up. he had been scratching the sheetrock on the outside
of that area of the wall, just above the baseboard molding, now i know why!

 

[dusty3030]

we live in the country so critters find their way in.
they must have used those metal heat ducts above that
wall and maybe slipped and fell down, or jumped thinking there was something good
to eat on that "plate" ....lol

funny thing about that area, we have a cat that stays on the main floor, and every once
in a while he'd venture down while we were doing laundry, and sometimes he'd stay for a little
while until we realized it and let him back up. he had been scratching the sheetrock on the outside
of that area of the wall, just above the baseboard molding, now i know why!

Amazing what they(animals) know and we don't sometimes aint it.

 

[dave1949]

Are those some sort of worm/larva? The black and pale yellow banded things?

The gray lint-looking stuff I don't recognize. Maybe the larva are from some web-making types.

 

[Dutch445]

those look like little worms, maybe fly larvea?
but the grey would have been the fur from the meeces!

 

[dave1949]

Those meeces are tricky. I was working on my propane boiler and found two well-toasted meeces in the exhaust flue.

I have no idea how they got there, or how long ago. I would swear it isn't possible for them to get into that flue.

 

[forgeblast]

Might have been a squirrel. Looks like something got in there and died.

 

[MossRoad]

I saw what appeared to be a rib cage in there in the left of the last photo.... could have been a mouse mob hit burial site!

 

[Dutch445]

I see rib cages, spines w tails, skulls. Pretty gross actually. Makes me wonder how long they have been there. I've owned the home 1.5 yrs . Built in 2002 or so. Not so sure when these basement walls were built but this portion is gone now.
No plans to tear any more down as of now.

 

[tractchores]

Yup, it's an ancient mouse burrial ground! They disintegrate, but the smell never seems to quite go away... I have one that's been between two walls for years now. I can just barely see it through a crack, but cannot get to it, so just check in on it once a year or so. Interestingly my cat also sits outside that wall at night...

I wonder if you had some kind of trap with the duct work at the top with multiple mice falling in over the years. Fly larvae and worms and some kind of casings they leave behind would be typical too. Usually if we start to see flies I go looking and find a dead mouse somewhere.

 

[Dutch445]

i thought the same thing about the ductwork being like those traps where they
fall in and can't get out.
then again, once one died down there, would others look to follow their nose
to an easy meal? or, their last supper?????

 

[RobertBrown]

I think they are long gone. The problem was very apparent at one time and someone fixed it but did not go to the extent of ripping out walls.
One thing about rodents: If they thrived there once they will be back. I suggest you take steps to limit their numbers. You need to encourage those that prey on mice to stick around.
Here we have lots of snakes. I encourage and even import the nonvenomous varieties. Not sure what you may have there. You may need keep traps baited or a rodenticide about to keep the numbers down. This has some problems associated with it. Since you have a cat and perhaps some other pets, chemical solutions are potentially problematic.
Whatever the previous owners did will not last forever. Hopefully they sealed the entrances so you won't have to worry about that.

 

[turnkey4099]

Those meeces are tricky. I was working on my propane boiler and found two well-toasted meeces in the exhaust flue.

I have no idea how they got there, or how long ago. I would swear it isn't possible for them to get into that flue.

I once watched a mouse squeeze into my basement though a mortar gap in the concrete block wall. Those joints are usually only 3/8" wide!

Try trouble shooting and fixing a "power out" problem in a well house. I found a mouse in the breaker box well fused across the power strip. Whata mess cleaning that up.

Also the spring I hooked up my irrigation system (pumping out of a creek). In the fall I would disconnect the pump and leave the pipe laying on the ground. That spring I hooked everything back up and then spent a couple hours cleaning shredded mouse out of a couple sprinkler heads

Harry K

 

[Dutch445]

I think they are long gone. The problem was very apparent at one time and someone fixed it but did not go to the extent of ripping out walls.
One thing about rodents: If they thrived there once they will be back. I suggest you take steps to limit their numbers. You need to encourage those that prey on mice to stick around.
Here we have lots of snakes. I encourage and even import the nonvenomous varieties. Not sure what you may have there. You may need keep traps baited or a rodenticide about to keep the numbers down. This has some problems associated with it. Since you have a cat and perhaps some other pets, chemical solutions are potentially problematic.
Whatever the previous owners did will not last forever. Hopefully they sealed the entrances so you won't have to worry about that.

i've found and closed a few of their access points, but you are right, they are hard to keep out. i have 2 large out buildings, and they have quite a few also. i do leave
poison out there for them, as i keep the camper/boat/tractors/snowmobiles/trailers etc in those buildings.

SO is deathly afraid of snakes, ANY kind, and has yet to see on one our property. when she does, it sort of ends all my yard work help, so i hope she doesn't look too hard