Carport and Mice

[oosik]

Well - wonders will never cease. Eleven days ago a young tiger stripe cat showed up. Not some feral cat - no. He is friendly and looking for a home. So, immediately, I set out cat food and water. He has stayed and become a consummate barn cat. Generally, sleeping in the sun on the porch and out "working" all night. He's not picky either. Some times it's a mouse - other times a chipmunk.

His mere presence has been a significant deterrent. The word has spread - this yard is no loner a safe haven for rodents. No more munks out bouncing thru the yard. The mice have made a rapid move, back out into the Buck brush. I'm now figuring on a winter shelter for him.

A good barn cat is a real asset out here in the country.

 

[tallyho8]

In my semi-rural area there are hundreds of acres of pasture, swamp and woods and lots of mice and squirrels. I have always kept my 95 F250 diesel and my Kubota tractor under the shed. My barn cats love to sleep under these vehicles for some reason and I have never had any kind of rodent problem with them. Only ants getting in my truck sometimes as it usually sits up for weeks at a time.

I have my tack room in my barn sealed where the cats can't get in and mess up my saddles. but alas, the mice have found out that they are safe from the cats in there and gotten in and chewed holes in them. You can't win.......

 

[Peter 315]

My cats sleep in my tack room or on the seats of the tractors.......

 

[mikester]

Had no issues with my GMC HD2500, guess they didn't like GM, bought the RAM, within a month the little guys did $1,600 in damage - destroying most of the wires, we were using bounce and moth balls - both vehicles were parked on crushed stone - what we found out from the dealer; it seems Chrysler's foam is actually made / mixed with some recycled edible products that the mice like to eat / enjoy. I thought was nice of them they readily advised I was not the first one that appreciated it :thumbdown: Thankfully the insurance took care of the bill - we then set a live trap - increased the bounce / moth balls (be more diligent during fall) and I installed a electronic critter detractor under the hood (you can get them at any auto parts / amazon etc) - within a day wife had caught a few of the culprits - drove them a few miles away and let them go - we've not had another problem - I believe the electronic gadget does a decent job it's wired direct to the battery always on - no power drain issues, even during -25 weather - I put a larger electronic gadget in the garage - and have one plugged in the outside receptacle as well. My Ram dealer had already repaired nine trucks that season so it's a on going battle, have to stay diligent.......

can you post a link to the device you use?

 

[oosik]

For sure - a link to the electronic device used under the hood.

 

[oosik]

About these electronic rodent repellers/detractors. I just checked the Owners Manual for the Taco Wagon and it has a very serious CAUTION. It's regarding devices that transmit electronic signals and how they might interfere with certain vehicle operations.

I'll have to do more checking before I get too excited. For now, the cat is doing just fine.

 

[cdaigle430]

Here all the fancy traps are useless, cats are useless. All cats do is scare off or eat the bids and play with mice and chipmunks. Cat pee smells up the place too. You have to get rid of all the food for them, your garbage, stuff growing like acorns, and berries. Then discourage them from your house with crushed rock and concrete.

I used to catch them with a have a heart trap and release them 10 miles away but...I gave up after the first year because theres so many. Every year now I catch and dispatch 30 plus chipmunks in three have a heart traps. I dont use bait, just strategically place them where they hang out. Sometimes I get lucky and catch voles and mice like yesterday I caught a vole.

As for mice I use large glue traps, sometimes they get squirrels and chipmunks too. Very effective and I check on them once a week. Gave up on poisons because they die in your walls or under something and you end up with foul oder and flies. At the beginning of the year - one glue trap caught 6 mice.

They destroyed my hood liner, shed wiring, destroyed insulation in the walls, 1,000 of dollars in foundation damage, made nests in my tools, in the furniture....and on and on. So the bottom line is I needs to practice critter management on a daily basis for as long as I live here.

 

[oosik]

I would guess that our different locations and circumstances weigh heavily on how the rodent population is handled. I'm what you would call remote - even very remote. I have 80 acres and am surrounded on all sides by multi-thousand acre cattle ranches.

It would be very difficult to smell a little cat pee over the smell of thousands of cattle. Besides - the cat has unlimited areas to pee.

I've learned long ago - it's a fools errand to attempt to trap the mice & chipmunks. My management program is to deter them.

My barn cat is a wonderful deterrent. I've not seen evidence of mice or chipmunks since the cat arrived.

 

[mikester]

Here all the fancy traps are useless, cats are useless. All cats do is scare off or eat the bids and play with mice and chipmunks. Cat pee smells up the place too. You have to get rid of all the food for them, your garbage, stuff growing like acorns, and berries. Then discourage them from your house with crushed rock and concrete.

I used to catch them with a have a heart trap and release them 10 miles away but...I gave up after the first year because theres so many. Every year now I catch and dispatch 30 plus chipmunks in three have a heart traps. I dont use bait, just strategically place them where they hang out. Sometimes I get lucky and catch voles and mice like yesterday I caught a vole.

As for mice I use large glue traps, sometimes they get squirrels and chipmunks too. Very effective and I check on them once a week. Gave up on poisons because they die in your walls or under something and you end up with foul oder and flies. At the beginning of the year - one glue trap caught 6 mice.

They destroyed my hood liner, shed wiring, destroyed insulation in the walls, 1,000 of dollars in foundation damage, made nests in my tools, in the furniture....and on and on. So the bottom line is I needs to practice critter management on a daily basis for as long as I live here.

I've got a clean shop, no food, no garbage, concrete floors etc. yet I still found a mouse nest in my new motorcycle air box. WTF. Nature always wins. So does my wife, she won't let me lock the cat in the barn and keeps letting it in the house.

 

[cdaigle430]

Just saying for me, if you see one mouse, or one chipmunk or even one squirrel you've got at least 20 plus of each Im hoping over the years of dispatching 20 or more I will eventually get rid of the neighborhood of them. My problem is I live next to a golf course, state park, camp ground and mulch plant. All breeding grounds for them. a few of my neighbor's (two in mobile homes) have very unkempt yards which also are breeding grounds for them.

it will be a never ending battle for me-along with the fact I have raspberries, apples, blackberries, acorns, hazelnuts, choke cherries, blueberries and strawberries. I have also tried cats and dogs but all they did was become tic magnets and kill the grass with their pee. Cats will eventually attract other cats and your yard will smell like cat pee. Plus they kill birds....all I saw them do with the chipmunks and mice is play with them. Cats are not a deterrent around here-owls, birds of prey, fox, weasels, fishers etc is what you need or chickens. The Chickens I had did a number on the mice until I gave them away-my chickens also attracted the other predators which was both a blessing and a bad thing at the same time When they found they couldn't get to my chickens they went after the other rodents.

This is just my experience-and I have just focused with prevention and dispatching them just around the house.