Rodents win again

[twowoode]

Are you sure it’s not a squirrel problem? Squirrels do a-lot of damage . I had them eat all the rubber hoses on an old caddy, not the new soy based stuff. They also ate trailer wiring and a friend had the abs wiring and headlight harness destroyed. Caught the squirrels on game cameras.

 

[sunandsand]

I use snap traps with peanut butter as bait. I take a small cotton puff, knead the peanut butter into it, and fasten the resultant "pill" to the trigger with a strand of copper wire from a lamp cord. The wire keeps the mouse from absconding with the bait and also triggers the trap. Works well. The traps are placed with the trigger end facing the wall, perhaps half an inch away. Mice avoid open spaces and prefer to run along walls. The combination of that and peanut butter has proven to be irresistible to them (so far). Gotta wash my hands first because the mice can smell people and they'll avoid the bait.

If you can seal the building, that also helps keep them out in the first place. I have some data cables which enter the building through 1/2" pvc fittings. The holes are plugged with steel wool and silicone caulk.

Finally, there is an 8 by 7 roll-up door on the back of the building. I bought brush seals (not very expensive but sometimes hard to find) and installed them.

I still get an occasional mouse, but they get trapped pretty quickly. Evidently peanut butter is more attractive to them than the wiring of the vehicles or anything else in the hangar.

We did catch a snake in the building once (came in while we were working with the door open) but had to evict it because even though it was harmless to people, the startle reaction ("Oh **** a SNAKE!") could result in injury from jumping back from it.

Best Regards,

Mike/Florida

 

[dasranger]

Grey squirrels nest in trees. Ground squirrels (chipmunks) nest in the ground. Pine squirrels, or red squirrels, prefer dwellings. They are not welcome on my property.

 

[dh206]

Unlike tomcat traps (which I personally use and like, but I only have a small mouse problem near the chickens), something like this can catch a huge number of mice on a daily basis without intervention:

 

[Oaktree]

Grey squirrels nest in trees. Ground squirrels (chipmunks) nest in the ground. Pine squirrels, or red squirrels, prefer dwellings. They are not welcome on my property.

Not welcome on mine either, but that doesn't seem to stop them.

Actually, for some reason rodents aren't a big problem here. Not sure why. Have a couple cats that are good mousers, but don't seem to have any interest in chipmunks or squirrels. Do have some lynx around here, maybe they're keeping the population down. Wish they'd do something about the moles...nothing seems to eat them. Don't seem to get into anything, but they sure make a mess of the yard over the winter.

 

[RMRDallas]

I have squirrels, mice, and field rats so could be any or all of them. I've never seen the squirrels around the barn or carport but who knows what they do at night. The tractor will be moved to the barn with a concrete pad but will still be fairly open as I only shut all the doors when storms are expected. I may try a combination of things in hope that at least one works. Life on the frontier.

 

[twowoode]

A friend of mine bought an ultrasonic device off the internet after replacing the headlight harness twice and abs wiring on his truck. It plugs into 120 volt outlet. He says he hasn’t had any problems since putting it under the hood. The only drawback is remembering to remove it before driving.

 

[DutchUncle]

Don't get 1 barn cat, get 2 or 3. Your rodent problem will abate quickly. Dont feed them much cat food so they stay committed to finding those little chewing bastards!

This ^^ exactly when we moved into our house our barn was full of mice. We got one cat and then another. We feed them, and they have a heated water bowl, and right now they are parked on a Lazy-Boy I found in someones trash with a heating pad on top. We have zero vermin, and they help with the Chipmunks. They hunt as a pack and based on the paw prints in the they also patrol around the house at night. They actually took down a full grown Rabbit and left it as a present for my wife. I'm not a cat fan, but I see them as a tool to keep the rodents at bay. LOL