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Alkarii
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Alkarii »

Well, I have a cot and a bag of DE, and found the other bag of the stuff at home. I also have a cot, so I can get rid of my mattress and box spring, which are both directly on the floor, while also taking a lot of space. I was thinking I'd spray those before taking them out of my room (probably get a mattress disposal bag of some sort, vacuum the area along the wall, then spray up under the baseboards. I was thinking of sprinkling the dirt all around the bottom of the nightstand, entertainment center, dresser, and bookshelves, as well as all around where the cot will be. At the very least, that should cut down on any in my bedroom, where the vast majority of my belongings happen to be.
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Warrl
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Warrl »

Do your neighborhood recyclers a favor: take a broad tip felt pen and write "BEDBUGS" in large letters on both sides of the bags you put the mattress and box spring in.
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Post by GlytchMeister »

If you live in an apartment or a rented home, report the infestation to the landlord IMMEDIATELY. As long as they can’t prove that you brought them in, they have to foot the bill for the exterminator BY LAW, as I understand it.
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TazManiac
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Post by TazManiac »

The software may be run on a slow DOS machine (such as the original IBM XT or clone) or on a faster PC, in a DOS box, under any version of windows. As many people now have otherwise obsolete but never-the-less functional older PCs, the idea was to to make the software compatible with as many older machines as possible.

Although the software works under Windows, as the software is interrupt driven, under certain conditions, some character bits may be lost. This is a "feature" of Windows and illustrates that it's not a "real time" operating system. In general this will not be a problem as some tweaking of the DOS box "parameters" will solve most problems...
(The emphasis are mine.)

This snip is from a page talking about a program written to view real-time data from an automobile's ODB1 port. While ODBII is the current standard, or maybe even something has replaced it ( I have no idea at the moment...), there are still some of the older cars & trucks on the road.

I bought an adapter, ready made & turn-key, to see what a given motor is doing as we drive down the highway. I'm just in the process of gathering together the Apps/Programs needed to make the thing work.

I'll keep you all updated as to progress...
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Bookworm
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Post by Bookworm »

DosBOX. It's built to run DOS games in newer versions of windows, but it'll run a lot of other programs as well.
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Alkarii
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Alkarii »

Warrl wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2019 12:42 pm Do your neighborhood recyclers a favor: take a broad tip felt pen and write "BEDBUGS" in large letters on both sides of the bags you put the mattress and box spring in.
Mom suggested we burn it, since it's more than ten years old. It just has to stop raining long enough for me to do that, and I intend to spray all around the outside of it first.
There is no such thing as a science experiment gone wrong.
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TazManiac
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Re: More Stuff

Post by TazManiac »

Alkarii wrote: Tue Jul 16, 2019 7:41 am
Warrl wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2019 12:42 pm Do your neighborhood recyclers a favor: take a broad tip felt pen and write "BEDBUGS" in large letters on both sides of the bags you put the mattress and box spring in.
Mom suggested we burn it, since it's more than ten years old. It just has to stop raining long enough for me to do that, and I intend to spray all around the outside of it first.
I thought to suggest the same thing. These days, locally, the only way the guys will dispose of a mattress is to pre-strip the padding off the metal bits inside, burning can accomplish this. (I kind of don't want all that crap added to the atmosphere, but otoh; it is infested...)
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Catawampus
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Catawampus »

lake_wrangler wrote: Sat Jul 13, 2019 4:53 am My choir director forwarded me an email from someone looking for amateur tenor and bass singers, to join in a choir to sing Verdi's Great Requiem... After consideration, and discussion with the person who originally had sent him the email, I have decided to join.
Remember to end every piece with "Shave and a Haircut". That adds a certain sense of class to the whole affair.

Are you singing it in the original language, or doing a translation?
Alkarii wrote: Sat Jul 13, 2019 3:06 pm Friggin' hell... bed bugs...

I picked up a gallon of the spray today, and while it says every two weeks until they're gone, I'm gonna say every week until two weeks after we stop seeing any during inspections. I'm glad I was finally gonna replace my mattress, too. We got it back in '08 or so.
The tricky thing about bed bugs is that they crawl off into very inaccessible parts of the house (behind drawers, in cracks in the walls, wherever) and might only come out once every week or two to feed. So unless you use something that can get to them wherever they are hiding, then you have to use something that will persist for a month or more so that they can come out and be exposed to it.

Diatomaceous earth (about 10 micrometers diameter or smaller) or silica gel will work on them in a relatively safe and non-toxic way, but the bugs have to physically pass through the stuff for it to have any effect. That makes those methods not work so well if they're hiding in your bedframe or some similar place (though you could then use the DE to make some dynamite and blast the little varmints out). Putting a barrier of it on the floor around your bed will help sort of barricade you away from any long-roaming ones at night, but you'll have to keep it there for weeks.

Chemical sprays have a bit better reach, but can have similar problems reaching awkward places where they might be nesting. Also, bed bugs are very resistant to a lot of insecticides so you might need to use a whole lot of spray many, many times.

The best way to kill them off is heat. If you can close up your home on a hot Summer day, turn on some heaters, and let it get up to around 125°F for a few hours or so, then that ought to kill off any in the place. And it has the advantage of being able to get to all the nooks and crannies where the beasties like to hide, especially if you open all cabinets and drawers and move furniture out from the walls. Anything you own that can fit into a clothes dryer and that can survive the process can go through a couple runs on "HIGH" temperature to kill bugs.

Your best bet might be to try using a mix of different treatments. In any case, you won't know for a month or more whether or not you managed to get rid of them.

They can roam a fair distance, so if you live in some communal space then getting rid of them in just your own home might not be enough. If the original source of the infestation is elsewhere, you'll need to find that. Keep in mind that bed bugs are extremely partial to feeding on birds, so if you have birds nesting in your building then they could be hosting some bed bugs as well.

There are dogs specially trained to sniff out bed bug nests; I don't know if that would be an option for wherever you live, or how much companies might charge for that service. But they can both find out where in your home the bed bugs are so that you know where to concentrate, and can also come check your house a few months after treatment to see if the infestation is really over.
Alkarii wrote: Sun Jul 14, 2019 3:41 am Both before and after cutting off those tabs, I was pressing on it so much that the jug was collapsing, and it still would not snap into place, so I ended up throwing it out the entire thing after getting so frustrated that I threw it down onto the driveway it exploded.

So, I'll just have to try something else, like ripping out and burning all the carpet and the beds. I'm getting really sick of things being designed to be more complicated than they have to be.
Sounds like some special cleaner in some special bottles that I had to use at work. The things were ridiculous to try to set up and connect to the finicky little hose bits. So I got tired of trying, just stabbed the bottle a few times with a knife, and sprayed the stuff out through those holes. Worked well enough.
Typeminer wrote: Sun Jul 14, 2019 3:28 pm What's the hazard with borax?
It can poison your nuclear reactor core.
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Bookworm
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Post by Bookworm »

bedbugs are evolved from bat bugs. Apparently when some of our ancestors realized caves could work for homes, over the generations, some bat bugs went from 'can feed on others, but _must_ have bat blood to reproduce', to 'can live on other mammals, but prefer humans'.

So not so much birds, but bats. I don't know if birds qualify enough as 'mammals' for bed bugs to survive on their blood.

I'm dealing with a flea infestation myself. Now that the cats have seresto collars, the fleas are dropping off and dying, but they're targeting me. I have bites all around my ankles. (not bed bugs, because they're _only_ my ankles. Basically, where the things can get through my socks to the skin. Bed bugs would go higher as well)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
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Catawampus
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Catawampus »

Bookworm wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2019 10:14 amI don't know if birds qualify enough as 'mammals' for bed bugs to survive on their blood.
Oh, they definitely can. Bed bugs are a problem in the poultry industry, and just as much of a nuisance to get rid of.
Bookworm wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2019 10:14 amI'm dealing with a flea infestation myself. Now that the cats have seresto collars, the fleas are dropping off and dying, but they're targeting me. I have bites all around my ankles. (not bed bugs, because they're _only_ my ankles. Basically, where the things can get through my socks to the skin. Bed bugs would go higher as well)
When I was bothered by fleas as a kid, I'd smear something along the lines of axle grease all over myself for a few days, then wash it off. It worked well enough, though I'm not sure how convenient a technique that would be for your own situation. . .
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Dave
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Dave »

Bookworm wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2019 10:14 am I'm dealing with a flea infestation myself. Now that the cats have seresto collars, the fleas are dropping off and dying, but they're targeting me. I have bites all around my ankles. (not bed bugs, because they're _only_ my ankles. Basically, where the things can get through my socks to the skin. Bed bugs would go higher as well)
The times that we had ankle-only-bites problems, it turned out not to be fleas... it was chiggers (mites). We had an old palm tree growing by the front driveway, there was a nest of squirrels up in the fronds, they kept dropping masses of shredded fronds and bark on the ground, and it was apparently all a playground for chiggers.

I'll take flea bites over chiggers any day... those little beasties itch like the very dickens!

I had to spray the whole area around the palm tree to control them, and we weren't able to get rid of them permanently until the palm died of old age and I had the remains cut down and removed. Not a trace of them since... we still have squirrels around but not their little riders, for some reason.
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jwhouk
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Post by jwhouk »

...You have suddenly explained a lot for me, Dave. I was wondering why I was getting bites on occasion since moving here. That big palm tree outside may be the reason.
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Catawampus
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Catawampus »

jwhouk wrote: Sat Jul 20, 2019 9:58 am ...You have suddenly explained a lot for me, Dave. I was wondering why I was getting bites on occasion since moving here. That big palm tree outside may be the reason.
The Vampire Palm Tree is one of the less well recognised members of the carnivorous plant clan. Very sneaky and insidious.
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Bookworm
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Re: More Stuff

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Catawampus wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2019 9:13 pm
Bookworm wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2019 10:14 amI don't know if birds qualify enough as 'mammals' for bed bugs to survive on their blood.
Oh, they definitely can. Bed bugs are a problem in the poultry industry, and just as much of a nuisance to get rid of.
Bookworm wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2019 10:14 amI'm dealing with a flea infestation myself. Now that the cats have seresto collars, the fleas are dropping off and dying, but they're targeting me. I have bites all around my ankles. (not bed bugs, because they're _only_ my ankles. Basically, where the things can get through my socks to the skin. Bed bugs would go higher as well)
When I was bothered by fleas as a kid, I'd smear something along the lines of axle grease all over myself for a few days, then wash it off. It worked well enough, though I'm not sure how convenient a technique that would be for your own situation. . .
Probably not very good. I'm looking at just putting some DEET or similar on my ankles when I get home. They'll starve off in about another week to 10 days. Anything on the cats is _not_ surviving. The seresto collars are working really well, and even the Russian Blue isn't having any issues with it.

The weird part? I've put out some basic dish soap and plate flea traps, mostly to identify which rooms have resident fleas. Nothing. nada. I'm only seeing about two to four a day hatching out. I suspect they're hatching, getting on the cats, and basically dropping dead. For those who think that tea tree oil or lavender extract solves all their problems, I'd say that they need to rethink things. (For one thing, lavender is toxic to cats. They're surprisingly sensitive to a lot of things that dogs, for example, will shrug off.) My daughter is old enough that I'm not worried about her licking the cats' collars, and my wife already insists she washes her hands regularly when playing with the cats.

Fun information for today. I had two very large house flies wandering around. This morning, one of them was missing a wing and walking around the bathroom floor. First one cat starts to watch it, then the second wanders in and starts poking at it with his paw. After 10-15 minutes, I take a couple of photos. Immediately after taking the photo, one cat whacked the thing once, then gobbled it up. The act of photography stimulates the appetite! :)
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Dave
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Re: More Stuff

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Bookworm wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 12:49 pmThe weird part? I've put out some basic dish soap and plate flea traps, mostly to identify which rooms have resident fleas. Nothing. nada. I'm only seeing about two to four a day hatching out. I suspect they're hatching, getting on the cats, and basically dropping dead.
You might find that a treatment with Precor might be helpful. It doesn't kill fleas directly, but it keeps the juvenile fleas from successfully maturing to adulthood... they fail to molt and they end up dying naturally without maturing to the biting stage.

You can buy Precor as part of a combined flea spray (typically with a permetrin or similar pyrethroid to kill the adults) or as a standalone product.
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Bookworm
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Dave wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 2:00 pm
Bookworm wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 12:49 pmThe weird part? I've put out some basic dish soap and plate flea traps, mostly to identify which rooms have resident fleas. Nothing. nada. I'm only seeing about two to four a day hatching out. I suspect they're hatching, getting on the cats, and basically dropping dead.
You might find that a treatment with Precor might be helpful. It doesn't kill fleas directly, but it keeps the juvenile fleas from successfully maturing to adulthood... they fail to molt and they end up dying naturally without maturing to the biting stage.

You can buy Precor as part of a combined flea spray (typically with a permetrin or similar pyrethroid to kill the adults) or as a standalone product.
The problem is that my house is PACKED with computer equipment. There's no way short of bagging the house to fumigate all the areas the cats could have dropped flea eggs. That kind of fogging would put poison over everything. I'm trying to get rid of stuff. (Mostly E-Bay; selling stuff just barely over the cost of shipping, just to get it to new homes)

What I'm doing seems to be working. The cats are clean, and I'm seeing minimal issues on my own. (Two fleas visible yesterday) I figure I can live with some repellent on the bottoms of my legs for three weeks or so (long enough for all of the eggs to hatch and go through their normal procession to flea, then die in 10 days when they don't get a good blood meal) - plus vacuuming every day or two on all the various carpets I can reach.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
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Post by Hansontoons »

Bookworm wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:28 pm
Dave wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 2:00 pm
Bookworm wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 12:49 pmThe weird part? I've put out some basic dish soap and plate flea traps, mostly to identify which rooms have resident fleas. Nothing. nada. I'm only seeing about two to four a day hatching out. I suspect they're hatching, getting on the cats, and basically dropping dead.
You might find that a treatment with Precor might be helpful. It doesn't kill fleas directly, but it keeps the juvenile fleas from successfully maturing to adulthood... they fail to molt and they end up dying naturally without maturing to the biting stage.

You can buy Precor as part of a combined flea spray (typically with a permetrin or similar pyrethroid to kill the adults) or as a standalone product.
The problem is that my house is PACKED with computer equipment. There's no way short of bagging the house to fumigate all the areas the cats could have dropped flea eggs. That kind of fogging would put poison over everything. I'm trying to get rid of stuff. (Mostly E-Bay; selling stuff just barely over the cost of shipping, just to get it to new homes)

What I'm doing seems to be working. The cats are clean, and I'm seeing minimal issues on my own. (Two fleas visible yesterday) I figure I can live with some repellent on the bottoms of my legs for three weeks or so (long enough for all of the eggs to hatch and go through their normal procession to flea, then die in 10 days when they don't get a good blood meal) - plus vacuuming every day or two on all the various carpets I can reach.
Since you are at a good place with the flea population but still expecting more, have you tried a night time water trap? Take a large diameter pan (like a serving tray, or even better one that would go under a water heater), cover the bottom with quarter/half inch of water, put a couple or so drops of dishwashing soap in the water, swish it around to spread the soap, set the pan on the floor in middle of room, set up a light like a desk lamp or similar right over the pan, turn off the rest of the lights in the room, then go to bed. When you get up the next day, there should be dead fleas in the pan.

The light attracts them and the dish soap breaks the surface tension on the water so the lousy little buggers drown when they hit the water after jumping towards the light. It was amazing how many fell victim to it during my fight with them.

I wouldn't imagine your kitties would drink the water since it will taste soapy. If concerned, keep them out of the room (easier said than done usually) or get crafty with some manner of chicken wire or other wide-spaced mesh that would keep their little tongues out but let the fleas fall in.

It worked for me during a bad infestation years back. Well, I did have chemical warfare help courtesy of Raid Flea Killer spray. But together it took care of it.
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Hansontoons wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:53 pm
Bookworm wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:28 pm
Dave wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 2:00 pm
You might find that a treatment with Precor might be helpful. It doesn't kill fleas directly, but it keeps the juvenile fleas from successfully maturing to adulthood... they fail to molt and they end up dying naturally without maturing to the biting stage.

You can buy Precor as part of a combined flea spray (typically with a permetrin or similar pyrethroid to kill the adults) or as a standalone product.
The problem is that my house is PACKED with computer equipment. There's no way short of bagging the house to fumigate all the areas the cats could have dropped flea eggs. That kind of fogging would put poison over everything. I'm trying to get rid of stuff. (Mostly E-Bay; selling stuff just barely over the cost of shipping, just to get it to new homes)

What I'm doing seems to be working. The cats are clean, and I'm seeing minimal issues on my own. (Two fleas visible yesterday) I figure I can live with some repellent on the bottoms of my legs for three weeks or so (long enough for all of the eggs to hatch and go through their normal procession to flea, then die in 10 days when they don't get a good blood meal) - plus vacuuming every day or two on all the various carpets I can reach.
Since you are at a good place with the flea population but still expecting more, have you tried a night time water trap? Take a large diameter pan (like a serving tray, or even better one that would go under a water heater), cover the bottom with quarter/half inch of water, put a couple or so drops of dishwashing soap in the water, swish it around to spread the soap, set the pan on the floor in middle of room, set up a light like a desk lamp or similar right over the pan, turn off the rest of the lights in the room, then go to bed. When you get up the next day, there should be dead fleas in the pan.

The light attracts them and the dish soap breaks the surface tension on the water so the lousy little buggers drown when they hit the water after jumping towards the light. It was amazing how many fell victim to it during my fight with them.

I wouldn't imagine your kitties would drink the water since it will taste soapy. If concerned, keep them out of the room (easier said than done usually) or get crafty with some manner of chicken wire or other wide-spaced mesh that would keep their little tongues out but let the fleas fall in.

It worked for me during a bad infestation years back. Well, I did have chemical warfare help courtesy of Raid Flea Killer spray. But together it took care of it.
Yup - did the soap dish flea trap with light in three different rooms. Zero fleas caught. Cats sniffed the water, but knew they had better stuff elsewhere.

I'm finding two or three a day in one bathroom - white tile floor. they've been the tiny 'just hatched' size. Some hopping, but others barely moving or dead. So the stuff from the collars is doing its job, and the cats wandering around is keeping them waking up (which is necessary to get the cycle to stop. They can last for a long time in the last larval stage, but no more than 10 days after hatching without a blood meal)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
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Catawampus
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Catawampus »

Hansontoons wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:53 pmTake a large diameter pan (like a serving tray, or even better one that would go under a water heater), cover the bottom with quarter/half inch of water, put a couple or so drops of dishwashing soap in the water, swish it around to spread the soap, set the pan on the floor in middle of room, set up a light like a desk lamp or similar right over the pan, turn off the rest of the lights in the room, then go to bed. When you get up the next day, there should be dead fleas in the pan.

The light attracts them and the dish soap breaks the surface tension on the water so the lousy little buggers drown when they hit the water after jumping towards the light. It was amazing how many fell victim to it during my fight with them.
If you use a warmer lightbulb (so incandescent rather than LED) and have it mainly emit around the 500 nm wavelength range, it will work even better. A little carbon dioxide will help, too, if you can get your hands on some dry ice.

Just remember that it can take the fleas over a day to actually drown in the water; often the "dead" fleas in water will revive after you've poured them out. So be sure to kill the carcasses extra dead.
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Catawampus wrote: Fri Jul 26, 2019 5:57 am
Hansontoons wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:53 pmTake a large diameter pan (like a serving tray, or even better one that would go under a water heater), cover the bottom with quarter/half inch of water, put a couple or so drops of dishwashing soap in the water, swish it around to spread the soap, set the pan on the floor in middle of room, set up a light like a desk lamp or similar right over the pan, turn off the rest of the lights in the room, then go to bed. When you get up the next day, there should be dead fleas in the pan.

The light attracts them and the dish soap breaks the surface tension on the water so the lousy little buggers drown when they hit the water after jumping towards the light. It was amazing how many fell victim to it during my fight with them.
If you use a warmer lightbulb (so incandescent rather than LED) and have it mainly emit around the 500 nm wavelength range, it will work even better. A little carbon dioxide will help, too, if you can get your hands on some dry ice.

Just remember that it can take the fleas over a day to actually drown in the water; often the "dead" fleas in water will revive after you've poured them out. So be sure to kill the carcasses extra dead.
Flush them :)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
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