Mice Deterrent Tips

[fried1765]

Is somebody twisting your arm to force you to watch it? If you don't want to watch it, move on! Remind me not to visit Lower Uncton.

Nobody else ever wants to go there either!

 

[pmsmechanic]

So this is what I use for a mouse trap. It's just a recycled oil pail with holes drilled for a wire. The stick is about 4' long and I keep about 3 - 4" between the end of the stick and the bait. Inside a heated building water is ok (antifreeze doesn't evaporate as fast as water) but outside I use old antifreeze. One pail is good for about 600 square feet of building as the mice seem to be attracted to the bait. I clean out the dead mice about once a month. More often in summer and less often in winter.

I use "Hawk All-Weather Bait Chunx". You are being redirected...

This method is not perfect as in it doesn't get all the mice but it really keeps the numbers down. Sometimes you need to have extra bait stations under a vehicle. Especially if the vehicle doesn't get used much.

What I really like about it is that the mice are contained. They aren't running around half dead for an owl or pet to grab. Also I don't need to check traps every day.

 

[Darryle]

View attachment 659526

So this is what I use for a mouse trap. It's just a recycled oil pail with holes drilled for a wire. The stick is about 4' long and I keep about 3 - 4" between the end of the stick and the bait. Inside a heated building water is ok (antifreeze doesn't evaporate as fast as water) but outside I use old antifreeze. One pail is good for about 600 square feet of building as the mice seem to be attracted to the bait. I clean out the dead mice about once a month. More often in summer and less often in winter.

I use "Hawk All-Weather Bait Chunx". You are being redirected...

This method is not perfect as in it doesn't get all the mice but it really keeps the numbers down. Sometimes you need to have extra bait stations under a vehicle. Especially if the vehicle doesn't get used much.

What I really like about it is that the mice are contained. They aren't running around half dead for an owl or pet to grab. Also I don't need to check traps every day.

Try peanut butter wiped around the roll, buddy lives in town and his house backs up to a large open field, city mows it about every 4 months. He said it's nothing to catch 10-12 the night after the mowing. He said he found the instructions on YouTube.

 

[lennyzx11]

Here’s mine. I use a walk the plank style. On a yellow square kitty litter bucket rather than the round 5 gallon bucket. Homemade with a nail for the pivot and 1/4” plywood. Sits on top of bucket with a scrap piece of wood for a ramp. Not as fancy as the video.

Wife nicknamed it the “trap of doom”.

YouTube

 

[oosik]

In recent years I've had problems with mice and chipmunks in the engine compartment of some of my vehicles. Never in the cab itself or anywhere on my tractor. Actually - never in the cab of any of my vehicles. I attribute this to a couple things.

I leave the hood on the tractor UP while not in use. No safe shelter for the vermin. I have a small pill bottle, full of cotton, soaked with Peppermint oil in the glove box of the pickup. If the chipmunk invade the engine compartment of the pickup - UP goes the hood of the pickup.

I've found thru many years of trapping - it's NO JOY. For every mouse/chipmunk I trap - there are two more, waiting in the wings to replace the trapped one.

The last thing I did. Just last week I mowed the meadow that surrounds my carport. The carport is where most of my vehicles are kept. The mowed meadow provides no refuge for the mice now. That's my buddy - Brownie - out in the meadow. Looking for something "icky" to chew on. View attachment 659547. Idea being - the hawks & owls can now see the mice if they are out in the meadow. Let nature take its course.

 

[newbury]

Make sure you encourage these long, thin mousers to hang around. They'll solve the problem!
View attachment 659436

I have a neat video of this bull snake swallowing the mouse and seeing that bulge go down his neck into his belly but my internet connection is too slow to upload it.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

When I started moving into my Mississippi site in 2011 it was crowded with mice. The previous owner "entertained" a lot and left food sources all over. I used up a pail of mouse bait balls in a couple of months. Cats were not an option because often we would be away for two or more months. But then the snakes moved in.
I've yet to see a live snake in any of my sheds

But not a year goes by that I don't stumble across a 4' or longer shed skin. I'm pretty sure they they are corn snakes.
I still keep some mouse bait out but it doesn't seem to get eaten.
I also make a point to leave NO food sources around.

 

[s219]

This works like a charm for me.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Try peanut butter wiped around the roll, buddy lives in town and his house backs up to a large open field, city mows it about every 4 months. He said it's nothing to catch 10-12 the night after the mowing. He said he found the instructions on YouTube.

The whole point of using the Hawk bait chunks is so that I don't need to fool around with peanut butter. ie separate jar of pb and knife for application. Just slide the bait onto the wire and done.

 

[WranglerX]

My local mice don't understand peanut butter, or maybe they do.... Not been to successful with PB as trap baits....

Dale

 

[caver]

Looking at the avatar pic and the guy in the video preview....ya might wanna update your TBN avatar.

 

[EddieWalker]

I tried every type of trap out there and caught plenty, but nowhere enough to make a dent in the populations. Same thing with poison. They ate it by the case, but all that just made my chickens sick when they ate the dead mice. And since I have over 100 chickens, and they make a mess out of their food, I had a massive mouse issue. That led to a massive snake issue where we killed over 40 snakes in just one year!!!! So out of desperation, we started getting cats. We kept them in my shop, and I put in a cat door for them to come and go, and within a few months, my wife and I both noticed that we hadn't seen a mouse in awhile. We went from seeing several mice every day in our 3 chicken coops, to not seeing any!!! The cats would stay in the coops all night with the chickens and there is no telling how much carnage that created. Now they rarely go into the coops, and we haven't seen a single snake in or around the coops so far this year. We are currently at 8 cats. Sometimes one will show up and sometimes one will disappear. Sometimes one that disappears will come back after a week, or even a few weeks, sometimes we never see it again. As long as they hang out, they get cat food, a warm, dry place to sleep and safety from what's out in the jungle. If they leave, it's their choice.

 

[dragoneggs]

I tried every type of trap out there and caught plenty, but nowhere enough to make a dent in the populations. Same thing with poison. They ate it by the case, but all that just made my chickens sick when they ate the dead mice. And since I have over 100 chickens, and they make a mess out of their food, I had a massive mouse issue. That led to a massive snake issue where we killed over 40 snakes in just one year!!!! So out of desperation, we started getting cats. We kept them in my shop, and I put in a cat door for them to come and go, and within a few months, my wife and I both noticed that we hadn't seen a mouse in awhile. We went from seeing several mice every day in our 3 chicken coops, to not seeing any!!! The cats would stay in the coops all night with the chickens and there is no telling how much carnage that created. Now they rarely go into the coops, and we haven't seen a single snake in or around the coops so far this year. We are currently at 8 cats. Sometimes one will show up and sometimes one will disappear. Sometimes one that disappears will come back after a week, or even a few weeks, sometimes we never see it again. As long as they hang out, they get cat food, a warm, dry place to sleep and safety from what's out in the jungle. If they leave, it's their choice.

Excellent! Did you train them not to leave them on your doormat?

 

[EddieWalker]

Funny, but it does happen. Seems like they do it for a little while, then they do something else with them. What's worse is when they bring in a live one and let it go, they catch it, then let it go, and do this over and over again. It's not so much that they are torturing the mouse, but every now and then, one gets away from them!!!

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Looking at the avatar pic and the guy in the video preview....ya might wanna update your TBN avatar.

I can dye my beard and hair.

 

[s219]

Eddie, you must have a real entertaining group of cats -- hanging out in chicken coops, bringing in live mice to play with, etc. Cats can be real characters.

 

[EddieWalker]

They are. But they can also be too friendly and make it impossible to walk anywhere without stepping on one. They will run to your feet and lay there right where you are about to step. Then do it over and over again, until you pick him or her up.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Here's an owl/cat/goose story for you guys. We haven't had tame cats on the yard for years. One of the neighbors was having issues with one of their cats and the dog. He asked me if I wanted it as we don't have a dog. I said ok we could try it. She came with three kittens. This mother cat wasn't on the yard 5 minutes and the owls were dive bombing her in broad daylight. The owl was threading it's way through people to pull fur off of the cat. My wife said she felt the wind off of the owls wings as it went by. The cat was 3' from my wife. So I gave the cat and kittens to another neighbor as it wasn't to hard to predict the future on this one.

A few days later there was a pair of geese flying low through the yard. Ya they got dive bombed too.

 

[Oldpath05]

I can dye my beard and hair.

I skimmed through this thread to just to see if anyone else noticed the avatar conflict, caver beat me to it, yes dye your hair grey. Someone told me that hair spry will work for rodent deterrent, I might give that a try.

 

[mred2]

Eddie, (my first name is Ed also), I have about 12 cats outside. They will go after mice, rats, and snakes. We used to accept any cat that stayed and did not fight with the other cats or dogs. They went to vet one time for shots and to be fixed. Now, no more. You may think having a mouse left by the door is bad, what about running inside when the door is open with a snake, still alive. Wife gets a little upset.

 

[pmsmechanic]

You may think having a mouse left by the door is bad, what about running inside when the door is open with a snake, still alive. Wife gets a little upset.

Are you sure you didn't train the cat to do that? Having the wife upset with the cat is a lot better than having her upset with you.