stupid mice...

legbuh · Sep 19, 2010

Last winter mice got into my old cub mower engine and basically chewed one of the coil wires to the nub and another wire that was obviously used for charging (don't ask me how I know.) Fixing required actually pulling the engine to get to the coil.

I fixed it and later traded it in on a bx1860. Been rainy and colder the last few days, but I made room in my man cave (heated, cement floor, etc) for the BX where it rightfully belongs.

I start it up and a little pink baby comes out of somewhere. Great. So I bring it to the man cave, powerwash it, then looked through every nook and cranny. Found one nest right under the seat in front of the fuel tank. Small space but I got it out with one more critter... pink, eyes closed, barely moving.

I then get my compressed air gun and start shooting everywhere near that area and got one more out. But I could still hear one chirping!

I'm confident that it will die and that I got all the nest material out. I have a feeling if I could remove the tank (which didn't look like a quick job) I'd find the other one or two that are still there.

It just pisses me off... I hate mice! Don't mess with my BX! At least not its in a place mice can't get into unless I leave the door open.. but I always leave traps with peanut button down all winter anyhow.

I then found all the holes in the little shed (plastic one from menards) where the critters were getting in and sealed them up with spray foam. I sprinkled the floor with mice poison and laid down a few sticky traps.

It made me think.. with most people storing tractors outside or in pole sheds or lean tos, how the heck do mice NOT eat up all their wiring and make a mess of the tractor?

dcyrilc · Sep 19, 2010

I try to run mine evrey few weeks to keep the battery charged and fluids circulated. Running it and moving it around from time to time helps although I find that the mice seem to make nests in my tool boxes more than than my equipment.

Gordon Gould · Sep 19, 2010

I haven't had a problem with the tractor but my 4-wheeler and pickup seem to get them all the time. Took the seat off the wheeler once and there was chewed up sponge rubber and pink babies falling out of it. I put dcon down and find it stock piled under the wheeler seat and in my pickup heater box. Then it kills them and the truck stinks for 3 months if I cant get to them. Real PITA. I have two cats and they catch mice all the time but cant get them all I guess, This time of year seems the worst.

BeezFun · Sep 19, 2010

Neighbor has about 20 barn cats, 2 or 3 have taken up residence in our hay tent. Haven't seen a mouse in years. I'm not big on poisoning things, something else is going to eat it and get sick, might be your neighbor's pet cat or eventually something you eat like fish. I like the sticky stuff idea, as long as you clunk them in the head and make it a clean kill. Eliminating their habitat and food source will help, I've heard moth balls help. If you've got any kids, buy them a pellet gun and give them a quarter a head.

Redgoatea · Sep 19, 2010

About once a month I find a nest on the block of at least one of the cars made of fire blanket and wiring. Seems like a car just had to sit still for about twelve hours and it gets a nest. Funny thing is I can't find any sign of mice around the house?? They haven't messed with the tractor yet but I park it in the sawmill and the owls hang out in there at night eating what they caught in the fields and woods. Seems to scare away the mice.

7

montelatici · Sep 19, 2010

I try to start the tractors as often as I can and I have four male barn cats and it seems to keep mice under control.

whistlepig · Sep 19, 2010

Although I'm not a cat person a couple of barn cats do help keep mice out of the equipment. Also I put poison out in the spring and fall. I've tried d-con poison and it doesn't work. Nothing seems to want to eat it. The "Just One Bite" poison I buy at the local Tractor Supply works the best for me. Mice and rats eat it like candy. I have to refill the bait trap and pick up dead mice every week end every fall using "Just One Bite".

BigD23 · Sep 19, 2010

I've tried to seal my barn the best I could...Of course they still manage to get in...I use poison pellets...Sometimes pellets are there on the floor for months = no mice...Pellets are gone, time to re-poison.

Don

MF1652 · Sep 19, 2010

my tractor gets used at least two or three times a week. I have pulled four nests from in front of the radiator. Every time I get a cat, the local fisher cats kills them.

I have considered putting out poison, but am afraid my dogs would get into it. A neighbor suggested putting the dcon inside a pvc tube. This way the pets can't get to it, but the mice can. My concern at that point is the mouse has to go somewhere to die. My dogs love to mess with dead animals they find in the woods. Would my dogs get sick if they get into the dead mice?

whistlepig · Sep 19, 2010

MF1652 said:
my tractor gets used at least two or three times a week. I have pulled four nests from in front of the radiator. Every time I get a cat, the local fisher cats kills them. I have considered putting out poison, but am afraid my dogs would get into it. A neighbor suggested putting the dcon inside a pvc tube. This way the pets can't get to it, but the mice can. My concern at that point is the mouse has to go somewhere to die. My dogs love to mess with dead animals they find in the woods. Would my dogs get sick if they get into the dead mice?

We have two dogs that could possibly get in to the bait traps if they had the opportunity. It's a genuine concern when I put the poison out. There are traps sold now that have a lid to load the poison and two small holes big enough only for a rat or mouse. And yes, the dogs could fiddle with the bait trap, shake some poison out, and eat it. But we watch our dogs close enough to keep that from happening. I have never had a problem with a cat or dog being poisoned by eating a dead poisoned rat or mouse. If you live out in the country the damage caused by rats and mice unchecked chewing on equipment can run in to several hundred dollars every year. Especially in the fall when they move in to the buildings before winter. No matter how well you maintain and service your equipment and tuck it away for spring if you don't control the mice they will trash your equipment.