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Candy In The Caches?


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From what I have read no one should be putting candy or food items in the caches.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

I have not done many finds yet, but of the ones I have found I would say about 1/3 of them had candy in them.

 

What should I do when I find candy in the cache?

 

Remove it and say nothing?

Remove it and note it when I log it online?

Leave the candy in the cache and not worry about it?

 

So far I have just left the candy in the caches.

 

What's the right thing to do?

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I would remove it. I don't think it's necessary to count it as a trade because you are doing the cache a favor by removing it IMO. I will usually trade something else if there's something I want. 99% of the time I leave something anyway, whether I take something or not.

 

It wouldn't hurt to write a note about it either. Most importantly though is to remove it.

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Yes, what everyone else said.

 

I have a question. If a container is truly waterproof, doesn't that mean it is odorproof also?

 

I know the main reason for having a "No Food" rule is to prevent animals tracking down and destroying caches. Another reason might be the old "Halloween Weirdo" theory.... You know, the idea that some people get a huge kick out of poisoning a complete stranger. And may use a cache for that purpose.

 

However, I've run across several caches with air fresheners in them. When you open the container it smells like Strawberry Fields Forever and whatnot. Yet, I'm sure that waterproof containers hold in all the fragrance.

 

That raises the need for another rule. What if you put things that smell like food in the cache? Shouldn't that be a violation of the rules also?

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Yes, what everyone else said.

 

I have a question. If a container is truly waterproof, doesn't that mean it is odorproof also?

 

I know the main reason for having a "No Food" rule is to prevent animals tracking down and destroying caches. Another reason might be the old "Halloween Weirdo" theory.... You know, the idea that some people get a huge kick out of poisoning a complete stranger. And may use a cache for that purpose.

 

However, I've run across several caches with air fresheners in them. When you open the container it smells like Strawberry Fields Forever and whatnot. Yet, I'm sure that waterproof containers hold in all the fragrance.

 

That raises the need for another rule. What if you put things that smell like food in the cache? Shouldn't that be a violation of the rules also?

Many animals have noses FAR more sensitive than ours. The scent will make it out of "waterproof" containers. Nothing with an odor that would attact animals should ever be put in a cache.

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Stunod wrote:

The scent will make it out of "waterproof" containers.

 

You're sure about that? Say I put a dash of perfume in a waterproof container and submerged it in the bathtub. If the scent was escaping, how long before it would be gone completely? Where would it go, into the water? Water molecules are pretty darned small, after all, just one oxygen and two hydrogens.

 

I'm off to do some research, Stunod. You make a very good common sense point. I'll see if it can be backed up by science. :rolleyes:

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In just the past few days, I've found a used bottle of suntan lotion, two things of chapstick (partially melted) and mints. I am thinking of making a cache that is called "What Not To Do" and leaving all the candy, smelly stuff, golf balls and broken toys I have found in it. It would be a very easy cache to get to, no trading required and would show newbies what NOT to put in a cache. Sounds like fun, eh? :rolleyes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey, I must not be a newbie anymore since I am referring to them now! LOL

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I've learned a few things about odor. My girlfriend told me I stink!!! Wahahaha!

 

Actually, I've read about quite a few containers and Stunod was correct when he said that waterproof containers still allow odor to escape. The most coherent bit of information I found was on a review of a bearproof container that was completely waterproof, but:

Odor Resistance. We slathered a 12x15 Aloksak in the BearVault with honey, sausage, and kibbles, closed it shut, and washed the outside well in soap and water, and then placed it in a dog kennel for the Black Lab sniff test (not a standard method). The curious lab batted the BearVault around the kennel a bit, got bored, and went back in her dog house. We repeated the same test - sans Aloksak - and the dog tried to lick her way through the polycarbonate (uh, yeah, that would be an indicator that the canister is not odor proof). For the record, canisters from Garcia and Bearikade have also failed the test. Lesson: consider lining any bear canister, or storing your food in, odor proof storage bags. Conflict of Interest Disclaimer: We like Aloksaks, obviously, because we sell them in the store, but if you are wholly opposed to being tainted by this pitch for them, order some catheter bags from a medical supply house. That's what we used for years. And, yeah, they work!

 

I deduce that the easiest thing to do would be to follow the rules and not put scented items in a cache. However, if you can't resist doing so, despite the rules and the fact that nobody would want to trade for a handful of tootsie rolls of indeterminate age, put them in a catheter bag!!!

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However, if you can't resist doing so, despite the rules and the fact that nobody would want to trade for a handful of tootsie rolls of indeterminate age, put them in a catheter bag!!!

There's just something that bothers me about eating anything out of a "catheter" bag..... :rolleyes:

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Ltljon wrote:

There's just something that bothers me about eating anything out of a "catheter" bag..... 

 

Ah, come on, Ltljon! Live dangerously!! Just imagine finding a cache, and sealed inside is a catheter bag full of yellow liquid with, "Country Time Lemonade" written on the bag with black marker. You're parched, it was a long hike and a longer search to find the cache. Wouldn't that be refreshing? And wouldn't you be so thankful that such a consciencious and thoughtful cacher had visited before you? :rolleyes:

Edited by LeatherKnight
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However, if you can't resist doing so, despite the rules and the fact that nobody would want to trade for a handful of tootsie rolls of indeterminate age, put them in a catheter bag!!!

There's just something that bothers me about eating anything out of a "catheter" bag..... :rolleyes:

You could always take it out first, but I don't think that would actually help.

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Stunod wrote:
The scent will make it out of "waterproof" containers.

 

You're sure about that? Say I put a dash of perfume in a waterproof container and submerged it in the bathtub. If the scent was escaping, how long before it would be gone completely? Where would it go, into the water? Water molecules are pretty darned small, after all, just one oxygen and two hydrogens.

 

I'm off to do some research, Stunod. You make a very good common sense point. I'll see if it can be backed up by science. :rolleyes:

I've seen drug sniffing dogs find beer cans packed inside tupperware containers. Supposedly, those are air tight. I think Stunod is quite right.

 

In certain National Parks, anything that has a scent (including lotion, soaps, deoderants, and toothpaste) is required to be in the bear box at the campsite so as to not entice the bear, or other animals to break into your camper/tent/RV.

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Ltljon wrote:
There's just something that bothers me about eating anything out of a "catheter" bag..... 

 

Ah, come on, Ltljon! Live dangerously!! Just imagine finding a cache, and sealed inside is a catheter bag full of yellow liquid with, "Country Time Lemonade" written on the bag with black marker. You're parched, it was a long hike and a longer search to find the cache. Wouldn't that be refreshing? And wouldn't you be so thankful that such a consciencious and thoughtful cacher had visited before you? :)

I kid you not, when I took my state exam for my paramedic license, one question on the test was "True or False: It is not ethical to eat food recovered from an autopsy."

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Wow! Candy in Caches? Some people have all the luck! I'm dieting and do you think I could even find some stale Krispy Kremes when I am in need? Shoot, I can't even come up with stale pretzels! In all honesty, I have only done Urban caches so far, but haven't found any food items...yet. Guess the people around here take the no food in caches seriously. The closest to leaving food in caches I have done is leave McDonalds Money. It seems to go over well!

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I kid you not, when I took my state exam for my paramedic license, one question on the test was "True or False: It is not ethical to eat food recovered from an autopsy."

That's been up dated to "low carb" food, just to make the choice more difficult. :)

Edited by Cholo
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I was looking at the logs for nearby caches and a newbie who had their first 3 finds this weekend was putting marshmallows in caches. I sent them a nice polite e-mail explaining why they shouldn't do that. Waiting for a reply.

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A couple of months ago, I found a cache that had a pack of gum in it (I've found several since with the same brand, and I think it's somebody's idea of a sig item :) ). The container was covered in ants, and there were even ants inside the container, a plastic jar with a screw-on lid. The packs of gum were sealed, the lid had a rubber seal, but those little buggers still found the good stuff.......I've removed candles, soap, candy, gum, a can of spam, a can of sardines, car air fresheners, several tubes of Chapstick (one used, yuck!), and even a stick of deodorant. Any one or all of these could have invited disaster for the cache.

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I had someone leave mints in one of my caches. It's their "sig item" (the guy manufactures/sells them or something). Shortly after, it went missing. Hundreds of feet off-trail in a swamp, not likely it got muggled. When people told him how bad an idea leaving mints in caches is, we got back email saying (and I kid you not, this one is an exact quote!) " there is no way in hell that any "Critter" will smell the "Coffee, mint or sh*t". " and a comment about how no animal would want to eat his strong mints, and he has a warehouse full of them, and no animals have ever bothered with them.

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I had someone leave mints in one of my caches. It's their "sig item" (the guy manufactures/sells them or something). Shortly after, it went missing. Hundreds of feet off-trail in a swamp, not likely it got muggled. When people told him how bad an idea leaving mints in caches is, we got back email saying (and I kid you not, this one is an exact quote!) " there is no way in hell that any "Critter" will smell the "Coffee, mint or sh*t". " and a comment about how no animal would want to eat his strong mints, and he has a warehouse full of them, and no animals have ever bothered with them.

Lovely.......a good smack upside the head might cure that thinking....or better yet, stake him down in the area your cache was in, and cover his body and stuff all his orifices with his mints, then see if he changes his tune! :)

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Candy is definitely a violation of the rules . . . I would remove it (as part of a trade to be truly nice) and post a note on the online log. I would also write a very nice email to the person who left it (if you know who it was) and quote the rule from the geocaching website.

 

It is amazing what animals can smell. I know that my dog has an awesome "sniffer," so I can imagine the capacity of a truly wild animal.

 

Sounds funny, but I have often wondered if the smell molecules of hamburger and fries could be left on a McToy and sniffed out by a bear (esp. if a bear happens upon it right after you place it). After seeing a special on TV about blood hounds, I don't doubt they could sniff it out. They are amazing.

 

P.S. I am hoping the answer to the autopsy question is FALSE . . . :)

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Sparky-Watts wrote:

I kid you not, when I took my state exam for my paramedic license, one question on the test was "True or False: It is not ethical to eat food recovered from an autopsy."

 

:D:D:D

 

And Ltljon gets nervous about eating out of a catheter bag. I'd wear one like a horse's oat bag before I'd eat food recovered at an autopsy.

 

BTW, Sparky-Watts, were all the questions as hard as that one? :D

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And Ltljon gets nervous about eating out of a catheter bag. I'd wear one like a horse's oat bag before I'd eat food recovered at an autopsy.

 

OK, you got me there...

 

I'll take two catheter bags full of trail mix & a urine specimen bottle filled with water, (from a spigot preferably) over the autopsy leftovers. :D

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What about soap? We have a cacher in my area that has recently started leaving little bars of soap in caches, and when you open them they really STINK. I'm not sure any animals will come looking for this cache in hopes of finding food, but then again it's hard to say what an animal is thinking. Maybe a bear wants to open the box just to see what they're smelling out of curiosity?

 

I'd guess that anything that smells, even if it's not food, is a bad idea.

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We don't have bears here in Australia so that box thingo you use to keep the bears out of your food is no good here.

We do have Dingos so its a good idea not to leave babies in your caches.(sick Aussie joke,so dont worry if you don't get it) ;);)

A Dingo ate my baby!!!!!!!! Hated the movie, but still love that line!!!!!! A real ice-breaker at those tense times........ ;)

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We don't have bears here in Australia so that box thingo you use to keep the bears out of your food is no good here.

We do have Dingos so its a good idea not to leave babies in your caches.(sick Aussie joke,so dont worry if you don't get it) ;);)

I think the dingo ate your baby!

 

I always wondered what that really meant when Elaine said it on Seinfeld.

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I have a question.  If a container is truly waterproof, doesn't that mean it is odorproof also?

Nope.

 

Gases can permeate through many materials, even sealed plastic containers. Glass is one of the most resistent materials to having gasses permeating through it. Of course, glass makes for a lousy cache container.

 

This I learned beacuse I do some brewing.

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Items I have found recently in local caches (OK, they were just over the border in Germany):

 

- 1 novelty condom

- 2 lighters

- More mini-packs of gummy bears than I can remember

- 1 diskette containing a computer game where you have to get a girl totally nude ("Man sieht wirklich alles !!!") before the bad guys get you

 

Apparently we Europeans are more laid back about this sort of thing. I took the lighters in each case ("Geocacher's kids accidentally destroy 40,000 acres of forest in major blaze") and I always eat the candy <_<.

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Ferreter5 wrote:

Nope.

 

Gases can permeate through many materials, even sealed plastic containers. Glass is one of the most resistent materials to having gasses permeating through it. Of course, glass makes for a lousy cache container.

 

This I learned beacuse I do some brewing.

 

Thanks, Ferreter5.

 

It's good to get the straight stuff right from a moonshiner. :unsure:

 

sTeamTraen wrote:

Items I have found recently in local caches (OK, they were just over the border in Germany):

 

- 1 novelty condom

- 2 lighters

- More mini-packs of gummy bears than I can remember

- 1 diskette containing a computer game where you have to get a girl totally nude ("Man sieht wirklich alles !!!") before the bad guys get you

 

Apparently we Europeans are more laid back about this sort of thing. I took the lighters in each case ("Geocacher's kids accidentally destroy 40,000 acres of forest in major blaze") and I always eat the candy .

 

You always take the lighters and eat the candy, but the most important question: Do you use the condoms? Or just wear them. :o:)

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:unsure: i just chuck the candy, chapstick and anything else not compatible with south florida heat that would make the cache nasty. if someone gets their feeling hurts.. oh well... they need 3cc's of common sense via large injection!

 

urbo

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