I have a pole building shop that I restore cars in. I cant seem to eliminate field mice getting in. To my investigation, I’ve eliminated the entry points. I’ve installed a sonic rodent deterrent, but it does not prevail. Cant have these *&^%^ mice in my upholstery. Dont want to poison them, they die in the wrong places and stink. Other than burning the place down, how do I evict these things?
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the best trap i've seen is also one of the cruelest; take a 5 gall bucket and put about 3-4" of antifreeze in it. place it below an entry point (sill, etc.), with a wire stuck through the center of the opening. balance a piece of tin, folded in half, on the wire, so that when the mouse steps on it, the tin spins downward and the mouse falls in the antifreeze. within a minute it passes. no stink. the mouse can stay in the bucket for weeks, if not months, without stench. remember, if it can get its nose through, the body will follow. good luck.
Mice can pass through a hole the size of a dime. Close them all up with 1/4 or 1/8 inch steel mesh. Not window screen.Remove the attraction, food, water and shelter. Get a cat or snake. Clear brush and debris around outside and inside. They are such proflific breeders, that once you have one you have ten!
Antifreeze is sweet and will attract, and kill, any dogs in the area. Get a cat!
I have had good luck with spring traps. I prefer the newer plastic ones because they work just as well, and are easy to reset.
The very best bait is bits of peanut butter cup. They swarm to it.
A year ago they were digging up the roads, and this must have evicted a lot of mice because the whole neighborhood got them at once. I caught 9 in just one week. about 20 before they stopped coming. No mice since.
Get a cat...honestly.
Often just the smell of a cat will keep the mice away.
That's the honest to god truth. When I first moved into my apartment, my girlfriends cat caught a few mice. I't diddn't know what to do with them, so it would smack them around and eventually let them go after I chased the cat off but was too slow to catch the mouse. The mice would run back to where they came in. I joke with my girlfriend that the cat was all mafioso and told the mouse to go home and tell his crew not to come around here no more.You know what, they don't. The mice won't even come in my apartment anymore. That and the fact that I got great stuff and steel wool and went to town.I'll skip the story about the one that ran into my boxers that one night when I got into bed. What a suprise that was! Ever hear a grown man scream like a girl.
A year ago, we had three cats and no mice. One cat we had to have put down. Another committed suicide on the state highway. The last died of natural causes.
Suddenly the yard is alive with chipmunks and squirrels. And mice in the kitchen.
So we bring a cat home from the SPCA. Outside he daily catches and eats squirrels, moles, chipmunks, field mice and rabbits.
Inside, he just sleeps while the mice still visit the kitchen.
I've been setting traps ... caught a couple mice, but many of the traps seem to be faulty. The mice manage to lick off the peanut butter without the trap springing. Amazing, because the traps sure seem sensitive as I struggle to set them.
Guess I need a better mouse trap. Or a better cat.
Allen
my method for traps is to put a raisin on first- I either open up the metal and then fold it over the raisin, or I tie the raisin on with thread. Then I smear it with peanut butter. It catches a lot more mice than PB alone
It's important to clear the traps quickly- If I let them sit around with dead mice in them, it seems harder to catch mice later. Maybe they catch on.zak
"so it goes"
Use Chunky and jam a piece of a nut into and under the metal bait tab.
And when setting the trap lighty move the trip wire to the side of the bait tab as much as you dare. Kind of a sensitizing of the trap.
be careful
Beware. RFID is coming.
<hear a grown man scream like a girl.>Ask the guys I work with, they will tell you, but my scare was from a 2" water bug(roach)....
Bugs....I don't even want to contemplate
Lemme send ya few blacksnakes and Cowsuckers snakes..they out catch my cats 30:1,,,,,
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
There is no cure for stupid. R. White.
the only traps I've found that work are the glue traps. Yea, it's a pretty mean way to kill'em, but the mice around here seem too damn smart for any other option.
Otherwise, yea, I'd get a bunch of 'barn cats' to live in their.
I second the glue traps. The large rat glue traps, on a paper, not plastic frame, work awesome. Place along the walls, they catch many mice and bugs. The large size works well, and the glue stays sticky for about a year, even with sawdust falling.I wonder if you could make your own traps with some luan and contact cement...
What you both said. Glue traps, next to a wall. The critters cant see in the dark ,but they feel the walls with their whiskers. Put a glue trap in the middle of a room and the only rat you will trap is yourself. Open containers of antifreeze will kill your cats or dogs .Please be careful with used or spilled antifreeze.
I've had good luck (and the mice haven't) with spring traps and chunky peanut butter. However, the traps work best when they're placed perpendicular to the wall--like a T. The trigger side should be against the wall. Mice apparently are hardwired to run along walls, and if the bait doesn't catch them, running across the trigger will.
And keep the traps in place after you've stopped catching them . . . even if the bait is a bit stale, you're ready for the next incursion. (And alas, there will be . . . )
sojourner
If I may move tangentially a little bit... what about chipmunks? I seem to have an infestation of them this year. Not in the house, but all around it. They even have burrows next to the foundation.
I'd rather not kill them if I don't have to. Do they do any real damage? What do they eat? I've got some plants that aren't doing so well, but I don't think the chipmunks are responsible. How deep do they dig? (and what do they do with the dirt?). Is it conceivable that they could undermine the foundation?
-Don
They are just a fancy rat.
Beware. RFID is coming.
extermination is the only safe way to go. chipmunks have been known to destabilize, foundations, retaining walls, sidewalks, and trees. i usually live trap them and drown them to avoid unnecessary deaths of other non nuissance rodents. they are notorious for finding their way home from great distance. I also do not believe in letting my problem become someone else's.
Appropriately sized live trap and sunflower seeds. Chipmunks won't touch rodent poison or the like; they prefer seeds and fresh berries. They're active in the daytime, and your best "catch" will be early morning.In a natural woodland setting they'll burrow under rock shelves and the like, but they'll make do just fine with concrete patios, porches, and sidewalks. And I have seen it lead to cracks in the concrete.What you do with them after catching them. . . where's that Southern Culture on the Skids recipe thread again? I'm thinkin' appetizers, something like Chipmunk on a Stick . . . ;^)sojourner
The problem with single use traps is that although they're effective, when successful once they're full and "off duty."
Google mouse master or tin cat if you want to consider a multiple trap that doesn't go off duty.
I use spring traps with sunflower seeds. Make sure you have the metal triggers and not the plastic.
The metal triggers have a small curl at the end. Jam the sunflowers seeds in each end of the tube. The mice have to fight to get the seed out. No more empty traps with the peanut butter gone. “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” – Albert Einstein
CAT