Mouse Plague!! HELP

[Shanchick]

My white rock killed a sparrow! That was wild.

My cat caught a vole too this week.
I was wondering if the noise making mouse deterents would be at a frequency to bother the dog. Anybody seen any evidence of that?

 

[Miltonchix]

Sonic pest deterrent devices are a BIG waste of money.
They work just as well as all those "diet" pills.

 

[Zookeeper9000]

Well I have the mouse problem from He**. I have been trying to get them into traps all summer. This week I have had it. I got my daughter to let my grandpup Buckshot spend the week with me while I recover from my shoulder surgery.

He barks them into the trap LOL. He will stand by the cupboard, bark, bark and the next thing you hear is a snap dead mouse I dispose of the mouse and set the trap again. He has got 3 in 1 day. He would get more but I could only find one of my traps. So I am off to buy more of the traps that look like a big clothes pincher. Ya don't have to touch them to get rid of the mouse. Just squeeze and set it down and then pick it up and squeeze to get rid of the mouse. I love them.

Buckshot is a yorkie mix and he has always helped grandma when she needs him. If I am cleaning in an out building I make sure he is here as he will grab and kill any mice that runs. I just love that guy. Even when he sits in my flower bed LOL which he knows is a no no.

 

[Shanchick]

Go Buckshot!!! I hope your shoulder is better!

 

[Aisle12Farms]

I live with a teenage vegetarian "Oh mom, please don't kill it" young lady. We have begun to get a few mice in the barn and she knows that they have to go. She was so upset at the thought of us using sticky traps (they suffer too long), that she did some research for alternatives to rid the barn of mice. Here is what she discovered:

Garlic Spray
3 whole garlic bulbs (not individual cloves - the entire bulbs)
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups warm water
1 tablespoon liquid soap

Separate the cloves of garlic, but do not peel them. Chop in a food processor. Put the chopped garlic in a jar with the oil and let stand for 24 hours. Add the water and liquid soap. Store in the refrigerator in a glass jar. When ready to use the spray, strain the mixture and dilute with water (1/2 of the prepared concentrate to 1 quart of water). Spray on plants, and in/around the edges of buildings

Rodents are also repelled by peppermint oil, so peppermint essential oil can be applied to cotton balls and placed around the building.

Don't know how this will work, but I will be giving this (garlic) a try. At least it isn't harmful to the chickens, my cats, and humans.
Any comments on this would be wonderful to hear.

 

[jjthink]

I have used Mouse Magic by Bonide with success. It's an all natural mouse repellent (spearmint and peppermint oil) - I do not place it right in coop in case the smell would bother the birds but I place the MM packets nearby. Cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil reportedly also repel mice. Again, not too close to where the birds sleep as I don't know if the smell would bother them.

I also keep all food securely in metal containers with weights on top and every night sweep off the floor any food that spills out of their feed dishes. Every morsel. So essentially there is NO food out at night for the mice to be drawn to.

Hav-a-harts work well too, and when there were mice I relocated them at a forest/field edge no where near people's houses or outbuildings. I've only had a few mice at any time (tho most of the time there are none) because the other techniques noted above have kept the numbers very low..or nil.

One of my cats sometimes delivers a mouse from elsewhere on the property (Teddy will not go anywhere near the chickens!)- I don't actually like this as I know the mouse was utterly tortured by him. I take no pleasure in this.

Just my opinion, but I think glue traps are medieval torture (have seen the panic and torment of a critter stuck to them) and have had them removed from various state office buildings I've worked in over the years. (I replaced with hav-a-harts and personally monitored the traps and removed any mice they trapped). Glue traps can and have had unintended victims. Poison - just as cruel. And unintended victims are a definite worry, including our feathered friends.

Hope that some of the things I've found to work help you. I know it's a frustrating problem that can be confounding to resolve.
JJ

 

[Zookeeper9000]

Quote:
I went and got more traps and Buck had a ball. Within 3 days the traps were no longer snapping. I kept him an extra 3 days just to make sure LOL. He slept the first two pretty much no stop because he sure didn't rest when he was on the hunt. His Mom bragged him up and down at work, he is her only pupchild and she does not plan on having children at this point. That's ok by me ya can't ask for a better Grandpup.

And he is not as sassy as the 2 grandchildren LOL.

Shoulder is doing great, thanks, I am sure glad I got that done. Now for the knee as soon as the shoulder is done healing and I can use the crutches with it.

 

[Zookeeper9000]

Quote:
This year has been a horriable year for mice all over. From what the feedmill are saying they can't keep the items need to control mice in stock.

Thanks for the info on the oils as a preventive. I sure like that idea over trapping. I will be trying that.

Just some quick ?'s. How long before you replace the cotton balls with peppermint oil on them. I am thinking they don't last forever.
Same ? with the mouse magic. And where would I find this stuff as I have never seen mouse magic, I would think I can get the peppermint oil online or at the health food store. Thanks

 

[Suess hens]

We have mice it seems everywhere around here. We had them move in under our house and we could hear them starting to get into the wall in the bathroom and then I found mouse droppings in my pantry. We used the Victor mouse traps, they are gone! I remember the first two days each one caught at least 2, some more. We used 4 of them in strategic places. and by the end of a week, no more signs, no more noises, and the traps are still open and waiting.
I have a mouse family out in the garden, near the coop. I know they aren't in the coop because I am out there once a week turning and pulling out litter in the coop. But I have found them living in the compost pile (before it all went to dirt) and in the old telephone poles we have. I think our yard just provides them somewhere to burrow. I have my feeder up, food sealed away.

 

[PassthePeace1]

I echo the suggestions on getting a cat or two that is a good mouser.