OT - Mice in attic, solution?

[awp101]

Earlier this year I found evidence of a mouse in my garage. I figured it made it's way in over the winter when our garage door wouldn't go all the way down. Something got out of kilter and it would stop an inch or so from the ground and it was about a week before I could get it sorted out.

A couple of weeks ago I went out to the garage early in the morning and when I turned the light on I heard a commotion on the other side of the garage. Where the gas line goes into the attic I saw a tail wiggling. Well, the same thing happened this morning. Great.

I'm pretty sure it/they are going for the dog food so I'm going to get a container for it like I have for the cat food. I figure once the food source is gone (or at least reduced) they'll move on. In case they don't I need back up plans.

I've got some of that expanding foam so I'll shoot it into the opening where I saw the tail wiggling, I'll go get some traps to place around the garage and in the attic and probably some poison.

Are those D-Con bait traps (or whatever they are) any good? Any suggestions for an effective poison?

Thanks!

[ndcowboy]

We have a lot of problems with mice here on the ranch. Keep in mind if you poison them inside, they will probably die inside and then they will smell. We use traps inside and poison outside.

[bdhold]

peanut butter for bait on the big sticky glue traps.

[Borregos]

awp101, I had a similar problem last year, here is a link to the thread:

http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... hilit=mice

[fordwannabe]

quit feeding the cat!!!!

[Old Time Hunter]

Try this, at least it works in my boat, toss moth balls all over the place in the attic. I throw them in the cabin and under the tarp of my boat when I park it for the winter(pretty soon!) and have never had trouble with either squirrels or rodents. Tried it in my roof space at my cabin up north also, 'bout two years ago, never have evidence of the critters again. Threw them down into a yellowjacket nest in the ground, by the next day the buggers had cleared out. Must be some good stuff!

I posted this back in Sept of '09.

Be careful not to over due it as they can affect humans when too, but like I said, my cabin up north is now rodent free... in the attic.

[awp101]

Thanks guys! I didn't even think about the search function. Not enough coffee yet...

Looks like the glue traps and PB are the thing to do. The Coke idea from the other thread is worth a shot too. I'd try the mothballs but my wife has a super sensitive nose and she complains about enough smells as it is.

quit feeding the cat!!!!

5 cats and 1 dog that I consider my kids since I don't have any of my own so that's not an option.

[Modoc ED]

D-Con works great. Just make sure that children and pets can't get to it.

We've got a couple of outdoor cats around the place. Since we've had them we haven't had any mice we're aware of.

[adirondakjack]

We get a few every fall, as the deer mice find a place to winter. The like the dry food in the kitchen, pasta etc. They are saavy enough to steal bait from common traps, but ya just gotta be smarter than the mouse. Wrap a bit of aluminum foil around the trigger of the trap with peanut butter inside. Deadly every time.

Now I was just informed I have a chipmunk who has gotten in the attic by making his way inside the corner piece of the vinyl siding. The neighbor who saw it is a contractor, and claims coarse steel wool backed by a shot of that foam stuff makes a barrier they can't get through.

In my shop I am sometimes visited by a red squirrel. I just tell him to hit the road and he leaves. I dunno how he gets in.....

[Terry Murbach]

WE HAVE HAD NO MICE SINCE PISTOL THE SCOTTY DOG TOOK UP RESIDENCE HERE WITH US IN THE NORTH COUNTRY.
SCOTTY'S WERE BRED TO BE RATTERS AND MOUSERS AND YOU CANNOT BELIEVE HOW GOOD THEY ARE UNTIL YOU SEE ONE IN ACTION. THEY CATCH 'EM, BREAK THEIR BACK, THEN PROCEED TO BREAK EVERY BONE IN THEIR BODY UNTIL THEY'RE A BAG OF GOO. THEY THEN SPIT IT OUT ABOUT TEN FEET AND STRUT AROUND LIKE A WINNING GLADIATOR. THEY MAKE A CAT LOOK DECREPIT IN COMPARISON. IT IS AMAZING TO SEE, GUYS !!!!
SCOTTYS ARE LOVELY DOGS IN EVERY ASPECT.

[awp101]

Hank the Border Collie mix would give them the what for if they were outside. He's managed to catch a cottontail this year and one of these days one of the local squirrels is going to be a step slow in their taunting.

The cats would just play with the mice until they didn't move anymore and then bring me a "present". At least the ones that aren't afraid of mice would...

[adirondakjack]

I think a mouse could walk ON my dog and he wouldn't care. Now a squirrel, he'd tried to climb tree to get em.....

[bdhold]

I had an elkhound that was an amazing mouse catcher - and squirrel catcher and bird catcher.
Many days I would open the back door to find an offering laid out for my approval on the deck.

my boxer, on the other hand, fast as lightning, and there is a rabbit living in the fenced acre with him.

[L_Kilkenny]

We have a horrid problem with mice and rats around the farm. Our farmhouse is 130 years old and no matter how well I think it's sealed up they get in. It's a constant battle to keep up on it and if I let up for a second it's a fight to get em back under control. In the house we use .......

Glue traps. Very effective if you can get them blocked along their travel routes so they have to go over them.

Good old fashioned snap traps. We bait with american cheese or peanut butter. I have better luck with the cheese. This is hands down the best way to get mice under control fast. But it takes effort and I'll treat it like I'm running a trapline again. Checking a few times a day.

Poison: Works well but we try to limit it use in the house during winter. A dead smelly rodent is better than a live rodent! Avoid pets at all cost. If any doubt, DON'T USE.

Home made bucket traps. Take a 5 gal bucket and drill 2 - 1/2" holes 1" down from top, 1 on each side. Now take a plastic pop bottle with the lid and drill one whole in the lid and one in the bottom. Next you take a 3/8" dowel and run it thru the holes so that the pop bottle is suspended and centered over bucket. Smear peanut butter all over the bottle on all sides and fill the bucket with 4-6" of water or RV anti-freeze (winter). Make sure to set it next to a pile of wood or shelf so the mice can get to the top. Mice jump on bottle to get bait, bottle spins dumping the mice in the water where they can't get out and drown. Works for weeks and is great for winterizing cabins, in outbuildings, in cellars and attics.

Lastly is just a plain bucket with some water in the bottom. During August when things get real dry I'll set some buckets around with water. Rats jump in and can't get back out.

LK

[2ndovc]

D-Con works great. Just make sure that children and pets can't get to it.

We've got a couple of outdoor cats around the place. Since we've had them we haven't had any mice we're aware of.

That stuff works but with all the animals I wouldn't use it. The mice eat the poison then the cat or dog eat/ play/ chew on the dead mouse. Not good.

My Dad used to dump that stuff all over our cabin. I'm still finding empty containers when i get into things.
Been outlawed around my house. I could never live with myself if one of the dogs got into it!

jb

[brno602]

Is your garage part of the house or seperate detatched garage?
If detatched just start up the old pickup or as in my case 70 GTO and let it run for 10 mins after closing all doors hold breath run in shut off car, aka American muscle car. All mice will be dead lol.
I had no food in the garage but the mice were so bad flip the light switch and watch them run.
I ran the car until it also ran out of breath started loping on me ran in shut her off I do this once a year to make sure
Have not had a mouse problem since then. The little buggers even stole hood insulation to make nests with.
I hate mice!!!

[soon 2 retire]

I know several people who have used a repeating homemade mouse trap and swear by it. Here's a link to plans in backwoodshome.com


http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/easterly110.html


Bob in NE Indiana

[lthardman]

D-Con works great, but be very, very careful where you put it and remember it may move. At my cabin, I put out D-con in the fall. The mice get into it and actually carry it to various places to make a little stash for themselves. Then, they die. But, the stash remains and your pets can get into it. So, be careful.

[J Miller]

We have lost two of our cats to other peoples poisoned rodents. One of them was the area mouser. He was always catching and killing them. One day we found him in the bushes fighting for air. I told my wife he had been poisoned. The vet confirmed it.
Somehow the vet pulled him through.

About a year ago some human monster moved into the neighborhood and started trapping and poisoning everything that walks. Cats, coons, possums, dogs, it didn't matter.
We had one cat disappear and another one came down with the same poison symptoms the first cat did. We couldn't save her.
We were told this monster was lacing hamburger with poison and leaving it out for the animal. She (it) moved out not long after another neighbor confronted her on her front porch then called the law on her.

The first cat came up with congestive heart failure not a month later. Due to the symptoms we are fairly sure it was heart damage from the bought of poison.

So count me in with those who say we will not use poison. Traps like those described here, yes.

Joe

[Kansas Ed]

When I was a kid, Grandpa and I walked out to the grain shed by the barn. I spied a small bucket half full of oats laying on the floor, with a board ramped up the side from the floor. He grinned and told me it was his "mouse trap". Even though the bucket looked half full of oats, it was really half full of water, with a couple of cups of oats floating on top. He picked up the bucket and tossed the contents into the barn yard...the bottom of the bucket was covered with dead mice.

Ed

[Beaker]

For a mouse use a .38spl. There's no way a puny .30-30 could kill a mouse.

[pokey]

lots "o" rodents, for mice this is the best trap i've ever used.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/inde ... =109363792

i don't know what you can do with them when you catch them [live trap], but my dogs think they are
the best squeeky toys ever though.

[Ysabel Kid]

Low-yield neutron bomb. That way it won't mess up your house!

Oops - thought I was OI for a second!

[Tycer]

Black Snake.

I like the bucket idea though. Fresh, slightly fried bacon is killer bait. (HT Yance)

[awp101]

Hmmm, bucket, oats, water...that's the best use I can think of for oatmeal!

I think it's going to be a combination of traps w/PB, glue traps, buckets and the Coke trick. Between the 4 that should be enough variety to keep them from getting wise and it creates backups. Just because the traps are full doesn't mean the others can't be taken out as well.

Low-yield neutron bomb. That way it won't mess up your house!

Oops - thought I was OI for a second!

I like the way you think.... My first thought was the BL22, some shot shells and a flashlight attached somehow.

[BJ Snow]

A tablespoon of peanut butter w/ an Alka-seltzer tablet crumbled up in it. I sat them out on paper plates. It takes a couple of days while they check it out and decide that it's safe. The exterminator company couldn't do anything with the rats my back yard was infested with. The county health dept. wouldn't try, private property. In fact they were the cause of my problem. When they poisoned the sewer system in the neighborhood, the rats migrated to my yard. Dry dog food contains an antidote to rat poison.
When the rats decide the bait is ok, and eat it, they die. Rats can't belch or fanny burp, so they explode internally.I hauled two plus wheelbarrows FULL of dead rats to the curb for the trash truck to haul off. Some of them were the size of a football.
I once dropped a 14-15 pound tomcat in the bushes where the warrens were, when I came back 1/2 hr or so later, the cat was dead.
I learned about this on the learning channel, the CDC advised NY City to use this method to help with their rat problem.
By the way, I'm just supposing it will work on mice as well as it does on rats. They aren't that different, are they?
GBA,
BJS

[Pete44ru]

Put one of your cats in the garage each night, and there will quickly be NP.

.

[Mokwaw]

Every winter we have mice moving in from the fields around the house. Gave up on D-con stuff long time ago. Man at the local hardware suggested stuff called Rat-Max, it works really good and the best part is we don't have the dead mouse smell. Easy to use, small pellets inside a sealed bag, just open the bag a put where you think mice are running. Package warning says keep away from pets, children and wash hands good after handling.

[rjohns94]

last year, I had a problem such as this. They came into the garage and made it somehow up to the area over the garage and then into the space above the ceilings and below the roof. I set up 6 traps, baited with peanut butter and checked every day for several weeks. I took 7 out of the attack and haven't had another since. The last two took a week or so each to get. I have seen no evidence, nor heard any noise to suggest that I have any others there. What brought them into the garage was a bag of bird seed that was left over from that bad idea!! I took several in the garage, total of a dozen from both places. They just go crazy over creamy peanut butter.

[RIHMFIRE]

invite jmiller over and tell him to bring his cats!

[awp101]

Well, last night I set out some glue traps and a combo glue/snap trap from D-Con. Based on the size of the two I saw Friday evening I figured the traps were a bit small but I thought it was worth a chance.

This morning the combo traps were still set and 3 of the 4 glue traps were moved.

I hate to break this to them, but I have a passel of .22s, some shot shells, .22 Shorts and a bad attitude now. I'm going to do a sound check later and if it's not bad, I'm going hunting.

This ain't Mouse Hunt and I ain't Christopher Walken...


Right now, it's more like Judge Dredd

[jeepnik]

Well now, dogs and cats do work. I have a friend with a unique solution. Whitey, an albino ball python. Can't really say the snake has done anything, as it has never been in his attic, but he has never had any mice or rats in his house. I wonder if rodents can smell snakes?

[Old Ironsights]

Mice in attic, solution?... Solution, Ferrets in Attic. (Cats in attic are not as effective...)

[FWiedner]

When I have a rodent problem, I poison and trap, and hard.

It's a shame that people don't keep better track of their pets, but I don't want their little darlings on my property any more than I do the rats and mice.

The un-cared for and wandering pets are pests that do just as much damage as the rodents.

[awp101]

Didn't get a chance to do a sound check Sunday. Before I do, I figured I'd better ask...what are the chances of a .22 shotshell penetrating drywall?

[44shooter]

I don't about the 12 shot that the .22's use, but 9 shot out of a CCI 44 shotshell is not sheetrock friendly. I put a Vaquero to use against a mouse in my garage about a year and a half ago.

[piller]

My Grandmother used to use a cold can of Coca Cola in the chicken coop to get rid of rats and mice. She would pour it into a saucer and come back about 30 minutes later and the mice and rats would be swollen up and she would use a broom and sweep them out to the dogs. The dogs and cats were afraid to go into the chicken coop. If they did and the chickens didn't whip them, the .22lr would. Those chickens were for egg laying and human consumption.