Mice Infestation

S

Shann

Joined
Sep 2, 2004
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We have a mice "infestation" (not like Willard, just a lot of mice poop in the cupboards). I'm going to plug up some holes with steel wool and get some traps, what works well to get rid of mice. My wife doesn't like the D-con type poisons, because they go off and die and stink, while I'm not a big fan o the glue ones, seems unnecessarily cruel to not kill them quick. I don't really care much, though, I'm open to all suggestions.

Thanks

(We've got a cat, but she's not a micer, and I'm not getting another one.)
 
They've gotta be good for something other than stinkin' up the place. I know a guy that loves having skunks around his cabin. It seems they are quite the mousers and he doesn't mind the skunk smell in exchange for them solving his vermin problem. Maybe a pet skunk will drive your wife's cat out?
 
Wow...been there and done that. We had an old farmhouse for about 7 years. The mice ran wild. Rats too in the barn. The rats I'd bait with dog food, and then snipe them with a scoped .22. A modern spring piston air rifle would have been safer though. :eek:

I didn't like the glue traps for mice either. Finally just settled on the plain old-fashioned spring traps baited with peanut butter. We'd settle down in bed and sure enough, you'd start hearing traps go off in the dark.

Somebody makes a "humane" trap that you bait. Problem is...you've got to take them out and let them loose periodically. I'd rather not bother with that, but it is an option if someone at home is squeamish about killing them.

Jeff
 
Mice rats and bats are the price of country living. In the house the best thing I ever had was a ferrett. Don't know if you've ever been around them but they have a slight scent. Within 3 months of moving into the house and the ferret running all over it there were zero mice. Predator smell.

Within six months of him dying they came back
 
I don't so much mind the killing of them, as the fact that the glue traps seem to be unnecessarily cruel because they just end up starving to death and are not killed quickly.
 
hollowdweller said:
Mice rats and bats are the price of country living. In the house the best thing I ever had was a ferrett. Don't know if you've ever been around them but they have a slight scent. Within 3 months of moving into the house and the ferret running all over it there were zero mice. Predator smell.

Within six months of him dying they came back
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A ferrett, slight smell? My sister has a couple, I think I'd rather live with the mice. :barf:
 
I'd use spring traps with peanut butter.
There's always mice in the country, but the worst I ever had was down and out in San Bernardino Ca. In a cardboard stucco shack I killed something like 20 in three days. Hated to do it, but they were getting into the insulation of the stove.




munk
 
Ok, gotta jump in as the lawyer for the ferret. If properly bathed, ferrets are not that bad. No worse than a stinking cat box, and ferret poop doesn't have the smell of dog poop. I have had a ferret for 4 years and he does a WONDERFUL job of keeping the mice away. When i lived in a ratty apartment (no pun intended, but still funny:D) EVERYONE had mice except for me. Not once did i ever hear, see, or find "presents" left by a mouse in that place. Also, a well trained ferret will be more loyal than a dog, quieter than a cat, and as playful as any puppy or kitten you'll ever find. He was the best investment I ever made. I love the crazy little weasle.
As far as traps go, if you don't want to release them and you don't want to torture them, then the old spring traps are best. They make a plasticy kind now that is designed for the squeemish that can't look at Mickey's tongue lolled out and bleeding. It snaps over the mouse's head so you can't see his widdle face. However, they are cruel IMHO. They don't don't have the SNAP--death of a wire spring trap. Instead they clamp over his head and colapse his windpipe. Who here would rather have their neck snapped and die instantly, or be sufficated and see the end coming? Yeah, i know. I'm a softy for Mickey. I don't mind killing him, but he deserves a quick death. I'd rather keep the status quo like I have at my house now. If no mice come in from the field and live in my house...they don't get ripped apart and eaten by the attack ferret. they live another mousey day, and i don't have to scrub guts out of the carpet.

Jake
 
Actually ours smell was barely noticable and much less intrusive than perfume or like you say a cat box, but the mice sure smelled it.
 
Skunks are hell on rodents.

My Mom's people included Fall River-based whalers, and one of them was known to take a couple of skunks aboard on each voyage. And they were "fully equipped" skunks.

An 80% white skunk used to visit my Troop at summer camp. He was well-behaved. The kids -- warned in advance -- didn't make a fuss, and "Whitey" just inspected for any goodies that had somehow dropped to the ground (including walking over your feet under the eating table), then went on his way calm as you please.

How about a "de-scented" skunk?
 
Lie to your wife.

Put out two traps where she can see them and poison the rest of the house with the anti-coagulant stuff.

Everydarnedlatefallorwinter the rodents launch an infiltration into the house.

I really resent buying rat bait. That money could go for frozen pizza.
 
Spring trap w/ peanut butter. Works fast, well, and is humane. Just don't use them if there's a hamster or pet rodent nearby who can escape and find one. I learned that the hard way.

Chris
 
When I was a kid my dog got a disease from drinking rat urine in a ditch or puddle and died a terrible death. It was my first dog, and the best I've ever had. I hate rats and mice and kill them on site with whatever means necessary. The vet said we all could have gotten that same disease from the dog once infected. If it was me I'd do all of the above. Trap, glue, poision, bait-n-shoot, etc. In college we cornered one, but couldn't reach it, so I shot it with a .22 right in the house. (I didn't have an air rifle and I thought a 3030 was a bit much.) My roomate made me put a condom over the barrel. He said he heard that would muffle the sound. No cops showed up, but I'm not sure how much affect the condom had.

Andy
 
aproy1101 said:
When I was a kid my dog got a disease from drinking rat urine in a ditch or puddle and died a terrible death. It was my first dog, and the best I've ever had. I hate rats and mice and kill them on site with whatever means necessary. The vet said we all could have gotten that same disease from the dog once infected. If it was me I'd do all of the above. Trap, glue, poision, bait-n-shoot, etc. In college we cornered one, but couldn't reach it, so I shot it with a .22 right in the house. (I didn't have an air rifle and I thought a 3030 was a bit much.) My roomate made me put a condom over the barrel. He said he heard that would muffle the sound. No cops showed up, but I'm not sure how much affect the condom had.

Andy
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Condom over the rifle barrel huh? Well, at least you were practicing "safe shooting" :D
 
Five gallon bucket of water three gallons of water in bucket float some peanut butter or something else on very small block of wood . Leave a plank of wood as ladder for mice to climb up and jump into bucket to get peanut butter . The rest is nautical history .
 
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