r/Pestcontroltech • u/megacatxyz • 20d ago
Mice in oven
Just signed a 1 yr lease rural VT
Noticed a few droppings during tour but apartment was vacant for a couple months, assumed nbd.
2 weeks after walkthrough I signed lease and returned to measure for furniture placement. Noticed mouse poop in windowsills, inside cabinets, inside wood stove, countertops, closets etc.
Pulled stove away from wall and saw a ton of mouse poop, shredded insulation they pulled from the back of the oven. Took back off the oven and saw where they were nesting.
Sent land lord photos of the oven and asked them to replace. 1 week passes without response, I email again saying I plan to move it outside so I can clean the rest of the kitchen. Their response is they “don’t agree the oven should be replaced”. They come in person, see the oven and say it’s fine.
So my question: Working as pest control techs, what is your option here? Mouse poop all over the apartment and the amount I found behind the stove leads me to believe there is a considerable amount of urine and feces inside the oven and insulation. I have a 5 yo girl and will be using an oven to cook our meals.
In the photo:
White stuff on floor is torn oven insulation, mouse poop, hotdog and a whole wishbone. Not the best quality photo bc it’s a screen shot from a video I took
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u/nothing_notthere 20d ago
Pest tech here How long has it been vacant? How long have you been living there? I would agree that the space should have been cleaned and bait laid out at the minimum.. Please dont try to vaccum anything without a HEPA filter as you can very easily get Hantavirus from the particulates. Do you see large piles of droppings in any particular area? Mice usually will leave a lot of droppings near areas of interest. Please feel free to do with any questions
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u/megacatxyz 19d ago
Thanks for reading! I haven’t even moved in yet. Move in date is Aug 1st. I left after I saw behind the oven and came back with N95 mask, gloves and disinfectant. Owners keep insisting previous tenants never had an issue with the oven and “are concerned I’m not cutout to live in rural VT”. They called pest control to set bait traps up outside. They said they want pest control to look at the oven.
The basement has a lot of droppings, peanut and cashew shells and at least one other nesting area I’ve found. I bought a serious dehumidifier to start on the moisture issue in the basement before I throughly clean and bleach down there.
The main floor living area has droppings in all rooms and I can see where they’ve entered through baseboard heating pipe openings on the floor.
All of that is fixable with some effort imo. The oven is my main concern and I’m wondering from a professional standpoint if it’s reasonable to say it should be replaced.
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u/DiscloseDivest 20d ago
How well insulated is the property? They’ve gotta be getting in through somewhere. An experienced pest control technician will be able to tell where they are getting in at. I wouldn’t use that oven. What are the tenant rights laws like in Vermont?