One Dead-Assed Mouse

[oldsman496]

Up untill this past march i lived in a house in the country. Each fall the mice would come in waves.... I worked in the garage constantly and the door was up most of the time, so the little bastards would just make themselves at home, under the workbench, behind cabinets, in the back of drawers.... Ya know that virtually all rodents are incontinent, that is to say that they pee as they walk around. this leaves a scent trail for them and others to follow around. It is also visible under a black light. I learned how to kill mice effectively. The D-con is a bad idea because they just crawl behind sumthin and then die and stink for weeks. The sticky mouse traps that they walk over and get stuck to also suck, because they don't kill 'em...and it gives them a chance to chew their own leg off and get away. They also will actually scream when they are thoroughly stuck to the glue and know they can't get away... that's kinda disturbing late at night.
The plain old spring loaded mouse trap is the best. its cheap and effective. a little daub of grape jelly was my favorite. Ya don't put much on the trap trigger though...get the wooden ones so the jelly will soak into the wood and they have to try and chew the wood to 'get it'... guaranteed to set the trap off and kill the little pests. Use a black light and look for where multiple trails come together at a doorway or someplace like that. I will say that a cat can be effective, but they seem to tire of mice after a while, unless you don't feed them and they use the mice as thier food source.........

And the number one pain about mice.... there's NEVER just one... there's a bunch. they are also fun to shoot with Co2 pistols, challenging and great shooting practice. use a laser sight.

[TheSilverBuick]

Similar to Beagle's friend's method without the psychotic episode afterwards is the bucket method. Get a bucket, a metal coat hanger, a yard stick and a soda or beer can. Run the coat hanger through the can so the can hangs in space around the middle of the bucket. Put some peanut butter on the can, then put water in the bucket and place it against a wall and the yard stick against the wall ramped up to the bucket. The mice run up the yard stick, fall into the bucket and drown.

At work, some mice got into one of the engineer's pop tarts and he committed genocide against the mice race. Caught 7 mice in one night. Since then the building has caught over 50 mice that way. I've been meaning to set a couple up around here and in the barn. There is actually a drowned mouse in the green coolant bucket next to my Pontiac engine I just removed. Managed to do that himself.

[Deaf Bob]

Family of possums took up residence in the "rabbit house" ( my wfe and daughter raised show bunnies) .. Never could catch them.. They BITE! Found that a bit of cat food in a garbage can (the 30 gallon size works good) a couple bales for access to the top, once they get in.. No getting out.. Dump them in a predug hole and whackamole them and cover

[Beagle]

yikes - I didn't say Friend, I said sick co-worker!

There's never just "one" ... I like peanut butter on a Victor rat or mouse trap, but I'm not trying to be humane. I want them dead quick, they squeal. You have to be careful with poison if you have squirrels and like them. I don't like squirrels, they cost a bunch of money, and they eat baby birds, so if they happen to eat the rodenticide, then they shouldn't have been in my attic.

Cats are helpful, but to be really good they have to be outside cats and damn near feral. Domesticated cats are too lazy unless they are bored, like has been mentioned.

[STINEY]

yikes - I didn't say Friend, I said sick co-worker!

There's never just "one" ... I like peanut butter on a Victor rat or mouse trap, but I'm not trying to be humane. I want them dead quick, they squeal. You have to be careful with poison if you have squirrels and like them. I don't like squirrels, they cost a bunch of money, and they eat baby birds, so if they happen to eat the rodenticide, then they shouldn't have been in my attic.

Cats are helpful, but to be really good they have to be outside cats and damn near feral. Domesticated cats are too lazy unless they are bored, like has been mentioned.

You nailed it Beags, obviously you know the drill!

Surrounded by farmland as I am, twice a year I have do go on the offensive. Spring when the ground gets tilled, and Fall when the crops come off - - I get 2 buckets of "TomCat" brand death pellets. And I seed down the whole homestead.

In the attic, in the basement, under the second floor floorboards, behind the freezer in the garage.

Then the barns. EVERY car gets one bag under the passenger seat, and usually one in the trunk as well. Leave the glove compartment door open, the little basturds love dark places. Then I just wander around an pretend I am chasing a mouse, and everywhere they would run to that I can't get to them quickly, I toss a bag in that spot.

The bags are ALWAYS empty in a couple of weeks. Darn near every one of them. I keep seeding the place down till the bags stay full, sometimes takes 3-4 times.

Anyone who thinks they have no mice are just deceiving themselves. Set some bait out and watch it disappear.......I'll lay $$ on it.

[milner351]

I prefer traps to poison - for the reasons mentioned above - you don't know where the go to die - and the will stink up the place and put you on a wild goose chase to find the stinking carcass to dispose of it. There's no way to keep them out of my barn (sliding doors don't seal well enough) Thankfully - we've not seen any evidence of them in the house.

Two biggest things - keep your food in containers - not the bags it came in - this goes for cornmeal, flower, dogfood, catfood, etc....

[TheSilverBuick]

At my old house I always kept 2 snap traps and 2 glue traps out and in six years living there I caught 5 or 6 mice. It took two months for the mouse bait to disappear from my garage at the new house. Over night for six trays to empty out in the barn =P And over night for one mouse to drown itself in a bucket of coolant next to an engine =P Maybe this weekend I'll actually get around to setting out all the bucket traps.

[dieselgeek]

At my old house I always kept 2 snap traps and 2 glue traps out and in six years living there I caught 5 or 6 mice. It took two months for the mouse bait to disappear from my garage at the new house. Over night for six trays to empty out in the barn =P And over night for one mouse to drown itself in a bucket of coolant next to an engine =P Maybe this weekend I'll actually get around to setting out all the bucket traps.

Do you use the Bucket-o-Death trap? It worked pretty good for me.

Stupid ex left a bag of birdseed out in the corner of my shop, I couldn't figure out why the mouse population was going nuts until I found this a few weeks back.

I caught a couple inside my house, fixed the hole they were using to get in, but with the Bucket-o-death I caught twenty one mice out in the shop in six days!! and must have gotten all of them, no traps have caught anything since then.

[DanStokes]

They taste like chicken, you know. I'm sure of it as cats LOVE chicken and also mice so mice must taste like chicken. Or maybe tuna.

Dan

[TheSilverBuick]

Do you use the Bucket-o-Death trap?

Easy way to decimate the rodent population.

[Caveman Tony]

what brand o death is preferred?

I'd vote for "Peak"... cuz "when you peak, you win"...

.... I crack myself up...

[STINEY]

I like TomCat.

It's decently priced, available locally, AND it seems to dehydrate the mice when they eat it. There will be a slight odor for a couple of days, then nothing but shriveled mummy-mice.

Plus its not strong enough to hurt your dog or cat. Dog won't even notice it, cat may be lethargic for a day or two, but no long term effects.

As a side note (From Experience & recommended by our vet late one night): If you catch your dog snacking down on poison of some kind, don't panic. The solution is simple and you probably have it in your kitchen.

Take a tablespoon of SALT and make the dog eat it. Just pin him down and dump it in his throat and hold his mouth shut until he swallows it. He will most likely give you the dirtiest look you've ever recieved from your best friend, but hey, he's the dope that ate poison.

Have plenty of water ready in a bowl for him. After his salt desert, he will go to the water and drink most of it. Have plenty ready. More dirty looks are probably in store for you at this point.

This is the fun part.

In just about 15 minutes, everything that he's eaten that day will magically reappear, along with the gallon of water he just guzzled. Lots of towels you don't care about throwing away are HIGHLY recommended. More dirty looks are likely - this isn't like your drunk college girlfriend who loves you for holding her hair up while she tosses in the toilet.

Fortunately most dogs will forgive you and forget it about 5 minutes afterwards. Enjoy a milkbiscuit with your recently saved best friend and tell them what a dumb dog they are!