mice

Last summer, I discovered that we had a visitor in the gar^H^H^Hshop. Having never had mice in or around my house before, I was sort of amused by the furry grey visitor. It brought back fond memories of hamsters while growing up while carefully hiding all of the bad mice-related things that people often associate with them. My kids also thought it was cute and had lots of fun mouse-spotting while I was out there doing what we do.

Then one day, my 10 year old daughter was in the garage getting some bottled water for her lunch. While in the box, she disturbed the mouse, who freaked out, and flew out of the box. Mighty-mouse brushed by my daughter's cheek as it made its escape. That was the first nail in the coffin. My very intellegent, articulate, and rational daughter would no longer go into the garage without an adult. As a sensitive and caring father, I thought it was hilarious.

Then I made a horrible discovery of gargantuan proportions.

It's winter, and the heating situation in my garage isn't exactly ideal at the moment, leading me to limit my time out there. Also, I had been focusing on some other projects around the house as well as some unplanned auto maintenance. In short, I didn't realize that the mouse had somehow found its way up the dust collection hose and onto the surface of the table saw.

Did you know that mouse urine will etch a cast iron top? I now had dozens of little black spots scattered across the cast iron. The little f&*$@r had been using my table saw as an outhouse. I got out the 0000 steel wool, wd40, and johnson's paste wax, but to no avail. The rat has permanently autographed my table saw.

He had to die.

I went to the local borg to peruse the insecticide isle (about the only thing it's good for) in the hopes that they also had devices that could be used to rid my gar^H^H^Hshop of it's now unwelcome guest. They had all kinds of better-mousetrap type inventions. One could electrocute a mouse with 2 AA batteries. Yet another was designed to glue the mouse to a pad (yuk) where it would surely have the slow, painful death by starvation it deserves. Having never taken the life of any sort of mammal before, I consulted my coworkers before this moment. Being sensitive and caring coworkers, they thought it was hilarious. But suggested that the 98c pair of old fashioned victor mousetraps would be most effective.

On the way home from the borg, my 7 year old son, laughing, now obsessed with new and unique ways to kill mice, was suggesting all kinds of gruesome deaths. The most creative involved a frenchfry slicer and a vat of boiling grease. For a moment I considered his proposal. But I decided against it since it would ruin a perfectly good frenchfy slicer and frier.

Upon arriving home, I set the trap, baited with peanut butter. The next day, I returned to find, much to my horror, that the trap had been fired, but no dead mouse. Of course, all the peanut butter was gone. I felt robbed. So I reset the trap and tried a different location.

While talking with my coworkers, one of them made a truly frightening comment, "There's probably more than one of them." Could it be true? Did I indeed have multiple mice masquerading as one? We'll find out soon enough.

That night, around 9:30, the 6 and 7 year old boys snuck out of bed to check on the mousetrap. Success! But I didn't know it yet. My first indication that we had caught a mouse was the screams from my 14 year old daughter who suddenly found herself face-to-face with a dead mouse in a mousetrap. The boys thought she should have a close-up look at the remains and thoughtfully brought it to her. Being a sincere and caring father, I thought it was hilarious. My wife disagreed.

By this time, my three year old was showing some aprehension about walking through the garage. He can't say "Mickey Mouse", instead opting for the more humorous and oddly appropriate "Icky Mouse". A passing sarcastic comment by one of the older children caused him to associate the mouse in the garage with the Rat-King from Florida. "Icky Mouse all gone?" he would ask in a concerned tone. If only he new the reality.

Since that night, the bodycount had steadily increased:

Nasty mice with poor bathroom habits: 1 Pissed-off woodworker: 5

I even cought two at once. We'll see how many actually die before the bloodbath ends.

brian

Reply to
brianlanning
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This is kind of like my pest control buddy tells me about roaches. A good rule of thumb is that if you see one, there is a hundred in the walls you don't .

Are you sure they are actually mice, and not rats?

When we work on an old house I have seen it take months to get rid of every last critter in an old neighborhood. My pest control guy doesn't use the glue traps as the intended victims get away all too often. He uses the biggest Victor trap (affectionately called "the snapper") or a poisonous cake.

Problem with the cake is the rats/mice eat it and go die in the walls of the house. He has told me of times when he has set his snappers up and gone back to find them gone, no sign of anything but blood and struggle. This is usually when the intended vic gets a leg stuck and not his neck in the machinery.

The next best thing you can do after you get them all is find out how they got in. They will be back, you know.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Shop cat ... never fails.

Reply to
Swingman

"brianlanning" told a tall "tail" about shop mice.

And it was funny.

I know that many folks get upset about the original, organic mouse extermination device. It is called a cat.

We used to live across the street from some heavy duty organic types. The had four house cats that never went outside. And they stored grain in the basement for "emergencies".

A big rat dicovered this food warehouse and started shopping there regularly. They were super vegetarians and non violent. They kept trying to come up with ways to "humanely" convince the rat to shop elsewhere.

They asked us for advice. We said traps or cats. But they were horrified that their cats would experience some kind of blood lust frenzy and lay waste to the countryside or something. Total whackos.

Then one day, our cat was strolling by their house. The rat ran out and Buddy instantly killed it. He was very good at this sort of thing. He would often "contribute" to the family food stores by leaving various corpses on the back porch. Including the rat that was fattened with our neighbor's grain stores.

Our granola neighbors were so astounded that a "natuaral" solution was delivered to them by Momma Nature. They no longer had to deal with this pesky problem. And we got organic vegetables delivered to our house on a regular basis from then on. And the veggies were quite tasty too.

Anyhow, cats are good at this sort of thing. And have been for a long time. Kind of a traditional approach.

Reply to
Lee Michaels

Yeah, they're very small.

It's also a new house, less that 2 years old. I'm not sure how they're getting in, but I doubt I can stop it. Mice can squeeze through a 1/4" gap. They're only in the garage at the moment. I'm hoping I can get them all so that they're mostly gone, maybe leave a trap out all the time to get the new arrivals.

brian

Reply to
brianlanning

We had a cat once when we lived in indiana. We never fed it in the warm months. There was a field behind out house full of mice.

Problem is, I hate cats. Actually, I like cats, but I hate when they spray. And I hate catboxes. They're always in *my* bathroom. And there's always cat litter on the floor when I step out of the shower, wet, onto the tile floor.

I may break down and get one anyway if it gets out of hand. Just have to be sure that we don't end up with a useless cat.

brian

Reply to
brianlanning

My old cat could never figure out that he was supposed to catch and eat the mice. I caught one and gave it to him. He managed to play kitty hockey with it for about 20 minutes, and then lost it under the dryer. I tried live traps for a while, turning the varmints loose in the back yard, but they came back into the house. Out came the old fashioned snap traps which I didn't tell my daughter about, and now all of the mice are gone. robo hippy

Reply to
robo hippy

Damn city cats ... overweight, frenchified, watch too much TV, and probably gay to boot. You want a country cat, preferably barn raised.

Reply to
Swingman

"Damn city cats ... overweight, frenchified, watch too much TV, and probably gay to boot. You want a country cat, preferably barn raised. "

"Brokeback Barncats"?

Reply to
entfillet

Rodents are a complete pain in the rear in the shop. Unfortunately, I have a lot of these fuzzy visitors, since I own 10 acres of orange groves and my shop butts right up against the groves. I can't tell you how many times I've walked into the shop and turned on the lights, only to have a huge rat run across the floor, trying to find a way out.

Unfortunately, rodents gnaw and if left unchecked, can and will eat your woodpile, chew on your electrical cords, etc. I had one of the seats from my van stored in the garage for a couple weeks and when I put it back, I found that half the seat-belts had been chewed on. That's going to cost a bit to replace.

I've got poison traps out and they usually only last a couple days. Very rarely do I ever find a body, they probably die out in the fields and are eaten by other vermin, which hopefully pick up on the poison and likewise die.

Now just wait until you get possums in your shop. Those are fun. They've got attitudes. :)

Reply to
Brian Henderson

The only problem with using cats is that if the rodents are diseased or covered with mites, fleas and ticks, the cat can, and probably will pick it up. Vet bills are a bitch. So is replacing cats.

Reply to
Brian Henderson

Heh! That's my kitty, 'cept the part about TV. And I don't think she's gay, more of a southern belle type. Her name is Oblivia Suttherly, if that helps.

She has a deep abiding terror of strung beads ever since an alligator lizard found its way into my place.

er

Reply to
Enoch Root

Always had complete success with the little packets of poison, more certain than traps. They must love to tear them open... and you can drop them in discrete places where pets won't get to them.

Sometimes one will die in a wall or somewhere, that's a problem if it is damp there, otherwise it'll desiccate.

My understanding is they seek water after having eaten it, and it seems they mostly do leave the building before they die.

er

Reply to
Enoch Root

It's all bluster. Kick 'em in the face and they roll over.

[Their jaws aren't made for anything more strenuous than chewing bugs.]

er

Reply to
Enoch Root

Mon, Jan 30, 2006, 8:39am (EST-3) snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com (brianlanning) doth insanely say: Just have to be sure that we don't end up with a useless cat.

You haven't been here very long, have ya? There's no such thinkg as a useless cat. If it won't catch mice, you can always freeze it and use it as a push stick. Then get another cat. Repeat as necessary. Or, if you already have push sticks:

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only need two tools: WD-40, and duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40. If it moves and shouldn't, use the tape.

Reply to
J T

Brian, Last summer while on a fishing expidition SWBO and I had an encounter with a tribe of deer mice which had moved into the engine compartment of Our ancient Sierra 1/2 ton, building a nest in the plastic case which houses the fusibles with all the toilet rolls that had been getting torn up ( we were blaming chipmunks). Open the hood and mice would swarm everywhere .. seemed like about 5 generations, maybe a family reunion or sumpfin.

Being camped some 35 miles off the beaten track with no one else about, and not relishing the idea of a long hike to the highway if they should somehow manage to short out the wiring system I set up a plastic tub, about 12 in deep, filled 2/3 full of water. Then impaled an mt condensed milk can through with a wire fastening the wire ends to the opposite sides of the tub, allowing it to spin freely. Set up a flat stick as a runway up to one end of the wire. Smeared the can generously with peanut butter, and the first night 17 bodies were collected, 11 the next night, and then no more. Side benefit was in the day time watching the chipmunks doing the highdive while trying to clean off the peanut butter. For a while there we were catching more mice than walleye! Groggins.

Reply to
Groggins

I learned the peanut butter on a can trick at a remote lake in Ontario, Canada last summer. The Walleye love the mice! robo hippy

Reply to
robo hippy

Use a raisin instead. Press it down onto the bait pan, good and hard. They can't possibly get it off without springing the trap -- and IME the trap works

100% when baited with a raisin.
Reply to
Doug Miller

Our cat is a bird-destroying machine, but mice are simply mildly entertaining toys to her. The only reason she hangs around the compost bin at all is that it's a warm place to sleep, like the laser printer.

Reply to
Dave Balderstone

Or a piece of lightly cooked bacon tied on with cotton. Lasts for about 5 mice or 2 weeks, whichever comes first.

Reply to
Glenn

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