Biohazard skate cleaning question

[Punished ROR]

So this winter a horde of mice destroyed my crappy home. It was awful, they got inside everything. They ran around the house at all hours of the day and peered at humans as if we were invaders in their living space, and so on. One night, a friend stayed the night and slept on the couch. The next morning he said: "That was pretty much the most horrifying sleep ever. All night long I could hear mice scurrying around inside the couch. ****, I could feel it. It was like getting a back massage from a million tiny little feet." (This has since given me a marketing idea: The MOFA. I'd market it as a Swedish-design sofa that rejuvenates and repairs your structure. It would be a big hit among the bourgeoisie, who are unaware that MOFA stands for mouse-sofa and that rodents are running along their spine, not nanotechs or gizmos or whatever possible explanation.)

When I saw them in my closet I feared the worst.

And indeed, they nested in my skates.

The thought of that awful mouse musk seriously turns my stomach, well, the thought of my foot sliding into that pee-encrusted boot, the thought of me skating hard during a game and working up a sweat and having that sweat mingle in mouse pee and poop particles before settling back onto my foot, and into my bloodstream via my feet's open pores.........

it's a bit much. but it can be overcome -- I could push it out of my mind if I thoroughly cleaned it. I mean, I'm a guy who ate cereal with ants in it because they kept invading the box and I didn't wanna throw it out. I don't have a weak stomach. I just want to make sure I can clean this effectively and totally. So, are these skates trashed? If not, how would you go about cleaning them? I do not have a HAZMAT suit, I'll throw that out right now.

the worst part is: I had one pair of ice and one pair of roller skates. they nested in only one of each skate, leaving me with no clean pair. I'd gladly say "well hey **** ice, I'm playing roller for awhile" if I had to.

 

[cptjeff]

they have equipment cleaning services in some places that are basically dry cleaning for your gear. If they have one of those in your area, try that.

Also sounds like you need to start cleaning up your house. Leaving food out and accessible is a great way to get mice.

I honestly would try taking them to a dry cleaner and seeing if they think dry cleaning is safe for it. Sounds like it's gotten pretty well soaked in the skate, I doubt just scrubbing would work at this point.

Actually, what are we dealing with here? Are we dealing with a modern composite skate that's made of impermeable materials other then the liner, or are we talking old fashioned nylon and leather skate? Because if it's a modern skate, I would try just unlacing them, flipping the tongue out and sticking them in the dishwasher, not that it sounds like you have or use one based on the mice...

 

[Punished ROR]

harsh

I'm a pretty clean guy. the mice honestly didn't get into much of our food besides the garbage cans outside of the house. the occasional mouse would somehow manage to climb his way on top of the fridge to get into our bread -- that still astounds me because they literally had to scale the metal coils on the fridge to get to the top! I just lived in an old, dilapidated place I rented from a slumlord. I ended up getting a cat who destroyed the mouse population, but anyway, that's all irrelevant now because I moved 2,000 miles away.

the skates... ice: bauer vapor x and inline: easton pf2. I could probably get some new skates, sure, but they both still had plenty of life and I don't make a whole lot of money to drop on frivolous things, especially considering I'm trying to establish myself in a new city.

another friend mentioned the dishwasher, but yeah, I don't have one.

 

[cptjeff]

Sorry to be harsh, but you mentioned eating cereal with dead ants in it- that kinda indicates that you probably don't keep all your food stored properly, and probalby aren't the cleanest guy. Pretty clean guys don't tend to get mice infestations, Mice tend to find places that have acesable food and dirty dishes laying out, and such like that. That's also how I guessed you didn't have a dishwasher because if you did, a lot of the dishes would probalby get cleaned faster, leaving less out to attract mice.

Anyways, back to the skates. You should be able to clean those, at least the vapor. I'm not familiar with that easton model. Open it up, and clean the liner with water and a laundry detergent. Scrub, rinse, and then sanitize with a rubbing alcohol mix. Let it dry really well, I would set it up in front of a box fan to help it dry. If the Easton is a traditional construction skate, you'll have to soak it and let the cleaning agent and the sanitizing agent soak in, and it'll take a lot longer to dry. If it's the same type of build as the vapor, then use the same method.

Good luck though. Did they get any of the rest of your gear, or just the skates?

 

[EmptyNetter]

The thought of that awful mouse musk seriously turns my stomach, well, the thought of my foot sliding into that pee-encrusted boot, the thought of me skating hard during a game and working up a sweat and having that sweat mingle in mouse pee and poop particles before settling back onto my foot, and into my bloodstream via my feet's open pores.........

it's a bit much. but it can be overcome -- I could push it out of my mind if I thoroughly cleaned it. I mean, I'm a guy who ate cereal with ants in it because they kept invading the box and I didn't wanna throw it out. I don't have a weak stomach. I just want to make sure I can clean this effectively and totally. So, are these skates trashed? If not, how would you go about cleaning them?

From your post it appears you've got a pretty active mind. Are you sure you can just forget the mice, no matter how thorough a cleaning job you do? I'm not messing with you -- I worry enough about bacteria from my own sweat. If I were in your situation and money was tight I'd probably chuck the mouse nests and buy the best used skates I could find.

 

[cptjeff]

If he cleans them with rubbing alcohol that'll disinfect them. Really shouldn't be too many worries on that front.

The hard part is going to be getting the smell out. Even if you use Menzies stuff like they make for pets (another good idea), the smell may never come out completely.

 

[CanadaBacon]

If you smelt my bag, oh man, mouse **** is the least of your worries

 

[Punished ROR]

I dunno dude... certainly, body odor can be bad, but at least it's yours. Or a fellow human's.

I like mice, too. I've kept pet mice over the years (part of the reason the infestation was so bad -- I had forgotten that I'd still had a bag of mouse food stored in a box in my closet. OK, I'm a Pejorative Slur and I take the blame for that one).

but seriously, mouse musk is something else. it's the smell of an animal that eats and sleeps in its own piss and ****. that just cant compare to body odor. and when its in contact with your skin, ugh. seriously, it's wrong.

and oh yeah, the skates were the only gear they got in. I was afraid they'd get into my gloves, which are fairly new and I'm in love with 'em. but thankfully they did not. I also saw one mouse on TOP OF my team Sweden Peter Forsberg jersey, hanging in the closet -- I was so enraged I lunged forward and tried to break his neck before he got away. that jersey is dear to me. luckily, it was untouched by any mouse fluids.

 

[CanadaBacon]

I dunno dude... certainly, body odor can be bad, but at least it's yours. Or a fellow human's.

I like mice, too. I've kept pet mice over the years (part of the reason the infestation was so bad -- I had forgotten that I'd still had a bag of mouse food stored in a box in my closet. OK, I'm a Pejorative Slur and I take the blame for that one).

but seriously, mouse musk is something else. it's the smell of an animal that eats and sleeps in its own piss and ****. that just cant compare to body odor. and when its in contact with your skin, ugh. seriously, it's wrong.

and oh yeah, the skates were the only gear they got in. I was afraid they'd get into my gloves, which are fairly new and I'm in love with 'em. but thankfully they did not. I also saw one mouse on TOP OF my team Sweden Peter Forsberg jersey, hanging in the closet -- I was so enraged I lunged forward and tried to break his neck before he got away. that jersey is dear to me. luckily, it was untouched by any mouse fluids.

I got puke, beer, blood, sweat, sex and im sure piss all in my bag

 

[Punished ROR]

OK, so come clean, are you Tyler Arnason or Theo Fleury?

 

[CanadaBacon]

OK, so come clean, are you Tyler Arnason or Theo Fleury?

Im just a regular midnight hockey middle class Canadian, thats how our bags roll

oh ya, once i found 1/2 lb bag of shrimp in my bag in sept. Apparently it was put in there in april.

Its a sweet bag though, what can you do?

 

[noobman]

This is thread is absolutely disgusting. The worst I've had in my bag is a few broken Gatorade bottles (pink jerseys ftl!) and some blood.


Actually, I lied. When I moved out last summer I left my gear @ my parents house. They kept it locked up in the garage for about a month, until I visited and decided to take the gear with me. When I opened my bag, I found moth eggs (unhatched) on one of my jerseys:

This was the first (and only time) I burned a piece of clothing. I also gave everything a very thorough inspection and wash. It's not as bad as ants in cereal or rats in skates, but it's still pretty gross.

 

[Schenn Him]

If he cleans them with rubbing alcohol that'll disinfect them. Really shouldn't be too many worries on that front.

Tons of worries - rubbing alcohol doesn't kill everything you need to worry about, it doesn't even come close. Bleach would be better, but its going to destroy your skate.

Honestly, I'd chuck the skates and get a new pair. The skates would need to be autoclaved (steam under pressure) to kill everything, and it wouldn't get rid of the smell (it would actually just make it worse, cooked pee smells revolting).

 

[Hockeyfan68]

Sorry to be harsh, but you mentioned eating cereal with dead ants in it- that kinda indicates that you probably don't keep all your food stored properly, and probalby aren't the cleanest guy. Pretty clean guys don't tend to get mice infestations, Mice tend to find places that have acesable food and dirty dishes laying out, and such like that. That's also how I guessed you didn't have a dishwasher because if you did, a lot of the dishes would probalby get cleaned faster, leaving less out to attract mice.

Anyways, back to the skates. You should be able to clean those, at least the vapor. I'm not familiar with that easton model. Open it up, and clean the liner with water and a laundry detergent. Scrub, rinse, and then sanitize with a rubbing alcohol mix. Let it dry really well, I would set it up in front of a box fan to help it dry. If the Easton is a traditional construction skate, you'll have to soak it and let the cleaning agent and the sanitizing agent soak in, and it'll take a lot longer to dry. If it's the same type of build as the vapor, then use the same method.

Good luck though. Did they get any of the rest of your gear, or just the skates?

I have a mouse I never see .... or maybe two. I see droppings up in the attic and once in a while around the game room. I'm a very clean neat guy who washes the house down often.

They are not in my food because they are in cupboards up high and I would be on top of any holes chewed through the wood. I never see any mainly because they do not have anything to eat here, they must be holed up here and run around in the filed out back. I see mice out there often running around at night with the yard light on.

I also have a couple of bats in the attic I keep killing so new ones can move in.

I live in a rural area with lots of fields and wildlife around, racoons raid the trash cans once in a while.

I guess if the problem was as bad as stated by this gentleman I would spend the money needed for pest control people to come in and make it happen.

I hear the bats crawling at night above the ceiling over my desk upstairs but they are where I cannot get to them to kill them. I have to wait with a tennis raquet and ping their butts out of the air. Everytime I kill the pair who moved in another one moves in. I have been up on a ladder patching in holes with silicon to prevent new ones from coming in but they always seem to find a way.

Very irritating stuff I can assure you.

I will win because I am the law around here!!

 

[cptjeff]

Tons of worries - rubbing alcohol doesn't kill everything you need to worry about, it doesn't even come close. Bleach would be better, but its going to destroy your skate.

Honestly, I'd chuck the skates and get a new pair. The skates would need to be autoclaved (steam under pressure) to kill everything, and it wouldn't get rid of the smell (it would actually just make it worse, cooked pee smells revolting).

The soap in the detergent mentioned in the first part of the process I recommended alone would be enough to clean the same **** off your hands if you're working in a restaurant. After that, the rubbing alcohol is just an extra measure, but it kills more then you think it does. You know those hand sanitizers that kill 99.99% of bacteria? The active ingredient in those is usually rubbing alcohol. Won't kill viruses or spores, but if you soak it for a while, bacteria is not going to live. It will shrivel them up and kill them, that's just how their cell walls work.

If you really, really, really want to be sure, try this stuff:
http://www.scottissue.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=productDetail&ID=D440D835-488B-4347-94DC06771F31BCA9
That will kill some nasty viruses as well. Viruses that almost certainly won't be in mouse ****, but if you really want to be sure.

 

[Schenn Him]

99.99% of bacteria are harmless. Its the ones that aren't in there that are the concern.

Rubbing alcohol is nice, but for cleaning up an actual biohazard, it isn't enough. Large amounts of mouse pee, and whatever other bodily fluids might be in there won't be dealt with using rubbing alcohol.

For cleaning your hands, and the type of things most people touch on a day to day basis - they are fine. This isn't you leaving an office where someone might have sneezed on the door handle.

This is something different. You can use disinfectant sprays and all that, but bleach is the best thing. And then autoclaving.

 

[CanFan05]

If you smelt my bag, oh man, mouse **** is the least of your worries

LOLLLL! Epic

 

[cptjeff]

99.99% of bacteria are harmless. Its the ones that aren't in there that are the concern.

Rubbing alcohol is nice, but for cleaning up an actual biohazard, it isn't enough. Large amounts of mouse pee, and whatever other bodily fluids might be in there won't be dealt with using rubbing alcohol.

For cleaning your hands, and the type of things most people touch on a day to day basis - they are fine. This isn't you leaving an office where someone might have sneezed on the door handle.

This is something different. You can use disinfectant sprays and all that, but bleach is the best thing. And then autoclaving.

The pee is not actually a biohazard at all. Urine from mammals is sterile, unless there's a urinary infection or a kidney infection, both unlikely. It will stink to high heaven and if you bring them into the dressing room teammates will kill you, but it won't make you sick.

The poop is the real concern, since that's made up of bacteria and bile. That's what it is. Dead bacteria, live bacteria, bile, and undigestable food.

Fungi are another concern if the skates have been damp for a while, but the soap should take care of that.

By the way, do you know what doctors use to sanitize surgical instruments when an autoclave isn't available? Alcohol. If you're afraid rubbing alcohol isn't strong enough (it's around 40% by volume, similar to vodka in strength but a different type of alcohol), buy yourself a bottle of Bacardi 151 and use that. And bring the rest for a pregame drink with your new teammates wherever you moved.

 

[Hockeyfan68]

LOLLLL! Epic

I would like to think how funny it is when he gets a Staph infection and an incurable or highly antibiotic resistant bacterial skin disease that costs him a limb.

Wash your ****.

This comes from a guy who almost lost a leg to a skinned knee on the playground when I was 10 or 11 years old which resulted in a hole in my right knee from damaged cartilege which was eaten up by Staphylococcus bacteria.

I wash my gear every handful of games ... when it stinks it stinks because of the bacteria living in your gear.

 

[CanadaBacon]

I would like to think how funny it is when he gets a Staph infection and an incurable or highly antibiotic resistant bacterial skin disease that costs him a limb.

Wash your ****.

This comes from a guy who almost lost a leg to a skinned knee on the playground when I was 10 or 11 years old which resulted in a hole in my right knee from damaged cartilege which was eaten up by Staphylococcus bacteria.

I wash my gear every handful of games ... when it stinks it stinks because of the bacteria living in your gear.

My gear gets hung up and dried after every use. My gear gets sprayed down with anti-bacterial febreeze every use.

My bag on the other hand is brutal.

I been playing this game for twenty years, i have had stank bags for about 18 of those years, i am not concerned with what may or may not happen.

I think its nice that you would find it funny if i got a Staph infection. Makes me feel all warm deep inside.

 

[Hockeyfan68]

My gear gets hung up and dried after every use. My gear gets sprayed down with anti-bacterial febreeze every use.

My bag on the other hand is brutal.

I been playing this game for twenty years, i have had stank bags for about 18 of those years, i am not concerned with what may or may not happen.

I think its nice that you would find it funny if i got a Staph infection. Makes me feel all warm deep inside.

I've been playing for 30+ years so I can relate.

I can also state that my bag has never smelled bad because I clean everything.

I think having surgery canceled at the last minute from having my leg amputated from a simple skin scrape kind of burned the importance of keeping stuff clean into my brain for good.

 

[cptjeff]

Staph is nasty stuff. I've heard some very scary stories.

Makes me grateful for my shockdoctor bag. Heat and Ozone to kill the **** in my gear off after every use without much effort.

 

[CanadaBacon]

Staph is nasty stuff. I've heard some very scary stories.

Makes me grateful for my shockdoctor bag. Heat and Ozone to kill the **** in my gear off after every use without much effort.

How much for one of those? I just grab $20 bags. I got a sweet TPS bag for like 15 though!

 

[cptjeff]

Lots. The big wheel ones are around 80, and another 50 or so for the blower. I only have mine because I salvaged my dad's after he got a warranty replacement. I don't know how much the carry ones cost though, I would guess less.

 

[CanadaBacon]

Lots. The big wheel ones are around 80, and another 50 or so for the blower. I only have mine because I salvaged my dad's after he got a warranty replacement. I don't know how much the carry ones cost though, I would guess less.

Damn, i'll stick with my bag o' stink.