Mice in my Cabin

[N80]

I have a cabin in the country and up until recently I was there about every other weekend. Lately I have no been able to get down there very often and we have been over run by mice. We see them when we open the door and we can see where they have been.......which is everywhere and I mean everywhere.

We've had a mouse or two in the past but we put out a few traps and problem solved, usually within a few hours.

Last weekend we set traps and put rat poison all over.

The second we walked in the door yesterday we say two or three. I shot one with the pellet gun and my neighbors German Shepherd got another one. All the poison was gone. All the traps had the cheese or peanut butter removed without tripping.

What can we do? The rat poison seemed to have no effect at all and my neighbor said the same thing about the mice in his shop. He sees them eating it and he still has them.

Theory about the poison. It is warfarin, a potent blood thinner. The effects of warfarin are reversed by vitamin K. Could it be with all the new spring greenery that the mice are eating enough greens rich in vitamin K to reverse the warfarin? Seems crazy but what else would explain it?

Anyway, crazy theory aside, I'd appreciate any tips or tricks for getting rid of the mice. And we don't expect to never see a mouse. Its a weekend cabin in the woods. But we'd like not to be over run and to see mouse droppings in and on EVERYTHING.

Thanks.

 

[Bird]

So far, I've not had a problem with mice or rats that couldn't be cured with Victor traps baited with peanut butter. I once caught 5 in my office in one day between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.:laughing: If your traps weren't tripped, it sounds as it they were set improperly.

We moved into a new house in Sept. 1972, in what had been a mesquite pasture, and I could hear something in a wall and found droppings in the attached garage. I set a Victor mouse trap a couple of nights, it would be tripped the next morning with the bait gone, but nothing caught. So I went and got one of the bigger Victor rat traps and sure enough, the next night caught a big rat. No more problem.

 

[N80]

Well, that's part of the problem. We did not have the Victor traps. The ones we have have little plastic bait platforms. They are set properly but they rarely work properly. We did find a couple of Victors and in the past they have worked better but we've had mice steal the bait out of Victors too.

I do not know who makes the other ones that we have. The xenophobic cynic in me suspects they were made in China. Leave it to the Chinese to make an inferior mouse trap!

Fortunately no signs of rats...in the cabin. The ENTIRE engine compartment of my tractor was filled with leaves, branches and trash last month. I saw a pack rat jump ship when I cranked it (before I knew all that trash was in there). I put one of the large rat bait holders in there after clean out the engine bay for about 30 minutes. The poison was gone and the rat has not been back in a month. Still see the occasional mouse jumping overboard when I crank it.

 

[Little_Grizzly]

sounds like you could use one of those "mice bucket trap". Google for it to find out how to make one. Seems pretty straightforward and good for "high volume" applications.

 

[Rocksprings]

Be careful, those mice will attract all kinds of snakes.

 

[tractchores]

You may have warafin resistant mice. They make poison specifically to target those types of mice (it'll say for warafin resistant mice right on it). Other than that your best bet is probably to prevent getting them in. You can carefully go around the place and plug any holes with steel wool and expanding foam. Once that's done you just need to get rid of the ones stuck inside and the flow of new ones will stop. I live in the woods and we get a TON of mice and the only way to deal with them is to keep them out, poison and traps only work on the current crop and if more can get in then you'll never keep up.

 

[N80]

Be careful, those mice will attract all kinds of snakes.

I don't mind snakes.

tractchores, my cabin is a log cabin kit that I built myself eek. Sealing it from mice would be nearly impossible. And, as mentioned, this is the first time we've had an epidemic. A mouse or two I can live with.

 

[samandmax]

Sounds like you need one or two spayed female cats and spray your tractor engine bay with WD- 40 every so often.

 

[tractchores]

I don't mind snakes.

tractchores, my cabin is a log cabin kit that I built myself eek. Sealing it from mice would be nearly impossible. And, as mentioned, this is the first time we've had an epidemic. A mouse or two I can live with.

Yeah, sealing that probably isn't realistic. Maybe the poison for warafin resistant mice will keep the numbers down to a reasonable level. Keeping brush and especially brush piles & wood piles away from the building might also help since mice love that stuff.

 

[Mousefield]

This is a product we have found very effective in controlling rats and mice around the barn and chicken coop. I have it in cedar boxes with mouse/rat size openings so things we don't want eating it don't.
It is somewhat similar to a candle with a hole down the middle. I put a screw down the middle and attach it to the bottom of the cedar box. Mice and rats will carry away both the power and pellet form of warfarin and similar products so this is much safer. Sure don't want the chickens, goats, dog getting at it.

JAGUARｮLETHAL BRODIFACOUM RODENTICIDE

Key Information
Convenient, BLOX patented design for indoor use with tamper resistant bait stationsContaining the lethal brodifacoum, Jaguarｮ is proven effective on UK farms against rats and mice, even those resistant to some other anticoagulantsFast Effective Rodent Control

Jaguarｮ, with Brodifacoum, is the powerful Rodenticide with 兎xtra bite to eradicate serious rodent infestation. Lethal to rats and mice, Jaguarｮ BLOX kills rodents in a single feeding. Jaguarｮ should be used for serious rodent infestations only. Use highly palatable and effective TOMCATｮ 2, as part of your routine biosecurity programme, to maintain rodent control.

 

[ihookem]

I have a cabin in the woods with a yard with very tall grass. To make matters worse my son is very allergic to that mouse smell. The mice come in cause northwest Wisconsin has cluster flies, or wind flies. Somehow they come in the cabin when it gets cold outside and they feel warm in the cabin. This is good mouse food. I have never found out how to get rid of either. I do fill 5 gal. buckets with 2" of water and squirt catchup 3" down from the rim. I can catch 3-5 mice a night this way. You can also put the bucket under the cabin and let it work for a few weeks unless the coons decide they want catchup with their new mouse meal. We also put a bucket inside the cabin if we are coming back in a few weeks. Victor mouse traps are the best. The yellow plastic ones are good. I bought a few traps made in China and they suck. Can't even make a mouse trap.

 

[Dogballs]

The bucket trap is the gift that keeps on giving....

 

[eray1066]

If you have electricity, you could augment the traps with an ultrasound generator. I have 3 set up using old injured ipod touches (cracked screen or backlight not working) bought on craigslist for $20 or so and cheap dock or speakers. Download Ultrasonic repeller and turn it up. Seems to keep mice out of a walk in cooler in the barn, the greenhouse, and a couple of houses that are not always occupied. It is like that Rodar that has been advertised in Yankee magazine since Roosevelt was president.

 

[Pilot]

Go for the bucket trap. Set 'em and forget 'em, sort of. Just have to empty out the bodies frequently and add water once in awhile. Had a mouse in my bucket trap in my hangar today--hadn't messed with the trap for a couple months and no signs of mice during that time.

I have used Victor traps and another brand, "Tomcat" made in Taiwan. The Taiwanese traps are a little better. With both kinds, you have to be careful about setting them--they often have to be adjusted. Too often they go off just as you set them down or they don't go off at all. Bend wires or whatever to make sure it will go off--that sounds like your problem with the traps.

Set traps along walls; they prefer edges rather than open areas.

A friend sets them in threes in a "T" formation. 2 traps along the wall and one perpendicular. Don't really know if this is better, but he likes it.

Obviously they are getting in somewhere. Mice can go thru a 1/4" hole, so carefully block all potential entrances. There's probably one or two places where they are getting in.

 

[2manyrocks]

The second we walked in the door yesterday we say two or three. I shot one with the pellet gun and my neighbors German Shepherd got another one. All the poison was gone. All the traps had the cheese or peanut butter removed without tripping.


Thanks.

I hope your neighbor's dog didn't eat a poisoned mouse.

Used to be you could get a reliable wooden mousetrap. Now these things either are so sensitive that they won't set right or they are so insensitive that they won't trip. If they do work, then you have to dump the dead mouse.

Could be the 5 gallon bucket method is a good idea except for the smell. Wonder if you could put some of that RV toliet stuff in there to control the odor and still catch mice or would the smell keep them away?

 

[Bird]

I shot one with the pellet gun and my neighbors German Shepherd got another one.

In 1974, we had a female German Shepherd. We had a big stainless steel bowl on the patio for a water bowl for the dog. One morning, the dog & I walked outside and there was a small mouse swimming around in that bowl. And before I could decide what to do with it, that dog just slurped it up, chomped twice, swallowed, and looked up at me as if to ask, "Where's the rest of my breakfast?":laughing:

 

[brin]

cancel

 

[N80]

I did not let the dog eat the mouse....but if the poison wasn't hurting the mouse then it probably would not hurt the dog.

I was surprised how good a mouser she was. She's big and old but she went nuts when she got the scent of that mouse.

 

[Mousefield]

I hope your neighbor's dog didn't eat a poisoned mouse.
Used to be you could get a reliable wooden mousetrap. Now these things either are so sensitive that they won't set right or they are so insensitive that they won't trip. If they do work, then you have to dump the dead mouse.

Could be the 5 gallon bucket method is a good idea except for the smell. Wonder if you could put some of that RV toliet stuff in there to control the odor and still catch mice or would the smell keep them away?

While it's not good stuff the amount of poison in a mouse relative to the size of a dog shouldn't cause any harm to the dog, the amount would be very small. Best is if a dog or cat doesn't eat a poisoned mouse or rat at all.

 

[forgeblast]

glue traps are nice too, you can even buy the glue in bulk to make your own. They also catch spiders.