"Green Powder" is ARSENIC! I worked on a piano that had this put in it (terrific Ivers and Pond art-deco console) to kill cockroaches, and GOT SICKER THAN I'VE EVER BEEN IN MY LIFE!!! (Details by private request only.)
As it would have been impossible to remove it all without a total rebuild, it was "Dumpsterized". No piano is worth getting this sick for or, far worse, making the little children thus sick who may be forced, against their intuitive inclinations, to practice upon it!!! (I literally almost died.)
One more note on the mouse issue:
Pianos are aesthetic inventions. They serve no purpose but to improve ( hopefully) our aesthetic environment. To some, the augmentation of their acoustic environment is worth sacrificing their olfactory environment with offensive odors. Not me. I hope no human actually LIKES mouse urine: loaded with pheromones which attract other mice from far, far away. (Which can DEFINITELY create a health problem for the owner and his/her family, by the way. I believe that I read it is as far as a mile!) Also, some people have 500 times as many taste-buds per square inch as others, so are much more sensitive to odors. Bad odors cause bad dreams ( according to British researchers, as mentioned on NPR, and my personal experience) and one may thus surmise, depression. I have no use for such in my life, as my aim is perpetual happiness. Nor do I wish to be party to imparting it to others'.
Thankfully, I have other "irons in the fire" regarding survival, and encourage other "piano technicians" to consider whether it is worth the bad karma of encouraging someone to more highly treasure a mere physical object that has these negative potentialities, by encouraging them to invest in it. With all the cheap and free pianos on craigslist these days (some, that have NOT had mice!) I for one will not encourage anyone who has a piano with more than a couple of "droppings", or a nest in it, to keep it. And if such means that a "technician", because of the prevalence of such pianos in their area, needs to find additional means of survival to remain thus ethical, so be it. Better that, than having to answer to God for encouraging people to keep something in their home that is a genuine, documented hazard on several levels.
Most Respectfully,
Thumpe
P.S. I once had a GORGEOUS 1890's Everett upright ( with "bowling alley" keybed, etc.) with little tabs cast into the back of the pedals, pointing downward, so that even when in the "up position", no access was granted to rodents! How many MILLIONS of pianos could have been saved, if this cheap, minute feature had been used!
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