Mice are not nice

[Jchonline]

In the spring it's all out war for me. I have multiple traps, baits...have found the best thing is to kill as many as possible....I keep everything in sealed spaces as much as I can. Exhaust pipes if not vertical and high are covered with wire mesh. They are relentless. I also have packrats. Its nuclear war on those bastards.

 

[5030]

Somewhere around 2005 EPA ruled vehicles had to be made with more biodegradable. Wire harness jacket was changed from a petroleum base to vegetable base composite. And seat stuffing and headliners went to mostly organic material to expedite natural breakdown after their useful life. It was a win for the mice.

Must be why they chewed a hole in my wife's zero turn mower. Right in the middle too.

 

[oosik]

scooter - you are so right. NOTHING works 100% of the time. I've tried peppermint oil. I think it worked for a while.

Eight years ago - for reasons still UKN - I had a band of wood rats visit. Found a monster nest under the hood of the Jeep. They had never seen humans before OR they were just stupid, stupid, stupid.

I killed them all ( seven ) with my 22 pistol. Walk right up to one - bend down and shoot from a distance of about three feet. I've never seen a wild animal so unafraid of a person. Forty three years out here and they came and were "all gone" in less than a week.

I got rid of the raccoons when I quit burning my garbage. And when the last of my apple trees quit producing. The coons really favored the apples.

 

[5030]

Guess I'm lucky with my one M9 as it has a vertical exhaust stack on it and the other has the optional low exhaust but it's till a long way from the end of the pipe to the muffler. They would have to be good climbers to get up there. Between the bucket traps and the decon and the cats, I think they are under control...for now.

Gonna try the sugar, water and baking soda thing as well. Every line of defense equates to less repairs.

 

[5030]

scooter - you are so right. NOTHING works 100% of the time. I've tried peppermint oil. I think it worked for a while.

Eight years ago - for reasons still UKN - I had a band of wood rats visit. Found a monster nest under the hood of the Jeep. They had never seen humans before OR they were just stupid, stupid, stupid.

I killed them all ( seven ) with my 22 pistol. Walk right up to one - bend down and shoot from a distance of about three feet. I've never seen a wild animal so unafraid of a person. Forty three years out here and they came and were "all gone" in less than a week.

I got rid of the raccoons when I quit burning my garbage. And when the last of my apple trees quit producing. The coons really favored the apples.

I shoot coons on sight. My 22-250 works quite well actually and I toss the carcasses out back by the creek and soon they vanish, I believe the yotes have them for lunch.

 

[woodlandfarms]

We use bucket traps. The kind where the lid tips and they fall in. Instead of water it’s filled with oil. Works quite well.

 

[5030]

What I find somewhat interesting is people make 'pets' out of them. They are nasty little buggers that whiz everywhere and reproduce like gang busters too.

 

[5030]

We use bucket traps. The kind where the lid tips and they fall in. Instead of water it’s filled with oil. Works quite well.

I keep mine filled (about 4") with conventional antifreeze so if they don't expire from the plunge, the antifreeze gets them. I don't want them 'lingering' in the bottom of the bucket because I'm 'humane'

I have the same bucket traps you have and I 'entice' them to the traps with peanut butter spread on the backside of the cover. They can 'almost' get to it but the pivoting top gets them first.

It's the 'walk the plank' philosophy but the plank ends before the peanut butter treat can be gotten to.

I've seen home made ones that use a string across the top of the bucket with a wad of peanut butter in the middle but I like the commercial ones with a lid and a ramp so they can climb right up to the elusive treat.

You'd think the little basturds would wise up but I guess the siren call of the peanut butter overcomes their sense of living...

 

[Coffee drinker]

I knew a young guy who was cleaning his tractor cab that had been invaded by mice and he ended up catching hantavirus from the feces. He passed a few days later. So definitely mice are not nice and if you clean up after them wear a mask.

 

[oosik]

For a while I had six or eight cats. They were - far and away - the best at controlling mice and munks. Slowly but surely - their numbers dwindled. Hawks by day - owls by night. They simply would not stay in the cat house I made for them. Out beyond the influence of my big 'ol yard light - the owls would gather in the big pines and just wait.

You could see the owls - roosting in the pines. Shape of a large loaf of bread - Barn owl. Looked like Bat Man - Great horned owl.