Finally, Progress in the War on Rodents

Dear Mom,

The enemy is clever, quiet and stealthy. Their traditional area of activity around the middle of the eastern side of our abode has started to overreach into the west. Armed with all kinds of modern implements of destruction we attempted to push them back. But we were on their turf. They knew how to use the terrain.

But now, we hope, the tide has turned. This past weekend we discovered the covert path the enemy has been exploiting to replenish their provisions. We turned to primitive glue traps, strategically placed at choke points. With this new approach we managed to capture three of the enemy in one day, raising the body count to seven on this campaign.

With this continued progress I hope to be home by New Year's. Maybe we should have just adopted a cat.

Love,

Ed

I wish it was that easy , they will regroup and attack from the South , 

you are in their  territory , they have 24/7  to plan , and its cold outside , so inside is the destination , 

I wish you well ,  fight on , but if yours are like mine they like being warm.....

Good Luck Comrade

Isn't this what cats are made for?

You might want to consider a dog. My Australian Shepherd kills everything that gets in the house and he is quick about it. Grab it, shake it, drop it. Get another one. Kind of like these guys.

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

My Brittany catches them, shakes them, then eats them. That's preferred as I never have to touch any critters. 

Branch manager runs us lean and thin.  Exterminator service?   Waste of money - I haven't seen any mice.  

Me when I get to work in the morning;  there's mouse E36 M3 on my desk again.  

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

You might want to consider a dog. My Australian Shepherd kills everything that gets in the house and he is quick about it. Grab it, shake it, drop it. Get another one. Kind of like these guys.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/QSOD7m4XYg0?rel=0

 

Ok so I have a dog that supposedly is half Australian Shepherd. But he has seen the mice before. Couldn't give a hoot. But show him a cat and he loses his E36 M3. I think I was sold a lemon.

PS: he's actually a wonderful dog, but c'mon man.

Duke said:

Isn't this what cats are made for?

 

I've been super turned off to cats after a few that my parents have owned over the years. Somehow they ALL love nothing more than climbing on top of cars and for some reason they all first find the nearest mud puddle and then use their claws like ice picks to get to the top. I did recently ask to borrow their best mouser... They said nah. 

We have useless cats. They aren't mouse catchers, there mouse *monitors*. They let us know if there's a mouse. There's a mouse.

While a mouse can chew and crawl through most any size hole, they can't/won't chew into steel wool.  

Barricade the defences with wire like it's the Western Front!

Oh i actually never heard or thought about that. I'm going to give this a shot in a couple places I know they are traveling. 

KyAllroad said:

While a mouse can chew and crawl through most any size hole, they can't/won't chew into steel wool.  

Barricade the defences with wire like it's the Western Front!

This is the only way to stop them. Steel wool and hardware cloth. It took me 2 days to seal all the holes. If you don't they will be back in never ending waves. 

My record in one day is 28 from around the house and shop using 5 old fashion snap traps and peanut butter. It was a glorious day for the defenders. Then we moved and I haven't seen one since. 

28?! Man I was super impressed with myself at 3! I will definitely try this steel wool thing. Thank you comrades. 

I have a spot that I can barely get to that seems to be an entry point. I tried expanding foam, caulking and silicone all to no avail. A wise old man told be about metal shavings. I want to a local garage and filled a bag with shavings from the brake rotor lathe. Squirted some silicone in the open area, followed by some metal shavings then a stick to smush it around. Then repeated the exercise to the point I could mix up a batch and push it in with a putty knife. I finished it off with a nice coat of caulking so nothing would rust. So far it's worked 1000%! Steel wool and caulking would render the same result. If it's in an area exposed to moisture, copper wool would work better.

Oh no! I've seen this here before. Somewhere in the far reaches of the internet an alarm went off when you mentioned glue traps. We are about to gain a new member, and they are angry!

Wait, what cursed bat signal have I lit? I'm confused.

Regarding the glue traps.  A couple of years ago we had a couple of invaders so TigerMom wanted to be kind and set out glue traps.  The next day a get a call from my daughter that a mouse was stuck to a trap and she didn't know what to do.  My suggestion of a plastic bag wasn't appreciated so I arrived home to the daughter showing me a bowl containing a VERY oily rodent.  Apparently vegetable oil releases the glue. 

 I took the bowl down to the back of my property where it faces a park and trebuchet'd said mouse into the park.  He scampered back in the direction of the house and while I was able to block him twice with a shod foot he seemed hell-bent on evading my fancy footwork to return "home".  His third attempt got him flattened, I suspect I looked like I was playing soccer with a ghost to anyone observing from a distance. 

A snap trap would have been a lot faster to the same result.

DrBoost said:

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

My Brittany catches them, shakes them, then eats them. That's preferred as I never have to touch any critters. 

And then he licks your face.  

If you gotta use glue traps, check them frequently and when you find one with an occupant just put the whole thing upside down in a bucket of water (toilet bowl usually works too, especially for smaller traps).  Couple of minutes, problem solved.  Quick and "humane".  

Also, go on you tube and search for 5 gallon bucket mouse trap and you will find all sorts of ways to catch them pretty efficiently.  Works well in my shop.

Yeah the bucket traps were part of the arsenal I started with. Moved them around the house to places I knew they were going. Loaded up with peanut butter and peanuts. Only ever caught one with it. 

I got a battery powered shock trap. With wifi connection, it sends me an alert when we got one.

Open the bay, dump the carcass, reset and you're ready for another.

caught 1-2 a night for a few weeks, on my back patio. They were messing with my BBQ, and with the patio cushions.

Bibs said:

I got a battery powered shock trap. With wifi connection, it sends me an alert when we got one.

Open the bay, dump the carcass, reset and you're ready for another.

caught 1-2 a night for a few weeks, on my back patio. They were messing with my BBQ, and with the patio cushions.

Any link on which one you bought ?      THANKS

There is an expanding foam that rodents will not chew through.  I prefer it over steel wool, which rusts.  The foam has worked well here.  Sticky traps rule, caught 2 on one trap once.  Do not use the poison stuff, had one die under the subfloor between joists.  Stank up the room and was not fun to find.

In reply to californiamilleghia :

It's a Victor Smart Kill, and has worked well for the 3 months I have used it.

Duke said:

Isn't this what cats are made for?

 

I have a dog for this sort of thing.

Jack Russell Terrier will kill all rats in its domain, for example.  I am not a small dog person, so I have a larger rat population control officer.