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Squeaky little bastard! - Printable Version

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Squeaky little bastard! - Astreja - 11-23-2020

Need some mouse-keeping advice.  My daughter wrote this note on the kitchen chalkboard the other day:

     Mouse at large
     It scorns the traps

I have some baited snap-traps in strategic locations, but the mouse ain't buyin' it.  What are your preferred anti-rodent devices and strategies?


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Dānu - 11-23-2020

I use glue traps. I've never had any luck with baited traps.


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Bucky Ball - 11-23-2020

(11-23-2020, 04:17 PM)Astreja Wrote: Need some mouse-keeping advice.  My daughter wrote this note on the kitchen chalkboard the other day:

     Mouse at large
     It scorns the traps

I have some baited snap-traps in strategic locations, but the mouse ain't buyin' it.  What are your preferred anti-rodent devices and strategies?


Make popcorn. 
We had a mouse once who came out and ate popcorn we dropped, right in front of us. He knew we were nice.
He made his way outside eventually.


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Bcat - 11-23-2020

I use humane catch and release traps. They actually work really well. I just put some raw pumpkin seeds in and then release the mice once they’re caught into a field that’s at least two miles away. I set the traps at night when the mice are most active and in areas I think they frequent. It’s important to check the traps every morning though and release them right away into a field so they don’t escape and also don’t die in the trap if you are going the humane route.  I use the Kindtrap.  You can get them on Amazon.


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Minimalist - 11-23-2020

A cat.


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Dānu - 11-23-2020

(11-23-2020, 04:39 PM)Minimalist Wrote: A cat.

Then you just need to figure out how to get rid of the cat. Deadpan Coffee Drinker


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Peebothuhlu - 11-23-2020

At work.

Well... the little fekkers can't seem to resist peanut butter.

 So, if you have a 'Humane' trap (I still can't catch any humanes in mine Sad  ) smearing the nut-butter as bait will get them in.

  All the best at the relocating!


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Aliza - 11-23-2020

I can help you with armadillos, snakes, gators, iguanas, and peacocks.

For peafowl, just give them grapes and they'll keep coming back.

For everything else, call someone. Pay them money. No amount is too high.


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Fireball - 11-23-2020

My MiL got rats in her garage and attic. We called a company named "RodentStop". The trapped the rats and, more importantly, went through the house and garage and plugged every hole they could find. No rats since. They also removed the insulation in the attic that had rat evidence on it.


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Dancefortwo - 11-23-2020

A few years ago we had mice all over our house but then Cleo, our 18 year old cat, caught one of them and all the other mice packed up their little mice luggage and left town.  My daughter was so messy in the kitchen and would leave dishes and food all over the place and I think the mice were attracted to her teenage kitchen mess.  She also had a compost pile going in the back yard which attracted raccoons and rats and stuff.  As soon as she left home we did a thorough cleaning, got rid of the compost pile and the rats went away. Raccoons still wander by but I don't mind raccoons.


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Deesse23 - 11-23-2020

Apologies that i do not have much experience with this topic, but i would like to direct you to this educational video Girl_yes2





RE: Squeaky little bastard! - TonyAnkle - 11-23-2020

I use peanut butter in a humane trap. Works well for me.


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Dancefortwo - 11-23-2020

One more instructional video.

Sylvester the Cat recommends a fishing pole and some fishing pants waders.   Smart





RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Little Lunch - 11-23-2020

We had a mice plague here many years ago.
You would put out a half bucket of water at night and find a full bucket of drowned mice in the morning.

My preferred way of trapping is the little cage with a funnel in the top and then let them go somewhere else.
They love pumpkin seeds.


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Dancefortwo - 11-23-2020

(11-23-2020, 08:08 PM)TonyAnkle Wrote: I use peanut butter in a humane trap. Works well for me.

We tried this one.  You put peanut butter on a soda can that has a metal rod through it and the mouse is supposed to crawl along to get to the peanut butter and then slip off into the water below but the mice completely laughed at that.  

[Image: bucket-mouse-trap-with-dowel-peanut-butterr.jpg]


They scurried past the bucket, probably gave it a "fuck you" sign,  and went after easier stuff like the kitchen garbage with all the nice tasty scraps in it, so we had to take the garbage outside every evening even if there was almost nothing in it.   But then they got into the open cereal boxes which was totally disgusting...barf... so we threw those away, bought new cereal and put the cereal in the refrigerator.  Well, then they got into the rice or any sort of grains we had in the pantry.  I'm suprised they didn't carry can openers and open the cans of soup.  

We tried humane traps but I think the mice read the instructions we had thrown out in the garbage and danced past the traps snickering  their little wiskers off.    
One night I heard a couple of mice........ UNDER MY BED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Aggravated 

But a couple days after that our retired 18 year old kitty was lounging on the kitchen floor and reached out and grabbed one of those little bastards running by.   She played with it for the better part of an hour and when she got bored with it we threw it out.  We gave her extra treats and a crap load of catnip.    Not long after that they seemed to disappear.  Word got around that the old cat wasn't as docile as they thought.


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - TonyAnkle - 11-23-2020

Apparently if you play Des O'Connor records it deters them from coming in.


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - skyking - 11-23-2020

(11-23-2020, 08:48 PM)Dancefortwo Wrote:
(11-23-2020, 08:08 PM)TonyAnkle Wrote: I use peanut butter in a humane trap. Works well for me.

We tried this one.  You put peanut butter on a soda can that has a metal rod through it and the mouse is supposed to crawl along to get to the peanut butter and then slip off into the water below but the mice completely laughed at that.  

[Image: bucket-mouse-trap-with-dowel-peanut-butterr.jpg]


They scurried past the bucket, probably gave it a "fuck you" sign,  and went after easier stuff like the kitchen garbage with all the nice tasty scraps in it, so we had to take the garbage outside every evening even if there was almost nothing in it.   But then they got into the open cereal boxes which was totally disgusting...barf... so we threw those away, bought new cereal and put the cereal in the refrigerator.  Well, then they got into the rice or any sort of grains we had in the pantry.  I'm suprised they didn't carry can openers and open the cans of soup.  

We tried humane traps but I think the mice read the instructions we had thrown out in the garbage and danced past the traps snickering  their little wiskers off.    
One night I heard a couple of mice........ UNDER MY BED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Aggravated 

But a couple days after that our retired 18 year old kitty was lounging on the kitchen floor and reached out and grabbed one of those little bastards running by.   She played with it for the better part of an hour and when she got bored with it we threw it out.  We gave her extra treats and a crap load of catnip.    Not long after that they seemed to disappear.  Word got around that the old cat wasn't as docile as they thought.
Well they're not going to jump for the can like Tom freaking Cruise on  mission impossible!
You need to put a couple spots of peanut butter on the ramp and then I move that axle over closer to the ramp I might even put a small stick over to the can. When I use that it was on rats, and it was very effective.


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Fairy055 - 11-23-2020

Try Christmas cake. Get the bugger drunk on rum/brandy soaked fruit. Tis the season!


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - julep - 11-23-2020

I thought this post would be about a bad box of reeds...


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Thumpalumpacus - 11-24-2020

Check the ceiling and floor joints in your house, they're coming in somewhere. Either patch up those ingresses, or trap them. I'd go with patching: it's more work up-front but less on a daily basis. I've only had mice once, so take this for light-weight advice as you will, but this solved my problem with two or three hours of work at most.


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - TheGentlemanBastard - 11-24-2020

(11-24-2020, 02:24 AM)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: Check the ceiling and floor joints in your house, they're coming in somewhere. Either patch up those ingresses, or trap them. I'd go with patching: it's more work up-front but less on a daily basis. I've only had mice once, so take this for light-weight advice as you will, but this solved my problem with two or three hours of work at most.

If you don't have the tools, materials, knowledge, or cash to hire someone to do it, get some S.O.S. steel wool pads, soak them in ammonia, and plug the holes with them. Once the ammonia dries, you won't be able to smell it, but they will and if the get past their aversion to the smell, well, it's steel wool soaked in ammonia. They ain't gonna chew through that.

Or, just put down poison bait. I know it's not the optimal answer, but it freakin' works!


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - trdsf - 11-24-2020

All I got is this.




RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Gwaithmir - 11-24-2020

I agree with Peebothulu that peanut butter is an excellent bait for mice. I live on a forest's edge, so Deer Mice start coming into my house as soon as the cold weather begins in the fall. They're cute little buggers, but they're also very destructive. They like to chew plastic objects and even electrical wiring. They can cause some very expensive damage if they get under the hood of your vehicle. I set traps baited with peanut butter in my basement and pantry early in the fall. It's not unusual to catch 40 to 60 Deer Mice by the end of winter. My cat often patrols the cellar and catches her share of them too.

Peromyscus - Wikipedia


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - adey67 - 11-24-2020

(11-23-2020, 04:17 PM)Astreja Wrote: Need some mouse-keeping advice.  My daughter wrote this note on the kitchen chalkboard the other day:

     Mouse at large
     It scorns the traps

I have some baited snap-traps in strategic locations, but the mouse ain't buyin' it.  What are your preferred anti-rodent devices and strategies?

An old English trick to deter mice is to sprinkle peppermint oil around the areas infested, apparently mice cannot stand  the smell and it drives them away. I have absolutely no idea if this "folk cure" works or not but it might be worth a try.


RE: Squeaky little bastard! - Astreja - 11-24-2020

(11-24-2020, 01:17 PM)adey67 Wrote: An old English trick to deter mice is to sprinkle peppermint oil around the areas infested, apparently mice cannot stand  the smell and it drives them away. I have absolutely no idea if this "folk cure" works or not but it might be worth a try.

Well, since I happen to already have a bottle of peppermint extract languishing in the cupboard, I'll give this a try.