Micra rusts away.

[LatinoHeat]

Hey guys, check this out. 
Gatorland in Orlando Florida, where I work, burned down this past Monday.  At least the main building did (admissions, gift shop, admin.,etc.).  Luckily, with the exception of two snakes and a crocodile, all our other animals are ok, but we've been in the process of cleaning up.  Yesterday myself and s few others were in the main lake, barricading a portion off from the rest of the lake so the construction crews can work.  We were getting the crocs and gators out onto the other side of the barriers, and were IN the water with them.  Well, I had my keychain attached to my belt loop, and my Micra on my keychain.  I also had my LM Wave on my belt.  I was waist deep in water for a good portion of the day, and when I got home, I realized my Micra is now all rusted up!!  This sucks.  My Wave is good as new, even after having been submerged in sotty, chemically polluted water for hours at a time.  Guess I gotta get me a new keychan tool.   

[Grant Lamontagne]

Wow...  Any idea what the cause of the blaze was?

Pretty amazing that the Micra rusted that fast though...

Def

[LatinoHeat]

Yes.  A reptile heating pad that was in the snake enclosure in the gift shop caught fire.  It was a fluke thing, since it was a legit heating apparatus.  The Gift shop was a very old building, made of wood, and had TONS of fuel for the fire in it.  T-shirts, sweaters, banners, all kinds of things that go up in flames real quick.  Since it was such an old building (the park opened up in 1949, and that building was erected I believe in the 70s), it didn't even have sprinklers, so the fire burned hot, bright, and fast.  As for my Micra, I know.  I'm bummed.  I could clean it up, sure, but if it rusts this fast, what's the point, you know?  I put my SAK Sportsman back on my keychain.  Proud of my Wave, though. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Which Micra was it?  The polished one, the painted one or the plastic covered one?

Def

[colubrid]

Nav,

I have had two reptie heating pads almost burn my house down twice about 2 years apart. Both times they just ignitited and burned the surface they were on (wood and carpet) and I caught the smell of smke in time.

AI have a picture of the blue heat pads (same company). I wonder if its the same manufacturer because now I smell a lawsuit. I contacted the company twice when this happened and they are still selling the pads.

PM or email me if any of this interests you.

[Peter Lezard]

Nav, were you in fresh water the whole time? Even a quick bath in salt water will make darn near anything rust up like that.

[LatinoHeat]

Def, it was the polished finish Micra.
Colubrid, it was ruled an accident, and the owners of Gatorland are ruling it that as well.  No Lawsuit.
Peter, yes I was in Fresh water.  ALL crocodilians need fresh water to live.  Crocs have salt glands which filter ou the salt, and allow them to spend long periods of time in salt water (like the salt water crocs,or the american crocs), but in the end, they all need fresh waterto drink.  They can ALL swim in anything, including alligators, but to drink, it needs to be fresh.  I thought it was wierd that my Micra rusted up in fresh water.  However, it was very very polluted water due to all the chemicals in it from the fire department trying to put the water out.  Plus any roofing, ashes, asbestos, whatever might have come off that fire and into the water probably contributed to my Micra rusting.  I just figured the Wave would rust the same.  Strange.  I found myold Squirt P4, so I'll be using that for now.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Was it just surface pitting or was the metal compromised in any way?  You can't drop a bomb like this and not expect thousands of questions!  If you have pics that would be really cool!

Def

[LatinoHeat]

no pitting.  The rusting isn't too deep.  I mean, the tool isn't ruined or anything like that.  It's just rusted.  Pretty evenly, too, which is actually pretty cool looking.  The blades are now hard to open too, like they are much tighter.  It started out as a yellowing, and then got darker.  Insides are worse then the outside.  Like I said, it was probably a chemical reaction from the polluted water, so it's not like the normal situations one might find it in.

[J-sews]

Sounds like you were wading around in some pretty nasty stuff. (I sure hope your skin doesn't start out yellowing, then get darker and pitted.......) 

[Fred]

That's nasty man.you should send that one back to leatherman with the story and see if they want it for their museum!Might not be a common occurance, but it would make an interesting exhibit!

[Grant Lamontagne]

What would they title it?  "If you wrestle aligators for a living you should buy SOG?"

Def