Rodents.... damn rodents

[Caper]

A little better picture, I think he had just eaten a small mouse that was under the hot tub.

View attachment 108400

Keep him around. Good boy.
Caper

 

[Mudwing]

It’s been about three weeks running the walk the plank mouse trap and caught nothing. I don’t have a major mouse problem. I did find a couple spots in the foundation that mice could get through and stuffed the holes until warmer weather to do some point/patch work. I still like the idea of auto reset traps so I will keep it maintained. I also received a new log roll mouse trap as pictured. My plan is to set it up in the barn with the wheelers to try to lure the mice away from the machines. I won’t use bait because I have outdoor cats and the rodents will die somewhere I wouldn’t know until I smell it.

 

[JTW]

View attachment 110954 It’s been about three weeks running the walk the plank mouse trap and caught nothing. I don’t have a major mouse problem. I did find a couple spots in the foundation that mice could get through and stuffed the holes until warmer weather to do some point/patch work. I still like the idea of auto reset traps so I will keep it maintained. I also received a new log roll mouse trap as pictured. My plan is to set it up in the barn with the wheelers to try to lure the mice away from the machines. I won’t use bait because I have outdoor cats and the rodents will die somewhere I wouldn’t know until I smell it.

I’m in the same boat... 2 rollers and two walk the plank style and nothing! I guess that’s not a bad thing though.

 

[Mudwing]

I’m in the same boat... 2 rollers and two walk the plank style and nothing! I guess that’s not a bad thing though.

The old timers were telling me to wait for spring when the weather breaks, they’ll come out. I’m about to buy a couple of mice and let them go in the basement to try it out. Don’t tell the wife.

 

[Caper]

View attachment 110954 It’s been about three weeks running the walk the plank mouse trap and caught nothing. I don’t have a major mouse problem. I did find a couple spots in the foundation that mice could get through and stuffed the holes until warmer weather to do some point/patch work. I still like the idea of auto reset traps so I will keep it maintained. I also received a new log roll mouse trap as pictured. My plan is to set it up in the barn with the wheelers to try to lure the mice away from the machines. I won’t use bait because I have outdoor cats and the rodents will die somewhere I wouldn’t know until I smell it.

Do you have peanut butter on the roller ? We used one in Cape Breton and got a few. And a neighbor put poison in his garage but a others neighbors cat got the rat and died not long after. She was going to KILL him. Haha. Little bastards.
Caper

 

[Caper]

The old timers were telling me to wait for spring when the weather breaks, they’ll come out. I’m about to buy a couple of mice and let them go in the basement to try it out. Don’t tell the wife.

Lol
Caper

 

[Mudwing]

Do you have peanut butter on the roller ? We used one in Cape Breton and got a few. And a neighbor put poison in his garage but a others neighbors cat got the rat and died not long after. She was going to KILL him. Haha. Little bastards.
Caper

Not yet. I still have to make another ramp for the other side. And for sure, I bait with peanut butter.

 

[Montecresto]

Do you have peanut butter on the roller ? We used one in Cape Breton and got a few.

You guys have peanut butter over there???

 

[L2R]

It works

 

[JethroBarnwell]

This is Tootsie, my best mouser. I use cats. We have a small farm and our magic number of cats is between 5 to 7 cats. I prefer "Used" cats, i.e. older cats that have been surrendered to the shelter. Everyone wants kittens but older cats already have a personality and are grateful to be adopted. When we get them from the shelter they have all their shots and are no longer capable of reproduction and they are microchipped (I don't care about the micro chip but that is what the shelter does to them). I keep them locked up in the tack room for a few days until their internal compass is reset then sing "Born Free" and release them to work out the new "Cat Dynamic" among the others in the heard. They eventually work out their own territory and everybody gets happy again. I even made a cat bed in the front seat of my 2017 Pioneer 1000-5 LE to make sure one cat stayed close. The coyotes are tough on the foolish cats and we need to replenish the herd occasionally. Happy to say the ones we have now have been with us five years or more. Cat prints on my equipment or cat hair on my carpet in the bass boat is a small price to pay compared to damaged depth finder or GPS cable or other electronic nightmares caused by rodents. I put feed bowls in the tack room and I cut a cat door in wall so the cats can come and go as they please. I keep the cats fed but not so much as they wont chase rodents. Cats will generally chase anything that moves including snakes. Once in a while they leave parts of their prey to share with me and I need to take care of that but its not as bad as that fellow who caught 11 mice in one night. Golly!

With poison there is a risk of secondary poisoning when some other creature eats the rat or mouse. We have a healthy owl population too. I have used bait blocks nailed to the walls of the barn but had to replace then almost daily. I think the chipmunks like the bait blocks and must have a tolerance to them. I switched active ingredients but after three pails of bait blocks I gave up on that notion. Cat food is much cheaper. I tried bait bags. The bait bags are treated with pheromones to attract the rodents but my dogs also were attracted to them and thought they tasted yummy and I got a big vet bill. That was a costly lesson. $$$

Snakes are good but they take the winter off and in warmer weather I occasionally need to evict them before using my machinery. I hate when a snake drops out of the tractor canopy into my lap after I start the tractor. Yes I scream like a little girl. We lost Hercimer my favorite 4' black snake when he hid in my fishing boat and jumped ship (with some additional motivation from me) after he suddenly made his presence known during a fishing trip. Neither one of us wanted to be in the boat at that moment. I don't discourage snakes that eat rodents unless they are poisonous. I have had to vaccinate two rattle snakes who tried to move in uninvited. Once I vaccinate them they never catch anything again.

Dryer sheets, moth balls, Irish Spring soap all failed me.

I have used #3 coil spring traps on Norway rats but lost a trap that I forgot to wire to an immovable object. It was years before I finally found that trap again. I learned to wire them to something heavy and large after that. Then there is dealing with the carci (Is that plural for carcass?). These rats were too big for cats and we had not yet discovered the joy of used cats from the shelter. After I trapped enough rats, the rat problem eventually went away. The trap contraptions in this thread are interesting. I like the roller and bucket with water/RV antifreeze for winter. Many talented people here.

Sure hope you find a method that works for your application.

Just had to add my 2₵ worth.

 

[Montecresto]

With poison there is a risk of secondary poisoning when some other creature eats the rat or mouse.

Cool info. I’ll just throw this in for what it’s worth, there’s not many animals at all that eat other animals that have died, and of those that do, god bless go forward...

 

[Mudwing]

Update on the walk-the-plank mouse trap: Did not work for me. I left it setup for the summer and up until last week. I baited with peanut butter and checked on it periodically. Nothing. I kinda forgot about it for a few weeks because it was in the crawl space under the kitchen. My wife mentioned she was hearing mice in the kitchen cupboards again. Bastards. It’s been quiet so I thought I had the issue licked. I went to check on the trap and all the bait was gone but no mice. They were too light to release the magnet to drop them into the bucket. So Saturday I setup a roller log trap from Amazon and caught two the next day. The roller trap is the way to go. 😉

 

[JTW]

Update on the walk-the-plank mouse trap: Did not work for me. I left it setup for the summer and up until last week. I baited with peanut butter and checked on it periodically. Nothing. I kinda forgot about it for a few weeks because it was in the crawl space under the kitchen. My wife mentioned she was hearing mice in the kitchen cupboards again. Bastards. It’s been quiet so I thought I had the issue licked. I went to check on the trap and all the bait was gone but no mice. They were too light to release the magnet to drop them into the bucket. So Saturday I setup a roller log trap from Amazon and caught two the next day. The roller trap is the way to go. 😉View attachment 184649View attachment 184650

I haven’t had any luck out of any of mine... maybe that means I just don’t have mice. I dunno??

 

[Slackjaw]

My Rincon when I uncovered it last summer.
Strange, I never have rodent problems and I keep it under a roof, with a cover.

 

[Mudwing]

I haven’t had any luck out of any of mine... maybe that means I just don’t have mice. I dunno??

It’s a possibility. I bought my house about four years ago off of a kooky old lady with cats. She left food for them everywhere. In the basement, outside and in the barns. I cleaned it all up and have been sealing up the foundation and points of entry. I think they’re used to finding food here. Needless to say, I’ve been trying to get rid of them and it seems to be working well with the roller mouse trap you suggested. Thanks for the recommendation. 😉

 

[Neohio]

I've had good luck with the walk the plank style.
I find the scent of peanut butter dies off after a few days. It needs to be replaced on a regular basis for the trap to be effective.

 

[farmtimpioneer]

I have used these things for Years and I most of the time don't even bait them but i put them around the outside of the barns and house and I consistently catch mice one or two at a time before they get in the barn or house, mostly in the spring and fall after they take the fields up,,,,

 

[Mudwing]

I've had good luck with the walk the plank style.
I find the scent of peanut butter dies off after a few days. It needs to be replaced on a regular basis for the trap to be effective.

I agree on replacing the bait but my bait was gone on the walk the plank. 🏴‍☠️ I put it right at the end.
It seems like they took it and ran. Now if there were two mice on the plank, it’d probably drop. I guess I could go with different bait but peanut butter is cheap and easy and seems to work good. 😉

 

[Mudwing]

I have used these things for Years and I most of the time don't even bait them but i put them around the outside of the barns and house and I consistently catch mice one or two at a time before they get in the barn or house, mostly in the spring and fall after they take the fields up,,,,
View attachment 184777

I’d like to try those out this year. You put those outside around the perimeter, right?

 

[graybear]

It has been a common issue from those of us who put our motorcycles/atv's/utv's, etc, in storage for a season, to find rodents have invaded air filters or chewed wiring. I'm presently storing my P500 outdoors under a cover, a real attraction to mice or squirrels and have caught about a dozen mice so far, probably a drop in the bucket.

Has anyone come up with a way to keep rodents away from our machines? Maybe a certain spray on the wiring, like a rust preventative or spray lube or something? Any ideas out there?

Chili powder mixed with water. Spray or rub on all the wires