Mouse control !!

[Eriehunter]

Here's something that you may find useful.

With the changing temps and weather the mice that are normally outside will want to find a place inside that is warm and dry. No so much a problem in the summer as I don't keep food inside my pole barn, but with warmer temps than outside they will move inside as the temps drop.

After talking to the rodent control guy a food manufacturing plant awhile back he thought it best to kill them outside the building first. Then if the do get inside the building have the traps inside as well.

So I have had traps inside, just like everybody else but outside is kinda different. He recommended bait stations outside and multi catch inside.

Bait stations

I got two of these on for either side of the overhead door. About $8 each ordered them online at Home Depot and shipped to the local store for free.

You will need bait

four packets of Decon in a box for $5 at the local Dollar General

Open the bait station and put bait inside

This type of bait station calls for a solid block that hangs on the spring inside the station. They didn't have that type at the store so this will do, and actually may be better IMO because they may carry some back to their nest and kill off the little ones. But if you have pets or children the loose bait could be shaken out and consumed. Beware.

Placing of the station

By the overhead door on each side as this seems to where they want to come in and it doesn't get too wet and flood there. So the bait inside stays dry. Today is the second time I have had to refill this bait station, so they are taking the bait. The leaf by the door is where they get inside, I address this later.

Multi catch

I got three of these. They were about $4 IIRC and they were in stock at the local Home Depot

You place these inside the building around perimeter walls and such "scurry lines" I put a little peanut butter inside to draw them in.

Ont thing that I didn't show is that I also put peanut butter farther back in the trap, like a trail, to encourage them to go all the way in. these will catch more than one mouse.

Placement of multicatch

close to entry points and also one along back wall in the "scurry line"

Notice the daylight, this is where they chewed their way in through the door gasket and weatherstrip. This is the location of the leaf outside.

The picture is a approximately where the multicatch is located but I rearranged the pipe pile so it was better suited to that location.

I also fabbed up a metal plate where the security breach was.

This is the metal plate and will get screwed to the wood by the overhead door, it will lay horizontal lengthwise, between the weatherstripping and the door.

I also had two snap traps that I located elsewhere in the building, one close to the air compressor and one along another "scurry line"

All summer I used the Bait stations and multi catch, haven't seen one in the building yet. I knew about the breach in security and just got around to fixing it today. Hopefully those little infidels will be gone !

 

[Stevie-Ray]

I've gotten 3 so far with the Victor traps. We don't get them in the living quarters, as we have cats, and the mice seem to know this. But when the cats start acting strangely, I can bet they're in and under the bubble tub or other location away from the cats, but in the warmth. Set traps under tub and wait. I need to mouse-proof the outside of my house with filler between siding and foundation, and supplement with steel-wool, etc.

 

[66HertzClone]

I saw one in the house the other morning, placed four traps around the area where I saw it. Used a Tootsie Roll as bait, nothing yet on those but I did get one last night in the garage. For there I made one of those 5 gallon pail traps with the free spinning peanut butter covered can as bait of a half filled 5 gallon pail. It's through the garage that there are getting in the house, at least I think and hope so, so having the bucket trap is my effort to stop entry.

I did some work on the door between the garage and the mudroom over the weekend. The door seal gasket at the bottom was pretty ragged so I purchased a new one. There was a rather large gap between the bottom of the door and the floor and the sill, looks like a gasket had been on the door bottom long ago but it's not there now. I purchased a 2" wide aluminum strip from the hardware store, cut it to the width of the door. Drilled some holes along the length, then slotted them with my Dremel. I fastened it to the door and played with the height until I could open the door full swing without it catching on the floor tile anywhere. I mounted the door seal gasket strip to the this so it just dragged across the floor. This I hope will prevent the mice from slipping into the house through the garage, with the door closed there is about an 1/8" between the aluminum and the floor.

 

[CT2012]

the d-con poison food works great. just takes a little time (a few to several days) before it kicks in, and the rodent will go and die what is probably a miserable death.

the big risk there is that it dies while in your walls. stink!

 

[Eriehunter]

the d-con poison food works great. just takes a little time (a few to several days) before it kicks in, and the rodent will go and die what is probably a miserable death.

the big risk there is that it dies while in your walls. stink!

That is why the Dcon is in the bait stations outside the building !!

 

[bsg]

the d-con poison food works great. just takes a little time (a few to several days) before it kicks in, and the rodent will go and die what is probably a miserable death.

the big risk there is that it dies while in your walls. stink!

We used the D-con poison food, it worked but not that well.
Sure the mice kept getting the food out of the trap, they would take it back to the nest and store it for the winter, I found the nest later and the food but no dead mouse.

I just use the small spring trap with peanut butter, you don't have to worry about them dying in the walls somewhere.

Kevin

 

[KRB52]

The office building where I work has the bait stations and multi-traps both inside and outside. I don't know how often the exterminator service comes to check/empty them. The guy I work with at night told me he saw one of the local rats duck into a hole right next to a trap/bait station one night. We are in a city, so rats are common. Occasionally, we get an officer who is afraid of them. I try to remind them that humans are apex predators; we eat things that are the rat's size, and the rats know this. (Just pray they never learn what a vegan is.)

 

[shrttrackr]

I like these ideas; however, we have 3 dogs and 1 of them likes to eat dead rodents (well almost anything she can catch), so i would be pretty skeptical of putting the bait stations outside. I may use them inside my shop... I think I cut enough metal and do enough welding that the smell would not be as bad.

 

[Scott V]

Used to get mice in my old house and nothing worked until I got one of these. Never saw another one in the house again. Even when leaving food on the counter. I swear by them. You might cry "hoax" but they really do work. I even saw one come up to the door sill into the kitchen and he stood there and wouldn't come in.

 

[Eriehunter]

I like these ideas; however, we have 3 dogs and 1 of them likes to eat dead rodents (well almost anything she can catch), so i would be pretty skeptical of putting the bait stations outside. I may use them inside my shop... I think I cut enough metal and do enough welding that the smell would not be as bad.

They make a bait block that goes on the spring holder inside the bait station. That won't come out if the station is tipped.

 

[Eriehunter]

Used to get mice in my old house and nothing worked until I got one of these. Never saw another one in the house again. Even when leaving food on the counter. I swear by them. You might cry "hoax" but they really do work. I even saw one come up to the door sill into the kitchen and he stood there and wouldn't come in.

I have a similar thing plugged into the outlet by the door in my pole barn. I still saw a mouse, I'm still using them but have limited faith in their effectiveness.

 

[G_P]

Keep a few of these around the shop.

 

[Jagmandave]

I worked in a food plant for a bunch of years, we had bait stations all around the perimeter of the building and inside we had traps within 3 feet of every door. The traps were checked every week, twice a month by the extermination company and the rest of the time by plant employees...we rarely found mice or rats, but the bait was always eaten down and needing replacement on his visits.

Just so you know, if one of your pets eats a mouse that has ingested Dcon or any of the other OTC baits it will not hurt them....it works differently on mice than it does mammals. You don't want your kids eating it of course, but it won't hurt your animals if they eat something that has.

 

[Ray-CA]

I used to scatter shed snake skins around the garage (easy to get as we had a ball python and a corn snake as pets.) Never had a mouse problem after that.

Ray

 

[Kev442]

We used the D-con poison food, it worked but not that we'll.
Sure the mice kept getting the food out of the trap, they would take it back to the nest and store it for the winter, I found the nest later and the food but no dead mouse.

I just use the small spring trap with peanut butter, you don't have to worry about them dying in the walls somewhere.

Kevin

The absolutely best idea I ever had was to mix boric acid powder into the d con pellets. When they are hauling the dcon back to the nest, they have to swallow the boric. They drop dead in less than a day, I find them just lying on the concrete floor out in the open.

 

[rustybutt]

Keep a few of these around the shop.

I've got a ball bearing mousetrap that looks just like this one!

 

[southalabama]

I had a mouse problem.

Peanut butter on a victor trap worked.

I used the decon and the bait kept disappearing one nite I could hear something rustling the bait. I went toward it with a flashlight. The biggest damned cockroach I'd ever seen. I googled it. The rat poison doesn't effect them. They were eating it.

The decon did kill a few mice and the smell was horrible.

 

[JohnKal]

Just so you know, if one of your pets eats a mouse that has ingested Dcon or any of the other OTC baits it will not hurt them....it works differently on mice than it does mammals. You don't want your kids eating it of course, but it won't hurt your animals if they eat something that has.

Thanks for the info Jagman, I never knew that

 

[keelan]

Just so you know, if one of your pets eats a mouse that has ingested Dcon or any of the other OTC baits it will not hurt them....it works differently on mice than it does mammals. You don't want your kids eating it of course, but it won't hurt your animals if they eat something that has.

My dog scarfed down a cube of bromadiolone mouse poison last year, so I spent a lot of time researching this topic.

It's not that it works differently, it's that it's a low enough dose to not be harmful to a dog or cat. But the fatal dose of mouse poison in terms of a percentage of body weight is the same for dogs and cats as it is for mice.

I only bring this up because of fluffy or spike decides to eat an entire box of cubes or a few bags of pellets, you should definitely go see the vet, because the poison is in fact harmful to them.

 

[Standard Gas&Oil]

Used to get mice in my old house and nothing worked until I got one of these. Never saw another one in the house again. Even when leaving food on the counter. I swear by them. You might cry "hoax" but they really do work. I even saw one come up to the door sill into the kitchen and he stood there and wouldn't come in.

These don't work. I own a pest control company and if these things worked they would be used exclusively in commercial and residential homes and I would be out of a job. Don't be duped by these dumb things......Seriously.

 

[Jagmandave]

My dog scarfed down a cube of bromadiolone mouse poison last year, so I spent a lot of time researching this topic.

It's not that it works differently, it's that it's a low enough dose to not be harmful to a dog or cat. But the fatal dose of mouse poison in terms of a percentage of body weight is the same for dogs and cats as it is for mice.

I only bring this up because of fluffy or spike decides to eat an entire box of cubes or a few bags of pellets, you should definitely go see the vet, because the poison is in fact harmful to them.

yes, you are correct, notice I said if the pet ate a mouse that had died from it, it would not hurt them, and I did say not to let pets eat the bait itself. I guess I didn't explain it well - sorry.

 

[dbabicky]

...it works differently on mice than it does mammals.

Since when were mice not mammals? HA HA Just giving you ****! Figured I would before some one else did.

 

[bazzateer]

Get a cat. Leave it outside. Don't feed it. Ever. The cat should keep the mice under control.

 

[Standard Gas&Oil]

Get a cat. Leave it outside. Don't feed it. Ever. The cat should keep the mice under control.

I'm sorry but that is just cruel and lazy, unless you live on a 100 acre farm in North Dakota with plenty of field mice you are just going to starve the poor animal.

 

[levimorris85]

Not trying to stir **** but, if a dog or cat eats decon it can kill them. I have seen this first hand while working for a vet, as a smaller dog at 1 cube of decon and in a matter of a few hours the dogs belly was bright purple. This is from the poison being a high dose of blood thinner and the animal in fact bled out internally. There is nothing you can do to stop it, I still use decon because it works well in this area but i make sure the kids and pets cant get to it.

 

[Scott V]

I wouldn't believe the Riddex thing either so I can't blame anyone for being skeptical, but how else do explain a sudden change in mice entering my house? I'm talking 2-3 years of occasional garbage bag chewing in the kitchen (in a can), getting in bedroom closets, chewing paper behind dressers, etc, then getting this thing and never getting another mice incident for another 7 years until I sold the place? I did nothing else but buy one of those things and plug it in.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Of course somebody that owns a pest-control company would tell you not to by electronic repellers-it'd be counterproductive to his business if he recommended them. I have them, but mainly for bugs, and in this they are exellent. Especially spiders, which we had by the dozens per room, when we bought the place. I rarely see one now, even in summer. They are less effective on rodents, and generally say so in the instructions, but if I am getting even a small benefit from their use with mice, so much the better.

 

[Blue]

Yeah, I've had decent luck with the ultrasonic pest repellers. I realize it's not a perfect solution, but from what I've seen, it helps.

 

[ironman70]

I've tried all the traps on the market and nothing beats the old 5gal bucket trap...

 

[ryan77]

I use a tall bucket with a ramp on the outside leading to the top, then place some corn kernals inside the bucket, they climb the ramp, jump in and cant jump out if the bucket is tall enough, I caught 3-4 at a time this method, also they don't like Bounce dryer sheets, so I toss them in my cars and around premiters to keep them away.

 

[Standard Gas&Oil]

Of course somebody that owns a pest-control company would tell you not to by electronic repellers-it'd be counterproductive to his business if he recommended them. I have them, but mainly for bugs, and in this they are exellent. Especially spiders, which we had by the dozens per room, when we bought the place. I rarely see one now, even in summer. They are less effective on rodents, and generally say so in the instructions, but if I am getting even a small benefit from their use with mice, so much the better.

Please continue to use them I'm just a *****. A few years ago I had a customer with a new 250k R.V. with about 15 electronic ultra sonic plug ins on the inside of R.V. and another 15 in the shop outlets. When he got ready to go south for winter he discovered rats and mice did over 100k in damage. Chewed wires, leather seats, engine hoses, ect, also the thing stunk like urine. He also swore these things worked great prior.

 

[BFBOB]

I've seen a study or two on ultrasonic pest repellers (no, I can't cite sources. Wasn't important enough to make a note.) Conclusion was that any of these things, along with sunflower windmills and scarecrows work somewhat for a while. Then the pests get used to them and come back. The same would probably be true for any major change in the environment. Even poison has its limits when used consistently. There's even a term: bait-shy.

 

[CNGsaves]

One more virtually free repellant for mice . . . .
. . . . . .
. . . . . . . . Radio Station !!

. . . . .
. . . . Yep, leave your radio or stereo playing loud enough it can be heard throughout the garage. Mice and rats think that humans are still there and generally stay away.

In my garage, I use Triple defense:
1) Bait stations with hard poison on the outside
2) Poison pellets if mouse/rat makes it into the garage
3) Leave radio playing all the time in garage

For three years now in new house with 4 car detached garage, have not seen a single mouse in garage.

 

[G McKay]

I never had much luck with anything but cheese in a Victor snap trap. I haven't had any problems in years.

The secret is to keep any entrances blocked so they can't get in. If they do somehow manage to enter, a Victor trap will get them every time.

 

[MScott]

I've tried all the traps on the market and nothing beats the old 5gal bucket trap...

Conclusion was that any of these things, along with sunflower windmills and scarecrows work somewhat for a while. Then the pests get used to them and come back. The same would probably be true for any major change in the environment. Even poison has its limits when used consistently. There's even a term: bait-shy.

The bucket is what I use most and usually had multiple catches, but recently I found that one mouse had learned how to balance on the can and eat all the PB off the top. After re-coating a few times, I set a Victor trap near the base of the ramp and caught a big fat mouse. Bucket trap worked again after that.Guess it only knew one trick.

 

[ironman70]

I have one in my garage and one in my attic. I fill both with RV antifreeze (preserves the mice until I clean the trap and reset). Last winter, I caught at least 20 mice in the garage trap. There is also a version that uses a plate or cardboard circle on a string instead of the can...might try that this winter.

 

[brianh]

Bucket trap is the best I have used, if it is an area that does not get checked often some antifreeze will keep the critters from stinking up the place.

 

[CNGsaves]

If you use the bucket trap for mice in summertime, also add little bit of oil to water so there is film on water to kill mosquitoes. Standing water is breeding ground for mosquitoes.

+1 that bucket trap is winner when your shop has so many openings that little varmits ARE going to get in there. In winter, mix in some RV antifreeze with water so the trap will keep trapping !!

 

[Jere]

The bucket is what I use most and usually had multiple catches, but recently I found that one mouse had learned how to balance on the can and eat all the PB off the top. After re-coating a few times, I set a Victor trap near the base of the ramp and caught a big fat mouse. Bucket trap worked again after that.Guess it only knew one trick.

It was most likely a rat, rats just eat the bait and walk away. Every once in a while they will still work if you use a plastic film bottle and a flimsy wire. Caught a giant rat this way and a juvenile after they ate the bait for 2 weeks. With no water (or antifreeze in winter) in the bucket the rats just hop out.

I have tried the ultrasonic repellers and loud radio with bad luck. I had a family of opossum move in the months I left the noisemakers on.

The metal cage traps at harbor freight do an OK job too. They need reinforced with some wire in a few places and need the triggers lightened.

 

[Scott V]

I caught a mouse with a Victor trap and some peanut butter. The trap killed it before he ate any of the peanut butter. I heard the trap go off at 3:00 AM and took a peak but was too tired to deal with it. In the morning I found another mouse had crawled over his dead buddy to eat the peanut butter.

That 2nd mouse reminds me of some past co-workers I've known...