Dang Cats!

[davitk]

davitk,

As far as the paw prints go, I just can't see you using this tractor for anything but mowing if your bothered by a few paw prints? What are you going to do if you get mud on the bucket? Maybe you could train the cats to wash it.

Steve

Disclaimer: I'm only joking!

I've been carrying around baggage ever since a chocolate lab climbed into the back of my p/u (full of tools) and lifted his leg..... maybe I get some help.

 

[excelagator]

I get paw prints too. I flip the seat forward and just wash it regularly. I am going to try a old car cover soon.

When we moved into the our place. The previous owner NEVER cleaned up the barn, including the feed and hay from the floor. I opened the door and behold Northwoods MouseFest. If I counted 100, there was another 200 I missed. We got our cats there along with another 5. I can put up with paw prints!!

Dan

 

[krackerjack9]

Im a no lover of cats my self. But when I got home from Iraq for a 12 Day RR my whole place was over run with rats and mice. I must have spent over $300.00 on glue traps, 100lbs of contract mouse bait and even bought me a pump action .410 shotgun. The first 4 or 5 days I was catching about 50 to 60 mice and about 20 to 25 rats per night in those glue traps. But several the little rodents had worked thier way out. the Bait was just eaten as fast as I could place it in the holders. After the 9th day things slowed down alot and going out in the field in my tractor I was just amazed at how many dead rats and mice I saw out, some were just barely moving. My nieghbors said this was the worst they had ever seen it in the area,I was glad I was not the only one. So I might even resort to having to import a cat into the area. I know I got plenty of Owls and a few Hawks but I dont think are able to keep up. I got me a Kubota L4400 on the way for my next RR in March so the grass ought to be pretty tall by then 6 months of growing it might make 3 tons or more to the acre.

 

[cityfarma]

It is sad that we need to resort to poisons to control rodent pests. Don't get me wrong, I have done so as well. I only request that users think about what happens when the corpses are eaten by wildlife. The owls and hawks etc will eat the corpses thinking it is a feast. The poison will then kill them.

Alternate methods are many. Try a beer bottle on its side over a drum of water. Put a piece of bacon rind or other attractant in the neck and grease the neck. Make sure the rodents can climb onto the bottle. They will try to get the bait and slip off the bottle into the water.

Cityfarma

 

[blueriver]

It is sad that we need to resort to poisons to control rodent pests. Don't get me wrong, I have done so as well. I only request that users think about what happens when the corpses are eaten by wildlife. The owls and hawks etc will eat the corpses thinking it is a feast. The poison will then kill them.

Alternate methods are many. Try a beer bottle on its side over a drum of water. Put a piece of bacon rind or other attractant in the neck and grease the neck. Make sure the rodents can climb onto the bottle. They will try to get the bait and slip off the bottle into the water.

Cityfarma

You really think the corpes will kill the wildlife? My dog ate a full bar of rat bait, I thought for sure he was a goner, that was last year and he's still sniffin around the barn for more! I really don't know was just wondering, I mean that's a small amount that a mouse or rat consumes.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I am no cat fan but I have one now in my barn. I bought my place 4 years ago and it had everything in the 32x52 pole barn. What the guy had did was built a paint booth using the plastic panels like you put in a shower stall. He then insulated the walls with the pink stuff. First the mice and rats made nest, that brought in the birds and snakes and eventually a possum. I tore out the walls, the nastiest job I have ever done. I had to burn all the wood because it was covered in droppings. I was catching 10-15 mice a week for a year then got a kitten. Put in a cat door to the heated shop area and gave her plenty of food and water and have not seen any sign of a mouse since. I am not sure if she catches any but she keeps they away.

Chris

 

[davitk]

I couldn't agree more that cats are indespensible in the country. Just want to keep them dirty paws off my tractor. Dang cats!

 

[mjncad]

At least your not allergic to that, I hope?

I've been drinking beer since I was 4, and my parents told me the first thing I learned to read was the logos on beer trucks. I'm drinking a Warsteiner Dunkel (dark) beer as I write this.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy!" Ben Franklin.

 

[jimmer2880]

Antifreeze works pretty fast, not in months. A few days will do it. I think most of the deaths that way are accidental from leaking vehicles.

Guess I didn't say that right. But, when he died, he had gotten out about 2 days earlier. I swear the dog was 1/2 goat. He would eat everything he could.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

How about a paintball gun. Have some fun "training" him to stay off the tractor. Turn down the pressure so you don't hurt him.

I would'nt mind a cat if I could keep him off of stuff. Spaying or neutering is a must. A few barn cats are OK if they can't reproduce.

 

[cityfarma]

You really think the corpes will kill the wildlife? My dog ate a full bar of rat bait, I thought for sure he was a goner, that was last year and he's still sniffin around the barn for more! I really don't know was just wondering, I mean that's a small amount that a mouse or rat consumes.

It is not the small amount that 1 mouse eats but the amount many mice eat. A hawk or similar may only need to eat a few to get a lethal dose. A large dog may just get sick. It also depends on the active ingredient in the bait.

My request is simply that if you can avoid killing wildlife, please do so.

Cityfarma

 

[davitk]

My request is simply that if you can avoid killing wildlife, please do so.

Cityfarma

That's right, hire a cat to do your dirty work! My kitties certainly treat their victims humanely. No torture treatment from them - just instant death

 

[moonstruck]

I had the same problem with a cat in my barn who would sleep on the hood or seat of my tractor. The solution... put a cat bed in the barn and raise the hood and tilt the seat until the cat learns to sleep on the cat bed... Problem solved!

 

[Nickahawk]

I keep chicken and horse feed in my machine shop and it took no time at all for the mouse problem to get out of control when I first started keeping it there. A kitten from the neighbors and a stray that decided to stay was all it took to get back in control. For some reason they don't bother the tractors.
Nic.

 

[blueriver]

That's right, hire a cat to do your dirty work! My kitties certainly treat their victims humanely. No torture treatment from them - just instant death

I quit using the bait after the dog ate it, that was the wifes request! How you teach those kitties to do the instant death I now have two, they are a hoot to watch when they get a mouse! I love it when they decide to let the mouse have a little time, the cats lay back, somtimes even start the bath routine, then that mouse decides to break for it and WHAM its on again!!

 

[blueriver]

It is not the small amount that 1 mouse eats but the amount many mice eat. A hawk or similar may only need to eat a few to get a lethal dose. A large dog may just get sick. It also depends on the active ingredient in the bait.

My request is simply that if you can avoid killing wildlife, please do so.

Cityfarma

All I am thinking, little mouse, little amount and by the time they die there aint much left of the corspe, That wildlife, I am thinking, would have to have an all you can eat buffet ... Don't hawks, owls and other predators look for the movement of the live hunt? I'm not sure about any of this, just making conversation

 

[davitk]

How you teach those kitties to do the instant death I now have two, they are a hoot to watch when they get a mouse! D

Just a little tounge in cheek. Don't think I've ever seen a cat hungry enough to eat dinner before the party.

 

[MrJimi]

We used to have lots of wild cats that the neighbors used to feed and P on our porch, car wheels and poop in the yard next to drivers door. I got an animal trap and relocated them to a better neighbor hood then the mice and rats came ? I want the cats back
Think about this and try and close your shop up, the cats do more good than you think and they don't eat wires
Jim

 

[cityfarma]

All I am thinking, little mouse, little amount and by the time they die there aint much left of the corspe, That wildlife, I am thinking, would have to have an all you can eat buffet ... Don't hawks, owls and other predators look for the movement of the live hunt? I'm not sure about any of this, just making conversation

Some of the common baits take days to kill the pests. They may return to the bait a number of times and build up the level of poison in their system. They may then be taken by hawks etc while the poison acts. The poisons build up and kills the bird.

If the pest dies, lizards and other carion eaters will devour the corpses and may suffer similar fate.

With so many other man made causes acting on wildlife, we don't need any more.

Cityfarma

 

[mjncad]

Are the electronic ultrasonic mouse repellent devices just smoke and mirrors, or do they actually work?