Mouse proofing... anybody tried this?

[zippyslug31]

I get occasional field mice in my pole barn. Not a massive infestation, but enough to make me worried they'll chew up anything I have stored out there. I have traps setup next to all the door openings... these work pretty well. I've found, however, a few holes dug right under the walls of the barn. It's not realistic to set traps by each and every new hole I find, and it's a loosing battle for me to try and fill each hole after I find it.

Since I had a big pile of sand laying around from another project, I took to back-filling the outside of each wall with 6" of sand. My thinking with this is that mice shouldn't be able to open a 'tunnel' through the sand... it should just collapse back on them if they try and make an opening.
Bored, they will then wander off to invade some other barn, or open a restaurant ala Ratatouille.

I don't want to put too much effort or expense into this (yet) since it's not a huge problem. And, no, I don't want a barn cat either.
Has anyone done this, and if so did it help? Any other clever ways of discouraging Mickey?

 

[cpttuna]

I had a mice problem in my home last year. I hired an exterminator but until he arrived, i used those sticky strips you can buy at places like Wal Mart. I saw where the first one ran and placed them in that area. I got 6 mice using those strips. The get there feet stuck and then try to use their nose to get unstuck and the nose gets stuck cutting off their air. place food bait where you want them to go and put several sticky strips and see what happens.

 

[nadogail]

I build wooden tunnels for the rodents to hide in and cover the floor of the tunnels with sticky boards.

 

[rlitman]

Excavate the edge, and stick in a barrier of galvanized wire mesh.

 

[Jagmandave]

We had a foot wide berm of pea gravel around the food plant I worked at, they claim the little rodents don't like walking or running on it. We rarely had rodents in our plant and they were always in a trap when we did find one inside.

 

[koditten]

Won't the sand promote rot when it gets wet? Are you walls made of a ground contact material?

 

[kald]

Adopt some cats. Mouse problem gone!

 

[zippyslug31]

Won't the sand promote rot when it gets wet? Are you walls made of a ground contact material?

This is absolutely a concern of mine. The bottom-most board is PT, so it's rated for ground contact.... but for how long, I'm not sure.
I'm also a little concerned about the potential of rusting out the bottom tin of the barn skin. I suspect it's made of something that is rust-resistant, plus the paint? Not sure, but as I said it did cross my mind.

 

[didit]

Do a google search for bucket traps, basically using a 5 gal. bucket with a hinged walkway that gives away under the mouses weight. My son in-law caught 50 in one night with one he built in a few minutes.

 

[zippyslug31]

Adopt some cats. Mouse problem gone!

I just don't want to go there; I'm trying to prevent animals living in there.
Fine, I'd have no mice, but then I gotta worry about cats. Then I bring in dog to deal with the cats...

Next thing I know I'm bringing in a T-Rex to handle the great white sharks! It's a never ending battle of an arms race.

 

[zippyslug31]

We had a foot wide berm of pea gravel around the food plant I worked at, they claim the little rodents don't like walking or running on it. We rarely had rodents in our plant and they were always in a trap when we did find one inside.

This is really interesting. The pea gravel was kind of my thinking with the sand... roughly the same net effect. Will be interesting to see if my sand prevents any ingress.

 

[zippyslug31]

Do a google search for bucket traps, basically using a 5 gal. bucket with a hinged walkway that gives away under the mouses weight. My son in-law caught 50 in one night with one he built in a few minutes.

Yeah, I've seen those. I don't think I have to worry about "a better mouse trap", per se, since my regular traps pop the odd, unsuspecting mouse. I'm really trying to prevent them getting into the space in the first place.

I do wonder about the bucket idea tho. Also wonder what one does during the cold times of the year? Suppose a person could stick some antifreeze in the bucket.

 

[Ray-CA]

I just used the shed skin from our snakes placed around the garage. Worked great.

Ray

Sent from my LM-X220PM using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[58Yeoman]

I use the bucket traps, one in my shop and the other in my wifes' potting shed. I caught another one last night in the shed. In the shop, it's antifreeze, because I had changed some. In the potting shed, it's heavily salted water, never froze.

 

[Kaizen]

Zippy I think with a little weather and time the sand will compact enough for them to burrow or they will just hit the building and go straight down.
There are plenty of burrowing animals in the desert so...


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[Leaflessshadetree]

I drip fox urine around the outside of buildings (at the corners and all openings) every fall (when the mice are looking for places to winter. Seems most of them look elsewhere.

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

The "Walk the Plank" bucket trap works great..... Best trap that really works!

 

[Tostal]

I drip fox urine around the outside of buildings (at the corners and all openings) every fall (when the mice are looking for places to winter. Seems most of them look elsewhere.

Where do you get fox urine?

(not that I want any, just curious )

T~

 

[Ray-CA]

Where do you get fox urine?

(not that I want any, just curious )

T~

Well, if you don't want to harvest it your self......https://www.google.com/search?q=fox...3.69i57j0l7.8627j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Ray

 

[PassnThru]

Next thing I know I'm bringing in a T-Rex to handle the great white sharks! It's a never ending battle of an arms race.

Everyone knows you use a chain saw on a shark

 

[didit]

" I hate meeces to pieces " - Mr. Jinks

I have a friend who uses dryer sheets to keep the mice away from his boat, stored in the barn. Guess they don't like the smell of Bounce.

 

[vrinner]

I had a 1200sf garage with mice into everything including my cars. I put Bounce dryer sheets in the cars and then around the shop with a few traps. Absolutely no more mice in the cars and only had a couple in the traps at the beginning. No more after that initial infestation and Bounce treatment.

 

[Dumber than lumber]

Where do you get fox urine?

(not that I want any, just curious )

T~

For some of the absolute funniest Amazon reviews you should read the ones for Wolf Urine Lure.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006IGZSM/?tag=atomicindus08-20

WARNING - COVER YOUR KEYBOARD WITH PLASTIC WRAP FIRST.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

T.f. 8-1674 practical rat control < lots of insight here, not much PC.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Where do you get fox urine?

(not that I want any, just curious )

T~

In the hunting area of department stores. Deer hunters use it as a cover scent.
(It has been getting harder to find in recent years).

 

[CraigStu]

Whatever you do don't poison them. Traps are fine but poison kills them after they have found a place to hide and die. You will have to follow the odor to get rid of them.

 

[Soundq1-150]

Cheapest solution for cold weather climate is to go to Walmart or the local parts store and pick up a gallon or two of cheap windshield washer fluid. Usually .98 cents a gallon on sale for the cheap stuff and it won’t freeze! It’s got a freeze point of -20 below or better. That’s what I do every winter when I set up the bucket trap in my shed. Works like a charm!

 

[58Yeoman]

Fox urine is a joke. Wife spread it around to keep animals away from her plants. Hell, they roll in it. Dryer sheets are another joke. Had them in the trunk of my GoldWing, and the mice shredded them to make a nest.

 

[kj_mustang]

My barn setup took a bit of work. I had about 6+" from the bottom of the metal on my pole building to the ground. I nailed galvanised flashing over the exterior of the exposed skirt board. Filled in a little dirt against that to make a slight slope from the building, layed down heavy mil plastic about 18" wide wrapping it up the flashing a little and nailing it on, put down a 1.5" tall landscape edging 16" from the building. Filled the 16" wide strip with pea gravel up to the bottom of the rat guard metal on the building tapering down to the edging. Looks good and don't have to worry about trimming grass and weeds around the building anymore. No mice in my building and no cats on my property.

 

[acer66]

Fox urine is a joke. Wife spread it around to keep animals away from her plants. Hell, they roll in it. Dryer sheets are another joke. Had them in the trunk of my GoldWing, and the mice shredded them to make a nest.

I tried that with cat hair and they made also a nest out it.

 

[rlitman]

Fox urine is a joke. Wife spread it around to keep animals away from her plants. Hell, they roll in it. Dryer sheets are another joke. Had them in the trunk of my GoldWing, and the mice shredded them to make a nest.

Fox urine may actually work if you live in an area where the rodents are familiar with foxes.

Dryer sheets are just plain awful. They make good bedding in rodent nests AND mess up your dryer.

 

[Bruce Amacker]

Since I started using Roundup to kill all weeds/grass within 8 feet of my buildings my mouse problem went from hundreds to nearly zero. Take away their food and shelter and they go elsewhere.

 

[58Yeoman]

Fox urine may actually work if you live in an area where the rodents are familiar with foxes.

Dryer sheets are just plain awful. They make good bedding in rodent nests AND mess up your dryer.

There were a couple times when a fox trotted through the yard right in front of us, in the daytime. Other times, I would find little piles of **** on the driveway.

 

[PugetDude]

For some of the absolute funniest Amazon reviews you should read the ones for Wolf Urine Lure.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006IGZSM/?tag=atomicindus08-20

WARNING - COVER YOUR KEYBOARD WITH PLASTIC WRAP FIRST.

 

[Samh]

A few things. Saying you don't have a mouse problem can be difficult. I didn't think I had a mouse problem at my old house, just one in the attic. Put a trap up there, not 10 minutes goes by, and it goes off. I think I have got my mouse. Put it back up just to do it. 5 minutes later, another one. Ok, I have two. Just put it back 1 more time. Fast forward to later that night, had 15+ dead mice. Bucket in the driveway looks like moushwitz with all the dead mice.

When cleaning out my old garage, had a 4x4 crate that I would through cutoffs in. I was cleaning it out trying to decide what to keep and what to recyle. Found some paper towels shredded up in the bottom where they made a nest. Picked up a piece of tube, and a mouse shot out the end of it like a bullet right at me. Scared the **** out of me....lol

 

[My Old Tools]

Effective mouse proofing....

 

[harley jim]

That's the best mouser ever built. Just ask my bil with the destroyed tack room

Effective mouse proofing....

Sent from my SM-A102U using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[FTG-05]

Adopt some cats. Mouse problem gone!

This. Hire it out to the professionals. I have no idea why people put up with rats and mice (and the snakes that are not far behind) vs. a couple cats. It boggles my mind. :tard:

 

[TractorJeff]

Effective mouse proofing....

What kind of "Mouser" is this?

 

[My Old Tools]

What kind of "Mouser" is this?

Texas Rat Snake (or black snake around here). Saw one in my front yard today heading into a flower bed. I just said "go buddy".