antifreeze vs mouse poison

JetMech wrote: I'm not sure if eating a mouse that drank antifreeze will harm a cat, but I wouldn't chance it. I live in an apartment complex with stray cats, and every time I add coolant, I clean any spills thoroughly. Also, with cold weather coming on, I'd advise everyone to check underhood before starting the car--cats sometimes like to crawl into a nice warm engine compartment to sleep.

Had this happen to one of our cats close to 20 years ago now. It got out climbed up in the car. The step-mother went to go on an errand. Started the car and I heard the cat from inside the house. The cat turned out to be fine, but it was lucky it had no hair in a nice spiral pattern all down its body.

Dr. Hess wrote: The big yellow plastic flapper kind work well too. A dab of peanut butter works wonders.

Coincidentally, I have a mouse problem at home right now too. He/she seems to have taken a liking to the drawers in our cabinet drawers in the kitchen (poop is the telltale sign) so I have a few of the traditional traps with the big yellow plastic flappers on them. The traps seem to be pretty hair triggered too, based on testing them with a pencil. Trouble is, even with peanut butter on one and a raisin on the other, the damn mouse is able to get the PB and raisin off the trap without tripping it! I hate to resort to poison for the exact reason you suggested (they slink off and die someone and then stink), but am flummoxed at this point. I've never fought rodents before.

Any suggestions?

A black snake works wonders, and lives in my crawlspace currently.

Place the trap so that the mouse can only get to the trigger from the front. Up against a corner, hanging over a ledge, etc. Then they have to go to the bait from the front, or maybe form the front side. I've had better luck with the plastic flapper type. Just a small dab of peanut butter in the middle of the yellow flapper. They seem to try to climb up the flapper to get to it. If they have the flapper figgered out, then get the steel conventional trigger kind, do a trigger job on it, cut a small cube of potato, jam it on the trigger, add a dab of peanut butter, then set it as above.

I live in the woods. Rodent control is a constant thing. I've got some mice in my shop right now. I've killed 2 in the past 3 days.

Umm, shotgun works well too, but is kinda messy. I've also found that a Ruger Blackhawk in 45 caliber is the ideal "Mouse Gun" when used with a western style quick draw holster, but you have to hunt them outdoors. Kinda hard on the pelts, though.

You don't want to poison them, dead things dropping over in a place you can't get to tends to smell a bit.

I'm told if yo catch one, you will catch five. Thery're real family types.

Dan

Irish spring soap shavings on pie plates in the car and mothballs under it will usually keep them out of the car without stinking it up.

If she has cats maybe you want to add a doggy-door to the coop and introduce said cats to aforementioned mice. When the two get together it's not the cat I'd be worried about dying, and what self-respecting cat is going to eat a dead mouse when it can catch live ones?

Dr. Hess wrote: Place the trap so that the mouse can only get to the trigger from the front. Up against a corner, hanging over a ledge, etc. Then they have to go to the bait from the front, or maybe form the front side. I've had better luck with the plastic flapper type. Just a small dab of peanut butter in the middle of the yellow flapper. They seem to try to climb up the flapper to get to it. If they have the flapper figgered out, then get the steel conventional trigger kind, do a trigger job on it, cut a small cube of potato, jam it on the trigger, add a dab of peanut butter, then set it as above.

Gotcha. I will position the traps better tonight and see what happens! Thanks!!

Many odd methods of killing mice:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=366

The anit-vitamin K stuff is what killed one of our dog

Regarding antifreeze:

If some of you (not neccessarily the op) think antifreeze poisoning is funny, you've never seen an animal die from it. It is a long, horrible, agonizing way for an animal to die.

If you're the sick-berkeley dahmer type who gets off on animals (any animals) dying a slow, painful, miserable death, antifreeze is the natural choice.

that I did not know.

poopshovel wrote: Regarding antifreeze: If some of you (not neccessarily the op) think antifreeze poisoning is funny, you've never seen an animal die from it. It is a long, horrible, agonizing way for an animal to die. If you're the sick-berkeley dahmer type who gets off on animals (any animals) dying a slow, painful, miserable death, antifreeze is the natural choice.

Right. The only humane way is the spring type trap. Also, my buddy managed a few headshots with a bb gun = instant death. Im not all about making anything suffer. (Except maybe child molesters...)

Joey

Please don't poison. We lost a cat to that.

Cats are great mouse-killers, but they need access. There are also cat-friendly mouse traps at most hardware stores.

I'm all for the cat. If your neighbor doesn't want theirs in the garage, get your own. I have one I'll loan ya.

mad_machine wrote: I rent a garage that is part of a converted chicken coop. Because of this, it has a bad mouse problem. I do not want to use traps as my work scheadule can see me days between visits, but I cannot use poison because the landlady has cats that roam free during the day.

Do the cats have access to the garage and the rest of the building during the times they're outside? If not, see if you can make that happen. That would take care of the mice.

If they already have easy access then the cats just aren't doing their jobs.

If the cats aren't eating them you need to get some better tasting mice. Maybe smear some peanut butter on them.