Every winter the field mice take up residence in my house and garage. I set traps and eventually, when warm weather arrives again, the mice leave.
I am tired of setting traps, and even though they do work, up to a point, they leave a lot to be desired. I was wondering if those electronic pest control machines they have on the market work on mice?
Anyone ever have any good results using these electronic pest control machines?
About ten years ago I worked for a defense contractor that did performance-based contracts. (The gov't says "we need a product than can keep a dozen eggs fresh for a week," and you invent and provide the product.)
One of the contracts we filled was to replace the electronic rodent control devices with something else - something that worked. I was assigned to "install" the new product - house cats! This was a large military facility, so plenty of fields and such for the cats to go poo and nobody around to be bothered by them, so it ended up working out well.
When I arrived to install the product, the guy in charge said the electronic devices not only didn't work, they gave some of his guys headaches. (You could actually hear them.)
I am very aware that cats are great for catching mice outside and my neighborhood is loaded with them. However, I am not overly fond of cats and would almost prefer the mice as to having cats tearing up and stinking up my house.
Thanks anyway.
Bitch, bitch, bitch....
It appears you don't know cats well, but we won't hold your ignorance against you. :-)
I suggest some of the poison bat. You don't even need to remove it from the package, just make sure you put it in the areas where they will be traveling. Winter or not, they need food and water.
Down side is if they die in some enclosed area there may be a wee bit of odor while they rot away. I have never had this problem, but I would tend to believe it is a weather related issue. If they desiccate there should be no problem.
Frankly not all cats are very good at this game. I once watched as a mouse ran across 20 foot of kitchen counter to my cat's food bowl, removed some food and returned. The cat was sitting on my lap about three foot from the food bowl and just watched the mouse all the time. I moved the frig (the mouse had returned by going between the frig and the counter) and replaced it with a tall trash can. When the mouse next returned I chased it back, it jumped right into the can, which was about 8 inches taller than it could jump. On less mouse. A few glue traps and a second mouse was caught. That one was cleaned up and became a pet from my daughter for the next couple of years. She is now grown and a zoo keeper.
I have heard mostly negative comments about the electronic pest devices. Your best bet is a feisty cat. I've had good results with poison. Sometimes in a city environment they will set up a poison station free of charge.
In article , snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net says... :) I am tired of setting traps, and even though they do work, up to a point, :) they leave a lot to be desired. I was wondering if those electronic pest :) control machines they have on the market work on mice? :) :) :) The sonic deterrents will not work as you want.
Mice have a small home range. The ones getting in your home have been living rather close to the house this Summer. Make sure there is no debris or even tall grass near the home through out the year. Baits with a seed base will be effective on mice, but there is more of a chance with them dying inside than with rats due to their small range. Placing protected bait stations on the property outside in Summer will help reduce the numbers to deal with when Winter comes.
I had problems with mice once. I searched until I found where they were getting in. Once that was blocked, the mouse problem went away. Don't make the mistake of thinking that a hole is too small for them to get through, it is quite amazing what they can squeeze through. When you block the hole (I had to replace the wood door frame completely), make darn sure that they can't chew through easily.
Cats. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Replace small nuisances with large nuisances. Then his next post will be to rec.garden about 'how do I stop a cat from crapping in my garden?'
Only cat owners think this. Those who visit cat owners know different. It's like when I stopped smoking and suddenly realized how horrible I and my home must have smelled to everyone else... but I didn't believe it. At an organization I attend I sat beside someone with cats last Monday evening... I finally had to move, the stink and dander were so bad. I live in the country on a farm and the smell of cats still repulsed me. Unfortunately for me, I moved next to a smoker.
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message news:Yc6Id.5588$ snipped-for-privacy@fe1.columbus.rr.com...
Believe it or not... cats are not natural mousers. They learn this behavior, or so I am told. The most important thing to do to stop the little buggers is to remove food (bait) and living conditions. Plug even the tiniest of holes and STOP leaving food, especially PET food sit around. Rodents absolutely love pet food. Why on earth would people get animals to keep out other animals and then leave food sit around to feed the animals that invites even more of the animals the other animals are there (stinking up the house) to catch? It's probably not a good idea to leave a pan of feces and urine sit in the corner either. Despite popular belief, animal waste in any form invites more animal waste. We live on a farm and every fall the ritual would start about the time the plowing starts (right before the first predicted severe cold snap) the little buggers start popping up. This year I told the Mrs that we were going to start keeping the dog food (he lives outside where animals belong, too) in a garbage can with a lid that seals TIGHT. It's only a little surprising that we've lost even the last little bother by the rodents. Last summer we sat out in the back yard watching a stray barn rat running around the corner of the dog's house grabbing a chunk of his food and scurrying away with it, then returning two minutes later for another and another and another. Dammed dog gave cattle hell if they got loose and could drag his house behind him if another dog came anywhere near the place, but he just laid there and watched the rat. By the way, bird shot is a great way to shoot rodents as they scurry away with dog food as the shells can't ricochet and you don't have to be an expert marksman to nail the quick sob's cause they spray the BB's. Poisoning the little bastards is a good idea, but do it outdoors as the dead ones turn up in the oddest places at the worst times indoors. If there isn't anything for them to eat inside they will eat the stuff around the outside. And do not spare dollars on the poison, the cheap stuff (and even the expensive name brand stuff in the box) is actually making the situation worse as they are becoming resistant to it. Look for one that says 'even kills warfaran resistant ones' and then get the very strongest version of it they have (get one that says dead appear in hours or a day NOT days plural). Rodents can have babies so fast that if they eat the stuff that takes days to kill they can have the babies first and the babies are now tolerant. Go to somewhere like Tractor Supply Company (TSC) and get the stuff called Rampage and tuck it in and under concealed areas around the home, garage, sheds and outbuildings such as the ones rodents like to travel in. Rampage is non resistance forming and kills in hours. The rodents will die outdoors and if you're lucky a few cats will gnaw on the rodents just before they die. In short, get rid of entrances for animals, anything animals want to eat, get all animals out of the house, poison them in a large way once they're out there.
The question was not about cats!
The question was not about cats nor your lid.
They don't mention that the brewery had 200,000 mice during that period.
Your problem rest in small openings.
Most rodents that can put there head through an opening can also put their whole body through... I'm talking about small mice here...not giraffe, cats, or tiny buffaloes. :-)
What Andrew Neilson said is right... fix the "small hole" problem and the mice will vanish.
Good luck, Dave
The beer used to have an unusually pleasing shade of yellow, too.
I've recently had my mouse battle, and it looks like round II is about to begin.
Found mouse droppings in the kitchen, could hear them in the wall at night.
Found their food source: Grass seed in the garage. In fact, one of the little bastards ran out of the grass seed bag when I grabbed it.
So first, I got rid of all the seed.
Then I bought some of the electronic gizmos, as well as some catch and release traps.
(Yeah, I'm a pussy, I know - but even though I hate rodents, I don't see any reason to make them suffer - that is - AT THAT TIME I didn't.)
Electronic gizmos didnt work. Catch and release traps didnt work. In fact, the mice decided to make a game of it, and would crawl to the back of the trap, eat all the bait (peanut butter) and move on.
Finally went with the standard old traps. Set up 4 traps in the kitchen, coated the paddles with PB.
Little bastards were VERY good at licking the PB off without setting the trap off..... found this every morning for a week.
So I would laugh, and proclaim loudly: "HA! So, you want to play games, do you, my little mousey friends!!! Very well then, lets play - I've got the time!"
And each day I would rebait the traps.
Over time, the luck ran out for each mouse (2).
But yesterday I saw another mouse outside my house, on my patio.
And as I watched it scurry around - I rubbed my hands together, and laughed: MUAAHHHAHHAHAAHH.
You may be right. I only have visitors who a) own cats, or b) don't mention it.
If you don't smoke, what do you use to cover the smell?
It must be hell to be you.
Well, it should have been. And my answer definitely was. Heck, man, the Egyptians thought cats were gods because the cats kept the granary mice under control. Without cats, the Egyptians would have starved! Although some believe Joseph may have had something to do with avoiding famine.
Tommorrow we will learn new things about cats.
For homework, study how the superstious killing of cats in the middle ages caused rats to multiply and with them, the fleas that carried Bubonic Plague.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.