Mice in shed

[petee_c]

I'm going to have to put my motorcycle in storage soon in my backyard shed.

Problem is that I have mice in there. I think they are eating the grass seed stored in there.

One year. I had moth balls in there and it kept the mice out of the air box of the motorcycle and away from the riding mower. But my motorcycle stank like mothballs for 1/2 the summer.

Would bounce sheets work for mice in the shed?

Have you seen the wheel of death? Google it with mice.

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[PCO6]

Get a cat ... but not this one.

 

[honda_fox3]

Moth balls. Works well, we use it when storing snowmobiles for the summer. Scatter some around it on the ground and stick a few in the engine area, under the seat, where ever they may want to make a nest. They are cheap and don't hurt anything the mice just don't like the smell.

Also try to put the grass seed in something they can't get into.

Don't know about bounce sheets, maybe.

 

[Fordman7795]

I struggle with mice all year in our shed. My back yard backs up to a farm field and they are all over. I have glue traps and regular traps set all the time and constantly catch them. They ate the fuel line off my snowblower. They made a nest in the air box on the lawnmower. I hate them.

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

I struggle with mice all year in our shed. My back yard backs up to a farm field and they are all over. I have glue traps and regular traps set all the time and constantly catch them. They ate the fuel line off my snowblower. They made a nest in the air box on the lawnmower. I hate them.

Same here. we are surounded by farmland and some woods. Evry year aboutthis time, the little buggers try to move in to any place they think will be warm for the winter. Keep them outta stuff like the tractors / mowers and such by keeping things either completely open or sealed off. Wrap up the air intake or open up covers / lift seats up that sorta thing.
I have had them chew into plastic gas cans which really baffled me why they would choose to gnaw on that?
I'm trying moth balls scattered in a perimeter on the ground around the camper we just bought (far enough out from it to hopefully keep any of the scent form going inside it and stinking it up).

I have done the "wheel of death" bucket traps in the garden shed, but even that takes some maintenance to keep working.

 

[joeswamp]

The bucket traps really work but if you have an inexhaustible supply of mice you're going to have to spend some time emptying the bucket.

I'd try to figure out how they're getting in and remove the thing they're trying to get (like store the grass seed in a sealed container).

 

[240sxguy]

Yeah, first thing's first. Remove all the food sources completely.

 

[Andy Griffith]

I've tried a bunch of different approaches for rodent control over the years here on the farm and found the following to work best.

One of these two bait stations.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003OS18HE/?tag=atomicindus08-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001V6TLJI/?tag=atomicindus08-20

and this bait or any alternative that has the nasty stuff in it.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I1O430/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I started out using chunks of bait instead of the pellets but found too many occasions where the rats chewed a chunk off and transported it outside of the bait station where a family pet or other animal might get a hold of it. The rats seem to eat the pellets inside the station and not transport any of it.

You should be aware that there still exists a chance of secondary poisoning if another animal were to eat one of the dead rats, though in all these years I have yet to have any animal (even a rat killing cat) do more than sniff the dead rat. When you find one of the dead rats one side of their body will be eaten away and a green ooze present.

And of course as with any poison be careful it's stored safely and out of the reach of children and such.

 

[Jimmy_B]

I've tried a bunch of different approaches for rodent control over the years here on the farm and found the following to work best.

One of these two bait stations.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003OS18HE/?tag=atomicindus08-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001V6TLJI/?tag=atomicindus08-20

and this bait or any alternative that has the nasty stuff in it.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I1O430/?tag=atomicindus08-20
I started out using chunks of bait instead of the pellets but found too many occasions where the rats chewed a chunk off and transported it outside of the bait station where a family pet or other animal might get a hold of it. The rats seem to eat the pellets inside the station and not transport any of it.

You should be aware that there still exists a chance of secondary poisoning if another animal were to eat one of the dead rats, though in all these years I have yet to have any animal (even a rat killing cat) do more than sniff the dead rat. When you find one of the dead rats one side of their body will be eaten away and a green ooze present.

And of course as with any poison be careful it's stored safely and out of the reach of children and such.

I use this method. It's the only thing that's worked for me. Anyone who swears dryer sheets work don't have mice. I've tried dryer sheets in my motorhome, the mice made nests out of them.

 

[240sxguy]

I have been wondering about this too actually. I know mice aren't fans of being disturbed. If I went in my shed weekly and made a racket, would that be enough to dissuade them from staying the winter?

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

I use this method. It's the only thing that's worked for me. Anyone who swears dryer sheets work don't have mice. I've tried dryer sheets in my motorhome, the mice made nests out of them.

Yeah, the RV dealer guy we dealt with said to use dryer sheets when we asked him about keeping them out after we get the RV home. I asked what they do there and he said they don't have any problem on their lot since all the RV's are new...... and then 5 minute later we found a fresh mouse nest in the underside edge of an RV slide out there on display

 

[joeswamp]

The other thing to remember is that mice and rats are really different animals. Mice are as dumb as doorknobs and very easy to trap. Rats, on the other hand, are scary smart.

 

[petee_c]

IIE'm going to put the grass seed in a different container and store it indoors I think, and use mothballs and just put up with the stink.

I don't go into the shed in the winter and am kinda scared of what I would find in the bucket come spring.

We are rural and farmland is 500 ft away.
Peter

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[ratdoggy]

I had some of the dumbasses chew through plastic lines that carry a 50% solution of caustic soda at my work. I'm pretty sure he died a miserable death.

 

[Bulldog13]

Decon- and the old snap traps with peanut butter ...you just have to Rebait..thin out the herd I say.

 

[Rockhead261]

Irish Spring bar soap. Buy the large bars and quarter them. Place the pieces near all entry points and around the perimeter. Replace them anually.

Do you have power out there? If so, get a bunch of those ultrasonic repellers.

I've done both for years, no mice.

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[tractordude]

I use Fresh cab in my cars, it works well, and the cars don't stink of moth balls. www.earth-kind.com

 

[BigMike782]

Going to pick up some of this tomorrow. The mill cannot keep it in stock it is so popular.
http://www.justonebitebrand.com/agricultural.html

 

[Jagmandave]

Just FYI, my pest control guy says that your pets won't die if they eat a mouse or rat that died from eating the poison bait, it doesn't affect their systems like it does the rodents...birds are safe too.

 

[WQ59B]

I have read a number of negative individual reports on all the following : dryer sheets, mothballs, electronic devices & Irish Spring. The Decon pellets seem to only work temporarily, too. I tried an electronic unit- no discernible effect. Bucket trap worked very well tho, but like stated above; requires some maintenance. Also found that a university study showed no repellant effect on mice with Osage Oranges.

No food source & seal the structure as OCD-manically as you can is always the first step. I have my shop 85-90% sealed and the population is way way down. Hope to find the time to finish off the sealing this fall, then repellant/trapping should be very minor.

 

[kbs2244]

The best poison that won't hurt cats or dogs is a 50/50 mix of peanut butter and baking soda.
Rodents (mice, rats, squirrels, etc) cannot burp.
When they eat the peanut butter the baking soda reacts with their stomach acid and expands so much it collapses their lungs.

Do not clean up the dead ones.
They are small and you will not notice any smell.
But they do act as a warning to those that follow.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Fox pee, a few drops at the corners and both sides of openings (even small ones). Does a pretty good job of keeping them out. (Does not seem to drive them out if they have already moved in). It it is sold as a cover scent for deer hunting, used to be more common but is getting harder to find.

 

[imperialman67]

Irish Spring bar soap. Buy the large bars and quarter them. Place the pieces near all entry points and around the perimeter. Replace them anually.

A few years ago I had Irish Spring soap thru out my Imperial as a deterrent to mice when I put the it into winter storage. When I took the car out of storage the following spring I found teeth marks in the bar soap, and dead mice under the back seat.
Irish Spring didn't keep the mice away, but did kill them.

 

[djkeev]

Peppermint oil...... The real stuff, not imitation.

Pour on cotton pads set in plastic cups.

Set around and replenish as needed, there will not be any mice.

Dave

 

[bwane]

mix cornmeal and plaster of paris half and half.
if you dont know what happens to plaster of paris when it gets wet, look it up.
they say the rat wont even make it to the door

 

[sctattooer]

 

[maddawg1952]

I use the Ferris Wheel of Death in my unheated garage, works like a charm . Put a touch of Anti-freeze in the water or it will just be a big skating rink for the fallen rodents. Works better than my Maine **** Cat, she finds 1 or 2 out by the shed in the yard and plays with them till they die of exhaustion.

 

[Punchwood]

Just brought my '65 Chevy home from a 3 year barn storage. There was so many mice in the barn, you just can't imagine. They ate 3' dia. holes in my cloth car cover !!!! We're talking mice up the wazoo !!!!!!!

Anyway, before I put it away I put dryer sheets EVERYWHERE. No mouse damage or evidence of mouse infiltration ANYWHERE.

I also used this trick several years ago at a different property in a shed that housed my lawn equipment and such. Prior to using the sheets the little bastards cost me a rebuild on a KT-17 Kohler engine. After getting the tractor back together I kept dryer sheets in the shrouds at all times when not in use. Never had a problem again.

Don't really know what to say to those that say they don't work. They certainly have worked for me, and under some serious mouse invasions at that !!

 

[PCO6]

I keep watching that over and over thinking that one of those stupid mice is going to figure it out ...

I use the same thing but with a plastic bucket. I see you built the deluxe model.

 

[hedhunter9]

My wife raises parrots.. They are messy and seed is everywhere. The mice were everywhere.... We used traps, glue sticks, decon just made em fatter as they ate it. We had mice everywhere.. Hundreds of them.
We talked to a local vet, and he suggested CyKill. We ordered a bucket of 100 packs off the internet... Small pouch of pellets .. Put them around and within a week-10 days.. Our mouse problem was gone.. And if any mouse is ate by a cat after eating Cykill. It does not affect them...

A friend of the wife had the same problem.. and had tried everything as well.
She had us get her a bucket of the stuff, and she had no more mice for a couple of years. She just called my wife last week asking if we could get her another bucket of the packs..

Bob

 

[carcajou]

Buy a bag of lime and pour a ring of it around your motorcycle, they don't like to cross it.

 

[CNGsaves]

Looks like good variety of advice on repellents and poisons.

Be sure you have 3 prong approach:

1) SECURE the building with closing all potential openings with STEEL patches like tin, metal flashing, bricks, etc. Put any tasty things for mice (like seed, animal food, etc) inside of STEEL barrels with steel lids that snap on tight.

2) OUTSIDE POISON . . . I like using the "house of chewable poison blocks" that mice go in to eat some poison, then go back out to field to die (thus, no dead mice Inside the shed). See pic below.

3) INSIDE KILLERS . . . . various types like the roller with peanut butter over water bucket of death, plus D-Con poison pellets, traps, etc. - - - - I'd put the repellents directly IN and ON the motorcycle itself in spots like wiring harness, under gastank, under seat, etc.

 

[outdoorsman310]

try this!

 

[MFolks]

If possible, cover the exhaust end of your bike, in case rats/mice/ squirrels try to store nuts somewhere. On one of the History channels, Rick Dale from American Restoration, was rebuilding the engine of a dirt bike, he could not turn it over, so he pulled the two stroke barrel off, and found it packed full of a ground squirrels nut hoard. Evidently, the squirrel came through the exhaust pipe& packed the cylinder full of nuts.

After freshening up the engine with new gaskets, it started and ran well.

 

[Slickster76]

I don't remember the model number, but I used a cheap black and decker electric repeller. Came in a two pack. My little garage buddy ran right past them and didn't phase him. I thought, nah, he was just probably on the move to get away from them. But a little later on, saw him come back in and run past it again. They went in the trash. The more expensive ones may work, but the cheap ones I had definitely didn't work.

 

[Garage Coffee Roaster]

From what I have been told at the farmers supply- change your type of poison every few years as the rodents learn and stop eating it.

There are a few different types-warfarin is one

 

[sbarrett]

a previous poster mentioned fresh cab. i ordered some the other day from amazon for our camper. we'll see how well they work... here's a vid about them:

Sonny

 

[Vicious_Cycle]

Just brought my '65 Chevy home from a 3 year barn storage. There was so many mice in the barn, you just can't imagine. They ate 3' dia. holes in my cloth car cover !!!! We're talking mice up the wazoo !!!!!!!

Anyway, before I put it away I put dryer sheets EVERYWHERE. No mouse damage or evidence of mouse infiltration ANYWHERE.

I also used this trick several years ago at a different property in a shed that housed my lawn equipment and such. Prior to using the sheets the little bastards cost me a rebuild on a KT-17 Kohler engine. After getting the tractor back together I kept dryer sheets in the shrouds at all times when not in use. Never had a problem again.

Don't really know what to say to those that say they don't work. They certainly have worked for me, and under some serious mouse invasions at that !!

I have had seemingly good luck with dryer sheets over the years. But yesterday I found a nest under the hood of my tractor. It's not the first time I have found a nest there, so I had dryer sheets in place... and the mice used the dryer sheets as part of their nest. I almost took pictures of it for the non-believers.

 

[Punchwood]

Vicious isn't the first person I've heard say that dryer sheets didn't work for them. I don't know? Maybe it's a brand or scent thing??? It sounds silly, maybe even the type of mouse? LOL I have no idea......

 

[MScott]

I don't go into the shed in the winter and am kinda scared of what I would find in the bucket come spring.

We are rural and farmland is 500 ft away.
Peter

I use a bucket trap in my cottage and also don't visit there during the winter. In the spring I have found up to a dozen mice floating in the antifreeze/water mix (even a chipmunk once) but little or no smell. I just dump it out and refill.