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BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques?
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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 |
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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 |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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! |
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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. |
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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. |
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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) |
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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." |
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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- |
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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 |
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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. |
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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.... |
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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. |
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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.) |
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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. |
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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 |
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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. |
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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". |
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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, |
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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. |
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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! |
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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. |
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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 |
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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 |
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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. |
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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 |
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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. |
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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..... |
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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. |
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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 |
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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) |
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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 |
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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 |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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 |
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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... |
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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 |
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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. |
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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 |
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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 |
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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- |
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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... |
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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. |
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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 |
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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 |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Roger the Skiffler Date: 18 Nov 04 - 09:40 AM Feed 'em to the feral cats. RtS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Terry Allan Hall Date: 18 Nov 04 - 09:51 AM We deal with mice by giving them to Barnabas, my son's Royal python (Python regius, to those who care about such details)...Cycle of Life, ya know? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Nov 04 - 11:44 AM Pythons are a source of salmonella if their cages aren't kept very clean. There is danger everywhere. . . SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: GUEST,Anne Croucher Date: 18 Nov 04 - 09:19 PM I really hate to kill anything - but I have had to admit that mice are so destructive in a house that it has to be done. I have three metal 'snap' traps, and bait them with pieces of 'Twix' bars held on with fine wire. It is biscuit with a layer of caramel and outer coating of chocolate. It is very effective in attracting them and you can tell if there are any left alive - if the bait is gone there is a mouse left. They don't mind dragging it out of the corpse's mouth The killing bar usually hits them in the hind brain and they are dead in a couple of seconds - though I think the shock of the impact kills them and the movement - usually flipping the whole trap over, is just a muscle spasm as the spine is shattered. The cheap wooden base ones are not as effective, I found. These metal ones have a trigger which can be set right on the edge so a touch will release it, and a strong spring. I would never use poison - I like to think that they never have time to be alarmed, and they usually die with a chunk of chocolate and caramel in their mouth. One of my neighbours has a lot of cats and putting the mice outside would not be kind. The cats sit in my garden as there are a lot of wild birds in it, they live in hope of catching things to eat, but first they play with it. The traps are kinder. Anne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Cluin Date: 18 Nov 04 - 10:01 PM Ever seen one caught in a snaptrap by the nose? They flip around for a while, but I think they finally suffocate. And I use peanut butter for bait. They love the smell and spend some time there licking it off the trigger. Always works better than a hunk of something solid that dries up and falls off. Bacon fat is good too as well as lard or rancid butter. My uncle used to swear by lemon jellybeans though... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Mark Cohen Date: 18 Nov 04 - 11:55 PM Cats are good, but it's important to get the right cat. Aloha, Mark (This is now officially a music thread.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Cluin Date: 19 Nov 04 - 12:05 AM Or else this one oughta scare the mice off. Yep, more music.... kinda. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 19 Nov 04 - 12:19 AM Love those Kliban cats! I found an old cartoon book recently and sat with the kids and read through it. What a riot! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: GUEST,bbc at work Date: 19 Nov 04 - 11:30 AM Still no mouse since my last transport. Wonder if I'm got them or they're just taking longer to find their way back? bbc |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: JennyO Date: 20 Nov 04 - 08:34 AM Aw, they probably just missed their bus and are on their way back to you even as we speak....... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: bbc Date: 20 Nov 04 - 08:58 AM Could be. So far, still haven't arrived. bbc |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Cluin Date: 20 Nov 04 - 10:49 AM Hire a hit cat to meet their bus. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: PoppaGator Date: 20 Nov 04 - 07:22 PM Haven't checked in here for a couple days. Glad some of you liked my rat-in-toilet story. The death struggle was indeed gruesome -- right after I had hit "Submit," I realized that I hadn't included any description of the little claws clicking against porcelain as the rat successfully paddled against the flow of the flush. (That was before I realized that flushing alone wouldn't do the trick, and that I'd have to hold it under with the plunger first and then flush the corpse.) The Kliban cat bit was pretty cute, but that next one was SCARY! Funny that both cat animations featured slide guitar, of sorts. Felines are apparently into hard-core blues -- who knew? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Gurney Date: 20 Nov 04 - 08:11 PM Poppagator, we had a rat come up through our toilet, too. This one was quite large and managed to get out of the pan, and straight into the 'fire' of our three cats. S/he couldn't get back into the pan, but the cats weren't game to tackle it, so they bailed it up until I got there. I killed it with a brush. That's when the term 'fights like a cornered rat' was brought home to me. A 'Vermin Operative' told me later that it is fairly common for rats to come up through your toilet. They have no trouble in climbing pipes and swimming the U-trap, and some sewer-rats seem to specialise in the technique as a means of gaining entry into houses, until they get caught. Nice thought, just when you are peacefully contemplating nature, isn't it. Every time you put something edible through the Wastemaster, you are feeding sewer-rats. "Hey, guys, let's go and see where all this good stuff is coming from!" |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: bbc Date: 20 Nov 04 - 09:21 PM Yuck! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Cluin Date: 22 Nov 04 - 11:26 PM Thanks for the nightmare fodder, Gurney. With my riggin' dangling free over the pan, I doubt I'll be able to relax enough to poop next time. Well, here I go... wish me luck. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: GUEST,bbc at work Date: 23 Nov 04 - 11:30 AM Well, I think I'm safe; I have a septic system, rather than sewer. bbc |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 23 Nov 04 - 12:14 PM It is deffinately the year of the rat.
Caught five small rats in spring/peanutbutter traps in two days. Unfortunately, also caught four sparrows - two simultaneiously.
Using six traps. Beginning to consider poison, also.
This year's rat horde appear to be attracted by the 'premium National Geographic approved - no waste bird seed - and the heads of last year's sun-flowers.
Sincerely, Gargoyle |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: PoppaGator Date: 23 Nov 04 - 05:57 PM Gurney, that must have been a big strong sucker if he could climb all the way up out of your terlet. Or, maybe British porcelain isn't as slippery and shiny as what American sewer rats have to deal with. Cluin, everything come out all right? You could always emulate the constipated mathematician and work it out with a pencil... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Cluin Date: 23 Nov 04 - 06:33 PM Yes, Poppa. It was glorious!... A poop to be proud of; a veritable work of fart; a magnum opus of offal; a formidable flourish in fecal form; in short, a commodious composition for the connoisseur of caca. Thanks for asking. Perhaps the rats in the sewers are worshipping it as we type. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: PoppaGator Date: 23 Nov 04 - 06:39 PM VERY nice, indeed! That's the kind of thing we need more of around here -- true creativity! (You kiss your mother with that mouth?) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Cluin Date: 23 Nov 04 - 06:43 PM well, you asked... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: bbc Date: 24 Nov 04 - 12:58 PM Well, I am still mouse-free. Happy Thanksgiving to all U.S. folks. best, bbc Wow, gargoyle. Good rat harvest! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 25 Nov 04 - 07:28 AM Rentokill have new humane rodent killers, they are an electronic box, with a tunnel in it, mouse runs into tunnel, is detected by electronis in box, box snaps shut, and mouse is gassed by Co2, dies instantly and painlessy. amazing piece of kit, very cleverley desigend, the local Rentokil bloke demonstrated them to me a couple of weeks ago, not sure if they are available to the general public to buy, but worth checking. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Murray MacLeod Date: 25 Nov 04 - 04:46 PM Not once in this thread has anybody suggested taking precautions to prevent the little buggers getting into your house in the first place. I had to take steps to eliminate the ingress of mice in every house I occupied in the States, and it didn't leave me with a very high opinion of the general standard of house-building in the US. The most effective way to prevent them from coming in in the first place is to make a mixture of bonding plaster and finely crushed broken glass, and trowel it into any gaps which are visible around pipes, electrical conduits etc. This is particularly necessary in bathrooms and kitchens. It is fiddly and time-consuming, but it does work. Other steps which can be taken include fixing mouldings between skirtings (US baseboards) and floorboards, if necessary. Basically, just observe where they are getting in, and take steps to prevent their entry. K I S S. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: bbc Date: 25 Nov 04 - 10:29 PM I had been advised to stuff steel wool into the areas around pipes & had done so. Plaster & broken glass sure sounds more durable. Thanks for the suggestion, Murray! bbc |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 28 Nov 04 - 10:25 PM I feel like the pied-piper-of-Hamlin.
In less that a week...twelve more of the blighters are dead!!
"Secret Weapon....not the peper-mint oil mentioned by my lover-de-Saxon-Gatita......but:
Tonight's traps were not even fully set - and the critters came, and came and came.
Catching only six inch rascals - the breeding pair have not appeared.
Sincerely, |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 29 Nov 04 - 11:56 AM I reckon a good thing about catching them alive, is that you could sell them to the mouse shop, or give them to kids as pets, for presents ie xmas and birthdays, save you buying stuff. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 29 Nov 04 - 12:00 PM or sell them to sientists to do experiments on. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Cluin Date: 29 Nov 04 - 12:20 PM Or to amateur herpatologists. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 29 Nov 04 - 01:31 PM yum! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: MAG Date: 29 Nov 04 - 06:21 PM I like the plastic trap kind where you do not have to touch the dead critter. My last kitty is 17 and half-blind so she is relieved of mouse duty -- she sure does notice when I head out to the trash with one dangling from a trap, however. I picked up some steel wool today; too late for this year but I plan to be in my house awhile yet. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 30 Nov 04 - 07:17 AM While blocking up tiny holes to keep vermin out - if you do a thorough job, it helps keep out the cockies too. You can get foam door and window seal tape and a brush like thing you attach to the bottom of the door too. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Cluin Date: 30 Nov 04 - 08:46 AM ...if you do a thorough job, it helps keep out the cockies too You've got a problem with mice getting in THERE? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: MMario Date: 30 Nov 04 - 08:48 AM Have you tried just unplugging it from the computer? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: MAG Date: 30 Nov 04 - 11:02 AM No cockroaches here, thank goodness. I lived with them long enough in Chi-town to get a bad case of heebie-jeebies from them. And then Miami, where they were 3 inches long and flew. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: GUEST,bbc at work Date: 30 Nov 04 - 11:22 AM Leo, you're silly! I *love* my computer mouse (It has that pretty red light on its bottom)! bbc |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 30 Nov 04 - 07:37 PM Eliminate Mice! Use a Trackball! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: bbc Date: 30 Nov 04 - 09:27 PM Trackball--bah, humbug! (Like laser mouse!) bbc |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 01 Jan 05 - 08:27 PM Spring - when the fruits are flush - always problems....with rats.
HOWEVER, Never, has there been a year like the one just past.....WELL Over 20 carcuses in the month of December alone!
Moving on to poison, after the current catch of "five-frolicksom" (hopefully, not females) above the headboard's of the bed last night. The first returned about 3:00 a.m. and the last before day-break.....One rotting dead, decaying carcus in the dry walls I can stand....five??????
Tonight's traps are baited with...P-butter/vanilla, and Ham-rind, and chocolate.....(yes, chocolate is for mice....but these babies could be mistaken for the latter on steroids.)
Sincerely, |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: GUEST,Anne Croucher Date: 01 Jan 05 - 08:51 PM Carbon Dioxide is not poisonous, it just does not suport life - the poor beasties suffocate. Cruel Rentokill!! I still advocate the hair trigger metal snap trap. Baited with a chunk of Twix bar wired in place one trap has been known to get seven or eight mice in one evening. They can be washed off, unlike the wooden ones which absorb bloodstains. For the last few months we have not seen any mice, but a neighbour reported seeing a rat in their garden, so maybe they have eaten the mice. I just hope there is nowhere the rats can get into the house. Anne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 01 Jan 05 - 09:22 PM Ms. Croucher, Do you have a source for the hair trigger metal snap trap? I like the carbon-dioxyde idea......but I fear the little minions-of-satin will sckeaddle once the bathroom-drawer is opened and the fire-extinguisher is exueeded into their faces.
I will buy a Twixt Bar and give it a try.
Good Hunting, |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 01 Jan 05 - 09:59 PM Co2 is far more humane than poison, they die almost instantly. poison can take days to work. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: GUEST,Terry K Date: 02 Jan 05 - 03:33 AM I'm for the humane mousetraps, baited with rice krispies they work a treat. Then you take them more than half a mile away and gently release them into their new habitat. Of course, to prevent them finding their way back, it's best if you pull their legs off before you release them. cheeers, Terry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 02 Jan 05 - 11:46 AM To stop them finding their way back, you should confiscate their maps. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: RangerSteve Date: 02 Jan 05 - 02:24 PM I had six packs of Ramen noodles in a kitchen drawer. I went to get one, only to find that all six were empty, with little holes eaten away to tell me that a mouse had gotten to them. When winter came, and dumped 2 feet of snow on us, I got out my old firefighter boots to go out and shovel. I stepped into one, felt something strange, and found that it was 6 packs worth of Ramen noodles, stored in my boots. I then bought some poison - little blue pellets of something that, in a perfect world, the mice eat, then get really thirsty and leave the house looking for a source of water, and dehydrate outside of your house. The poison dissappeared, but not the mice. The following summer I was packing to move and was checking my winter coat pockets for any spare change that I might have left in them, only to find the poison pellets. They were also stored in a badger-fur hat hanging on a coat rack. My new house came with a cat, who killed mice for a while, but now is too lazy. SHe just plays with them. I don't let her in my bedroom, as I'm slightly allergic to her. The mice discovered this, and moved into my bedroom. One winter I caught eleven of them. The 12th one got in my laundry bag and was later washed to death. One night one of them ran over my face while I was half asleep. Last night I was getting ready to go play a gig, and as I was putting on my cowboy boots, I heard a rattle in one. I looked inside and found Purina Cat Chow. The mouse is actually taking it from my cat's dish and carrying it upstairs to the opposite end of the house and storing it in my boots. There have to be places in between the kitchen and my bedroom to store that stuff. Clearly, the mice are spiting me. What I'm getting at here is: the heck with humane methods. Kill them. They clearly are intelligent beings and nothing short of death is going to stop them from tormenting you. Steve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Leadfingers Date: 02 Jan 05 - 02:40 PM Mice are NOTHING ! When I was a lad we lived in a town with a LOT Of furniture industry , hence LOTS of stacks of wood seasoning , making an ideal home for Eight Legged beasties . In the Autumn , the Provo Arm of the British House Spider Movement would spread the word that those houses would be more comfortable for the cold weather . The out come of this would be my Mother having Hysterics in the hall while a spider with a leg diameter of three inches or so was sat on the stairs daring her to go to bed ! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: bbc Date: 02 Jan 05 - 06:53 PM Just for the record, I've been mouse-free for some weeks now. I bait my hav-a-heart trap w/ peanut butter & put it in the cabinet under my kitchen sink. After the initial mice--3 days in a row--I've just had one recurrence. I drove him (her?) to a scenic overlook on the way to work & dumped him (her?) gently down the recline into the sub-freezing weather. No new visitors. I was a little confused recently, however, to see a healthy-looking mouse corpse in the flower bed behind my house. I've kind of hoped something would eat it/drag it away. So far, no luck, just mousesicle. My sister, who continues to release the beasties out the back door continues to have mice. Duh. bbc |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: wysiwyg Date: 02 Jan 05 - 07:00 PM ...a healthy-looking mouse corpse in the flower bed behind my house... I'd bet it was sick/died of old age/froze to death, and that you don't have anything on the property desperate enough to risk taking a bite-- it might have an odor of sickness repelling scavengers. Eventually the bugs will eat it, or it will turn to mush and be washed into the ground leaving a nice tiny skeleton you can display as a trophy of your mouse hunt! :~). A little glass cheese-dome-display case might make an interesting knick-knack! ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: bbc Date: 02 Jan 05 - 10:02 PM Susan, remind me to not come to your house for appetizers. :) I prefer cheese in my cheese dome, thank you very much! Barbara |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Jeri Date: 02 Jan 05 - 10:35 PM Regarding the rats of gargoyle, "above the headboard's of the bed last night" - flying? hovering? coming down from the ceiling on those wire things like jewel thieves use in movies? I don't know. If I had rats in here, might have to find me one o' them assault rifle things. After the three mice mentioned above, I've had no more. I think they look for a place to hole up for the winter, and past a certain outdoor temperature, they've found it or they're frozen. I've had the bulk of my mouse allotment until spring, I think. I posted this somewhere else, but a while ago, I'd had this plastic bag with pistachios. I looked for it one day, and it was empty. Alright, I ate them and didn't remember eating them. Some time after that, I picked up my dulcimer. It rattled. I shook out what was probably a half pound of nuts. Susan, you can dump the corpses in a jar of undiluted chlorine bleach. Works a lot faster. You can make little mouse skeleton puppets for halloween. (Martha Stewart's not around, or she might have come up with that...in a nightmare, maybe.) Oh gosh - check out the Google ads! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: GUEST,Doplegager Date: 16 Jan 05 - 02:53 AM I've managed to catch four of the bastards this afternoon. Not too far from my computer is an open box of saltines, with about half a package left inside of it. The mice make a lot of noise getting through the plastic, and the box is long and smooth enough that I've been able to turn it up-right and close it before they've been able to get out. Right now, the four of them are running into the walls of an old cooler that I haven't used in years. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. If I caught the infestation early enough, and don't find very many more, I might take them to the country. If there are many more, I'm going to kill them mercilessly and place their heads on spikes as a warning to the others... The house next door had some mice problems awhile ago. I'm guessing that mine were refugees. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: bbc Date: 16 Jan 05 - 08:48 PM Bummer, Doplegager! RIP, little mousies, unless you take the warning & flee! best, bbc |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Gurney Date: 17 Jan 05 - 05:04 AM When blocking vermin access, make sure you don't also block egress! I did that very successfully for one of my cutomers, and contained 2 trapshy rats in their house. It was four days, they told me, and four VERY long nights, before they starved enough to finally have to take the bait. They were using a hedge to give them access to the roofspace. The garden was full of uncollected ripe fruit, and in that salubrious part of town, every house has a wastemaster. To explain the plumbing route, the kitchen waste goes into the toilet waste just outside the house. As far as rats are concerned, it's a good way in. If you find your drain grille displaced, Ratty did it. If you do the man thing and leave the pan lid up and find unexplained water on the toilet floor, you've had a visitor. I don't think they can cope with a lid-down toilet, but I don't think I would put money on a modern lightweight lid. You'd know, though, because, they wouldn't be able to get back out again. I think. Rats are athletic and smart. They can climb a 6inch vertical plastic pipe by using 'chimney' technique, they can jump a couple of feet, and they can climb VERY well. They are also smart and strong enough to use a cat-door, and some have been known to back a nervous cat down. A full-grown rat is an impressive animal. and it takes a terrier to tackle one. To 'tune' snap traps, make sure there is no 'wire edge' or other tiny snags on the part that holds the killing stirrup down, just where it passes under the trigger/baitholder. You can also lubricate it with cooking oil, but some oils go sticky after a while, so you have to keep reoiling. When loaded, they work most humanely when they're placed in a recess so that the bait is the most accessible part. This makes them pull the best way. This should qualify me for jOhn's 'talk too much' thread. Thinking of jOhn's post above, I wonder if Rentokil do a morris-dancer trap? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 17 Jan 05 - 05:19 AM Rats are evil bastards, they will eat anything, [electric cable, phone wires etc], take a shotgun to them! If your'e in the UK, local councils will get rid of rats in domestic properties for free, as they are a health hazard. Do not put waste oil or fat down the drain, as it encourages rats. Rentokil use bait for rats, and they use tunnel type trap boxes. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 17 Jan 05 - 05:26 AM Anyway=Co2 is widely considered to be the most humane method of killing, it is quick and completely painless. Most pigs slaughtered in the UK are now gassed using Co2. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: M.Ted Date: 18 Jan 05 - 12:09 PM Don't forget to rodent proof your home! Most rodents enter through gaps under doors and around windows--They'll keep coming back unless you cover them --and you need to use metal----Also, get rid of leaves and weeds around the foundation, and the stack of firewood leaning against the house--Often, the local health department has an inspector who will come out and tell you what you need to take care of-- |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: GUEST,bbc at work Date: 19 Jan 05 - 11:34 AM I've been mouse-free for sometime now, even w/ very cold temps. Yay! bbc |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: bbc Date: 23 Jan 05 - 05:52 PM Word from my mom is that my (non-violent) sister in Maine finally decided she needed to take a stronger approach to her mouse problem when she saw her cats stalking them in the kitchen & discovered that they'd done a lot of food damage. Remember, she was the one who simply caught them & dumped them out her back door? I tried to tell her, weeks ago. best, bbc |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Maryrrf Date: 23 Feb 05 - 09:09 AM Refreshing this thread to see if anyone has any new ideas. I noticed a few signs of mouse infestation about three months ago when the weather got cold, and hoped it wouldn't get too bad and that maybe when the weather warmed up they'd leave (wishful thinking, I know). It has gotten worse, and yesterday I found they'd gotten into a cabinet where some food was kept, chewed open a few packages of noodles and shredded some napkins and paper bags like they were making a nest. I used poison years ago and it was effective, but I hate to do that, both because of the agonizing death and the fact that they die in walls and smell. Right now I think I'll get some snap traps in the hope that they'll die quickly, unless anybody has discovered anything better that is humane and effective. Anybody have useful information to add on the subject of getting rid of mice? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: GUEST,bbc at work Date: 23 Feb 05 - 11:19 AM I'm still quite happy w/ my Hav-a-Heart trap in the cabinet under my kitchen sink. I keep it baited w/ peanut butter (keeps well & the mice like it). I'm going several weeks between mice & don't see sign of them elsewhere in the house. When I catch one, I drive it a few miles from home & dump it. So far, so good. Best of luck, Barbara |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Genie Date: 04 Jul 09 - 11:10 PM As for blocking the rodents' ingress to the house, I'm afraid my current (exploding) mouse population may have made their way in via my cat, Grisabella. I can't be sure, but I've lived in the same house for 29 years now, and I never had mice until about 18-24 months ago. I've had at least one cat, sometimes a couple, since about 6 months after I moved in, but even though my house originally had large holes in the basement foundation, I didn't have mice during that first 5 months. Later, even when the only cats I had were old and rather feeble, still no mice. But although Grisabella, who is now about 11, used to catch and eat mice and still chases them, I've had a mouse problem for over a year. I think maybe she brought me a live "present" a year or two ago, from outside, and it got away while she was playing with it, then proceeded to make more. Thanks for warning me about the mice eating stuff like wiring. I have also had some trouble with some of the older wiring in my house in the past year or so, and it's possible the critters are to blame. I've discovered that they've not only eaten just about everything in my pantry that they could get to (jerky, cereal, pasta, packages of almonds, boxes of wine) but they've also chewed up lots of papers to make nests. I may have to resort to the snap traps, but I have to make sure the cat can't get to them and that they're somewhere where I won't accidentally set them off with my fingers, having forgotten they were there. I also won't use poison, for several reasons, not the least of which is not wanting mice dying inside my walls. I'll try the makeshift coffee-can method and may buy a couple of the commercially available "humane mousetraps" such as: Greenfeet Smart Mouse Trap Mice Cube Kness Tip-Trap 109-0-006 Live Capture Mouse Trap Mouse Ketch-all I'll get back to you if I have success. Genie |
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Subject: RE: BS: Non-violent anti-mouse techniques? From: Gurney Date: 05 Jul 09 - 01:49 AM Here's a trap idea from a book. I've never tried it. Stretch and fix/tape something like brown paper over a bucket/pail. Cut a cross slit in the middle of the paper. Put bait on one of the points of the slit, and some sort of access for your victim to get onto the paper. If you feel particularly irritated, you could put 4" of water in the bucket. Alternatively, arrange a see-saw/teeter-totter over the bucket. One that can't be used as a ladder to climb out again. |
