Some things really ... you know

[mbumby]

I was raised to Let Nothing Go To Waste.

I have little patience for those who, for example like a food until they learn what it is.

Comments

[ann_totusek]

I'd just run it through the dishwasher or soak it in Scope or Listerine and use it.

[cjsmith]

Ditto. (Since I work at a vet clinic, I might bring it in to work so I could use a stronger disinfectant we have on hand, but I'd still basically clean it and use it.)

[mbumby]

*g* I took a deep breath, figured that the odds were that I had no idea the number of critters that had crawled on it when I didn't know, and just used it. Well, I did rinse it first. Several times.

[cjsmith]

Good for you! I have a ludicrously unreasonable "ick" response to the idea of bug pee/poop -- unreasonable because frankly, I know it's everywhere, yet when I see that a wee critter has been crawling on an object, suddenly I want to clean the thing.

[johnridley]

Heck, I may not even have rinsed it. But I definitely would have played with the centipede before just releasing it; they're pretty cool and I only get to play with them a couple of times a year, usually they disappear too fast.

At most I would have rinsed it in tap water.

I used to pretty much eat moldy stuff (not meat) without regard, but a biologist friend convinced me to stay away from eating stuff that is actively shedding spores, because mold can set up shop in your lungs, and it can be nasty. Sure, you're breathing spores all the time, but getting a good breath of a spore fog may be well past the tipping point.

[mbumby]

I was tired, and will confess to not even thinking about playing with it. And in some ways I have a pretty high squick for them. I'll watch them fighting with the spiders that entrap them on my stairs, but I don't like them much. (Maybe I was tainted by a high school friend from India telling me that they were poisonous.) Granted, I don't "play" with the spiders, many of which I do like, either.

As to the brush, tap water is what I used, but it required a little bit of mental nudging. (Spouse suggested I get a new one. :-))

[mremmers]

Pitch.

[wynj]

Sounds like a "house centipede". I had never seen one until I bought this house. And I didn't see one for more than a year after the purchase. Then (unknown to me) I developed a leak in the roof, and the centipede population exploded. I only ever saw three adults, but I killed dozens of juveniles. Then I got the roof repaired. And I haven't seen one in over a month.

Finding one in the toothbrush cup is not surprising - they seek water. The easiest yet to cut the population is to limit the access to water. From the research I have done it isn't advisable to attempt to exterminate them. They are predators, and must be eating something else.

[mbumby]

Heh. Structural integrity test by bug. Glad your infestation diminished.

I don't kill most critters. Even in someone else's house, though, cockroaches, mosquitos, and silverfish are dead before I think to ask "that wasn't a pet, was it?" Most other critters, even flies, I'll escort outside. Spiders I tend to leave alone unless they breed.

Limiting access to water... Well, we have a sump, so I don't think that'll happen in this house. Hopefully that'll encourage most of them to stay in the basement, though.

[oreouk]

Definitely clean and continue to use. I had to use one of my kitchen knives to kill a mouse one of the cats brought in (it was injured enough that it was a mercy killing) and I then cleaned the knife thoroughly and continued to use it. This squicks some people when I tell them, but I fail to see the real distinction between this and continuing to use a knife after one has used it to slice shop-bought meat.

[mbumby]

Poor mouse. Good on you for being able to dispatch it. I've thankfully never had to do that.

Other than washing it a bit extra, since the wild animals might well have been exposed to things we hope our store-bought meat hasn't, I agree there's no substantial difference.