Period mice

[Feltwell]

Hello,

Not been posting much of late, but have been needing to empty a mousetrap on a regular basis.

The Feltwell garage has been invaded. Originally it was because the little blighters had found a sack of bird seed - but, food source removed and about 12 of them dispatched in the trap within the next week, all was well.

However, months later, with no food source to be had, I still keep trapping the little blighters - one every 2 to 3 weeks generally. The only trap that works is one placed near where the original food source was, all others get ignored, so I guess they can smell where their forebears have been. I don't think they are living in the garage, no evidence of that, so they must be squeezing in somehow - I know they can get through very small gaps.

Any idea of how to dissuade the little blighters from their fruitless and deadly forays into my garage? Would putting down some disinfectant to cover the mousey smell do anything? They are only little field mice, I don't particularly like killing them, if they would stay outside I would happily leave them alone!

I've not tried poison yet - maybe Neosorexa Gold is worth trying - but will it do much more than a trap? They seem easily persuadable to fling themselves on it, for a sniff of the kid's chocolate spread.

 

[Owain]

Put down some rodent tracking dust and you will be able to find out where there coming in, possibly where the nest is, and block up their access or assist them to relocate.

http://www.pestek.co.uk/fluorescent-rodent-tracking-dust~309#.Uh0HT-Vj1t1

 

[LadyArowana]

Uncle Walt will be sad......

 

[JoceAndChris]

I wish I could lend you my period cat! Emma is a terrific hunter and begs to go in our garage - I barely feed her these days as she's more interested in fresh kill. You need a cat

Neo Gold is good stuff and has very long and far reaching consequences. I was astonished to find it in a little heap under the guest pillow in the attic bedroom two months after putting it down the rat holes by the chicken shed. I know it was mice as the mouse droppings are unmistakeable - very surprised the mouse stole off the rats but there you go. This was in the period when Macavity had sadly died and all the mice moved in, they moved out pretty sharpish when Emma arrived.

Good luck, they're a nuisance with their chewing.

 

[skier-hughes]

I didn't think mice were great storers of food if at all? They generally run round nibbling at things on their route, so they can make a mess of lots of stuff but not eat anything in it's entirety.
I'd have thought it more likely the rats took it and the mice came and ate it

 

[tobydog]

Oh yes, mice are great storers and nibblers. Just take a look under the bonnet of my car when the winter gets colder. Not only are there piles of shells and seeds in all sorts of engine cavities, they also previously chewed their way through a few wire / rubber casings. The local garage wondered why I was using Duck tape for plasters :evil:

 

[JoceAndChris]

It seems that mice build little larders all over the place and rats create a complex of tunnels where they store their food and live.

Very sweet that the mice must have carried the poison from the rat holes into the music room, up the cavity walls, through the attic and into the bed. Droppings and chewings show their comings and goings so plainly, who needs tracking powder?

 

[Feltwell]

There's no evidence of droppings now, and none of nibbling - that's what I can't quite understand - but they still hurl themselves on the trap every 2-3 weeks or so. I've bought some Neo Gold, my only fear being that I then poison them and they go off somewhere hidden to die and stink the place out.

We came back from holiday last week and I found one dead in a trap, it had obviously been there for a couple of weeks - yuck! The trap went in the bin as well.

The tracking dust is an interesting one - not heard of that before - if the problem persists then I may well try that.

No cats for me I'm afraid Joce - well not permanently, although a loan would be great! Although I like them - and they tend to like me, even the nervous ones - I'm more of a dog man and I don't really want a cat hunting the wildlife that we get coming into our garden.

 

[Zebra]

Perhaps some sort of a hawk or owl Feltwell?

 

[Feltwell]

I inadvertently "adopted" a racing pigeon recently, but I don't think the mice found that quite as scary as an owl or hawk.

Took ages to get rid of that damn pigeon, it was too comfortable pottering around my garden I reckon. Pie was fast becoming an option until it finally got the hint and flew on it's way!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Good luck with the poison and good work with the traps.

You're right about the stench, there's times I feel like moving out! But it doesn't last long.

Just getting a big surge in the rat population. It always happens after harvest; I'm actually getting very cold feet about the Neo Gold as I think if my Lady Emma Hamilton repeatedly eats poisoned rodents the dear little cat may die. Might just have to put up with the rats now - the less you do, the more owls there are, I've noticed.

 

[wobs]

The most effective method of getting rid of mice I've come across is:

The simplest way to eliminate mice in your house is to first nullify all the gravity, then pump in a trillion cubic meters of liquid hydrogen. Next perform a Satanic Mass backwards in under three seconds. Repeat one million times. Then you get the canola gland of a forest boar, eagle tails, and a barrel of fish legs and bake them into a series of attractive cathedrals. I think the rest of the procedure is fairly obvious.

I think for rats, you need to add more fish legs, and a kidney from a close relative.

 

[worms]

Happy to be corrected, but I am not sure that tracking dust would work for field mice, as they don't leave the urine trail that house mice do.

You could give the toilet roll tube and bucket trap a go!

 

[vicky whitworth]

Get a cat. The kitten ate a whole rabbit in the kitchen today. Bob tail, ears, and four lucky feet all gone in a few minutes. Large bulge in kitten afterwards. That's why she's called Kit Caboodle. V

 

[Feltwell]

There may be no need for a cat or anything else.

Since getting the Neosorexa, I haven't put any out yet but I have left the tub in the garage. Clearly I have mice that, whilst not very bright as they like hurling themselves on the trap, can read as they have spotted the tub and decided to vacate the premises. No sign of mousey at all over the last couple of weeks.

Clearly he's waiting for my guard to be down before he strikes again.

 

[Penners]

I don't know whether this would work for mice, but a couple of years I was quite successful in wiping out a population of rats.

I found (in our local Country Store) a type of blue bait that is packed in small sachets. You don't open the sachets, you just place a small pile of them where you know the rodents come to feed. They find the pre-packed bait and like good parents they drag the little bags home to the nest, to feed the kids. So the whole family gets a feast!

You have to keep putting now new bags of bait for a couple of weeks, but after that time the whole infestation is cleared - or was in our case, anyway.