# Mice in my smoker.



## Jr 1968 (Apr 3, 2019)

I have a char griller barrel. I went out today to find a big mice
nest on the charcoal grate & pan, I haven't used it since last
fall.
It smells horrid, what do I use to sanitize it and get the smell
out?

Thanks,
jr 1968


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## zwiller (Apr 3, 2019)

Scrape and clean it as much as you can and then give it a nice long high temp smoke sans meat.  Don't stick anything to eat in it until it smells good.


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## Nole4L (Apr 3, 2019)

I don't really know much about your smoker but I would try getting up to temp then hitting the cooking chamber with a fine spray of water to steam it. That's what I do after every cook to keep mine clean.  I don't know that it will be effective in this instance but essentially it steam cleans the cook chamber.  Agree with zwiller that I'd also have a nice long high temp smoke before I cooked anything else in it.


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## zippy12 (Apr 3, 2019)

big mice or rats


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## dacfan (Apr 3, 2019)

get it as hot as you can and let it go for a long time, if you have a propane torch I'd probably hit it with that also. You have to make sure its sanitary. good luck to you.


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## gmc2003 (Apr 3, 2019)

Physically clean it out the best you can, then pressure wash it. After it's dried run it at as high a temp as you can. I would put the fire in the CC as well as the fire box. 

Chris


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## Jr 1968 (Apr 3, 2019)

Thank You Guy's. I don't have access to a pressure washer. But when
I get the nest a stuff out, should I clean with some type of
cleaner and hose it off and put everything back together
and fire it up?
if so what kind of cleaner?

thanks,
jr.


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## johnmeyer (Apr 3, 2019)

Getting it sanitary is trivial (just crank up the temp or use bleach), but getting rid of the smell may be harder. I would try the usual things that are suggested for removing smells. Here are some suggestions (try one at a time): vinegar & water; baking soda and water; and bleach.

Gross as it is, if you think about it, you put animal parts on that grill all the time. Your situation may have a little poop mixed in, and if they died in there you have that awful carrion smell, but most of that is what the grill is used to having in it.

I'm sure you'll have it back to normal in no time.


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## daveomak (Apr 3, 2019)

_*Wear a dust mask...*_.   

* Hantavirus Infections *
Also called: Hanta virus, HPS


























*Summary*
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a rare but deadly viral infection. It is spread by mice and rats. They shed the virus in their urine, droppings, and saliva. Tiny droplets with the virus can enter the air. People can get the disease if they breathe infected air or come into contact with rodents or their urine or droppings. You cannot catch it from people.

Early symptoms of HPS include


Fatigue
Fever
Muscle aches, especially in the thighs, hips and back
Headaches
Chills
Dizziness
Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or abdominal pain
Later symptoms include coughing and shortness of breath.

Controlling rodents in and around your house is the best way to prevent infection. If you have been around rodents and have symptoms of fever, deep muscle aches, and severe shortness of breath, see your doctor immediately.

There is no specific treatment, cure, or vaccine for HPS. Patients may do better if it is recognized early and they get medical care in an intensive care unit. They often need to use a breathing machine and have oxygen therapy.


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## Jonok (Apr 3, 2019)

Ok, the softball has been hanging out there for long enough.
A few questions:

1 scraped or skinned?
2)) injection?
3) do you cut the ribs like a whole hog, or stuff the carcass and go rotisserie?
4) what sort of rub, and do you foil at the stall (which, I’m told may last upwards of 2 minutes)?

5) and the question vexing alll: if you do go with scraping , can you achieve a bite-through skin without finishing on the Weber?..


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## normonster (Apr 3, 2019)

Jim kraatz said:


> Ok, the softball has been hanging out there for long enough.
> A few questions:
> 
> 1 scraped or skinned?
> ...



I personally sous vide my mice _before_ smoking to an IT of 202, but I know most smoke then SV.

No need for rub...they bark up nice.


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## Jonok (Apr 3, 2019)

daveomak said:


> _*Wear a dust mask...*_.
> 
> * Hantavirus Infections *
> Also called: Hanta virus, HPS
> ...


Never say Never, and by all means protect yourself, but it seems to me that this is primarily a west coast thing, and only appears elsewhere with great rarity.


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## Jonok (Apr 3, 2019)

normonster said:


> I personally sous vide my mice _before_ smoking to an IT of 202, but I know most smoke then SV.
> 
> No need for rub...they bark up nice.



Boy, I hadn’t even considered the Sous Vide angle.

Any sort of a sear before? 
I assume you chuck some butter and spices (Herbs de Provence?) in the bag.


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## Winterrider (Apr 3, 2019)

daveomak said:


> _*Wear a dust mask...*_.
> 
> * Hantavirus Infections *
> Also called: Hanta virus, HPS
> ...



BINGO...

Hit it hard with bleach/water mixture,  close with newspapers inside for  couple days. Heat as hot as possible for about 6 hrs. Smell test following day. Good luck !


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## johnmeyer (Apr 3, 2019)

Reading that scary stuff makes me glad I didn't see it sooner. I installed a transfer switch at the main breaker panel in our laundry room, and the back side of that wall is accessed from a crawl space I hadn't been in for almost a quarter century. It was absolutely black with mouse droppings, and the insulation was all over the place. I put on a respirator, swept up most of it, and then vacuumed. It was a very unpleasant job. Since no respirator, until you get to a chemical weapons-grade gas mask, is 100% secure (and you have to shave just before you use those if you want them to work), I probably inhaled a good deal of the stuff.

The worst job however, and one I'll never do, is refinishing the inside of a septic tank. You pump most of the stuff out and then some guy who drew the short straw goes down in there with buckets of stuff and slathers it on the wall. He seemed healthy enough, despite all the "stuff" he wades around in all day, every day.


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## old sarge (Apr 3, 2019)

The virus is serious. Here in the high desert where I live the source is everywhere. I do construction inspections for a living and getting into dirt floored crawl spaces under some of the historic buildings on the fort is a nightmare. Inside some buildings there is lead paint and the mechanical rooms have asbestos. Needless to say we contract out and have professional remediation teams come in for the latter two and for the first we just suit and mask up and get on with it.


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## johnmeyer (Apr 3, 2019)

I'm not knocking the hazard at all. I'm only saying I'm glad I didn't know ahead of time or I'd never have gotten the job done.

I will, however, say that I am no longer sure how to rank various hazards. You mentioned asbestos. I guess the link between lung cancer and asbestos is quite real. Having said that, the house I grew up in had lead pipes for the drinking water; asbestos tile; and asbestos insulation around the heating pipes, some of which was coming apart. And, back in 1970, I worked a stint in the merchant marine, on an ore freighter hauling taconite from Duluth to East Chicago. Taconite is partially processed iron ore and is loaded with asbestos, a mineral that resides alongside iron ore deposits. Each time we'd load, I'd end up black from all the dust. No respirators back then. Fortunately it was only for the summer months (I never got to experience the "gales of November," that claimed the Edmund Fitzgerald five years later).

So are my days limited because of this? Hell if I know.

Should I worry about this? I know the answer: no.


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## daveomak (Apr 3, 2019)

Read up on Hantavirus it you like....
https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/surveillance/reporting-state.html
https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/rodents/index.html


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## old sarge (May 25, 2022)

I had that same problem.  ONCE! They got in through the bottom vent/grease hole (electric smoker). A heavy bolt with a large washer bent to conform to the contour of the smoker bottom, held together with JB Weld.  When not in use, I just drop the bolt into the drip hole. Problem solved. All stainless steel so oven cleaner was used on all its innards. Then a good cleaning and rinse/wipe down, a few ounces of wood and reasoned. All good.


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## bill1 (May 25, 2022)

Thanks for the heads-up.  Most of my smokers have only small openings for air intake and the smoke exhaust is covered by cans or tile plates.  But my gas grill has some pretty large openings under the burners.  I may want to consider some 1/4" grid wire mesh there.


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## Bearcarver (May 26, 2022)

Living in the woods, we have lots of mice around.
When my Log House was being built, I went around and not only filled the pass through holes to prevent fire spreading, I filled all of the real small holes to keep mice from coming into my living spaces. So we got lots of mice around the outside, in my garage, and on my front porch. However, so far not one mouse has gotten into my Basement or my interior rooms.

So I put mouse poison around on the Porch & throughout my garage.
I noticed a lot of the little green pellets were disappearing from the poison boxes.
Then one day I checked the little drawer in the bottom of my MES40, and the drawer was half full of the green poison pellets.  LOL--The mice were storing Poison for the Winter!!!
So I emptied the drawer, and I twisted some Steel-wool into the Dime-size hole from the inside of the smoker to the drain hole.
Never saw any mice in it again.

Bear


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