Piannaman@aol.com wrote: > Hi y'all, > > I had a job a couple of weeks ago replacing bridle tapes in a 15 year > old Kawai upright. The old ones had been used as nest material by a > family of mice. About half of them were completely gone, and others > partially gnawed. I went back yesterday to tune the piano. > > The people had said that they'd found the mice and removed them, but > guess who'd come back, munching once again on the tapes... > > Nice, nice lady... but hygiene is not her forte, I fear. Her bird's > food is also the nourishment for aforementioned rodents. She loves > animals and doesn't want to poison the mice. I suggested a "humane" > exterminator. > > Has anyone ever used any kind of screening inside an upright to to > keep mice out? I suspect that no matter what the people do--unless > they do a drastic cleanup, which seems kind of unlikely--the mice will > continue to come back. Next time, I'll wear a mask! After hearing > about Hantavirus on this list, I'm a little worried about this sort of > thing. > > Dave Stahl I have found in old pianos little piles of tobacco, like pipe tobacco, on either side of the keybed, or underneath the keys. I don't know if this was to repel mice or moths. Don't know if it works, either. Anyone? Yes, hantavirus is a scary threat. I'm reluctant to even breathe around pianos infested with mice. --David Nereson, RPT
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