Mice

[USHOG]

I looked at my seedlings yesterday and 20 or 30 of them have been eaten on some to the nub. I had to isolate the seedlings on top of my pool table and pull them away from the wall to try and stop them. This is in my garage.

Any good ideas on getting rid of the mice and rats? I would love to have cats but with 50+ dogs that love to hunt big cats it has never worked out for the cats.

I put 5 pounds of bait and sticky trapped the whole area around where they have been eating. I have 30 traps set but they keep disappearing. I shot 2 rats yesterday in the garden with my sons 223

 

[Knucklehead]

For Mice, I use Victor brand mouse traps. It's the only brand that they don't consistently rob the bait from.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Rat bait works great for rats. They are very intelligent creatures. If you have a lot of rats be prepared for one hell of a stink when they all die. I think they sell a newer version of rat bait because rats were becoming immune to it so you might want to check your label.

 

[USHOG]

I have been fighting mice for years but since I found out that their homes where filled with dog food last year. I now keep it in the container that is water tight. I feed 100 plus pounds of kibble a day to my dogs so I never noticed any missing. Now that the primary food is gone they are eating my wires under the house, water lines, and now they are after my tobacco seedlings. I have killed 11 rats and 32 mice this month alone. They have never messed with my seedlings before so this is war
I agree if you do not switch bates all the time they will get immune to it or just not eat it anymore.

 

[Hasse SWE]

I think the best thing to do is make like a greenhouse and then try to take care of the problem.

 

[USHOG]

It is to hot here to use a greenhouse. One day it is 50 then 80 and that is our winter. Mice are not a new problem for me. I live out in the woods and they are everywhere. It doesn't help that my neighbors house is a rat breeding ground. His house is 500 yards from my back fence and the rats over there are horrible and he doesn't care one bit. I just have to manage them. It is just that for 11 years the mice have not messed with my seedlings or really been much of a problem indoors, but when I removed the dog food they changed their habits. One of my biggest problems is that I can not poison outside because of all of the loose dogs and puppies. They either eat the poison or the rats that have eaten the poison and get sick. I have lost a few dogs to this. I am just looking for new ideas to add to everything I am already doing. I understand that it is impossible to kill them all or I would have done it already. I have approached this problem as if I was at work. I remove wild and unwanted animals for people all the time and I have learned to use every resource available to me to get the job done or at least under control.

 

[BigBonner]

I would be careful of rat bait . If the poisoned rat is found by a dog , The dogs may chew them . It is their nature to eat what they want and this could kill a dog .

A good steel jawed trap set to a light load when tripped will do the job . Just keep them where dogs can not get in them .

 

[USHOG]

I have caught many of my dogs in my ankle bitters set for wild cats. This is why I use small traps that hold the animal not kill but these traps are to big for the mouse. I did catch a few rats by the back pit with them. I caught a pups foot the other day in a rat snap trap under the house. It sucked because I have to tie all of the traps or they will walk away and the pup was on the other side of the house from the entrance and it was a muddy mess getting to her. I have 30 plus snap traps set just in the garage alone they worked great for a week then nothing. I have switched baits many times and they just quit going to them. The sticky traps placed where they walk seems to work just not fast enough. I have buckets of water set in the corners these water traps catch a mouse every once in awhile. All of this is the normal to keep them in control but when they start eating my food and tobacco I will go to extreme measures to get rid of them any ideas are welcomed

 

[Hasse SWE]

That's a problem.. My friend put some special plastic on his window.. Don't known the price on it. And don't think it's a alternative..
At one of my old work we had boxes with some glue to catch em.. Not a nice look to see em bite the legs of.. Don't thinks we have it left in Sweden. I really know wat a big problem they can be

 

[shortline]

Peanut butter on a 20 oz bottle over water has always been my go to for mice.

 

[Knucklehead]

My father built a home made trap for our wood shop that caught a slew of mice. It was a wooden strip balanced over the center of a big plastic trash can. There was a pivot at the lip of the can. One end rested on a table so the mice could get to the board. It was balanced so a mouse going after the bait on the end of the board centered over the trash can would overbalance the wooden strip and the mouse would fall into the trash can where he couldn't jump or climb out. After the mouse fell in the can, the weight of the wooden strip that hang over the outside of the can would tip the balance back and the board would reset. It was about 1/4" thick and 2" wide. It seemed like the live mice in the bottom of the can just attracted more mice.

 

[Matty]

I've trapped mice using wine bottles and beer bottles. Put some dog kibble in the bottle and put the bottle (standing up) where the mice can get in. They get in but when they try jumping out they hit the shoulder of the bottle and never make it out. Another way, similar to Knucklehead's suggestion, is to use a tall pail. I caught 7 mice in one night with a 5gal bucket. Thing with the bucket is that with more than one mouse in it they'll jump on each other giving a boost and they get out. For rats maybe a barrel with it's lid and 2" opening in the top could work. It is true, catch one in a bucket and it'll attract more to fall in.

 

[Brown Thumb]

A five gallon pail with a 2 inch hole cut In the center of the lid.
Dog food, peanut butter ect inside of it. Place it against a wall or something they can climb up.
In they go never to get out. Works great.

 

[USHOG]

Well for the last 24 hours I can smell that the poison is working. I have looked everywhere to find the dead mice but no luck. At least they are not eating my tobacco seedlings anymore for the time being. The mice here do not like peanut butter that much but if I sprinkle bird seed on the peanut butter they love it or at least did for a few days. I have caught 17 mice and 4 rats in the late few days. I need some dog proof cats.

 

[bonehead]

when i raised chickens we had a rat and mice problem so i poisoned them. a old farmer said put a bowl of water in a dark place along a wall and most dying vermin will die next to the water because they hemorage to death and drink to try to rehydrate and it worked a lot. it was easy to find them when i new where to look.

 

[USHOG]

I will add a bowl of water in the corner to see it that helps find them. I think they are dying in the walls or that is where I am smelling it from