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BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions?
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Subject: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: GUEST,Dewey Date: 08 Jan 03 - 03:42 AM I've still got mice in my house and I'm tired of using the decon and glue strips. Is there any humane way of solving this problem. I feel bad about this method(especially the glue)But these are persist little boogers- they will do as they please! Woke up on night to the sound of one squealing after being glued alive to the strip and carried him kicking outside, kind of wrecked the night for both of us. Any traps sound devices etc. on the market? All Wal-mart carries is the glue and decon! I'm conservative politically but am open to some thoughtful suggestions from any liberal thinkers out there who might know of a better way. Whether the animal has any rights on not I don't like to see ANYTHING suffer if something can be done to avoid it! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: IanC Date: 08 Jan 03 - 03:50 AM Dewey There are "humane" traps on the market, but if you put a mouse outside you'll have 1,000 offspring (including offspring of offspring etc.) within 10 weeks and many of them will be back. However, more than half of them will have been eaten (pretty inhumanely) by cats, birds of prey etc. Maybe a plain oldfashioned trap is more humane? We last had mice about 6-7 years ago and used a new plastic trap with mouse attractant included. It worked very well. :-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: GUEST Date: 08 Jan 03 - 04:01 AM There are tilting traps available. The mouse enters the trap and goes to the bait at the far end. The weight of the mouse then tilts the trap and the door springs shut. Sounds nicer than gluing the poor mouse's feet. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Llanfair Date: 08 Jan 03 - 04:01 AM Our solutions are three months old now, and will be big enough to do their job next spring. I know it's not humane as such, but it is nature's way. Polly, the veteran cat is still woking, but she;s only three teeth, which slows her up a bit, and she prefers to be sleeping these days, when the youngun's let her!!!! We have yellow necked mice here, which are not common, but they attack the hen corn, so we haven't got room for them. Cheers,Bron. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: rock chick Date: 08 Jan 03 - 04:03 AM Cats, it normally stops them ever coming into the house again, only problem is if the cat catches them, my daughters cats (3) normally play with them, never hurts them, unfortunately though they die of fright. She doesn't have mice but her friend next door did so she loaned the cats out for a week. To be honest don't think there is any real humane way, on the lighter side; you could feed them then they may die of obesity! Well it's almost a natural death. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: shankmac Date: 08 Jan 03 - 04:39 AM If you want to be of some use to wildlife preservation and placate your conscience trap and kill the mice and put them out on a feeding post at night for the owls or during the day for other raptors. Good hunting Mac |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Ella who is Sooze Date: 08 Jan 03 - 04:56 AM Get one of those human traps, and then bait it with Chocolate, they love chocolate! We've done it to get rid of a few, and experimented with different foods. Cheese they snubbed, but chocolate was the top fave every time.... Well, this was great if we could get to them before my cat does - he's a prolific mouser and very good at it. Then don't just boot the micers out of the house, they will find their way back in. You may have to take them for a bit of a walk/car journey. Ella |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: GUEST,Fasteddy Date: 08 Jan 03 - 05:02 AM Buy yourself an Attack Wave Pestrepeller...works by emitting a high pitched note inaudible to humans and pets...foolproof! I have dozens of mice in my attic,now they are completely gone...works for insect infestation too! good luck. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: bill\sables Date: 08 Jan 03 - 05:31 AM One sure way of getting rid of mice and rats was told to me by an old Yorkshireman about 25 years ago. He said you've got to put broken glass in their holes. I've tried this method once or twice and found one major problem with it, the little buggers are very hard to catch and wriggle like hell when you try to stuff it in. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: GUEST,MC Fat Date: 08 Jan 03 - 05:36 AM I at the moment have (at least one) mouse lodger who I've named Wayne. Wayne has managed to evade capture and even the electronic mouse repellant bought from Maplins. He's now on borrowed time cos he's got to go !!! Any other ideas ? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Ella who is Sooze Date: 08 Jan 03 - 05:37 AM old fashioned trap and chunk of dairy milk chocolate or cat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Charley Noble Date: 08 Jan 03 - 07:43 AM Ella- "Get one of those HUMAN traps, and then bait it with Chocolate..." Yes, that should get rid of the human pests. Now what would you suggest for the mice? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Nemesis Date: 08 Jan 03 - 07:49 AM Yes, I suggest we put your mice together with the bloody Tom cat who broke in and sprayed everything sometime between retiring from Mudchat at 3.30 am today and 7.30am when I was awoken by the stench that it had sprayed round the bedroom door ... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Rapparee Date: 08 Jan 03 - 07:50 AM My brother once got so annoyed he used a 12 gauge shotgun. It took care of the mouse, but the draft from hole in the wall gave him a nasty cold. 8-) I like the idea about putting the bodies out for raptors. Wish I'd thought of that when I had mice; my wife likes raptors. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: catspaw49 Date: 08 Jan 03 - 11:12 AM Look folks, I hate killing things, but the friggin' mice around here would overrun the joint. This year's tally is 39 so far either by trap, cat, or Weimaraner. The cat victims look chewed and the Weimie victims look quite flat....they have large paws. Our pantry was getting ridiculous and taking live ones outside was counterproductive. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: katlaughing Date: 08 Jan 03 - 11:41 AM We had a family of them who lived in our garage. I fed them and in the Spring they moved out. Came back every winter. They never entered the house because of the cats. And, for some reason, they did not proliferate...maybe because there were so many eagles, hawks, and owls around. Anyway, if I were you, I'd get the haveaheart traps, trap them, and then take them for a long car ride out to some fields or somesuch to turn them loose. I would also recommend one of those electronic repellers. kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Clinton Hammond Date: 08 Jan 03 - 11:49 AM Kill the buggers... kill them dead... it's not like they're endangered or anything... They're vermin... killin' them is what yer supposed to do... Use whatever comes to hand... a traditional trap, a cat, a boot-heel if yer quick enough... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Llanfair Date: 08 Jan 03 - 11:58 AM I don't think that the raptors and other airborne predators can see small furry things unless they are moving, though badgers and other scavengers would enjoy the treat! You have to take live ones AT LEAST five miles away, or they come back. Cheers, Bron. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: mack/misophist Date: 08 Jan 03 - 12:41 PM Before you consider one of those sonic repellers, consult Consumer Reports. They've been around for over a decade and haven't cornered the market, you notice. It's my understanding that they don't work. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: GUEST,Q Date: 08 Jan 03 - 01:04 PM We use the old-fashioned snap trap. Shankmac, good idea! I don't know that owls will take a non-moving target, but carrion feeders will. Kat, nothing wrong with releasing them outside if you are soft-hearted. The cities (and countryside) are full of them; you are not adding to the problem as someone suggested in a prior post. If the population gets too large, disease cuts them back. Cats are confined to the householders property and are not permitted to roam in our city (pick-up and a fine to the owner if reported to the city or seen by the dog-cat patrol). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Blues=Life Date: 08 Jan 03 - 01:54 PM Had mouse problem. Brought cat back indoors. No longer have mouse problem. Coincidence? I think not. ;-) Blues |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Ebbie Date: 08 Jan 03 - 01:55 PM Some friends of mine reported one evening at music that they had a 'pet' mouse that was really cute, and they were laying down bits of cracker for him. We assured them that if they see one mouse frequently, there are a lot of others in the cabin, but they weren't so sure. A week or two later my friends said they had to put their foodstuffs in metal cans because they had discovered that their 'pet' had got into everything. A week or two later, my friends said they had purchased a live trap and were catching a LOT of mice in it; every morning they took one or two mice out into the woods back of the cabin and released them. A week or two later, my friends said they had set old-fashioned snap traps around inside the cabin. They said that it seemed like the released mice beat them back inside. :) In times past I used to leave pantry and cabinet doors open over night every night. As some said above, I think just the presence of a cat that has access to them tends to send mice down the road. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Mr Red Date: 08 Jan 03 - 01:56 PM set the trap with Micro-Soft Cheese. Oh sorry that is cruel. Er set the MudCat on it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: GUEST,Beccy Date: 08 Jan 03 - 02:06 PM Howdy from another conservative thinker. Here's what we did. We found rodent poop in our baby's crib so we went a little medieval on them. Peanut butter is the best bait whatever trapping method you use. We sat a rat trap (scary to do when you worry about your guitar playing ability- ask hubby, he was very bothered by the thought of catching his left hand in that sucker) and several live mouse traps out. Nothing was caught. Two days later found rodent poop in the kids dresser in their pants drawer. That night, I went into the bathroom in evening attire (by that I mean jammies, I have 3 kids for pete's sake...) and sat my National Review on the bathroom counter to brush the dents. I heard a nasty rustling and found myself face to face with a massively large rat. I had wondered what kind of mouse was large enough to drag my buckwheat pillow into the crawl space. Hmmmm... I beat a hasty exit to the bathroom door, shut the rat in and summoned the mighty hunter (enter again my dear hubby, who mows the lawn backward so as not to injure the frogs who proliferate in our bog.) Equipped with a toilet brush and a pair of shoes, he knocked the rat senseless when it charged him. We took it outside and put it out of its misery. No more rat poop. Kill the bugger. Put out loads of traps and carry a toilet brush with you. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: stevetheORC Date: 08 Jan 03 - 02:06 PM Nuking them somtimes works. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Ron Olesko Date: 08 Jan 03 - 02:22 PM Moth balls help. They do not like the smell of them. Then again,neither do most humans. Try to find the entrance they are using to get in the house. If you find a hole, fill it with steel wool and then seal it. Cats are great. Even if they don't catch them, the mice avoid them. We have had mice in our basement, where our cats do not go. The rest of the house is mice-free. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: NicoleC Date: 08 Jan 03 - 02:40 PM Note: DO NOT put out mouse bodies from the glue traps for carrion eaters! If you must kill, the old fashioned traps are usually more humane. Get a good quality, stong one and it will usually break their back or neck. The glue traps are incredibly cruel, because they struggle until they can't keep their nose from dropping in the glue, and then they suffocate. Yuck. I had a little experience with the poison pellets, and watching a mouse die of the poisoning was pretty gruesome, too. 7am. Bathroom floor. Kinda ruined the whole day. My Mom has 6 cats. She also has mice. The mice are VERY careful to stay in the walls and the attic, or outdoors! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Ron Olesko Date: 08 Jan 03 - 02:44 PM Yes, avoid poison. Aside from being inhumane, they will crawl into a wall or other hiding space and rot. It is not a pretty smell. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Cluin Date: 08 Jan 03 - 02:44 PM Yeah, they're kind of cute when you see `em up close with their whiskers twitching. But not when they're chewing everything to bits and shitting in and on everything from your food to your clothes to your bed (the baby's crib?) to your soap and your toothbrush. If they're in the house, kill `em. Like Clint says, they're not endangered. If anything, they have prospered and spread themselves out across the globe along with our species. And the few you kill aren't going to keep the peregrine falcon or the Spotted Owl alive either. They hunt live prey. Toss `em out on the road for the crows to pick up. If you let them go alive, they'll be back the same way they got in the first time. Find where that hole is and plug it up (good luck there, a mouse can flatten his rib cage down and squeak in under a 1/4 inch space under your door frame). To kill large ammounts, a drowning trap works best, a big plastic bucket half full of water. Devise a few baited fall-away sticks leaning out over the lip. A bit dollop of cold bacon grease works best. They love the smell. Peanut butter is also good. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Cluin Date: 08 Jan 03 - 02:50 PM Or you could try a loud recitation. Read Robert Burns poem To a Mouse, on Turning Up Her Nest with the Plough, November 1785. O what a panic's in thy breastie... Oughta clear `em out en masse PDQ. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Mudlark Date: 09 Jan 03 - 12:48 AM I've lived in shacky rural housing for 30 years so have had lots of experience with mice. In my experience: snap traps best, and buy new ones when the old ones get TOO hair trigger or not snappy enough. A good snap trap kills almost instantly about 90% of the time. Bait with peanut butter, they have to work to get it off, giving the trap the max. time to work. Dead mice thrown in the field disappear within a few hours...something takes them. If you have one mouse, expect at least one more...they travel in pairs, so reset your trap after catching the first one. Place trap longitudinally where they run. Behind the trash basket in the kitchen has always been a good spot for me, no matter where I've seen them. To keep them out of dressers (having to launder tons of winter clothing in summer, sheets, towels, etc. is no fun) upend and cover bottom with screen. If they nest in a drawer you might not find them for a long time so prevention is worth the effort. Don't use Decon...aside from the astonishing amount of stench that can come from a tiny dead creature under the house or in the walls, it's a bloodthinner and destroys not only mice but anything that eats the dead mouse, like cats. Glue traps are an abomination. Encourage owls...their casts are full of interesting mouse bones, tiny intact skulls, etc. Electronic emitters are famous for not working. Cats equally famous for the opposite. Dogs less effective...I've seen mice run right over the backs of sleeping dogs and their response time ("Wha????) is usually just not fast enough. In this part of the country Hanta virus can be a problem, so pet wild rodents in the house not a good idea, even for the soft-hearted. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Sorcha Date: 09 Jan 03 - 01:02 AM Have only ever seen one mouse in any of my houses. About 20 yrs ago Mr and I were watching TV when he said, "Look!" a wee mousie had just crawled up the VCR cables to the top of the VCR machine. Sat there a while while we watched it, and it began to salivate badly. Mr. went and got a pair of heavy leather gloves, captured it by hand easily (so it must have been sick) then proceeded to smash it to death on the side of the dumpster. Biggest problem with mice etc. is that they do carry disesaes which are very nasty. Kill the cute little things; the planet won't mind. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Cluin Date: 09 Jan 03 - 01:23 AM I used a glue trap once at our camp. They actually work by suffocation. The mousie runs through, gets stuck, then struggles and gets all caught up and exhausted but can't breathe once his sides, belly and face are stuck down. Not very humane, but a pretty clean way to handle them since you just pick up the whole disposable trap and toss it (you are supposed to fold it into an open triangle-shaped tunnel thingy, not lay it flat). The trouble with the one I used is I got a shrew, not a mouse. Shrews hunt and kill mice so that wasn't what I wanted. All the snap traps I ever used never got a shrew so I won't use a glue trap again. Shrews are good, but don't let one bite you as they are slightly venemous. That's how they can easily kill the larger mice. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: leprechaun Date: 09 Jan 03 - 03:07 AM How about a bb gun? If that doesn't work, maybe one of these musician types can play a pied pipe. I personally like the glue traps. If the little bugger's still moving I point and laugh at him and do a little dance. I wish I could get some glue traps big enough for coyotes. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Ella who is Sooze Date: 09 Jan 03 - 03:08 AM Cooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrr. I never knew that! Shrews slightly venomous(e). I learn new things every day here - just how bad would it be if they bit? Though all the ones I see around me are usually dead - my cat is indiscriminate. Rats, Micers, Shrews, Voles, Rabbits, Bats and a snake so far! Plus lots of birds (most of which I've saved) and one of my neighbours Koi Carps... OOPS! I suppose that's what you get from living in the country. Ella |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Gurney Date: 09 Jan 03 - 03:23 AM I saw Cluin's trap in an old-timey book long ago, with the modification of a cross-slit brown-paper top. It worked for me, with a bait hanging about 70cm/3" above the slit. Hadn't the heart to use the water, though. And you do feel a prat going for a walk with a mouse in a bucket.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: mouldy Date: 09 Jan 03 - 03:46 AM I have to confess to resorting to poison up at the church when the traps didn't work, but they were chewing the organ stops! They also nested in the boiler house by pulling the insulation fibres out of the back panel of the boiler. Unfortunately I have had to resort to poison at home. Not for mice, but for the rats that have moved into my garden shed. There were barns pulled down up the road during the summer, and I think they have come from there. I could tolerate the rat I saw in the garden raiding the bird food and eating the windfall apples, but when the perfectly round, rat-size hole appeared in the door of my brick-built shed, where it's crammed up with all sorts of camping gear (and the coal), I had to get heavy. I disposed of one body in the garden incinerator last month, and put the stench in the shed (as mentioned by Mudlark) down to probably unfortunately having clobbered some mice as well. (I know the stink one dead mouse can make as one got trapped in a teacup in the box of crockery in the vestry at church last year). This week my daughter's boyfried narrowly missed a rat with the coal shovel while in the shed, and heard another in the back corner, so the poison's gone down again. Once I think I've got them, I'll have to block up the hole in the bottom of the door. Still, if they chewed through once... My husband once shot a mouse in his room with an airgun while he was working in Iran. Many years ago he also stamped on one in our house when it made the mistake of running between his feet while he was working in the shower room. I got the call, "Fetch me up some kitchen paper and don't let the kids see!" Andrea (Who used to have a pet mouse). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: stevetheORC Date: 09 Jan 03 - 04:11 AM Once again NUKE the little fiends |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: EBarnacle1 Date: 09 Jan 03 - 09:57 AM I am not a fan of our small invaders. The good thing that can be said about having mice is that you almost certainly don't have roaches, shrews or rats. Mice eat roaches, shrews eat mice and rats eat all of them. The answer is still that you should get rid of all of them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Sam L Date: 09 Jan 03 - 10:17 AM Well, I'm a liberal vegetarian and I've killed them. At least I don't raise them for production in poor conditions, I figure they had a life. I did once stun one with a 70 shot rubber-band machine gun I invented as a child, then hurled it out a second floor window into a neighbor's yard. That's when I felt conflicted with my liberalism, sorry. Leprechaun cracked me up. I don't know Leprechaun, so I imagined a leprechaun pointing and dancing. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Schantieman Date: 09 Jan 03 - 10:20 AM On returning home from my stag night One of my friends claimed he saw a small furry thing running across the floor. In the circumstances I was inclined to disbelieve him and put it down to the juice of the barley. But someone else corroborated it. So the following day (my stag night was the week before mny wedding!) I bought a trap, baited it and left it overnight. Wallop. Mouse. Sad thing was, it wasn't a house mouse, but a long-tailed field mouse aka woodmouse. Still, shows the trap works. Cheese, too. Steve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: GUEST,JTT Date: 09 Jan 03 - 11:00 AM Apart from whatever method you use to catch them - and I usually use snap traps, though there is a thing called the Mechanical Cat, I think, which is a complicated live trap - you should also study their habits and act accordingly. Mice scent their trails with urine, so you should clear out all your closets, and clear the tops of the closets, and wash them and then rinse with highly scented water - I use citronella, which mice (and insects) don't like. (I wouldn't use mothballs, though, because modern mothballs have naptha in them, which isn't good for *you*, either.) The other thing you have to do is wash all the clothes - and the drawers and closets where they're stored. Throw out all food that isn't stored in airtight containers, and wash the outsides of all airtight containers, and again, rinse them with scented water. Wear rubber gloves. Wash all the floors, and all the carpets, in the same way. This works (in conjunction with traps) for two reasons: it disorients the mice, by erasing their trails, and it cleans away the urine which can transmit diseases. If you keep trapping, and keep wiping out their scent, the mice will leave and not come back. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Charley Noble Date: 09 Jan 03 - 11:38 AM Might as well add some notes from my draft HOUSING SONGBOOK: The Rats What can be said about the rats? Some cite statistics: The Health Dept. estimates that there are 250,000 Norway rats in New York. This figure is called "naively conservative" by other experts, who say there are between 1,000,000 and 8,000,000 rats living alongside, under and on top of the city's underprivileged. Others relate horror stories: Yesterday a twelve month old baby died from a rat bite. The mother picked him up to feed him and the child's eye had been bitten out and he was dead. The landlord justified it by saying, "Well, they don't pick up their garbage. Anyway, it was a nigger baby and they have a new one every year. So, what does it matter?" Years later, some former ghetto residents would still wake up in a cold sweat: Listen, I've had rats falling in my bathtub. I had to go and buy four big rat traps and I've caught as high as nine big rats. Not mice, rats. Rats that cats would be afraid to tackle. We had to nail down the traps so the rats wouldn't take them away. And they were pulling and pulling, and I found them when they strangled themselves to death. I saved some to show the landlord when he came in. I had the exterminator, but he didn't do nothing...Every night you hear the rats fighting. Well known singer-songwriter Tom Paxton wrote this song, originally published in Broadside back in 1964. No doubt he was inspired by the massive New York City rent strikes of the previous year, led by Harlem tenants' organizer Jesse Gray, which among other things persuaded the mayor's office to initiate a million dollar rat extermination program. Words and music by Tom Paxton © Deep Fork Music The Rats We have always been taught to be humble and meek, And give thanks for a roof above our heads; We are grateful but please Tell me who do you thank For the rats that run under our beds. Chorus: And the rats how they run through the walls of our slum And no fear of man do they show; With our children we hold dear We are prisoners of fear, And the rats come and go, come and go. The inspectors they come, swearing justice for all, And they write up citations by the score; But their breath must be short, For they never reach court, And they never come around here anymore. (CHO) Politicians they walk through our streets, and they talk, Thinking thoughts that are pure as driven snow; As they puff and they blow, Just like someone we know, Politicians come and go, come and go. (CHO) The landlords they scream at our Communist scheme, For we all are with-holding our dough; They can scream for all time, But they won't get a dime, Till the rats up and go, up and go. (CHO) Warm regards, Landlady's Daughter, not to be confused with Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: GUEST,bbc at work Date: 09 Jan 03 - 11:45 AM I deal better w/ well-fed live mice than squished dead ones, so I invested in a $20 Hav-a-Heart trap, baited w/ chocolate & peanut butter. The bait lasts well & gives the mouse a nice meal before I boot him/her out. I used to be tempted to dump the mice by my ex-husband's apartment complex, but resisted the impulse. I opted for the town park several blocks from my home & hope for the best for both me & the mice. bbc |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Little Hawk Date: 09 Jan 03 - 12:30 PM Humane suggestions? Well. First of all, sedate the cat(s) and ship him/her off to Slough or some such place for a vacation. Put the dog(s) in a kennel for as long as the mice wish to visit. Provide a variety of tempting snacks scattered around in corners and under furniture. Mice are only moderately fond of cheese, but they ADORE bacon!!! If enough snacks are easy to hand, the mice may not invade your cupboards, but there is no guarantee of this, because they love to explore. Hope for the best. Play only soft chamber music. Mice are not rockers. I had one living in the wall, and he would chitter and swear when I made loud noises. Expect the mice to continue visiting at least until Spring. An occasional viewing of the "Stuart Little" movies can be quite inspirational (specially the scenes with Geena Davis!). You will find that you really hate to see the little rascals go when the warm weather returns, and if you're very lucky they will never leave at all! - LH |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Schantieman Date: 09 Jan 03 - 01:45 PM I heard an article about someting or other on the radio recently - it was mentioned that nowhere in a city are you more than 8 feet from a rat! Steve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Blues=Life Date: 09 Jan 03 - 03:45 PM Had a science teacher claim that the best rat bait was oatmeal mixed with plaster of paris, sitting out in a pan away from any other pets. The rats eat the oatmeal, get thirsty, drink water, sets off the P of P, which then hardens internally. Seems a mite cruel, but if I had a rat problem, I might consider it. I hate the buggers. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Mudlark Date: 09 Jan 03 - 04:12 PM After one too many sleepless nights I wrote this... Mouse Madness Lights out, the house goes quiet Now is the time for the mice to run riot! A rattle in the kitchen A skitter in the trash Now scrabbling in the dogfood bag Now from the stove a crash The race around the baseboards They scramble up the wall Like hyperactive chuldren They've no restraint at all Sleep vanishes as I lay in bed Listening to their ploys How can such tiny creatures Produce so damn much noise? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: My guru always said Date: 09 Jan 03 - 04:12 PM I've never been sure whether this guy was kidding me when he explained how the City Pest Controllers get rid of their Sewer Rats, but here goes: They paint boards with that glue stuff (mentioned previously) and lay them on the rat runs in the sewers. The Pest Controllers always wear Heavy Duty Wellington Boots & have strings tied round the legs of their boilersuits. If you're a touch queasy, stop reading now: Well, they go & check the boards for the next few days & anything that's stuck to the boards, they stamp on them. No chance of suffocation for these rats! Sounded quite possible at the time & very cost-effective for the struggling London Borough Councils! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Help! Mice! Any Humane Suggestions? From: Mudlark Date: 09 Jan 03 - 04:23 PM Anybody who has accidently trodden heavily on a glue trap will find that hard to believe! |