Kinder eggs

[zwei ormers]

I've recently used a couple of kinder egg cases as a stage of a multicache which was apparently muggled twice. I then moved the hide and a cacher has told me it's been eaten by creatures!
So the question is, are kinder egg cases especially attractive to rats (the likely culprits), or do I just need to wash them out before use? They'd been camouflaged by scribbling all over them with a permanent marker.

[Mrs Blorenge]

Most wild animals have an excellent sense of smell, hence the guidelines to not put anything edible into a cache. There have also been reports of mice/rats/squirrels being attracted to scented candles left as swaps.

Rats will also steal birds' eggs from nests so it's quite likely a neighbouring ratty could smell the residual chocolatey scent left on the plastic Kinder container... In fact, it could have been a rat who muggled the first two containers!

A chocolate-scented, vaguely egg-shaped object... he probably thought Easter had come early.

If you try again maybe washing them with a mild bleach solution would kill off the scent.

[nobbynobbs]

or use a better container that has a non food odour and is more likely to stand up to more than one season's weather.

[t.a.folk]

Mice like chocolate. A few years ago we found sachets of instant chocolate drink were being nibbled in our larder . Discovered what the culprit was when we left chocolate on a mouse trap .

[zwei ormers]

Well I checked the cache yesterday and the culprit had nibbled all the way through the hinge! Will clean my eggs more thoroughly in the future!
It's amazing how good animals' sense of smell is, I know of a guy who spilt sunflower seeds under the seat of his car in Yosemite valley - next day he discovered that a bear had smelt them and got in the car by peeling back the door... Apparently it's not the destroyed door that's the problem, but the stink the bears leave behind on the upholstery!

[markandlynn]

Dont use them, no matter what you use bleach, petrol etc the smell of the food which is impregnated into the plastic both inside and out will permeate it. Dew fall and rain will soon wash the bleach away and all that will remain is the scent of chocolate which is inside the plastic.

This is because ferrerro use food grade plastic of the permeable variety for the kinder eggs and due to the length of storage (at one of my company's depots) it will further penetrate the plastic. A quick wash or even a soaking in bleach wont do the trick you have to totally displace the chocolate from all of the plastic to do this and that will take about the same time as they are exposed to the chocolcate and its smells.

[border caz]

Noticed today that Poundstretcher are selling packs of plastic "eggs" like kinder eggs that, presumably, have never had chocolate near them. Perhaps that could be an option if you need egg shaped caches?

[nobbynobbs]

Maybe I'm being pedantic or something.

I know it can cost a bit of money to place caches but when I know it is possible to buy a pack of ten small containers designed to be used as caches, weather proof etc and costing about £9 I'm not sure why people find the need to put out items, which are let's be honest, rubbish and should have been placed into a bin or recycled.

If you can't afford to buy containers why are you, or anyone as believe me this is not a personal attack, feeling a need to place anything?

As caching is becoming more well known and more landowners, wildlife trusts etc are coming onto these forums, or sending people out to find a few caches to judge the hobby for themselves, they are going to base that judgement on the cache containers they find.
If we want to be able to continue this hobby we need to display that we aren't littering which is always the accusation levelled at us. How can we do that when that is exactly what we are doing?

[Lord Darcy]

Ten containers not dis-similar in size, with 'waterproof' logsheets- £2.15
Linky ... mind you, there's no chocolate to eat!

[zwei ormers]

It wasn't a cost thing - it was a recycling thing. I have been using 'test tube' type containers for intermediates in multicaches as well, but thought I'd try the kinders as I have one on toast every sunday morning

[Buckleberry]

I have one on toast every sunday morning

hmy:::wacko::lol: