Mice in the garage

[fergus]

Here's what I've come up with:

1. D-Con Mouse Prufe II for areas I can't trap them very well...like the crawl space and the attic. Don't use rat poision...the mice can't ingest enough at once to actually kill them. The Mouse Prufe bait is a stronger formula.

2. Good ol Victor snap traps. It really matters how you aim them. I had many traps robbed of their bait til I figured it out. Aim the bait side toward a wall, or a corner works even better...makes it more likely the spring will actually get em when it trips.

3. Use sliced almonds slid right under the little "keeper" on the trigger. Mice actually have to tug at the bait to get a piece and that springs the trap.

I caught 8 mice this fall this way...plus however many more the poison got. I've only had one more in the last two months. No signs of mice around the house.

 

[cdd1]

I had an infestation earlier this year and just used Victor snap traps. I cought them as quickly as I could put out a new trap.

What worked for me (and was mentioned before in this thread) is to make sure the peanut butter is not just sitting on top of the trap--that you get it under the "curly" part of the trap. The mice have to dig for that part and boom, they're toast.

 

[taterdog]

I live in the woods so mice are common. I dont bother with them unless they chew on something important or get in my house. But as long as they just mind there own business there fine. But im surely not going to stop my dog from catching and killing them at any given chance.

 

[4495]

Any animal that uses its nose to find stuff hates mothballs. Even snakes hate mothballs. Mothballs will chase all vermin, and sometimes loved ones, away.

 

[XS29L9B]

Are catching rats different than mice?

I think I have rat ****, or something which looks darn close

5 gal bucket w/ can on rod does not work, btw

 

[4495]

This is going to sound awful but my wife works at a high school with a rat problem due to ongoing construction and they use several battery operated zap traps. Those and the glue traps have greatly reduced the rat population.

A word of caution about the glue traps...picking up a glue trap with a live rat on it takes a special sort of person.

 

[sselander]

get some of those red tail hawks

 

[NUTTSGT]

Here's what I've come up with:

2. Good ol Victor snap traps. It really matters how you aim them. I had many traps robbed of their bait til I figured it out. Aim the bait side toward a wall, or a corner works even better...makes it more likely the spring will actually get em when it trips.

3. Use sliced almonds slid right under the little "keeper" on the trigger. Mice actually have to tug at the bait to get a piece and that springs the trap.

I caught 8 mice this fall this way...plus however many more the poison got. I've only had one more in the last two months. No signs of mice around the house.

This is why I insist on using Twizzler over PB, I've seen the PB licked off too many times. They can lick at it all they want but if they want to start chewing or pulling, they get snapped.

 

[trdtaco]

after seeing this i put together a 5 gallon bucket with dowel and can trap and set it up last night.. no luck yet.. always saw some little mice but did not bother me till i was laying on the ground under my truck using my impact.. heard the compressor kick on in the other garage and promptly almost **** my pants as a rat ran over my leg!!!!!!

off to the depot to get some rat traps.. reg kind and sticky kind.. never had luck with the reg kind but caught 7 mice and one 8 in rat tail!! only the tail he must have chewed it off to get away..

still have not caught a rat but still find some droppings around despite the new cat in the neiborhood

 

[Unearthed]

Try Jawz brand traps if you can find them. Best I've used.

 

[dtep]

I adjust the Victor snap trap mechanism to be a real hair trigger. Then I stuff a raisin under the bait thingy so they tug on it and coat that in PB. It sometimes takes a few tries to get the trap set and placed without springing it myself, but it never misses any four legged customers!

 

[jesse83]

Instead of spending all this money on traps and bait, why not figure out where they are coming in from and plug the entry point.
I do pest control and I tell people if you can keep the mice outside, you won't need to spend all this money on baits or having to dispose of dead mice.

 

[trdtaco]

So far

Victor trap 2 mice
antifreeze bucket set up 0??


Maybe my mice to smart for the bucket/roller trap

 

[santagary]

get some of those red tail hawks

We have a brood of redtail hawks and great horned owls every year...however, they (especially the owls) will kill, carry off and eat CATS at every opportunity. My two cats, walk around with one eye on the sky at all times.

 

[santagary]

Instead of spending all this money on traps and bait, why not figure out where they are coming in from and plug the entry point.
I do pest control and I tell people if you can keep the mice outside, you won't need to spend all this money on baits or having to dispose of dead mice.

Never seen a house or garage that tight...ever. Also, doors have to be opened and accidentally left open for a period of time when humans use them...even hyper vigilant ones!

 

[Thowell12]

I use Tom cat poison chunks in the black boxes. They can't take it with them and larger animals can't get to it. Find the little suckers all over the shop. Found one last week. It made it all the way to top of workbench then DIED!!!!!

 

[rbonitz]

I use Tom cat poison chunks in the black boxes. They can't take it with them and larger animals can't get to it. Find the little suckers all over the shop. Found one last week. It made it all the way to top of workbench then DIED!!!!!

Yup - me too. This seems to keep the population under control.

 

[jesse83]

I've found that the number one spot where mice get in is from the bottom rubber strip of a garage door. Usually its near the corners and I've seen them chew thru the rubber. I've been able to find entry points in all the homes I've serviced. Some entry points are hard to find depending on the age of home/garage and if any additions have been done.

 

[Andybull]

I use the rat poison that comes in the shape of a corn cob with a hole thru it. I will then put it in the center of a rat glue pad, that's then placed on a slab of wood with a nail through it.

 

[lawdawg]

ill say it again snake shedding from your local pet shop keeps them all out naturally.

- Negative Ghost Rider. The mice in my shop shred snake skins for nests. That was a surprize when I raised the hood on my tractor and caught a look at a snake skin...

Nah, you need a Little Bunny Foo-Foo. (This one is actually Little Bunny Foo-Foo 2) ...

- Creative and diabolical, I like

I use Tom cat poison chunks in the black boxes. They can't take it with them and larger animals can't get to it. Find the little suckers all over the shop. Found one last week. It made it all the way to top of workbench then DIED!!!!!

- Negative on East TN critters. Something got in my shop and ate all the blocks of Tom Cat poison I put out and proceded to leave green piles of turds in my floor and vanished. No funky smelling dead critters ever found. Probably a **** or possum.

I've had good luck in the house with the big sticky traps. My shop is pretty hopeless at keeping them out, its too open (barn w/ concrete floor) but I've had some success with a bucket type trap. Also heard that if you catch several live mice, leave them alone in the bucket (no liquid) and wait until there is one lone champion, then turn it loose. It now is canibal mouse and will eat the others. Might try it this winter if I catch a few at once.

 

[racer8432955]

Moth Balls!

not sure if this has been mentioned yet, didn't have time to read em all.

I live in wisconsin, so they try to get in, in the winter. had em at my old shop before i used my balls, i mean moth balls. I put them in a small containter, poke bigger holes in the top (like the kids fire-fly jar, but bigger) and set them by overhead door etc. I put them inside my enclosed race trailer during the winter too.

Sure they smell like a nursing home. Some say they are toxic, but some say everything is... The person who told me to use them is a farmer, he probably got it from the almanac. which is darn good book.

 

[mwbailey]

All I know is that it's hard to keep those little critters out. Last month my electricity bill at the "lake house" was about 3 times as high as it should have been. After the Electric Coop guy came out and suggested it must be something with HVAC, I called in HVAC service. The guy opened up the outside unit his company installed summer a year ago and there was a dead mouse under the control system mother board. He had electrocuted himself and short circuited the unit. It would call for the resistance heater but never turn on the heatpump due to Mickey's suicide!

I've heard that a dryer sheet in your vehicle trunk, under the hood, and in the passenger compartment will keep them out of there -- that sounds a little like the mothballs: anything artificial smelling repels Mother Nature's little critters.

 

[GRX]

My preference is the old Victor snap traps with chunky peanut butter. Moth balls in the shed as a repellant. Not in my garage though. Cannot stand the smell. And it's none good for you either.

- Negative Ghost Rider. The mice in my shop shred snake skins for nests. That was a surprize when I raised the hood on my tractor and caught a look at a snake skin...

Agreement. I have observed snake skin mouse nests as well.

This is why I insist on using Twizzler over PB, I've seen the PB licked off too many times. They can lick at it all they want but if they want to start chewing or pulling, they get snapped.

That is why I use chunky peanut butter and force a chunk in tight so they have to pick it out. SNAP!

Think you could run the badgers off with mothballs? Most critters hate them, but they don't hurt anything. They just leave cause of the smell.

Toss a couple handfuls down there and see.

Not if they are Honey Badgers. Because Honey Badger don't care!

.

 

[GRX]

Oh, anyone try Hedge Apples to repel pests? Mice, spiders, etc ... I forgot to grab some last autumn.

(Hedge Apple aka - Osage-orange or Horse Apple)

 

[DougMN]

Try Jawz brand traps if you can find them. Best I've used.

Jaws are the best. Victors are not in the same league.

 

[hifi_hokie]

The ones that I had loved Baked Lay's chips on the peanut butter.

Victor traps did the trick...

 

[coop]

I have a large farm and barn as my next door neighbor, so we get plenty of rats and mice. I use snap traps, and tie a few windings of twine around the bait trigger. I work peanut butter bait into the twine so the rodent will have to tug the twine to get the goods - and the kill gate. Before my twine method, i had many un-tripped traps where the rodent gently licked away the bait.
I also always handle the traps with nitrile gloves. Rodents avoid the traps with human scent.

 

[ZRX61]

Moth Balls!

not sure if this has been mentioned yet, didn't have time to read em all.

I mention them in the almost weekly "how do i get rid of mice?" threads

 

[1967rsss]

I had a problem with mice in my moms garage when I stored my Camaro car there while buying my house. She used to keep dog food in there so they made their nests on my engine block and interior. I used a combination of dryer sheets, mothballs, and slices of Irish spring bar soap (green original formula) through out the car and garage and they were gone in a few days. Just had to vacuum up the droppings...

 

[58Yeoman]

Dryer sheets didn't work in my shop...they still built a nest in the trunk of my Goldwing, where a nest was sitting right on the trunk floor. The bucket trap works best in the shop, just pick out the little bastards with gloves, and toss. I've set spring traps in the house with my hands, and catch them there; I quit baiting them, just set them next to the wall where they run.

 

[Lippyp]

Moth Balls!.

How soon after their surgery do you release the Moths back into the wild?

 

[Too_Many_Tools]

Every house...every garage...has a mouse...rarely do people know it exists until the populations explode. And if you see a mouse running during the day (they normally only move at night), you likely have a hundred..yes a hundred mice elsewhere where you do not see them.

Look for any droppings...or get a UV light and check for urine trails...don't let the wife see the results unless you want to spring for a hotel ;<0

No poison...without a body you have no proof....and with poison they also go and die..and stink..and stink..and stink.

Victor snap traps with peanut butter stuffed so the little buggers have to work for it.

Place the traps with trigger to the wall...mice run along walls for protection.

For an average 24x24 garage you should have a trap every 2' linear run...yes that's lots of traps..it takes that many.

Cats can only catch what they can access...I have seen dozens of mice run along the top of walls where the cats can't reach...while the cats watched them.

Having a sticky trap (with peanut butter in the center) around is a good fallback plan.

I would also suggest placing traps within the engine compartment of any vehicles..inside or out of the garage. Mice can take up residence there without every being seen in the garage or house.

And for those with pets...keep the pet food locked up and only feed what the pets will eat...mice love pet feeders

 

[KEH]

Mice in attic. One Victor trap has such a hair trigger I have trouble setting it. Another trap would let the mouse get the bait off. I applied sone fine sandpaper to the trigger ans also oiled it. Then I baited the trap with a piece of pecan and wrapped scotch tape around it, leaving some of the bait exposed to the air. Started catching mice regularly, often not having to even replace the bait.

Have the trap wired to a support to keep a mouse that is partly caught from dragging the trap off. Have give thought to getting a live trap which obviously they can't drag off and then giving the mouse swimming lessons. Those live traps can be rigged for a hair trigger release. When the trap is set it has two pieces of rod, actually heavy wire, with the ends wedged in place. Put a little oil on the ends and have only half of the rods engaged. It's obvious when you look at it.

KEH

 

[Coopduc]

The victor traps and peanut butter gets my vote. I've caught 9 in my garage this winter. Got 4 the first night I set the traps. I just keep resetting them until there is no more snaps. It's been a week now without a hit, so I may be clean.

 

[Bib Overalls]

Badgers under the slab? Have you tried flooding them out?

 

[PCO6]

This has worked well for me. I have since added a well drained basket to make it easier to take them all out at once for disposal.

 

[chipper]

I had a bad mouse problem in my detached garage do to a huge be of dog food step 1 is eliminate the food source and then i tried traps and that worked but i had more mice then traps and now I'm mouse free due to electric mice repellants plug one or two in and there gone they also take of crickets and other insects good luck

 

[crazytrain]

Victor snap trap baited with carmel on the trigger. they have to work to get it off. I caught 10 in less than 24 hours using this method.

 

[lilscorpion]

This has worked well for me. I have since added a well drained basket to make it easier to take them all out at once for disposal.

Great idea. What do you put on the cardboard tube?

 

[PCO6]

Great idea. What do you put on the cardboard tube?

Peanut butter. The picture doesn't show the clip on 1"x2" pine ramp which I also put a bit of PB on too.