Gas Chamber for Mice

[Chasbec]

I've recently found out that I have a mouse problem in my (DETACHED) garage and my daughter suspects that she might have mice in her car. I came up with a simple idea to solve the problem but want to run it by you guys before I do something potentially stupid. My idea is to start my old truck (which is an emissions stink pot) and my car and daughter's car and leave them running for an hour with the doors all closed (and me on the outside). Is there any hazard with this (besides to the mice)? Will the exhaust smell clear out quickly, or is this something that will linger on and on for a long time?

 

[mbatarga]

won't the mouse just leave the building - temporarily- and come right back?

 

[NYBODYMAN]

I agree. Why not just set some traps?

 

[PelicanPines]

Instead of a gas chamber... consider an electric chair... it's been posted before.

 

[gungatim]

there was another thread on here linking to a guy that sells cheap HF generators with a metal box base he adds that connects to the exhaust, you set it over the mouse or rodent hole and gas them that way...so apparently it works. but I wouldn't want to fill my garage with CO and risk it pooling somewhere, snuffing a pilot lite, or killing small dogs ad children by mistake...

I think you are better off setting traps. the 5 gallon bucket variants work well. especially baited with some cheap wine...course that could have the same consequences but...

 

[Falcon67]

won't the mouse just leave the building - temporarily- and come right back?

The drunk guy that lived next door to our old house did that to his house with his pickup. You could see the critters with their moving vans and little suit cases coming across the lawn. Suddenly, we had a mouse problem.

I tell you what will set them back - real (not non-chlorinated) brake cleaner. Pretty much incapacitates the little granimals.

 

[CNGsaves]

^ ^ ^ What I'm waiting for is . . "new from China" . .
. . . . motion sensor mouse-box trap that you load w/ peanut butter
. . . . . . bastages walk into the "house" and get squirted w/ brakekleen
. . . . . . . . simultaneously with the door slamming shut !!

 

[ard]

I listened to an interview on this American Life with a guy that ran R&D for Victor Trap company- family business, I believe he is the grandson of the original owner.

The topic was 'everyone thinks they can build a better mousetrap'...his point was that from an effectiveness/cost perspective, it is hard to beat a 9 cent item.

However, he was asked what is the oddest or most complex.... it is a trap that entices the mouse in, then a door closes and a pellet is released into water that generates cyanide gas- just a small amount- that kills the mouse. No blood, no violence.

Designed in.... wait for it...

Germany.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

To the OP.

Monumentally bad idea.

Little known fact about carbon monoxide....it's highly flammable.

Another little known fact, in high enough concentrations it can kill you almost instantly.

So...if you don't achieve a high enough concentration, you won't kill your mice. If you get it high enough to kill the mice, you could kill yourself reentering the building to shut off the cars. If you get a really high concentration of CO, you may recreate that scene from "Backdraft" where the flame ***** in and then as soon as they open the door the room explodes.

Phil

 

[58Yeoman]

It doesn't work. Years ago, I bought a 77 Caddy from a farm yard. I parked it my detached 24x24 garage. The mice started appearing, so I started the 425 V8 and let it run for a couple hours. They weren't even high.

 

[KRB52]

I listened to an interview on this American Life with a guy that ran R&D for Victor Trap company- family business, I believe he is the grandson of the original owner.

The topic was 'everyone thinks they can build a better mousetrap'...his point was that from an effectiveness/cost perspective, it is hard to beat a 9 cent item.

However, he was asked what is the oddest or most complex.... it is a trap that entices the mouse in, then a door closes and a pellet is released into water that generates cyanide gas- just a small amount- that kills the mouse. No blood, no violence.

Designed in.... wait for it...

Germany.

I was thinking my Dad used to sell in his store and have at home cans of cyanide powder. I remember Dad used it for several different critter problems. When we were cleaning out the garage before the house was sold this past summer, I noticed there was a can still on the shelf. I wanted it, BUT did not want to deal with the potential contents. I let my sister and BIL handle that, since they seemed to be in charge.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Cat might be the solution. Feed him enough to stay just a bit hungry. They are efficient mouse killers

 

[188slo50]

Mouse circus!!

 

[Warrenator]

The trick is to use a vehicle with no catalytic converter. Much higher CO emissions. Think pre-1975.

I wouldn't worry about suddenly creating an explosive environment with CO is your garage..... you are removing oxygen, replacing it with water and CO2 and a little CO.

Let the old truck run for an hour or so..... longer the better. Seal up the doors and windows with tape before you start. When all done, open all the doors, ventilate with fans, before you go in. Obviously keep the kids and mother in law out during the gassing process.

The fun-loving Germans used a motor to generate carbon monoxide gas for their gas chambers when Zyklon-B was not available. Works fine. Please only use it on rodents.

 

[Farmall 1066]

Our neighbors had a farm feed mill that was overrun with rats. They closed the doors up, ran a hose from an anhydrous ammonia trailer inside and opened the valve. We shotgunned some that ran out, but from the stench lingering there for a week or so, they got one hell of a kill!

 

[ttpete]

Get a Rat Zapper. Runs on 4 D cells and kills with a 600-volt discharge. I use a cracker with peanut butter in it, and when they go inside, they bridge the gap between two metal plates on the floor, and that's the end of them.

 

[Hammer1963]

You may want to consider reviewing Tom & Jerry cartoons. If I remember correctly, Tom develops the "Trap-O_matic" for such occasions ............ Patent Pending of course ......

 

[SdAufKla]

Cat and a litter box.

Even if you do mange to kill the mice by gassing them (or trapping, or poisoning, etc.), new ones will just move in. If conditions in your garage are good for mice now, those conditions will be good for mice later. Very hard to "mouse proof" a structure, too.

You also have to ensure that they don't have any access to food sources, and they're just as likely (maybe even more so) to be bringing food from outside as finding food inside.

A barn / garage / shop cat is the traditional and "green" solution. Even a well fed cat will instinctively hunt and kill, so you don't need to try to keep it "just hungry enough." Adopt a kitten from a litter of "porch" cats, get it spayed or neutered, and in six weeks you can forget about your mouse problem.

 

[FullRaceMerc]

We had an exterminator use sticky boards where I used to work. We caught one angry live rat. Instead of waiting for him to starve & suffer for days we hooked the exhaust up to a bag & moved the rat in. It took too long even in a trash bag which is much smaller & more airtight than a garage.

Plain old snap traps & a piece of a Snickers bar stuck to the trigger have always been my best solution. Fast & effective. No stinking dead mice lost in the walls. No dead cats/dogs from eating poisoned mice.

 

[Lunker]

5 Gallon bucket trap. Throw some antifreeze in the bucket so it doesn't smell

 

[wren57]

Grab a kitten or two from a local kill shelter, sterilize them and give them a good lecture on how lucky they are to be alive. Once they understand they owe you their life, start showing them pictures of mice while gently tazing them. Over time they'll grow to resent the mice. Once they are filled with mice-hate, release them outside your shop.

 

[Falcon67]

^ ^ ^ What I'm waiting for is . . "new from China" . .
. . . . motion sensor mouse-box trap that you load w/ peanut butter
. . . . . . bastages walk into the "house" and get squirted w/ brakekleen
. . . . . . . . simultaneously with the door slamming shut !!

I was surprised...story: Came into the shop, what was that? Something shot under the big bench. Great, I hate critters. So I look under, sure enough a fairly fat field mouse. I just want it out, I'm sure it want's out too. So first up was the air hose. Headed it around some, then - ****. The rear of the filing cabinet sits about 3" off the wall, trapped between the end of the bench and the wall. There was some hardboard shoved back to close it off, but Mouse apparently can squeeze through a gap about as thick as paper. So now it's holed up behind the file cab. Pull out the blocker and blast away with air. No dice, stays put. The can of Brakekleen was handy, lets give 'em a couple of shots. That ought to move his azz out. Spray, wait. Wait. Wait. Couple of minutes, nothing. Stubborn mouse. Clear the bench so fat guy can climb up and look down. Mouse is not feeling very well at all. Had to scooch it out with a stick, fish it out by the tail and deposit in trash. Ugh. And I thought that stuff screwed up my sinuses.

 

[cgrutt]

Even if it did work, do you really want dead carcasses in your walls, etc.? Suggest traps. Never used it but you can make an effective trap out of a 5 gal bucket and a water wheel that I'm told is pretty effective. Mice climb up a little ramp, go onto the wheel for bait (peanut butter, etc) and fall into a bucket of water. Of course there are other methods. Good luck, but you need to find a long/term solution, including sealing up any areas that they may be using to access building.

 

[TK-421]

I wouldn't do that with cars because then the rodents will die in place, and if you can't find them then you get to deal with smelling rotting rodents, which doesn't sound even close to being pleasant.

What you need to try and do is see if you can hire a professional to help you figure out why your place is so inviting to the rodents, and then make it less inviting.

 

[Corndoggeh]

Why not just get a big club, or if you live in the desert a cactus, and beat them over the head?

 

[Norcal]

I'll chime in to say use traps, not poison, gas, or anything that will cause them to crawl in some inaccessible spot to die & decay, making the building reek during that process.

 

[Chasbec]

OK. Point well taken. I guess I'll go with traps. Although a cat would probably do the job well, I've got enough pets right now. Thanks for all the replies, some of them were really funny!

 

[ChaseDE]

dude, mouse traps are like $3 for 6. peanut butter is cheap. when they are dead they are right there to throw away and won't crawl away, die, and stink.

just get some traps. i did last month for a few mice in my garage and i no longer have an issue, for $3.

eta: didn't read the second page, i see you are taking the same advice, good deal.

 

[gungatim]

keep in mind mice are smart. if you have a lot of them, you will need to rotate the type of trap you use.

I live in the country and deal with mice year round. I find I catch half a dozen with the bucket trap then they stop working. switch to regular spring traps catch a few, then they don't touch them. switch to sticky traps, get another half dozen...not sure how their little brains work, but you need to mix it up a bit, same with bait. pbutter, wine, cheese, antifreeze, etc.

I've caught mice with every type of trap I've tried EXCEPT the expensive metal wind up live traps you see businesses and exterminators use. not a one in 20 yrs...

 

[Jazz]

Have you considered a cat or maybe a snake?

 

[DawgPaw]

Just one more to add on to the caution of them dying inside the vehicles. The old multistory Sears building in Atlanta was abandoned, and then the city started using it for a while. They had a horrible rat problem so they brought in exterminators who left poison. It fix the rat problem but created a fly problem…

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I don't like to kill anything. Heck, I put bugs outside, but it's good old snap traps for me.

Tommy