Getting Rid of Mice in Basement

[Lar]

Most of the newer generation of anticoagulants are made to be for multiple feeding before death. Not so much for mice, but rats are known to of eaten baits, but not enough for a lethal dose to occur and the sick rat can learn what food made it sick. If it takes several days for the effect, it is unable to associate what made it sick, along with more of a probability that it has taken in a lethal dose of the product. Buying from a pest supply house is not going to give you stronger toxin, but the baits they sale are going to be made more for the rodents taste. The rodents have to eat it if a bait is going to kill it.

Lar

[Larry and a Cat named Dub]

[Larry and a Cat named Dub]

[mm]

Does this mean that they didn't die from it? How long does it take for this stuff to kill a mouse, and do they carry it back to their nest before or after they eat it?

[Lar]

Most cause death 4-5 days after consumption. The D-con type pellets are easily carried away, with the bait blocks and meal baits they tend to eat it where they find it.

Lar

[Cabinets Galore]

had my engine cleaned one time and the mechanic found LIVE mice living in there. they chewed up the head gaskets for bedding. hence why my engine needed cleaning.

[Norminn]

They, and other critters, are looking for food, water, shelter. A cardboard box of old clothes is a mouse mansion. :o) A bowl of dog food is enough to feed the colony. Mousetrap with peanut butter should get the occasional intruder. If you have had more snow than usual, they may just have gotten in out of desperation. Come spring, look for little gaps in exterior that they might squeeze through.

[C & E]

After going thru several large boxes of the stuff I figured that they were either immune, had a colony of hundreds or decided that this was like canned peaches which they would save for times when the natural food sources were covered with snow. After finding the pellets in our bed and on a high shelf at our cabin I wnt to the traps. Three mice later I didn't have another infestation for a couple of months, caught two more a couple weeks ago so we'll see how long that lasts. Traps... **get traps**!!!

[Doug Miller]

How long? Too damn long. That's why you should use spring traps: they kill in an instant.

[Michael B]

[hallerb]

A friends basement STANK he had used poision, he now uses traps.

I have used a live trap, and released them outdoors. nearly all survived the elderly grey hair ones didnt do so well.

I had stupidly had a 50 pound sack of sunflower seeds in basement for bird feeding. 10 years later I was still finding seed shells in wall cavities.

When remodeling kitchen I put cement around all flooir openings like gas line, the mice use those tiny holes as runways

[Steve B]

I use Victor Tin Cats, about fifteen bucks each. They are a simple trap that catches the mice live. It has no springs to set. It is about as big as a cigar box. Available at any hardware store. They work good, just check and empty them every couple of days. Smear some peanut butter around in them, and once there's one mouse in there, the others come to join the party. It has a simple one way door. Easy to clean, never wear out, nothing to set.

Steve

[Steve B]

A picture of the Victor Tin Cat.

[HeyBub]

Any box shop. Ask for a "Dark Bulb," the kind that when you turn it on, dark comes out.

[mm]

So this means it's possible they carry the portable bait to their nest, but still eat it and die later.

Oooo :(

I have this too. and this is my big question, the part I don't get. They tell me mice reproduce quickly, so how come if I kill two or three, or even if I just straigten up the house, they disappear for months at a time? Did I scare them away. Are they hiding and eating food they stockpiled, or getting hungry. I thought they had to eat every day or two.

For a couple weeks I would hear what were probably footstep in the ceiling of my kitchen, but that stopped months ago. Did they not have any babies?

Another time I seemed to have none for 18 months, so was I reinfested or was I just not paying attention?

How come it SEEMS so easy to get rid of them.

[mm]

Not an instant I don't think. At least not all the time. Way back in Brooklyn 24+ years ago, We had mice for a year out of the 12 I was there, and one night I was still awake when the snap trap snapped. I heard him whining for about 6 seconds before he shut up. 6 seconds isn't that long though. My roommate said traps were cruel and we should use a cat, but months later it occurred to me that cats really torment mice before they kill them. If a mousee can feel fear at all, he must be scared when the cat is holding him and taking him to the kittens etc.

Even the silence after 6 seconds doesn't mean he was dead yet, because in the glue traps they struggle for a while and then become still for a long time. But if I touch the glue trap, they start struggling again.

[mm]

Isn't all but a millimeter or less of the head gasket tightly clamped between two slabs of steel?

>

[Malcolm Hoar]

Perhaps, because when you find evidence of mice and set traps or whatever, you're also careful to eliminate accessible food sources?

I know that when I've had ants in the house, I'm really careful about food storage, crumbs on the floor etc. for several months after that.

[Lar]

I have a handful of customers that have the "Rat-Zapper" Impressed me enough to want to sell them myself, but they are pricey to begin with so don't think they would be worth what I would have to charge to be profitable to handle.

Lar

[Lar]

Under perfect conditions, a female may breed 45-60 days from being born. Gestation is around 20 days, a litter of a healthy mouse during peak breeding age is 10-12 pups. She is ready to breed again 48 hours of having her litter. So if half the litter is female that will be ready to breed in 5-6 weeks. By the time first litter came of age to start breeding themselves mama mouse could of already had another litter and a third on the way.

Part of the perfect condition would be a moussy(moussie?) world with no predators. Most people are surprised to the amount of snakes that are in any given area along with pet cats, ferrel cats, rats, owls, etc. all feeding on the lower rungs of the food chain. Mice are also territorial. Amount of available food may determine what populations you will see. If there is not food to share with the kiddos they will be chased off to find their own territory. The live catch & then go release elsewhere is more of a feel good for the human doing the trapping. Chances are the released mouse has gone through a couple of hard days of fighting for their lives before dieing.

Lar