Rats and mice

[Qapla]

You can always try Ferrets instead of cats.

Ferrets are obligate carnivores. The natural diet of their wild ancestors consisted of whole small prey, i.e., meat, organs, bones, skin, feathers, and fur. Ferrets have short digestive systems and quick metabolism, so they need to eat frequently... some ferret owners feed live prey (such as mice and rabbits) to their ferrets to more closely mimic their natural diet

Ferrets LOVE mice/rats and not only eat them ravenously, they like to hunt and attack them just for fun.

 

[Jim Shooz]

Ferrets along with Stoats and rats are dirty words around here. Birds are the predominant wildlife down here and there is a lot of ongoing effort trying to establish predator free islands where they can reintroduce the native birdlife. A lot of the birds are ground-dwelling and it has been known that the ferret cannot get its mouth around a Kiwi egg (it's huge) so the ferret waits in the nest for the chick to hatch so it can kill it. We have no snakes here, not a one.

 

[Don87]

Place a pie pan of water near your poison. The water activates the poison in their body and they usually die within a few feet of the water if they aren't disturbed.

 

[remington270]

I don't understand the "release him alive" part of their traps. I'd nuke them if I could. Those bait blocks will also kill cats. Had a feral cat get in my garage and eat several bars of bait, it was dead when I found it. I should also state that it was completely accidental, I wasn't aiming for the cat.

I also think it's kinda odd that the ingredient in those bait blocks is the same thing that doctors give patients that are at risk for blood clots ie warfarin/coumadin.

FYI it's actually super Coumadin, with a half life of about 100 days vs the stuff old folks take that only lasts about 2 days.

 

[gonegreen]

My first home was about 100 years old when I purchased it. In the winter we had a problem with mice moving in. I wanted to get rid of them quick and easy so I bought some D-con pellet poison. I think it came with three or four boxes in the package so I set one out and waited. The next day the box was completely empty so I replaced it with the second box. The next day showed the same result so I put out the third box. I was told that this poison would kill the mice when they drank water, so I figured that they would go out the way they came in the house and die by the stream somewhere. One night after work I preheated the oven and began to bake a pizza. While I was in the living room watching the news I could smell something burning! When I went back into the kitchen the entire room was filled with smoke. Not just any smoke but a poisonous gas! After checking the oven for a plastic container that I must of missed when I put the pizza in, I realized that the smoke was not coming from inside the oven but somewhere around it. This was a wall unit built into a closet, which was also filled with smoke. I had not realized what was burning until I removed the oven and disassembled it. To my surprise my arch enemies had transported several boxes of D-con pellets from the basement to the kitchen, and stored them in the insulation between the outer and inner metal shell of my oven! **** them to ****! This pellet poison now looked like a burnt pie, my entire house was filled with a smell that would rid the area of cockroaches (if I had any to get rid of), and a pizza that wasn't going to get eaten! I was a broken man and had a few things to explain when the boss got home. I didn't have supper ready, all the windows were open (maybe 30 degrees outside) and somehow the mice had won by getting us to move out - or die by breathing toxic D-con smoke.

That was a long winter of baiting the Victor traps with peanut butter and removing dead mice. Someone told me that if you see one mouse, you have ten, and I think he was right. Be careful when using pellet poison or you might have to have your pizza delivered.

 

[Don87]

Another bad thing about using poison in the house...........is when they die..........inside your walls. I quit using poison after I had to bust holes in the walls to pull out dead rodents.

 

[paulemar]

I've been told by our county entomologist that to use the TSC block poisons properly they should be put into bait stations or wire them in place through the hole in the center. Doing this forces them to eat it where you put it rather than just haul it off to their nest. I'm fortunate that he gave me a couple of the bait stations, but I have also used the 4" pieces of drain pipe about 2' long. I just drilled holes near each end of the pipe, used a piece of bare copper wire which I stripped the insulation from. Then I ran it through the pipe, twisted it through one hole, slid the bait onto the wire, and then twisted the other end through the second hole. I also made sure to secure the pipe (to keep it from rolling and being moved by larger vermin) along a wall where rats and mice naturally run. Rats and mice can't run off with the bait, it's easy to check for activity, and you won't be wasting so much bait. This works for me.