Trouble with mice?

Same deal but we used air rifles......

We live in the country. Mice would come in and no matter how many traps we put out - they would fill up and more mice came in. It was a PIA. So we got a Manx kitten and she grew up to be the ultimate mouse killer. First she cleaned them out of the house, the shed, the garage, the barn. Then she started working the fields. I haven't seen a mouse in years. You can't go wrong with a Manx - and they are great companions (more loyalty than regular cats).

We're used to mice plagues in Australia. The usual solutions all have the problems that have been listed here, but one of our relatives developed a perpetual mousetrap for his farm.

His consisted of a vertical steel drum, top cut off and half filled with water. Any size will do, but he used something in the 5 - 10 gallon range. You then place a stick horizontally on top with one end in the centre over the drum / water and the other end anchored out past the edge of the drum. You then place a ramp from the ground up to the drum edge end of the stick. The drum can be placed in a bit of a hole, so that the ramp is flatter. The ramp end of the stick can be fixed to the ramp to anchor it. A glass milk bottle is then slid over the end of the stick, so that it is supported horizontally with the neck towards the drum edge and the bottle's bottom end over the centre of the drum. A piece of cheese is stuck on to the milk bottle's bottom edge which is uppermost and above the centre of the drum. You then oil the milk bottle. Nice thin, slippery oil.

Mouse smells cheese, walks up ramp, walks along milk bottle, slips off and falls into water below. They can only tread water for so long. No need to re-set each time, just replace the bait occasionally, if it dries out, and empty the drum if it fills up (which doesn't usually happen, except in real mouse plagues). You won't kill the kids, dogs or the other wildlife either and no cat to feed.

Milk bottles may be hard to find these days, but any glass bottle or jar which is the correct length will do. The concept can be played with, but that's it at it's simplest.

I hope I've described it well enough and I hope that helps you chaps.

Cheers,

Lance

My mom had a cat who brought home everything, usually by pairs; two mice, two birds, or,,,,two bats! I often wondered how he did it 'til one day I watched him get a bird. When one flew over him he'd jump high in the air and get it from behind, an incredible acrobatic move. I think he challenged nesting birds - get them worried enough to dive on him which was their mistake. I don't know how he entice bats, maybe it was just opportunity.

He never seemed to eat anything but sure was good at killing them. I'm sure if she had stopped feeding him he's have no worries.

Barrel o' fun. Apparently American short hair or British short hair are the best mousers. We are protecting British machinery so maybe choose the latter in Britain or if in America choose the former breed. Apparently observing the behavior is important , barn or country rural stock being choice pickings ,a tougher life of survival is better. :? Reward "gifts" with a snack.

Ours are 3 Border Terriers.

I'm having problems with them damn tree rats (squirrels) stealing my avocados. Dave is there anyway I could hook up a 220 volt gizmo like yours? Sons of a bitches keep stealing them and its pissing me off! I'd shoot them but some of my wanker neighbors feed the suckers, and they would turn me in. :roll:

Cat Story. In 1971 I went to England to buy my first Commando. I traveled to Hemley, near Ipswitch to visit my original home. My uncle Duncan still lived there in a place called the White House. Duncan was a World War I veteran who was in the artillery but switched to a spotter in an airplane. He was in a crack up and badly broke his leg so now had a sort of club foot and a limp. He still carried his WWI identity card. When we arrived on our bikes he was sitting in the kitchen in front of an electric heater. We gathered in the kitchen for a cupper and some squashed fly blue cheese. We heard a faint meow that sounded like a sick baby kitten. Then this huge cat appears, I forget his name, and Duncan said he was his mouser. It was an orange tabby cat such as I had never seen before. He was huge. Huge head and front legs that were as big as your forearms and paws as big as hands. The cat was immense. He just roamed the place and took care of business. Duncan never fed him. There were numerous outbuildings around the property and a farm next door that he owned. Duncan was a machinery man. He had 2 Messerschmitt KR200 bubble tops, huge early farm traction engines, an original 1918 Renault, a Ruston single cylinder engine mounted on huge cement slabs in an outbuilding with a skylight, a pair of the early little Honda mini cars, one up on blocks as a spare. He drove off to the store in one of the Messerschmitt's, a light blue one. They use a 2 cylinder engine that is started in reverse rotation in order to back up. It was an amazing place to visit in terms of the cat and all his mechanical devices. Don't even ask about the contents of the house.

I've had many air boxes molested by these damn vermin and plenty of wires chewed. I used poison baits in block form and with wire bits or turnings (bigger mouses) like we used on my oil rig. The poison works but around a farm or pets, no go. I've set piles of traps up. Four cats here and only one worth a damn to catch and kill.
My grandfather had a problem with mice and employed a larger blacksnake to handle the duty of extermination at his river cabin. The snake lived in the cellar from the story As I recall here it. I'll stick to traps and cats, no snakes thank you.
As a kid growing up I learned if you had a snake problem it was the mice you needed to get rid of. I try to respect all life but verman get the boot once in the shed or house. No exceptions.
I've had nutshells ruin a number of machines, found nut shells behind a valve in my brothers Porsche and had a friends Ferrari Testtarosso loose a bank of 6 cylinders from a walnut shell deposited in a timing belt. 12,000$ walnut. My friend and I were thinking we should send it off and have it bronzed and gold plated lol.
I've used sound emitting squeakers in my grandparents cabin , garage and trophy room. I'm not sure how well they really work but the trophy room hasn't suffered any mouse urine or antlers chewed. I think if you switch the frequency every so often it might be more effective.

In the end zone really really like the mouse electro 2000! I need to come up with something like that for my place I'm building in VA. Lots of damn mice, they found my tractor already...

Horton,

Yeah, go to your local farm store and buy some fence insulators and wire. Get one of those solar or battery powered fence chargers, or even a plug in one if you have AC available, and wire up your avo trees One charger will take care of all of them. They'll learn pretty quick. Unless the limbs reach the ground or they can drop out of other trees to them. You don't want to mess with open 120ACV outside.

Re: the sonic devices, I have about 6 Victor sonic emitters. That electrocuted mouse I took the picture of was caught within about 1 foot of one of those sonic things. That's how good they work. I've found they do keep the wrens out of the garage in the spring, but that's debatable too. Dryer sheets, moth balls, I've caught mice in traps with all those things present. Only thing that works is to kill them with poison, traps or electrocution. Cats and dogs are nice but like me with an air gun, can't be there 24/7. Best if you can keep them out or kill them on the way in, 24/7.

I read about a fellow that actually stored his antique car outside near the woods by making a frame around it with 2x4's and installing an 8" or 10" high aluminum wall out of flashing. He didn't have one mouse in his car for several years. A bike would be easy to make a small wall around. It would just be a pain to put together and take down, but I bet it would work and wouldn't be a big project for the winter.

It takes a bit of planning and being smarter than the mouse. That's not always easy.

+1 I have tried them all and the ONLY ones that have worked is traps and poison. I don't like the poison as if they die inside a building you have that issue to deal with.

DogT said:

Horton,

Re: the sonic devices, I have about 6 Victor sonic emitters. That electrocuted mouse I took the picture of was caught within about 1 foot of one of those sonic things. That's how good they work. I've found they do keep the wrens out of the garage in the spring, but that's debatable too. Dryer sheets, moth balls, I've caught mice in traps with all those things present. Only thing that works is to kill them with poison, traps or electrocution.
.

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Hortons Norton said:

I'm having problems with them damn tree rats (squirrels) stealing my avocados. Dave is there anyway I could hook up a 220 volt gizmo like yours? Sons of a bitches keep stealing them and its pissing me off! I'd shoot them but some of my wanker neighbors feed the suckers, and they would turn me in. :roll:

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You got me started on the PETA types. There are two small ponds in front of my place and the access is a ROW between them. Beavers will stop it up every night so, being tired of cleaning the mess plus having any tree worth looking at chopped down, the beavers started to get an acute case of lead poisoning. I called fish and game first who told me they're not protected, quite common in fact and, if a nuisance or destructive to go ahead and dispatch them. Well, my non-working, liberal neighbor loves the aquatic rats and raised a stink, so he's cleaning the culvert now. The good trees are all gone so it's OK with me but I hope the idiot falls in anyway.

Friggin red squirrels drilled a hole and got into my attic. My wife got most of them with rat traps but a few caught wise. I got the rest with a shotgun when they were running across the branch closest to the house.

What I really like about the electrocution is I can immediately see them and get rid of the corpse. It's right out in the open, automatically reset too. Traps are usually someplace where they hide and I forget about them, then you get your odor on the trap and it takes a month for that to go away. The right poison (warfarin) tends to make them go in search of water and they will leave.

and then there is the better mousetrap (the rat version also gets mice) http://www.goodnature.co.nz/products/rat-stoat/

ntst8 said:

and then there is the better mousetrap (the rat version also gets mice) http://www.goodnature.co.nz/products/rat-stoat/

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Hmm, what to do? 5 pack of goodnature traps or Pair of Carrillo rods?

I'm not against the killing of pests .... it's the time and effort that it takes away from me that is the issue .... 15 years ago when the children had moved on and we downsized from the house I built with a garage .... into a smaller one with no garage .... I built a shed for the bikes with mice and squirrels in mind .... to date , zero infiltration by unwanted 4 legged creatures .... this is the only true solution .... if they can't get in you don't have to get them out .... only issue is in warmer weather while working on bikes with doors open the insects that bite feed on me ...
Craig

I like it except for the price tag :shock:

ntst8 said:

and then there is the better mousetrap (the rat version also gets mice) http://www.goodnature.co.nz/products/rat-stoat/

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I support PETA people eating tasty animals

JimNH said:

You got me started on the PETA types.

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NORTON COMMANDO!
There, now that that's over with, I can see that the moderators are going to have to add Stoat/Weasel to the U.K./U.S. conversion chart. Yes, I had to look it up...

Nathan

DogT said:

Jean, the microwave would probably kill a dog or cat. Maybe even me. But it would probably work someplace that could be closed off for sure. I did like the youtube of the guy in OZ that made a cage with an insulated bolt and attached his furnace igniter to it. That would probably kill a ground hog.

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A furnace igniter is way more dangerous than a µwave transformer, granted there is a LOT of power in one of those (~1Kw) but the high voltage they put out has very little current... I really don't know why I'm trying to justify anything here, the basic point is to KILL those rodents isn't it? dogs and humans will get a nasty jolt, but they won't die, as for mice, I think they will just go away from it when they sense their wiskers start oscillating at 60Hz

I used to have a static bar transformer (used to eliminate static on continous feed printers) hooked up to a homemade plate on top of my retractable awning, the output was originaly at 5KV but iI fed it 24 volts instead of 120V so I figured the output was a bit over 1KV at any rate, once I put that thing on, birds never started to build their nests like they did before. What is more interesting, the transformer died after a few years sitting outside, but birds still don't try to build their nests, it's as if they know something bad is going to happen even though it won't.

Jean