Soap As A Cache Item??

[+Doc-Dean]

I just had someone leave tropical soap in one of my caches. I am not sure what that means...

 

I emailed the finder to ask if it is a kind of scented soap, and if so would he mind removing it.

 

This is the 2nd time in 2 weeks that someone has left inappropriate items in the cache and its getting me steamed!

 

[vent] Why don't people read the dadgum FAQ or at lease use common sense!!! [/vent]

 

Here's the link if you want to see: Blue Hole Cache

Edited January 14, 2004 by Doc-Dean

[dead_white_man]

What shouldn't be in a cache?

 

Use your common sense in most cases. Explosives, ammo, knives, drugs, and alcohol shouldn't be placed in a cache. Respect the local laws. All ages of people hide and seek caches, so use some thought before placing an item into a cache.

 

Food items are ALWAYS a BAD IDEA. Animals have better noses than humans, and in some cases caches have been chewed through and destroyed because of food items in a cache. Please do not put food in a cache. ?

 

I don't see scented soap listed here

[+rusty_tlc]

They were visiting, the soap was from the hotel. We get lotion and stuff from hotels around here all the time. My favorite is when a visiting cacher leaves a hotel shower cap, now who would want that?

 

Edit Typo

Edited January 14, 2004 by rusty_tlc

[+Doc-Dean]

What shouldn't be in a cache?

 

Use your common sense in most cases. Explosives, ammo, knives, drugs, and alcohol shouldn't be placed in a cache. Respect the local laws. All ages of people hide and seek caches, so use some thought before placing an item into a cache.

 

Food items are ALWAYS a BAD IDEA. Animals have better noses than humans, and in some cases caches have been chewed through and destroyed because of food items in a cache. Please do not put food in a cache. ?

 

I don't see scented soap listed here

Maybe it should be added....

 

I would think any scented item that will attract an animal's attention will result in destruction of the cache whether its food or not.

 

How's the animal to know until he's torn everything up and then found out its not food??

[+JMBella]

Maybe they're trying to tell ya something there Stinky Smurf.

[+joefrog]

It's also a pathetic attempt at a trade item. I've seen numerous hotel-soap bars in caches. What do those things cost, 10¢? Geez... just LN if that's what you've got!

[+rusty_tlc]

.10 would be expensive stuff probably more like .02

Edited January 14, 2004 by rusty_tlc

[Jamethiel]

I have to agree, my pet peeve is hotel soaps and shampoo bottles, I always trade them OUT of caches I find them in. Once found a cache which had gotten wet inside and the soap had slimed everything into uselessness. And the shampoo bottles DO leak after a while in the elements.

Uck.

-Jennifer

[magellan315]

I share your frustration with you, the best option is to send a nice e-mail to the cacher to educate them and then do some cache maintainence and remove the item.

 

I also added a disclaimer in the description of one of my caches asking people not to leave any food or scented items. It seems to help.

[umc]

Not only is it a lame trade item it makes the whole caches stink along with everything in it. A while ago we had someone around here leaving large bars of soap such as Irish Spring in caches and not only would everything stink like that but if the cache gets wet it really makes a mess.

[+CYBret]

Not only is it a lame trade item it makes the whole caches stink along with everything in it.

UGH, absolutely! I remember finding an ammo box on a hot summer afternoon and popping it open to the overpowering scent of some decorative soap someone had left. Also, the soap has very definite teeth marks on it (animal not human). I'm not sure how the teethmarks got on it IN the box, but there they were. Maybe animals get desperate enough and eat just about anything.

 

Save the soap for after you get home....that's when you'll need it.

 

Bret

Edited January 14, 2004 by CYBret

[+Doc-Dean]

Just as a follow up, I did receive email the cacher in question who is being kind enough to go back and remove the soap from the cache.

 

No smurfs were harmed.

[+briansnat]

Anything that is heavily scented is a bad idea. Soap, candles, pot pourri, incense and of course food..

 

Strong scents will be of interest to animals, no matter what the source is.

[+carleenp]

Yeah, I say avoid anything that has a scent. When I first started caching I bought cans of playdough to put in caches. But before I ever put one in a cache, I thought about it and decided that its smell could attract animals. Lord knows, kids seem to love to eat the stuff so I assume animals would too.

Edited January 14, 2004 by carleenp

[+Criminal]

Anything that is heavily scented is a bad idea. Soap, candles, pot pourri, incense and of course food..

 

Strong scents will be of interest to animals, no matter what the source is.

Of course, any animal that's stupid enough to eat soap deserves what it gets. There'll be a lot of odiferous bunnies hopping about....

[+sbell111]

meh

[+carleenp]

There'll be a lot of odiferous bunnies hopping about....

 

I wonder if they would also burp soap bubbles?

[+The Leprechauns]

I remember finding an ammo box on a hot summer afternoon and popping it open to the overpowering scent of some decorative soap someone had left. Also, the soap has very definite teeth marks on it (animal not human). I'm not sure how the teethmarks got on it IN the box, but there they were. Maybe animals get desperate enough and eat just about anything.

I dropped off one of my signature hamsters in each appropriately-sized cache I visited last summer in Indiana. Obviously and fortunately (for the hamster) someone traded it out prior to your visit. Anyways, that explains the teeth marks inside of an ammo box. Apparently you aren't familiar with hamstercaching???

 

Small animal signature items are yet another reason not to leave food or scented items as cache trades, unless you don't mind them being eaten instead of traded.

[+Doc-Dean]

I dropped off one of my signature hamsters in each appropriately-sized cache I visited last summer in Indiana. Obviously and fortunately (for the hamster) someone traded it out prior to your visit. Anyways, that explains the teeth marks inside of an ammo box. Apparently you aren't familiar with hamstercaching???

<snip>

So the hamster bit something in the cache, then died and saponified into soap?!?

[+Sparky-Watts]

Well, I could have sworn I read somewhere in the guidelines about not only food, but also not leaving anything scented. Just too lazy to go look for it now. But I'm sure I read it there.....

[+Sparky-Watts]

Yeah....here it is:

 

Cache Contents

 

Use your common sense in most cases. Explosives, fireworks, ammo, knives (including pocket knives and multi-tools), drugs, alcohol or other illicit material shouldn't be placed in a cache. As always respect the local laws. Geocaching is a family activity and cache contents should be suitable for all ages.

 

Food items are ALWAYS a BAD IDEA. Animals have better noses than humans, and in some cases caches have been chewed through and destroyed because food items (or items that smell like food) are in the cache. Even the presence of mint flavored dental floss has led to destruction of one cache.

 

If the original cache contents list any of the above items or other questionable items, or if a cache is reported to have the questionable items, the cache may be disabled, and the owner of the cache will be contacted and asked to remove the questionable items before the cache is enabled.

 

I found these here.

[+The Leprechauns]

So the hamster bit something in the cache, then died and saponified into soap?!?

I don't know. Typically we don't stick around to check on the continued well-being of our trade goods. Instead, we rely on the logs of subsequent finders to tell us whether our sig item brought tears of joy as a young geocacher acquired an unexpected pet, tears of pain after being bitten by a hamster upset over being confined for a long time (but not too long a time), or tears of grief upon discovering that some combination of weather, stamina and the passage of time had rendered our sig item useless. There are some great stories out there if you read your watchlist notices diligently.

[+ChrisCindy]

 

I would think any scented item that will attract an animal's attention will result in destruction of the cache whether its food or not.

So don't leave your drawers in the cache.

[+Sparky-Watts]

 

I would think any scented item that will attract an animal's attention will result in destruction of the cache whether its food or not. 

So don't leave your drawers in the cache.

Tell that to Johnny Stalkers!

[+ChrisCindy]

 

I would think any scented item that will attract an animal's attention will result in destruction of the cache whether its food or not. 

So don't leave your drawers in the cache.

Tell that to Johnny Stalkers!

Ewwwwww! LOL

[+nincehelser]

Anything that is heavily scented is a bad idea. Soap, candles, pot pourri, incense and of course food..

 

Strong scents will be of interest to animals, no matter what the source is.

Granted, many animals have a better sense of smell than humas, but they aren't all necessarily attractive. I've never known deoderant soap to be a popular animal bait, for example.

 

In the defense of soaps and some other scented items, they can go along way to reducing the repulsive smell of mold and mildew that plagues some caches.

 

Items that smell food-like are obviously a bad idea, but are all scents really that attractive to animals? Like the smell of "Zest" or "Irish Spring"?

 

Georeg

[+Imajika]

Even animals like to be zestfully clean and clean as a whistle.

[+Sparky-Watts]

Even animals like to be zestfully clean and clean as a whistle.

ROFL!!!!!

[+ChrisCindy]

Even animals like to be zestfully clean and clean as a whistle.

Would they stop chewing containers up to get at the soap if we quit putting little washcloths in the caches as well?

[+Runaround]

Someone around here keeps leaving unwrapped bars of Irish Spring in caches. I actually honed in on one cache by the smell alone.

[+Navdog]

I bet if it was patchouli soap... animals wouldn't touch it!

[+nincehelser]

Someone around here keeps leaving unwrapped bars of Irish Spring in caches. I actually honed in on one cache by the smell alone.

That's probably an attempt to control the mold/mildew odor. "Irish Spring" is very popular for that use. I use it "de-smell" old papers and photographs.

 

George