MICE!

[KONASDAD]

Well we seem to have a bumper crop of mice this year. Would expalin the fat red fox visiting my yard. W/ the change in temp and the rain, they came into the house. I have gotten 16 in the last 40 hrs or so. My wife says she (in her entire life) has never had a mouse in her house. I didn't believe her. I even called her father(84y.o.). He said they never had a mouse ever. HUH! Has anyone out there never had a mouse in their house?

So the thought occured to me, I bet you guys and gals have lots of Rules on how to catch mice. I do.


1. Must use trap w/ metal bait pedal. Plastic is too trigger happy and you get tripped traps w/ no mouse and they are too difficult to place  into tight spaces w/o tripping them. Keepfingers way from these. Dont even buy 'em. Won't use poisons or sticky traps either as first is too indiscriminate and the latter just cruel. As for catching them alive. WHY? Unless you have a snake or mouse eating lizard, which at the moment I don't.
2. Must use very stinky type of meat. I like stinky Italian salami, pepperoni or lox. Yes lox, the best. Oily and stinky and it can be wedged into the bait petal. I never miss a mouse if you really wedge the bait into the petal. These meats can all be wedged in nicely and as they dry it sticks even tighter to the petal.
3. Never use traps a second time if they killed. The mice smell the fear and death on a used trap if it killed before and avoid it.
4. Place them right where they have left their trail of feces or whatever they have gotten into.
5 Repeat as needed

[asprince]

Hummmm. I haven't seen a mouse in awhile. They usually find there way in when it starts getting cold outside. One year, they clear cut the woods behind my house. We could not catch them fast enough.
I bait the traps with peanut butter. I have no problem reusing the traps after repeated kills. They will finish off the bait with a dead soldier in the trap. I do not like to use the stick pads, don't like to see them suffer. I will use a little poison (with extreme care due to pets) under the house as a first line defense.

Steve

[Scadsobees]

We don't have too much problem with mice, except when I didn't get the mouse guards on the hives soon enough  :roll:

Shrews on the other hand move in as soon as it starts getting chilly out.  They don't harm too much, but I'd rather not have them around.  Only meat protein works on traps then.

Otherwise, dried cheese or dried peanut butter wedged in the trigger is best for me, they can't just lick it out.  And I use a trap until it don't work anymore....the peanut butter is too big a temptation!!

Rick

[Robo]

I've noticed an up tick in mice this year as well,  surely not as bad as you have though :-D

I think my rules disagree with yours too :-\  And here we thought beekeeping was the cause for different opinions.

1. Must use trap w/ metal bait pedal. Plastic is too trigger happy and you get tripped traps w/ no mouse and they are too difficult to place  into tight spaces w/o tripping them. Keepfingers way from these. Dont even buy 'em. Won't use poisons or sticky traps either as first is too indiscriminate and the latter just cruel. As for catching them alive. WHY? Unless you have a snake or mouse eating lizard, which at the moment I don't.

I agree with the poisons and sticky traps,  but I'm a plastic trap guy.  No blood or mess to deal with and you don't have to worry about your fingers ;).  Yes there are some brands that are better than others,  but I have learned to use them with consistent results.

2. Must use very stinky type of meat. I like stinky Italian salami, pepperoni or lox. Yes lox, the best. Oily and stinky and it can be wedged into the bait petal. I never miss a mouse if you really wedge the bait into the petal. These meats can all be wedged in nicely and as they dry it sticks even tighter to the petal.

I use to use peanut butter,  but hated dealing with it after it turned into moldy concrete.  Then I used just plain flour with good results, but did get the occasional trip without a catch.   Now I have switched to marshmallows.  With a little force they stick to the trap well and don't get moldy when they dry out.  Clean up is 2nd only to catching in my book.
 

3. Never use traps a second time if they killed. The mice smell the fear and death on a used trap if it killed before and avoid it.

I've not noticed that.   I have some traps that have caught over 20 mice.  In fact I have caught mice with the same trap less than an hour apart.   Catching mice can turn into an expensive proposition at the rate you seem to be catching them if you don't reuse traps.

4. Place them right where they have left their trail of feces or whatever they have gotten into.

Sounds good to me. 

5 Repeat as needed

That is where I get lazy and went for the self resetting trap.
http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/2007/09/10/better-mouse-trap/

[randydrivesabus]

meow.

[reinbeau]

meow.

Exactly what I was thinking.  For awhile I had no cats here, and the mice were making a comeback.  Not anymore!  Two little boyos take care of them for us now (and they'd love to 'play' with the birdies, too, but they're indoors only)!

[randydrivesabus]

my cats go outside and the only mice we've seen in our house since we've had cats are the ones they bring in.

[Robo]

I get tired of cleaning up the heads and guts that the cat leaves by the back door.  Emptying the bucket is much easier :-P

[Shawn]

A couple of years ago I had a mouse infestation in my shed I was keeping my taxidermy supplies and dog food inside the shed. The day I went to clean it out mydogs and I killed about 34 mice from the shed and some got away. I have had a few sneak into the house and got thrown out into the trash. I like to use the old style wod and metal mouse traps using peanut butter on top of a little piece of bread.

[Brian D. Bray]

This year the mice have exploded around my place.  I can't keep ahead of them with the live trap (wife's wishes--ther're so cute) since they learn how not to trip the trap after a few have been caught and then they just steal the bait. 

I've been forced to go to a multi-pronged approach on rodent control.  Baited traps (live & dead fall), poisoned bait (roll it down the rat holes), and I'm even trying one of the sonic noise and vibration generators in an attempt to keep the critters under control.  I've successfully chased them out of the chicken pen, etc, but they now live in burrows along the creek and sneak back and steal food from the animals and poultry. 

I also keep a pellet gun handy for those few that brave the open ground on occassion.

Any other ideas?

[Angi_H]

Get a cat for inside. We get a mouse here and ther eand our cat gets them right away he dosnt eat them just takes them into the bathroom and into the bath tub and plays with it till it is dead.  As far as outside near the chickens Get Runner Ducks or Mascoveys They love mice and lizzards. They go wild over them and they will swallow them whole. A cat out there also works well. Our chickens will also go after mice. We actually had a rat in our garage and can hear them sometimes up in the attic. As we have a corn and wheat field right next to us and as soon as they disk it is the over run time in the garage and house. I use the live traps with some chicken feed in there catches them every time. I then empty them into a 5 gal bucket wack them in the head and toss them in with the ducks. They are all over them and playing tug of war just to get them.

Mice are bad every where this year. They come in droves. I dont believe in poisions because it goes back into our enviroment.

Angi

[Brian D. Bray]

I have 2 indoor cats.  I had an outside cat until the rats got it--dead cat.  Gang warfare by the mice.  The rats are terrible.  I guess I could bite the bullet and get a couple of outside cats.

[KONASDAD]

well the deluge continues w/ the mice. Seven more. Cant have a cat, Kona wouldn't approve and wife is allergic. My zoning doesn't permit chickens and the like. Boy, I would love to have a few chickens. Eggs were $1.99 a dozen yesterday at the market. And they eat all types of creepy crawlies I prefer not to have in yard(ticks!). Maybe I could put out a few quail or turkey to just roam and I would broadcast soem feed. They wouldn't be able to blame me, as they theoretically could have come from the wild. Particularly turkeys. They have made a huge comeback around here. See them regularly now.

[Misko]

I just hate those litle bastards!!!!!!!!! They made hole in cealing in my room  :-x We got three cats but they just lie around in the house :-D BTW i hate them to  :-D.

[Hopeful]

Tons of mice finding their way into the house? Brace yourself for a hard winter.

[Kathyp]

Angi_H, i have a son in Lemoore.

i like robos' mouse trap.  i have a bucket in the well house that mice fall into sometimes.  never thought to make a trap out of it.  brilliant!!

[Brian D. Bray]

Robo,

I printed off a copy of the directions for your self-resetting mouse trap.  I plan to make several.  I think the empty feeder cans that came with the packaged bees aught to make great rollers. 

Tnx; Brian

[Angi_H]

Very cool is he stationed At Lemoore Navel Air Base? If he belongs to the Hanford Freecycle or the Kings County Buy Sale Trade or the Kings county Food Share group I am the owner of those groups.  It is a small world after all.

Angi_H, i have a son in Lemoore.

[Kathyp]

he is at the base.  looks like he's going to leave soon.  i think he has decided to leave the military and finish school, etc.  as far as i know, he does not belong to any of those groups.  his wife might be familiar with them.  she in more involved in the community  :-)

[Cindi]

Kathy, I have to ask this question, as I know nothing of what is going on with your Son.  Has he had to go to war and fight?  If so, I bet you are grateful that he may be going back to school now and that his life may be safer?  Please elaborate.  Have a wonderful and beautiful day, love our life we're livin'.  Cindi