Mouse in the house

My cat can't catch mice after about 7:00 in the evening...

On a more serious note...don't use poison. Because then they crawl away and die somewhere inaccessible and the smell of decay is NOT pleasant!

Clem

You can't negotiate with a rat (or mouse), David. That's the problem we face.

I live in the woods. There are certain areas that the mice like, and I leave a trap there loaded with peanut butter all the time, including in the garage and shop. We have 2 indoor cats and 2 outdoor cats. The outdoor cats catch their share. I know this because they usually leave the back half of the mouse on the porch by the door. The indoor cats have caught one or two, but the trap in the bottom drawer catches more. I use the Victors traps, and I like the kind with the large yellow trigger paddle. They climb up on the paddle and ... whoops.

Poisons will kill your cat. Mouse eats poison, gets sick, easier to catch, cat catches mouse, eats mouse, bleeds to death. Or, as was mentioned, mouse crawls away and stinks of death for 6 months.

On the Yahoo turboesprit list, this came up recently. This was posted by Robert:

Working in the commercial automotive field for 25 years I have in countered this problem. I get mice in my cars but build the "plank" Take a five gallon bucket and fill it with water about 1/3 way up. Make a wooden walk way from the floor just over the edge of the pail. Drill a small hole in the top lip of the pail, take a coat hanger and bend it into a hole and fasten that side to the pail. Take the other end and place it "just" within reach but not too close to the plank with a "treat" They walk the plank looking for a treat but fall into the water and drown. Cats are lazy and cost money, spring traps are a pain to maintain but it's cheaper than feeding a cat and not as nasty {litter box} to clean up. Since the rats or mice drown in water they are safe for wild or family critters to eat after you throw them out. Robert

Oh yeah, if you saw one during the day, there's plenty of them around; they're usually night dritters. If you catch one in a trap, buy more traps, you will catch five.

Dan

Dr. Hess wrote: You can't negotiate with a rat (or mouse), David. That's the problem we face.

But my opponent wants to legitimize these rodents by meeting with them face to face without any pre-conditions for the meeting being met. I have met with one of these mice and looked into his eyes and...

It's true, most mice can fit through dime-sized holes. They can dislocated bones and joints at will. Pretty crazy.

And I second the cat idea. They're the best at it. Except when your retard cat goes to sniff the mouse and the mouse chomps down on the cat's nose, and your cat becomes deathly afraid of all mice. Ask my cat about that one.

Did I ever mention The Great Rat Kill of Christmas '98? Bruzer was getting old, but still on his game. Bruzer was about 3/4ths Rhodesian Ridgeback. I had a wood pile that was near the 47 Plymouth. The rats took over the Plymouth, so, time for war. I took apart that wood pile one piece at a time. I'd pull a piece off, a rat would jump out and run towards Bruzer, who'd kill it with one swift bite, then put it over in a pile and come back for another. I'd pull another piece off the pile and we'd start again. Some of them would jump up on the wood fence and run the top rail. Being in the city, I had to use a pellet pistol. Nailed one at about 30 ft at a full rat-gallop. Pretty good shootin', if I say so myself. When it was all over, Bruzer got 4, I got 3, Cheyenne (black Mouth Cur about 1.5 years old) got a piece of one (she was too young for killin' at the time) and Duke, who was about 3 months old just watched.

Dr. Hess wrote: You can't negotiate with a rat....

Nonsense. About half the time I'm working a patent license or sale there's a rat on the other side.

There may be others who would say the same about me.

"You dirty rat..."

Snakes make great mice killers. My grandpa had a big chicken snake in the barn to kill mice and rats. Of course then you have to have a snake in your house.

I've always used D-Con.

use a human cat?....

Have you tried whacking it with a catalytic converter?

maybe catapulting it?

We had some constuction nearby that displaced a whole lot of mice.

I set Victor traps, usually 4 or 5 at a time, wtih cheese, peanut butter and salami. I caught far more mice with the Salami. Lot's of traps work quickly, as mice don't seem to realize that their buddies, alrady caught, are not just napping after a big meal.

Yeah, it can be a tad gross. I ended up putting the traps on a piece of Luan plywood (cheap, thin and disposable) and would sometime toss the whole trap out too, but after a few weeks of "snap"; we were done with the infestation.

Jack

Jack wrote: Lot's of traps work quickly, as mice don't seem to realize that their buddies, alrady caught, are not just napping after a big meal.

It's far worse than that:

http://carlnet.no-ip.org/dead-mouse-hump.jpg

Our cat brings in mice, lets them go, and walks away. Stupid Cat!

We found a dead mouse in the Scirocco today, so perhaps you should get one of those!

I have been fighting the mice lately too. The dam things were crawling into my wifes car and leaving her "presents" on her seat and in the cup holders.

I tried using the glue traps and although they have caught several mice I am not terribly impressed. After a while the mouse can get get loose.

The first one I caught had gotten his body totally out of the trap. only his tail was stuck to it which prevented him from exiting the car but not before he managed to drag the dumb trap all across the car leaving a trail of the glue everywhere he went.

Needless to say I took particular pleasure in smashing his ass.

I used glue traps... purely because they where cheap, disposable, and i had a pet and rug rats running around...

we caught about 5 of em in a month or so (mommy had babies)... we baited them with dog food... seems at night while i was watching TV they would sneak out and eat the dogs food... right in front of me (big room, living room one one end dinning room on other) i chased them a few times... ended up just over time seeing where they ran to and from and put traps near those locations (hole in the wall for stoves gas line, in the cabinets and such...

you hear it when they get caught as they tend to squeal.. get to em early and you can make sure they are out of the house...

GOT ONE!

I looked this morning behind the stove, and the trap was loaded! One dead mouse. I put on some gloves and grabbed a plastic shopping bag and threw out the entire trap. I then pulled out another trap and set up the area again. We'll see...

I have found that sometimes they are able to lick the peanut butter off the trigger without setting off the trap. Now I modify the traps so that they have such a hair trigger that they are difficult to set down once loaded. I also mix a little birdseed with the peanut butter so they have to work a little harder to get it away from the trigger.

jrw1621 wrote: GOT ONE! I looked this morning behind the stove, and the trap was loaded! One dead mouse. I put on some gloves and grabbed a plastic shopping bag and threw out the entire trap. I then pulled out another trap and set up the area again. We'll see...

Good job, But if there's one there's dozens!

One trick I learned back iin the farmhouse, Tie a string to the trap, then push it back in place with a yardstick. Then when you hear it go off ( or see that it has tripped..) all you need to do is reel in the string. Empty it, re-bait and push it back into place.

^^^ You know, that is a great tip about the string. I have been moving the stove to get this done.

Yes, I am re-loaded, there could be more. But, lets not tell this to the wife. She saw one (and it freaks her out) and I have killed one, she feels better. I, on the other hand, will continue the hunt.

I found putting bits of pringles in the peanut butter made it harder for them to lick it off the trap (For the classic style trap).

I have found that the little mini pretzles with peanut butter inside is like mouse crack. It seems to work well in the sticky traps.

I had set some in the garage and a mouse that had suscessfully gotten itself unstuck from the trap, came back the next day (after I had rebaited the trap) and got itself stuck again.

This time it didn't make it out before the hammer found him.

You guys have made proactive. I just built a house (1 month ago) in the middle of 5 acres. I got great stuff for around the A/C lines and traps today so I will initiate a preemptive strike.