Rodents

J

johnsor

Senior Member
Keeping destructive mice out of my old car garage during winter storage is always a battle that I fight with bar-bait and numerous mouse traps. Also, I have found that plain white flour works best in traps. Easy, does not get rancid (like peanut butter and food) and the mice love it. Additionally, check-out www.NorthernExplorer.com and what they offer for a rodent repellent. King of pricey however.
 
I have been using a combination of peppermint oil and spearmint oil added to "speedy dry" absorbent. I place this mixture in small bags made from panty hose and hang them around the garage. They are the same ingredients found in commercially available tea bag like products but for a much lower price.
 
Moth balls are what I use on the farm to keep rodents out of the barn. Yeah they smell but that's the point. Perfect no but effective in keeping it to a minimum.
 
I'd heard, I think on Fordbarn, that scented Bounce dryer sheets would repel mice due to the strong scent on them. No way! I put some in my CCPU that is under a tarp and they used a dryer sheet in making their nest. When I found the nest a month or so after I placed the Bounce in the truck, it still had the strong deodorant odor still on it. Forget about Bounce as a mouse repellent, unless just the mice in my area are Bounce lovers!
 
We found the same thing with the bounce dryer sheets.It did use to work,but the mice have either gotten used to it,or they took something out of the bounce.They used it in a car of mine and a friends to make nests with.We wound up with perfumed mouse pee.None of the electronic repellers have ever worked for me either.Poison has always worked the best,and last year I went to a Ratzapper type of trap.Nobody had them locally,but one hardware store had one along the same lines made by Victor.It costs $27.and I have gotten over 60 mice on the same set of batteries.The only problems I have had were minor.One is that the end where you smear the peanut butter has little holes to let the aroma out.So,instead of going around the other end to the door they reach their little hands in and eat all the peanut butter they can reach through the holes.Only after that do they explore for another way in.They do that by the second night.Also,in a hot environment the plastic case will warp.There is a little safety on the lid so you can't shock yourself with the lid open when putting in bait.The heat warps the lid just enough to keep that safety disengaged.You have to bypass that safety.If you forget to turn it off before putting your fingers inside to bait it you will not forget again.Think grabbing a plug wire with HEI.The best part is no dead livestock in the cowl,under the seats,in the headliner,and no blood and guts to shake out of a regular trap.You shake the trap over a rubbish can and you are done.
 
I also have a rodent problem especially in the fall when they want to find a place to winter. I use a five gallon sheet rock mud pail with a wire ( coat hanger) across the top with a aluminum can with holes in the end so it can spin on the wire. I then put about 2 inches of rv antifreeze in the pail with a stick up the outside of the pail at an angle. I put a little peanut butter on the stick and the can. The mice jump across to the can it spins and they fall into the antifreeze and drown. I have found as many as 20 mice in this thing when I check it. They don't get to stinky and the device is pretty cheap and easy to clean out.
 
frank mcdaniels said:
I also have a rodent problem especially in the fall when they want to find a place to winter. I use a five gallon sheet rock mud pail with a wire ( coat hanger) across the top with a aluminum can with holes in the end so it can spin on the wire. I then put about 2 inches of rv antifreeze in the pail with a stick up the outside of the pail at an angle. I put a little peanut butter on the stick and the can. The mice jump across to the can it spins and they fall into the antifreeze and drown. I have found as many as 20 mice in this thing when I check it. They don't get to stinky and the device is pretty cheap and easy to clean out.
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that's diabolical. I like it ;)
 
I was just thinking that myself...diabolical as all Hell....and yet, in a wierd way, I like it! Just need some sort of warning device to let you know another one of the little beggars just took the dive...

..this is just so wrong...but I still love it. You may have built a better mousetrap. Frank! :p Reminds me of a Rube Goldberg invention...
 
When I lived in an old house in New England, we had a lot of mice....

I used peanut butter as bait and it works real good even when rancid.

I also glued the mouse trap to a 16 inch stick, so that the mouse wouldn't move the trap as it "worked" on the mouse. Also, the stick allows you to pick up the dead mouse in the trap and carry it to the trash without your fingers close by. A long handled screw driver in one hand and the stick in the other releases the mouse into the trash. Re-bait and use again.

Marc
 
Nothin' beats a good mouser.
cat-mouse.jpg
 
My garage is in the middle of prime farmland... mice, mice, mice!! I use mothballs placed in aluminum containers in and below the cars. Not one mouse yet.... smell is not pretty but it works!
 
Take a tennis ball and cut one side. Sgueeze the ball open and slide it over the end of your tailpipe so the opening is closed over. My neighbor's 36 Ford would not start one spring because they built a nest in his muffler. I also brought my seat cushions into the basement during winter.
 
I thought that mothballs would only last a fairly short time before they sublime or evaporate i.e. disappear. Bill, how long do your mothballs last, before you have to replace them?

I have had an electronic rodent repellent device I plug in a wall socket. It doesn't seem to do anything except consume a little electricity - I still have mice in my garage.

I have used poison which works well. I found you don't want to use the small poison pellets. I used them for several years and the bait kept disappearing, so I thought I was really getting rid of a lot of mice and maybe I was. Years later, I unrolled a roll of old carpeting I was storing and found a mouse skeleton, a little fur and a large cache of pellets - more than a half of a box of d-CON. Since then I have used the poison bait bars, so they have to eat it right on the bar - no more hoarding the mouse bait for the little critters.
 
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I have used the rolling can on the bucket method for about 5 years. The best thing with that method is that you know for sure when there are mice inside. The other thing I do to keep them out in the first place is to put moth balls on the floor at the corners of the overhead door where there is usually a gap. Then the smell is strongest there and they don't come in at all. Also, the smell doesn't get into the car so much then.
 
One fella had a great old feral cat in the car barn. No mice, but when the cat took a leak on the upholstery....
 
frank mcdaniels said:
I also have a rodent problem especially in the fall when they want to find a place to winter. I use a five gallon sheet rock mud pail with a wire ( coat hanger) across the top with a aluminum can with holes in the end so it can spin on the wire. I then put about 2 inches of rv antifreeze in the pail with a stick up the outside of the pail at an angle. I put a little peanut butter on the stick and the can. The mice jump across to the can it spins and they fall into the antifreeze and drown. I have found as many as 20 mice in this thing when I check it. They don't get to stinky and the device is pretty cheap and easy to clean out.
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I have found that they are attracted by the smell of regular antifreeze and no bait is necessary. Don't know if RV antifreeze is the same. I operate on a smaller scale and use coffee cans. They seem to jump in to get to the antifreeze and then can't climb the sided of the can. You are correct it does preserve them very well. Use care if you have pets in the area as they like the smell also.
 
I had a mouse problem in my barn! I also have a .22 rifle. Heh Heh! It seems that they love to lay between sheets of plywood. I got 30 the first night, 24 the second, 16 the third and 8 the fourth. .22 CB caps are deadly to them.Once you discover where they are, Just space the sheets so a little light can get in and then it's fun to nail such a small target. I should be clear on the fact that the plywood was standing against the wall, not laying down.
Terry
 
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