BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?

Subject: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: bbc
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 06:19 PM

The weather has turned cold in New York & enterprising field mice are seeking warmer lodgings--notably in the cabinet under my kitchen sink! I can't deal w/ smooshing mice, so I bought a Hav-a-Heart trap. I baited it w/ peanut butter & had a mouse the same day! Took him across the street from my house to an open field & I do believe I had the same mouse in the trap the next day! Today, I drove him down the road to the local transfer station (dump). I wonder if he will find his way back (or if he has friends)? Are there any ways to get mice out of the house that don't involve poisoning, gluing, or squishing them? I don't have anything against mice, personally; I just don't want them to share my living quarters! BTW, I have a less tender-hearted friend who also has a mouse problem. He has traditional traps scattered throughout his (large) house. To date, 2 of them have mysteriously walked away. One more question--there's a nasty new smell in my house. Could a mouse have died somewhere? If so, how to find & remove the corpse or will it, eventually, stop smelling. Sigh.

Thanks for any advice,

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 06:24 PM

To release a mouse into the 'wilds', you have to drive them at least 2-3 miles away... otherwise the little buggers just come back, now that they've found a source of peanut butter. If you dump him in a place that has an alternative food source, he may fare better.

Of course, your local council may have its own eradication programme, it's always worth asking.. If they are a humane council, they will have an approved 'release' site.

Failing that, get a cat or two. That way you only find half a mouse.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Peace
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 06:31 PM

bbc: Field mice is a kinda generic term. Some of those field mice may be deer mice, and they carry disease that can be very dangerous to humans. (Parvovirus.) Basically, the infection can spread to humans from the droppings, saliva or urine of the mice.

Wear a face mask--dust mask from a hradware store of the kind used by drywallers, when you handle the things, dead or alive, and latex gloves to clean the messes you find. Use a bleach solution.

Live trapping the cute little things will not do you much good if you don't take them far away for release. They reproduce fairly quickly, and there are LOTS of them, so don't feel you'll damage the ecosystem by killing a few tens of thousands.

I have lived through a "field mouse" infestation. Take it seriously. You may have to kill gangs of them, like it or not. Alternative is to get a cat. That will help. But use the traps, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 06:33 PM

Check it for a street map before you release it.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Jeri
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 06:36 PM

How to get rid of mice: Personally, I go with squishing. After the first couple, I got a whole lot less squeamish. You can get them off glue traps with cooking oil, but it's really not worth it. The Hav-a-Heart traps are probably best. A cat might work too, but would definitely not be non-violent. Squishing's probably more humane.

Regarding traps disappearing - sometimes they don't land on a part of the mouse necessary for the continued existance of the mouse, and the mouse drags the trap elsewhere. Your friend will eventually find it, perhaps with mouse attached.

As to the nasty new smell and "Could a mouse have died somewhere?" Yes.
"how to find & remove the corpse or will it, eventually, stop smelling"
They always stop smelling eventually, and a new one takes its place. My own opinion is that it's impossible to find the little corpses when one is looking for them, and they have a tendency to die in places humans don't even consider looking and can't get to anyway. Mice are small, though. It usually doesn't take too long before they become little mouse-mummies.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: GUEST,milk monitor
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 06:46 PM

bbc I sympathise! When I moved into where I am now, I had a bad case of smelly mouse. Because I had just moved in I wasn't sure what this strange, sweet, sickly smell was...I also had leaky pipes and rotten floor boards, so just thought it was a 'damp' and 'falling apart' house smell.

After weeks of building works the smell was still there and worse. Eventually the kitchen cupboards were ripped out, and there it was, under the sink one, behind the facia at the bottom. It looked like a furry grey lump of soap, only recognisable of having breathed by the stench of rotting flesh. It would have stopped smelling once all the fat had disappeared and there was just bone left....according to the really nice builder who removed it.

Try and pinpoint where the smell is strongest and have a dig around.
But yes, a cat is probably the way to go. Good Luck!

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 07:15 PM

I think it was Bat Goddess who recommended peppermint oil? along all of your cabinet bases, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 07:20 PM

If you do get a cat, try to find one whose mother is a good mouser. They think it's a learned skill. The one time I had a mouse, the cats just chased it until it keeled over.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Blissfully Ignorant
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 07:57 PM

I just catch them in a box and put them outside...well, we don't get many any more, becasue we got two good mousing cats...one for outside, one for inside! You have to be quick with the box though, and unsqeamish about getting close to the mices.

I had a dead mouse (or something) under the floor, the smell goes away by itself in a couple of weeks, inscense, air freshener, or an oil burner will cover it up pretty well until it goes :0)

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 08:04 PM

Get a coiuple of cats. They don't really need to be good musers, the idea is the mice aren't stupid enough to move into a placed filled with cats. Anyway, we never have mice in the house.

Of course we quite often find the odd mouse from the garden laid out neatly by the back door. I think it's our cats' way of saying "Thank you."

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 08:07 PM

As some of you may have noticed in another thread, I've been having problems with mice or rats or squirrels or some kind of rodent eating my car. The most interesting suggestion I got was to ward them off with dog or cat urine. We have two very productive puppies, so I'm trying their contributions first. They pee on newspaper, and then I run out to the shed and dump the urine onto the exhaust manifold. I'll let you know how it works.
-Joe Offer, Urine Collector-

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: NH Dave
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 08:26 PM

My cats are all too well fed for them to demean themselves actually chasing mice so I made a catch-em-alive trap out of a large coffee can, some heavy paper, and a bait wire.

I covered the top of the can with a bit of heavy typing paper, cut a couple of slits across the top so it looked like a sectioned pie, and suspended some peanut butter over the center of the can. The next morning I found a small mouse looking back at me as if to say, "Well, how was I to know that the paper wouldn't support my weight?"

He and his succesors took a brief ride with me on my way to work, and never returned. As others here have mentioned, it was autumn, our housing estate had been built in the middle of fields, and seemed to offer over-winter lodging to everything around.

Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Blissfully Ignorant
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 08:31 PM

Of course, in a way it's a good thing you've got mice...means you don't have rats. Mices are scared of rats, they won't live in the same place as them.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 08:46 PM

"Are there any ways to get mice out of the house that don't involve poisoning, gluing, or squishing them?"

No there aren't... kill the bastards! Poison... traps... cats... fire... whatever it takes...   They're filthy... they carry disease... If you leave them alone for too long, you'll NEVER get them out!

"My cats are all too well fed..."
Hunting behaviour in house-cats has nothing to do with how much they are fed... some are simply better mousers than others....

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 08:54 PM

Most cats would as soon eat a mouse as a foxhunter would eat a fox. That's not why they hunt them, if they can be bothered to hunt them. It's more of a hobby.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 09:34 PM

If you don't have mice, havng cat(s) will probably keep them away. However, if you get a cat because you have mice, it's a good idea to open the bottom cabinets at night before you go to bed, leaving the cat on patrol. I've used that trick in two different domiciles and it didn't take long to eliminate all sign of mice. The mice seem to move out much more quickly than if they have hidey holes the cat can't get to. (Don't know if the neighbors had a sudden onslaught of critters.)

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Jeri
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 09:34 PM

New idea: Invite Joe to drive east for a visit. Have him park near the house.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: bbc
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 09:35 PM

Some good advice & some good laughs here--thanks! Unfortunately, I'm not a cat person & I can't bring myself to kill the mice. Gee, Joe, wanna send me a vial of puppy urine? Somehow, the peppermint oil sounds more appetizing. For now, I'm just curious to see how far I need to drive to get the mouse/mice to stay away. I did this in my former home & they stayed gone. Wish me luck!

Barbara

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Jeri
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 09:42 PM

Barbara, you'll have to tag them so you can be sure they're the same mice. The little guys tend to look very similar. Maybe little dots with a Sharpie? I drove my squirrel 20 miles away, over two bridges. I wasn't about to take a chance he'd end up back in the attic in a couple of weeks.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 09:46 PM

Some Television Sets emit a high piched whistle that we can't hear, but the mice can, and they don't like it, and move out. I've got a feeling that more modern sets are more mouse friendly. That's what's called "progress".

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 10:16 PM

Little Kitty Litter - we have to wonder where your brain is??????? PEPPERMINT OIL - is used for infestations of ANTS.

(id-jets post to threads they don't know - WHY only the id-jet knows)

Look tender-hearted BBC, you must leave your Disney fantasy world and relate to reality. (I landscaped a friend's yard - she "loved" the little scurry rats that scrambled with the birds for the feed she left outdoors....she could view them from her bed-room French doors while tuna-bumping her latest conquest. No amount of talking could convince her that rats are vermin ((she was also a "wiccan" and also "vegan")) and then one day the loverly rodents finished knawing through the electrican insulation of her automobile - 5K later - she also recognized vermin when she saw them)

You are risking disease, damage, and dementia if you permit the "outies" to become "innies."

Whatever the process, kill the little beasties....(I could talk a two hour narrative on the beasts and various mis-adventures.)

Look up the dictionary deffinitions of "host." (You are one) Research your local government's center for disease control and start with Bubonic and work your way over to the Hunta Virus .

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 10:17 PM

There are devices that you plug into an outlet that emit high-frequency squeaks which repel pests but not humans. I have two in my home, and they seem to help.

It's a bad idea to let a cat eat mice. Mice carry the eggs for tapeworms, which then infect the cat. I have had to have three cats treated for tapeworms. Now my cats are indoor cats.

In some places, mice can carry a virus, the hanta virus, which can kill you. In addition, they are filthy and can chew on your wiring, starting a fire. It's such fun, too, to reach for a clean dish towel and discover that they've been pooping on them.

Get some traps, and when a mouse is caught, throw it away, trap and all. To balance your karma, send some money to a deserving cause, such as children in Africa. There are 10,000,000 motherless children in Africa.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Gypsy
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 10:19 PM

Please, not poison. It's slow, and any animal that eats the slower mouse predeath, will also get poisoned. That said, traps, properly set, are humane, and quick.
Little segue........was in studio one day, waiting for soldering iron to heat up. So, putting things away, when on a shelf, saw a leather cord hanging, where it shouldn't be. Yep.......grabbed it to put away, and the mouse was more startled than i was!

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Nov 04 - 11:22 PM

Consider fox urine. You can get this at stores that specialize in hunting stuff; it's used this time of year by deer hunters to mask their own human scent. You'll only need a drop in appropriate places. Since foxes eat mice, the scent should repel the mice. And yes, I'm serious about this.

No, not poison. For one thing, the mice tend to die in places that are either inaccessible or disgusting or both (we once had one die in an oven -- a natural death -- and it was very unpleasant). Eventually the smell WILL go away, but!

Personally, I used the good old fashioned snap traps if needed. Quick and humane.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 12:16 AM

You may find some helpful techniques in here

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 01:35 AM

Well, two posters have had the idea but didn't quite land on it. It isn't parvo- or hunta-, it's Hanta Virus. And this one nasty, often fatal repiratory infection (hence the reference about about using a dust mask when cleaning mouse droppings). It is found largely in the arrid southwest and researchers are finding that it has been around for a long time, but not recognized until recently.

See Disease vectors (it's a PDF) and Carriers and Vectors of Disease as starters. The second one is slow to load but has lots of photos for ID of your critters.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Gurney
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 02:36 AM

A few more home truths.
The smell goes away as maggots, which then turn into flies. Maggots leave little but fur and bone. However, this only applies if the corpse is in a place accessible to the fly, as very few flies will 'blow' in the dark. If the corpse is in the dark, the smell goes on for ages.

Poison kills mice slowly, and to judge from the pitiful crying, painfully. I listened to one dying inside the wall once, and it took four hours. I'll never use poison again, for ANY vermin.

As someone said up above, jump on the first sign of infestation. Some naturalist will tell you the gestation time, it is startlingly short.

Don't rely on pedigree cats to be mousers. Some are, but lots aren't. One of ours used to bring mice and birds home and release them alive and unhurt in the house.

Rats hunt and eat mice, sometimes.

I once had a great little trap, a square tube with a bend in it. When the culprit went past the bend, it see-sawed (teeter-tottered) and a trapdoor closed. You could see that it was occupied, it was humane, and you touched nothing releasing the guy inside. Someone borrowed it forever.

Spring traps work very well, but you have to match them to the vermin. Mice often won't set off a rat trap, and rats will drag a mouse trap away sometimes. You have to 'tune' them a little, making sure the trigger pivots easily. If you can put them down briskly, they are too stiff. Soft white bread paste mixed with cotton-wool makes a useful bait. They usually kill instantly.

I'm not a ratcatcher, I'm a jobbing handyman, and some of my customers are lily-livered. All of the above is from direct experience.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: bbc
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 09:20 PM

Interesting suggestions & information--thanks! Gargoyle, I appreciate your message; you've always been kind to me. Gurney, what is the reason for the cotton in the bread paste? I have had mice in the trap 3 nights in a row now. You're right, Jeri; I should have tagged the little buggers somehow. At present, I have no idea if I have a very capable homing mouse or a whole herd of mice in my house. I took the one this morning farther away--a couple of miles--& will rebait the trap tonight. If this goes on much longer, I'm afraid I may have to consider the less humane approaches. Talked to my sister in Maine tonight. She has mice, too, & has been catching them in a humane trap & releasing them in her backyard. I suggested that they are probably the same ones, making return appearances. She was disappointed to hear that.

best,

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Jeri
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 10:07 PM

I still think the Sharpie is a good idea. You know, you can get them in gold, silver and copper now? Imagine mousies with metallic colored tails. I keep zapping deer mice, and the trap tends to not land on the proper parts of the mouse. Still kills them. (Deer mice are sort of like midget rats.) I'm seriously thinking about doing the catch-and-release thing, as disposal would be a whole lot easier...especially on the mice.

Barb, when I was in the store buying the ultrasonic doohickies and more traps, someone else came in and was standing next to me looking at the same items, saying "It got cold, and all the mice starting moving into my house." I told her that's why I was there. And here I thought I had a major problem with my house. I'm even starting to come to terms with the occasional noises in the walls and sub-floor.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 Nov 04 - 10:43 PM

Mr said today that Bounce fabric softener sheets will repel them. People who park their RV's/caravans all winter scatter them all over inside. Joe Offer could put some in his engine compartment too. Just remove them before starting car.....

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: GUEST,Mr Red without a peanut cookie
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 07:53 AM

They love peanut butter and warm houses in winter. Mouse traps and cats are your only sure fire methds, best of luck.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: GUEST,bbc at work
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 08:03 AM

No mouse, this am. Yay for now! I like the Bounce idea; nicer smell than decaying mice or mouse urine!

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 08:17 AM

It's been suggested above but in bbc's position, I would be inclined to try the electronic method. I've no experience with using them but I know in the UK at any rate you can get small ultra-sonic devices for £20 or less. If they were more expensive, I'd thinl twice but at that sort of price, I wouldn't be too upset if it didn't prove to be effective.

Jon

(with 3 cats)

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 10:53 AM

I use the old fashioned spring traps that kill mice. (I haven't had mice for a number of years, but when I did, I would usually wake to the loud "Pop!" of the trap and get up and toss the mouse and reload the trap.) Peanut butter works okay, but sometimes mice can get it off of the trap without tripping it. I use a bit of a sharp toothpick and stick a small chunk of pepperoni on the mouse trap. Those little carnivores adore strong-smelling meat, and I always get my mouse. But you must stick it on the trap well enough so that when they tug at the meat they trip it.

In the last house I lived in we had a mouse nest inside the stove. It was in the insulation around the oven, and would crawl out of a burner at night to eat. The cats couldn't figure that one out for a while, but finally zeroed in on the stove and I figured out the rest. I put a mouse trap under the burners and nailed the little guy. Every time you turned the oven on for months it smelled like mouse urine in there.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: GUEST,bbc at work
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 11:17 AM

So, *does* mouse urine have a strong smell? Could I be smelling urine, rather than rotting mouses? I'd prefer that.

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 02:18 PM

Sure Barbara, it's mouse whizz. They only pee about a tablespoon's worth a month, but it's potent enough to stink up your whole house. Uh huh. Yeah, right. The dead ones smell somewhat sulfurous. I think there's one under my refrigerator or in the wall in back of the fridge, but the smell is going away so the mouse is probably past the runny stage.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 02:45 PM

Sorry, re the mouse pee. This falls into the classification of wishful thinking, I believe. Just like when I first discovered/admitted I had mice. I kept hearing scurrying noises while I was trying to sleep. I continued to tell myself it was the radiator, right up until I felt the gentle touch of whiskers on my face. I then examined all the evidence and, concluding there really was a mouse in there, rapidly got out of bed and proceded to castigate the mouse, using every bad word in my vocabulary several times, at a very emphatic volume. I bought traps the next day.

Anyway. The electronic doohickies are more of an annoyance to the mouse than anything. They're Jerry Lewis, not Osama bin Laden. The three mice I've 'caught' in the past 24 hours didn't seem to mind my ultra-sound thingie very much.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 03:14 PM

I have trouble understanding anyone's squeamishness abut killing vermin. My concession to the animal-rights lobby is to try to kill 'em quick and not prolong the agony.

Living in an international port city in a subtropical climate, we occasionally get RATS, not just cute little mice. When they die in some hidden corner, the stink -- the smell of death -- can be overwhelming. (I can state unequivocally, from experience, that the notion of keeping rats to kill the mice, as mentioned above, is *not* such a good idea.)

No rodents in the last 4-5 years, since we got cats. The cats live outside, but seem to keep the rats and mice away from the house as well as the yard.

My most alarming rat story:

About 20-22 years ago, we were living in a one-story house in Algiers, just a few blocks from the Mississippi waterfront, across the river from the French Quarter. One morning I discovered a BIG rat -- 4 or 5 inches long NOT counting the long stringy tail -- swimming in the toilet bowl! I had actually already dropped my drawers and was halfway to a sitting position when I spotted the nasty thing -- andt jumped up VERY quickly! The thought of actually lowering my dangly parts to within a few inches of the surface made me turn white and shiver.

I learned that this type of thing is not unheard of hereabouts, especially in houses built just a foot or two off the ground. The rats live in the sewer and are able to hold their breath long enough to swim upstream and surface inside one's toilet bowl.

I used a plunger ("plumber's friend") to hold the little bastard down and drown him, by the way. It wasn't quick and it wasn't pretty. I thought he was done for at one point, buy he resurrected himself as soon as I released pressure on the plunger -- had to do it again, and waited much longer the second time before assuming it was all over.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: GUEST,SueB
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 04:55 PM

Ohmigod, PoppaGator, almost sitting on it bad enough, but the death struggle - horrendous.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: bbc
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 05:27 PM

That *is* a very scary story, PoppaGator! I've always had a fear of something coming out of the toilet. Thanks for substantiating it. :)
No mouse in the trap after a day of me being at work.

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Cluin
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 07:02 PM

Invite the mice to an afternoon tea and calmly and sensitively explain to them how you would really prefer that they not remain in the house with you. Offer to construct them their own small mouse-sized house in the back yard where they can go on about their business, each of you respecting the other's space and right-to-life as you wish it.

And while they are pondering their options, grab a ballpien hammer and splatter the little fuckers before they can jet off.



But, you know, not in a violent way or anything...

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: bbc
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 07:10 PM

Thanks, Cluin. You made me laugh. The 1st part sounds like me.

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Cluin
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 07:18 PM

I've just had to deal with too many mice, bbc. They are kinda cute in a way. Until they chew all your stuff and pee and crap on every thing, not to mention jumping all over you in bed and waking you up in the middle of the night by knocking things over.

Exterminate!

But avoid poisons. They take too long, are too dangerous for pets & kids, and the mouse invariably crawls somewhere to die and rot where you can't get at him, but are privileged to smell him for a month or so.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: annamill
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 08:35 PM

Sorry Barb. I thought this thread was about these damn computer mouses.
What a pain in the neck they can be! Boy, do I get violent with the little bugger. Honey's getting me a new one for Christmas. Tired of hearing me curse and thump it.

Good luck with your live ones. I agree with trying to catch them live but I have had bad luck doing that and, sadly, had to resort to old fashioned mouse-traps. All the suggestions here sound good except putting urine all over the house. No-way! Yuch!

If you can catch them, then just take them very far away.

Love, Annamill

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: NH Dave
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 09:18 PM

One of the more useful rat and mouse poison uses Warfarin, a distant precursor of Cumadin. Over a period of time the rodent consumes enough of this blood thinner that his blood will spurt out of a mosquito bite - Oh, you thought mosquitoes only bother you? How do you think they reproduce in the distant Alaskan bogs - as I understand it the female must have a meal of blood in order to reproduce.   

The amount of Warfarin suficient to make the rodent's blood thin and slippery is hardly enough to bother Moggie or Spot, especially as they only eat a small portion of the mouse. The mouse expires quietly and peacefully, hopefully outside while it is looking for water to replace all the liquid material it has also passed along. If not, it only smells for a bit and you can describe as the sweet smell of success.

Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 09:21 PM

My current solution is leaving the hood open while the car is parked, which is a damn hassle. I started the puppy pee experiment the other day. there are strange smells coming from the engine compartment of the Subaru, but I can't tell if it's the pee or what. So far, no new mouse gnawing.
I'm still afraid to drive the Subaru at night, since the dealer couldn't find what caused the overheating we had a couple of weeks ago.
The cat brought in a dead rat the other day, and I wanted it thrown into the trash and taken to the dump. My pagan-Catholic wife insisted on saying prayers over it first (don't know if they were pagan or Catholic prayers). I think I've married a rodent sympathizer.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 10:00 PM

Another nasty old trick from earlier time was to mix sugar in plaster of paris and leave the dry mixture around in small open containers for the rodents to eat. Constipation is not a pleasant way to end one's days though...

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Gurney
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 02:58 AM

bbc, the cottonwool is to make the bait harder to get off the trigger. they try to pull it off...curtains.
I forgot to mention glue-pads. They work well, but next day the poor little beggers are shuddering all over as they try futilely to run away. You have to throw the pad out and tread on them out of kindness. Gruesome.

All animals get trap-shy after a while, so vary the bait and positions, and put down eight traps one day, no traps the next. One trap will NOT keep ahead of population increase.
Get onto them before they chew through foil soup packets and particularly wire insulation, which may burn your house down.

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 03:06 AM

During summers I work for resorts or concessionaires in National Parks, state parks, etc. Take Hanta Virus VERY seriously. We had a park ranger taken ill up at Custer State Park this summer. She recovered but was very sick. Mice are a source for Hanta Virus. Our drill when we opened the gift shop and cabins was to wear respirators and latex gloves when doing our initial cleaning and especially when removing dead mice and/or their droppings.

Remember the scene in the film "Never Cry Wolf" when the biologist tried a diet of mice to prove his thesis that wolves could survive on a diet of small rodents?

He was damned lucky!

We had special health and safety lectures up at Yellowstone National Park during the summer of 2003 which alerted us to the Hanta Virus and to the danger from West Nile Disease. People had died from both diseases.

The outside ain't as safe as it was when all we had to worry about was grizzlies and mountain lions.

Giardia, West Nile, Hanta, YIKES!! I'll take lions and tigers and bears anyday

Coyote Breath

Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 08:20 AM

don't bother with using cheese as bait... then prefer Cadburys Dairy Milk Chocolate (wrapper off)...

sigh.... grrrrr