Mouse problem

[Osh]

Originally Posted by stone

Y'all are feeding your cats too much... When my cat stops eating his catch, I ease back on his food... Cats are natural-born killers, kill everything smaller than themselves, regardless of appetite... when they're a little hungry, their prey suffers less.

Yep...think I have heard that from somewhere before....however, the sawed-off little runt varmit of a cat we have is about 12 years old, and limps around a lot when it comes to sundown, its normal feeding time...of course, the limp disappears once its full, or some coyote smell in the wind sends it up to the top of one of these forty foot pine trees for refuge......heck..daughter feeds it, son feeds it, wife feeds it...even I feed it....its our fault. Dang. The thing about feeding this thing though, it gets sick and throws up all over the house when it eats "wild"..the big pack rats it kills and leaves in the yard, all lined up with their little heads in the same direction, and body's parallel...trophies I guess.. then the dog comes along and gulps'em down...then the dog gets sick.....but the weather is cooling off here once again, and I have put out the "wedge boxes" of pellets, and am going to try something different this year....cans of foam insulation...spray in the cracks, holes, etc and this stuff expands to fill the void...poisonous also. We'll see.

[bluelacedredhead]

Yes, Emerald brought up a valid point. The newer "one bite" type of toxins have apparently also increased the chance of secondary poisoning in domestic animals. But I used them regularly on the farm and never had a problem, nor did I ever hear of a customer having problems either?
I'm so sorry Emerald to hear that your cat was poisoned by rat bait.

I have a mouse problem this week with a family of cute little field mice. I caught a baby yesterday by the leg, in a trap that has seen better days. Today I meant to buy poison while out, but forgot. So, I looked up home remedies online and I'm going to give one of them a try.

It consists of equal parts of flour, cornstarch and sugar, mixed thoroughly and placed in a shallow container in the mouse run. Next to it, provide a small container of water. When the mouse eats the sweet mixture, it becomes thirsty and the flour and cornstarch expand and become as cement. Dead mousey....

Apparently , there is a similar recipe using actual cement dust in the mix....I don't have any cement hanging around either, so I'll start with what's on hand in my pantry. I'll let you know if I think it's working.

[winter_unfazed]

Just this morning when I got up, there was a mouse chewing in the wall by the furnace.

I dislike mouse poison for a number of reasons. There is the issue of secondary poisoning, and also, a dead mouse can be worse than a live one. Sometimes the carcass will stink for a week before you can find it. You know it's there (the nose knows), but you just can't put your finger on where it is. Not that you would want to literally put your finger on it, but...you get the point.

The trap seems to be the best method to catch a mouse. It could be a snap trap, or it could be the kind that catches the mouse but doesn't kill it.

[bluelacedredhead]

I'd rather have the stench of a dead mouse for a few days than mouse dirt in my linens and kitchen utensils every morning. Or a mouse happily dining on pasta inside the cellophane bag when I take it out to cook for supper....EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWw...that one became a Missile out onto the lawn.

[bluelacedredhead]

I just wanted to mention that it's been 3 days since I set out the dish of flour/cornstarch/sugar with accompanying beverage and it's a very popular place!
They are eating it every night. In fact, I had to fill up the dish today. And I've had them die within inches of the bowl, so it's fast acting when dosage directions are followed by Mousie.

[Windcrest Farm]

The mice started moving indoors as soon as the combine finished in the wheat fields. They certainly like the fact that I have pans of drying seeds on every counter.
I will try the mix the dry ingredients inside mousie recipe and report back.

[AShadyElm]

This made me giggle and remember all the times unwanted critters have found a way into the house. I'm not fond of mice but I'll take a mouse over a bat any day. I have a thing with creatures flying over my head in small enclosed spaces . . .

But 3 years ago after bat #9 was flying in my bedroom on my anniversary at 2 am and I had a small nervous breakdown over it - we hired a pest removal service to safely remove and exclude our bats. Whatever they did helped our indoor mouse population as well since we had only 2 and when we found the holes they ate in the foundation and sealed those up we had one little guy crawl in last year (when my in-laws who visit only once a year were here) and I think he came in through our old laundry vent that my children poked out the foam sealant from.

I can't say our outdoor cats are much good. They hunt in the field but pretty much sleep all day on the porch near the house. Our dogs are better mouse catchers. I only bait the rats with poison in an unused sealed chicken coop where piles and piles of wood from our old barn are stored and I'm pretty sure there is probably a whole rat city living in the crumbling foundation of the building. They don't tend to come out so we haven't had any secondary poisoning issues there.

Now that I said all that, I bet I'll have a mouse dancing in the doorway of my pantry tomorrow morning just because . . . I keep all my food items in sealed GLASS jars as the little buggers were known to chew through plastic bins of all sorts and of course boxes.

Best of luck to you - like I said it brightened my otherwise blah evening to read the posts here!

[bluelacedredhead]

Badminton Racquets are excellent tools for indoor Batting Practice

[SpaceAge]

You Need "The Rat Patrol"

[bluelacedredhead]

ROFL
More than one way to get a Tree Rat ....