Mice are killing me....

[Aoelge01]

Hey guys....longtime lurker here. I am currently in the process of building a 30x50 pole barn behind my house, outside of Lee's Summit (KC suburb), MO. Structure is up, skin on and two new 10x10 garage doors will go up on Tue. We've had really bad cold (and some snow) here the last month or so, and a couple weeks ago I parked my new Tundra in the barn to keep it out of the elements.

The Tundra is mainly my hunting truck, so I don't drive it most days. Went out to drive it somewhere this morning and had all sorts of warning lights come on. Dealer says mice have gotten into my main wiring harness and destroyed it. They advised not to park the new Tundra (or anything else with a wiring harness) in a pole barn. That's the whole point of why i'm building the barn - place to keep my Tundra, John Deere, ATV and other toys out of the elements and from cluttering up my attached garage.

I have traps down and i'm sure actually having the structure closed in with garage doors will help, but anyone else fighting this problem and have any solutions? I can't be the only one with these issues. Preference would not be a cat but i can't keep replacing wiring harnesses.

 

[larry_g]

I have a couple of cats that live in the shop. They get the job done. Also use various traps and poisons to go along with the cats. Just-one-Bite is my poison of choice. Follow directions and only put out a few pellets at a time. Mice and rats will piss on poison to mark it for others to stay away. A few pellets in a jar lid you can watch. When they stop going away then the mice are receding.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[acer66]

I left my bird feed containing trash can by accident uncovered in my shed.
When I saw that there were two mice sitting in there and I thought to myself why not use that as a trap.
I can pick at least one out of it on daily bases, they normally sit in the old plastic mushroom container I use to scoop out the seeds and I just cover the container and then bring them outside past a stream.

 

[Jon_E]

Haven't seen a building yet that's 100% mouse-proof. I thought my shed was but I have caught a dozen in there in the past two years. Can't figure out how they are getting in or where they are nesting.

Best thing to do is get it closed in completely, a slab will be a big help if you're going to pour one, but you will probably not be able to avoid having to put out traps. There's a few threads here and elsewhere about "bucket traps" which seem to be extremely effective and I am going to be using them in my garage once it's heated.

My critters don't have any wiring to eat, but they ate most of a box of Kleenex in less than 24 hours.

 

[B.C.Biker]

Mint extract. Get mine from health food store. Small dropper bottle. Just splash a couple drops here and there. A little goes a long way. Bottle lasts forever.
Have a couple Westfalia vans parked in hayfield next to barn. Even with food stocked in the cupboards there are ZERO mice. All my vehicles and buildings get the mint. It just works.
And smells good in small quantities. Marketed to help relax people. Mice give it a pass. If mice are well established you might have to clean real good first to get rid of their smell.

 

[Stinger]

Fellow KC resident here. As stated, you won't be able to keep them out completely but you should be able to control them so they don't feast on your harnesses. Just having more "stuff" in the place will help keep them away from your vehicles.

Also as stated, they will go into containers that have food in them if they have a way to climb in, then won't be able to climb out. I used to have a few in my trash can every morning since it sat in the corner so they could climb up the wall and jump in to eat crumbs from candy bar wrappers and such. Then they had no way back out. I found as many as 6 in there in 24 hours. Was a nice passive "trap" that allowed me to kill them easily. No way in hell I was letting them go outside as they would simply run back in the shop.

 

[Jon_E]

Yeah definitely don't catch-and-release. There are some who look at it as "humane", but mice are vermin, plain and simple. Catch and kill, or let the trap do the work. If they don't find their way back to your barn, they will find something else to destroy.

 

[firebirdparts]

I never put anything a mouse could eat in my shop. That has helped a lot, I think. I've never had any trouble with them. I wouldn't be surprised if they came in to get some protection from the weather, but I have not really observed that.

 

[HOTFR8]

I have 3 of these and catch plenty of mice. You simply drown them to get rid of them.
I also catch the odd Blue Tongue Lizard. The choice of bait is dry cat food.

 

[Camper]

I do the bucket trap thing in my camper over the winter. A few inches of anti freeze in the bottom and I have a trap that resets itself and works all winter long.

 

[Lee Celtic]

I don't put anything that has food in it in any way in my garage ... so the mice ate the varnish off a wooden handle on one of my tools.. I put down sticky traps and caught three.. not seen any more so I think I nipped it in the bud ..

 

[My Old Tools]

Get a snake....

 

[Muzzy]

Mice and rats will piss on poison to mark it for others to stay away.

I've heard this a number of times. Not that I don't believe it, but shouldn't the mice that know it's poison already be dead?

 

[kbs2244]

Cats and a 50/50 mix of peanut butter and bakeing soda.
Mice, rats, and other rodents, cannot burp or fart.
The peanut butter gets them to eat the soda that turns into bad gas with their stomach acid.
They bloat up and die
Cats will ignore the mix.

And check with the factory about your wiring.
Some mfgs for a while used wire where the plastic coating was soybean based.
Mice like the smell and would eat it.

I think most mfgs have learned this lesson by now.
But check out your year and model.

Some mothballs have been known to work also.

 

[finn]

Sticker traps, as long as the building is heated, bags of pellets near the doors, and a few bait stations for backup.

Keep the area around the garage mowed, and don’t stir disabled cars or other junk near the building.

Having said that, I still caught four in sticky traps in the last three weeks.

 

[mineallmine]

Believe it or not but place a bar of irish spring soap in different spots around the barn. The smell is strong to mice and they don't like it. Got this idea from a buddy of mine before I stored my RV and have yet to see evidence of one in it. He has stored his trailer outside this way for years and said he had them in every year until he did this and not one since.

The irish spring idea is similar to the mint. Both have a strong odor to rodents and they steer clear of it

 

[Jackfre]

This happened to a friend who was visiting Myrtle Beach around Xmas. His new 150's wiring got eaten by mice. Ford actually had to lift the cab off the chassis to replace the harness.

 

[C2 Turbo]

Killed one with a broom, second one with a sticky pad and third with a trap. Also spread out pellets all around the exterior walls. It's been 2 months since we saw any new activity
or felt presence of another one.

I won't do poison in-door as they might die in the walls causing a bad odor

 

[Robbo]

If you frequent YouTube, “Shawn Woods” has a channel where he posts “Mousetrap Monday”... there are reviews and videos of tons of different traps.

Watching his channel has given me great ideas, and healed my heart to watch then in action after my most recent bill for the wiring harness on my tractor the rats ate haha...



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[Shootinok]

Cat
I know... hard to get used to the idea, but here's my thread on it.https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=368092

That little feline is a real killer - almost everyday I find remains.
She's definitely keeping up her end of the deal.

 

[Tullugeon]

I would start with the bucket and some kind of poison from a feed store. If that doesnt work you may be stuck with getting a cat. Sometimes mice seem to be pretty smart unfortunately you need a thinking killer to get those mice.

When I had problems with my outbuilding a friend that deals with pests brought over some non venomous snakes and released them. I have no proof that helped but I do not have a mouse problem anymore. These were the larger field mouse variety.

 

[bullnerd]

My buddy has a hunting cabin up in NY somewhere. He leaves a new metal trash can next to the steps with a small amount of food in the bottom. When we go back up all the mice are in the bottom of the can. They jump off the steps into the can, but cant get back out. Similar to what was mentioned earlier.

Poison, they will go die in a box and stink = no good.
Sticky trap, they will pull their hair off and scream like a baby doing it! = no good.

I've used the mint oil in my Buick stored in a garage full of mice. Never saw a trace inside. I soaked cotton balls with the mint oil and placed them around inside and under the hood.

 

[GarageGuy89]

Funny this came up. I was just watching 'shawn woods' videos with my kids the last couple nights.

We too have a problem. Both rats and mice. Love the chicken coop where pellets are scattered everywhere.

Best solution i found was the old school victor metal pedal traps. Rats are a buck a piece and mice are 50 cents. Stick a gummy bear on the end and they last months and are nice and rigid to set off the trap.

I'll catch a mouse every day. The rats are a bit smarter, and they tend to go for the peanut butter. I'll get a rat about once a week.

They sure do create a mess. Better to get them early before they populate.


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[JamesW84]

I would not do poison if you have pets around. My neighbors dog ended up dying out of the blue and the vet thought it was from eating some poison meant for vermin.

I have a battery powered mouse trap that shocks them, resets, and you can get several before dumping. PM me if you need more info. It was about $100. Fresh batteries do a great job, but weak ones only partially shock them, which allows them to get out and run and scream.

 

[Captain Spaulding]

Put poison out in tamper resistant bait stations, inside and out. Any other solution is either a bandaid or a wives tale. On a farm you can’t avoid food sources and the poison does the job.

 

[MikeF2316]

I'll agree that you can't mouse proof a building. My house is concrete block from the footing to the eaves. It's had minimal modifications over the years, the pentrations are limited to a couple of electrical outlets, dryer vent and water hose, as well as the windows and doors. For 20 years we had no mice inside, but all of a sudden we started getting them. We have a couple of cats, but they're too well fed to take working for dinner seriously. A couple of spring traps in the cupboard under the kitchen sink (kitchen waste is in that cupboard too) is all it took to get rid if them. We got about 10 right away, now we see one every few months.

 

[EOC_Jason]

Last winter my friend had a HORRIBLE mouse problem in their house (double-wide out in the country). At night I could hear one scratching in the walls, one even ran by my head (I was sleeping on the floor). Every day sticky traps would catch a few... nasty nasty... All they would put out was glue traps in the house so it wasn't like they were really doing much to cut down on the population (me personally I would have spread a sh*t-ton of poison under the house).

I found some of those little sonic repellers that you plug in. They put them in every room of their house and this winter I don't think they have had any mice! Only annoying thing is I can hear it make a 'click' sound every few seconds. Doesn't bother the dogs.

 

[shelteredV]

https://cdn.domyown.com/images/thumbnails4/1303b/1303b.jpg.thumb_1024x1024.jpg
best there is hands down. little spot of Jif and it works like a charm.

 

[sselander]

You can try some of the Honda electrical tape with the capsicum (chili) built in
"Honda 4019-2317 Rodent Tape"

Seems they like the soy based insulation that is used now

https://www.consumerreports.org/car-maintenance/how-to-protect-your-car-from-rodents/

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/au...g-covers-irresistible-rodents-lawsuit-n504746

 

[LaneRover]

If you can find out how (where ) they are coming in or nesting put the traps near that point along the wall.

When I worked at Paramount pics that maintenance guys said that key for rats is to leave a trap for them that isn't set. They are too wary at first. Once they get used to it you set it. I forget if they would give it a day or two or a week.

 

[rmalkow2]

I've had mice and chipmunks both infest my garage before. With mice I've had best success using the old basic trap. Their drug of choice seems to be peanut butter. It's like mouse cocaine. Occasionally I get one that has mastered the art of licking clean the trap without setting it off. In that case I usually spread a few grains of bird seed on the trap and around it to get them to be greedy. Works every time. Caught 10 last winter and three so far this year. I've also used the 5 gallon bucket trap but mostly for chipmunks. Fill it about 1/3 to 1/2 full of water and then toss in some sunflower seeds. The seed float on top and are visible to the critters. Give then a nice gang plank to walk and they dutifully dive right in and drown. I caught 7 in one day with this method. It would likely work for the mice too.
I place mouse taps dear the main overhead door corners where they enter and along side walls as they tend to travel back and forth along the walls. I had a problem one winter with them getting into a car and I placed the traps near the car tires and caught them pretty easily.
I'm intrigued by the mint trick and will have to try that. Good info as I did not know they disliked mint.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

I use the black and red plastic snap traps along the edge of the wall, with peanut butter and bacon grease as bait. I killed 12 mice about a year ago and haven't seen one since.

If you have any holes, fill them with spray foam with some steel wool or mesh embedded in it. They make "pestblock" spray foam, which the mice will just chew through anyway.

The key with traps is to have them right along the base of the wall, which is where the mice will travel.

 

[KDubU]

Dryer sheets, mint extract work great. Mice and squirrels don't like the smell. For any vehicle I store, dryer sheets go on top of the tires, in the engine bay and on the floor inside.

 

[brianh]

I use bucket traps. Run a wire through a plastic bottle and bucket smear with peanut butter put a ramp for them to climb up it works great, the one pictured is in my greenhouse got ten mice the first week no more since, and no plants getting nibbled on.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Moth balls and dryer sheets are a wive's tale. Hell, the little buggers shred dryer sheets to make their nests. Snap traps with peanut butter along trails and Cab Fresh inside vehicles or closed storage areas.
Poisons run the risk of a larger animal eating a poisoned one and being poisoned or having one die someplace you can't get at and stinking the place up until the body dessicates. I won't even go into how horrible of a death some of the poisons are.

Sticky traps are just plain cruel.

If you're going to have kill something, at least try to be humane about it.

Tommy

 

[dshop]

C-A-T...forget the poison system...a cat never misses and will sit on your lap if you treat him right and he will appreciate being brought in from the cold or heat, and they are FREE. Check with your local animal shelter; they will be happy to see you, as will the cat.

 

[c39er]

The bucket traps stink with dead mice if you don't get rid if the drowned mice quickly... even with antifreeze in winter use.
Traps are the best IMO.

 

[red61cj5]

I close up the garage and let my old f head jeep idle for about 45 minutes. No way anything is left alive inside after that fumigation. Thing needs rings really bad.

 

[jd_1138]

I'd rescue a couple of cats from a shelter.

 

[Dragfluid]

My buddy has a hunting cabin up in NY somewhere. He leaves a new metal trash can next to the steps with a small amount of food in the bottom. When we go back up all the mice are in the bottom of the can. They jump off the steps into the can, but cant get back out. Similar to what was mentioned earlier.

Poison, they will go die in a box and stink = no good.
Sticky trap, they will pull their hair off and scream like a baby doing it! = no good.

I've used the mint oil in my Buick stored in a garage full of mice. Never saw a trace inside. I soaked cotton balls with the mint oil and placed them around inside and under the hood.

I respectfully disagree. You have to use GOOD glue boards. TomCat. Mice and garter snakes get caught on mine. One a mouse places their feet on once, it's over.