Of Mice And Men

[Scratch33]

During the time I lived in my new home without my cat, I battled mice daily. Got her out here and she made quick work of the indoor ones. Good mouser.

[seedy]

I got serious about catching rodents after the hantavirus deaths started happening. I don't like poison because I don't like smelling dead animals trapped in the walls for months and if a predator eats them I might kill something that's nominally on my side.

If you want to live-trap mice cheap, you can make a trap out of a plastic jar and a 5-gallon bucket and some odds and ends, youtube has various videos on how. Dump them a mile away and they won't come back, but enough others will that it might not seem like it makes a difference.

They do work, however, and they're easy to dump off somewhere. My issue is that the mice here can jump high enough to get back out. I need to find a taller bucket for in the house. Out in the shop I have the bait roller over a garbage can and that is enough, but then they can die from falling.

Or if you forget to check they panic trying to get out and suffer. This is true for all live-traps, you have to constantly check or they will die the same way as in a sticky trap. Which means if you are going away for a few days disable all the live traps unless you want to be in the same class as the sticky trap torturers. :^)

If you want to kill them quick, the Victor Powerkill work well and have a little bait well which can last several trappings, I use almond butter and it is very attractive to my local cuisine aficionados. The Powerkill rat trap will do mice as well, and they are easy to empty and reset. They are more expensive but I think they are worth it. The one of those I have has caught more than all the cheapo traps combined, some are right next to it. Mice love that Powerkill rat trap. It is loud in the middle of the night when it goes off.

Victor also makes electronic traps, neighbors like the rat-size ones but they are not long-lived and expensive at about $50. I mention that brand not because they're the only one but that's what I use because the local Ace carries them.

I dump the carcasses outside and they are gone within hours, doing my part to keep the predator food-chain going. I put them in the same spot.

In general I work with the animals around me, but disease-carrying makes it self-defense in my eyes. And the predators appreciate my thoughtfulness, they are animals too.

BTW, in case you find mouse droppings, spray them with some household cleaner before cleaning them up. It's the dust from them that kills. And it's easier to swab them up in one shot with a paper towel when they're wet.

[Glokta]

Originally Posted by Scratch33

During the time I lived in my new home without my cat, I battled mice daily. Got her out here and she made quick work of the indoor ones. Good mouser.

Depends on the Cat, ones OK the others as thick as two short planks. He was trying to catch a spider the other day & lost it even though it was right infront of him. I called him and as he was walking over he trod on it and squished it without noticing. Makes for a good alarm clock at 5am though.

Incidently I used to have a problem with mice but since moving to another place with a field out back I haven't had amy issues due to the sheer number of cats in the neighbourhood, theirs an army of them and it definitely keeps the street rodent free.

[MTSilvertip]

I never needed a cat until this year, and for some reason the mice were horrible!! Everyone I've talked to has had problems with them.

Normally, a couple of traps handle the spring and fall infestations, but this year we had traps all over the place and couldn't keep up!

So we broke down and got a cat for the first time in the 27 years the wife and I have been together. I would reccomend what we got, a cat that had been house broken, but abandoned in a move so she had to fend for herself for a while before being picked up.
We got her from the folks that found her, and she REALLY knows how to hunt!

She catches so many she can't eat them all, and puts them in her food dish for later.

That said, she has really helped out with the problem.

At the cabin, I don't use glue traps because we have wild weasels, and I don't want to catch them by accident.
The weasels do a fair job, but not great, so we still have to put all food in steel containers, but that doesn't keep the vermin off of the counters and tables.
We released a couple feral cats we caught in live traps up there, but they apparently didn't last long. If I was living there full time, I would have bucket traps everywhere outside and at least one cat inside.

Those mice are a nightmare!!

The chipmunks are a pain, but at least they're cute.