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TheLonelySquireOfGothos

My Most Depressing Lego-Related Day Ever...

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I moved into my current house about 3 years ago, and I've been trying to find my childhood Lego collection ever since. Well, I finally found it today in the garage, and saying that I was happy about it would be quite an understatement. It's a 20 gal. Rubbermaid container filled to the brim with bricks, and I found it at the perfect time (just as I was running out of worthwhile pieces for MOC's). So, I took the box off that was sitting on top of it, and immediately noticed that the lid to the lego bin was covered in mouse droppings (I live in rural Indiana with plenty of farms nearby, so mice are just a disgusting fact of life here). I cleaned off the lid, pulled the container out, and started sorting out pieces. After a while, I brought it into the house and continued.

After sorting the pieces a bit more, I noticed a mouse dropping fall from one of the pieces. My immediate reaction was obviously utter disgust, but that was shortly followed by OH SHHHHIIIIII -- the implications of that were just horrifying. A mouse was in that container at some point...who knows, several mice might have infiltrated it. I thought to myself, "No, I must not have seen what I thought I did". Then I checked a few more pieces, and sure enough, there was a mouse dropping on another piece. At that point, I was incredibly pissed and incredibly disgusted at the same time (they don't make water hot enough). I hauled the container back out to the garage and that was that. So, the moral of the story? Don't $#&@ing live in rural Indiana. There's no logical reason why anyone should want to.

But seriously, any suggestions on what I should do? I can't bring myself to toss that many bricks and minifigs (I'd already found about 50 minifigs just around the top!), but I don't know how I would possibly go about cleaning that ridiculous amount of Legos, and even if I did, I doubt I'd actually want to use them. So, I'm at a loss here; I just have no clue what I should do.

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Wash it, batch by batch.

Can't think of anything else.

Some people use the dishwasher; I've never tried that (but then I never had a 20 gallon container of LEGO to wash). You can buy bags for washing small things.

I wouldn't give up on them. BTW, Georgia's no picnic.

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...

A mouse was in that container at some point...who knows, several mice might have infiltrated it.

...

Get a cat, they are cheap and inexpensive to run, and as a bonus they occasionally they pretend to show you affection.

Seriously. This is not the end of the world, potentially you could wash the bricks?

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Heh...only worries down here is a gator eating all your LEGOs. :laugh: Yeah, there's a whole bunch of topics to cleaning LEGO. I think there's one on this page.

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I would just fill the laundry tub with really hot water and disinfectant and then I would just wash it and put it out to dry on some big towels.

Oh and that box must be filled with awesome stuff, it would be like Christmas going through it (minus the poo).

(I have children, so maybe that is why I am less grossed out, and know poo can be washed off almost everything :laugh:

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I would just fill the laundry tub with really hot water and disinfectant and then I would just wash it and put it out to dry on some big towels.

Oh and that box must be filled with awesome stuff, it would be like Christmas going through it (minus the poo).

(I have children, so maybe that is why I am less grossed out, and know poo can be washed off almost everything :laugh:

Oh believe me, it was like Christmas up until that point. I was finding stuff I hadn't seen in years, and I guess towards the very end of my childhood collecting days, I tried to sort out some minifig related pieces, so there were a few things in small ziploc bags that appear to be unscathed. Among them, my favorite minifig from when I was about 11 or 12; Greedo, as well as a few other Star Wars minifigs, some animals, headgear, and weapons/tools. Of course, the vast majority of my minifigs (Star Wars and otherwise) were loose in the tub, but I'm glad I at least put a few things in those ziploc bags back then.

Anywho, now that I've cooled down a bit, I think I should definitely at least try to clean these. I really don't see any other options.

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I would firstly sort my lego and droppings out in a tub ... *lol* :sceptic: Secondly get some pillowcases and put the lego in so you can put it in the washer. Oh yeah, wash your hands really good. Mice are disgusting. :tongue:

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That bad news TheLonelySquireOfGothos. I would defently clean them. A good disenfectant will do the trick. Cheack out the Lego cleaning fourms and they have some good technieques in getting those blocks clean.

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First try and rinse them with the hose to get the bigger "bits" out as best you can. then toss a bunch in a pillow case and tie the end off real good and put them in the washing machine with some old towels and wash in hot water with detergent. I haven't had to deal with this specific issue but I have rreceived so really filthy Lego off EBay in the past and it has worked well.

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Get a cat, they are cheap and inexpensive to run, and as a bonus they occasionally they pretend to show you affection.

Seriously. This is not the end of the world, potentially you could wash the bricks?

Cats work well for mice, and affection; on occasion :tongue: what about dumping everything in the tub? I don't know if there's stickers/printed pieces in the bunch.

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It is not nice to find grime on your LEGO, but is mouse poo any worse than cat, dog, child poo or any other type of infectious stuff that probably comes into contact with it which we maynot be aware of? I mean when you buy a load of second hand bricks who knows what they have been through? It is a pain to have to wash them, but probably safer in the long run.

I know when I was a child I used to bite some of my bricks to get them apart, (Still do sometimes!) so any of my old stuff is always washed before I use it again as I suspect I probably had some awful germs back then.

Sounds like a lot to wash though, but it will be worth it I am sure. Best of luck.

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This is definitely a sad and disturbing story... good luck with the cleaning.

But you know, it's not as bad as can be. When I went searching for my childhood Lego collection, I didn't find mouse poo on it, but I didn't find the collection either. All gone :wacko:

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If you don't want them I'll take them. Crap LEGOs are still better than Mega Bloks. :laugh:

At first I thought you were going to say the mice ate the LEGOs, now that would be horrible.

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I would get some plastic tubs and a large plastic strainer like you would use to wash veggies in the kitchen. Also, a few various scrubber brushes and toothbrushes would be good. Make sure you have some small enough to get into the nooks and crannies. Then put on some heavy dishwashing gloves and go to work with some soapy hot water and disinfectant. It may take a while to be completely satisfied that they are clean, but I think they are worth saving.

If you don't want them I'll take them. Crap LEGOs are still better than Mega Bloks. :laugh:

At first I thought you were going to say the mice ate the LEGOs, now that would be horrible.

Wouldn't it be funny if they built their own little Lego house to live in. :laugh:

Edited by sharky

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At first I thought you were going to say the mice ate the LEGOs, now that would be horrible.

Wouldn't that result in LEGO brick-shaped mouse turds? Mice poopin' bricks? Brick-shaped eewww!

I would get some plastic tubs and a large plastic strainer like you would use to wash veggies in the kitchen. Also, a few various scrubber brushes and toothbrushes would be good. Make sure you have some small enough to get into the nooks and crannies. Then put on some heavy dishwashing gloves and go to work with some soapy hot water and disinfectant. It may take a while to be completely satisfied that they are clean, but I think they are worth saving.

Yes this!

This does seem quite a load of work, but you deal with this the same way you eat a whole watermelon: One slice at a time. Do a few 100 bricks now, do a few 100 more later.

Give it a hot, soapy Splat!

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In addition to the advice already given, be careful as you get closer to the bottom of the tub. What climbed in may not have found it's way back out. Poo is bad, decomposed remains are worse. :sick:

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In addition to the advice already given, be careful as you get closer to the bottom of the tub. What climbed in may not have found it's way back out. Poo is bad, decomposed remains are worse. :sick:

Yeah, I thought of that, but knowing the horrid smell that accompanies a dead mouse, I just don't see it being very plausible. I mean, I suppose it could have dissipated by now, but I can't imagine there being no smell left behind.

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