Mice

topic posted Fri, April 3, 2009 - 10:18 PM by  Tahiyya
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On several occasions, I've found little mouse "presents." I found them on the stove, and underneath the sink. Then I found some in two of kitchen drawers. My cat sleeps underneath the comforter all day long, and even if one walked across his face, he would ignore it. Would it be a good idea to get a few snap traps? Obviously, I can't use poison, and glue traps are a nuisance. I had good luck with a snap trap before, so maybe they would be a good idea.

Any suggestions?
posted by:
Tahiyya
San Diego
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  • Re: Mice

    Sat, April 4, 2009 - 9:21 AM
    After renting the place I am in now I found a number of areas with rat droppings. The rental company sent out an exterminator with an enclosed poison trap <this keeps pets and kids away from the poison>

    After talking to him for a while, being we have cats and an idiot for a dog, I found out that new EPA and wildlife regulations require them to use a poison that is strictly primary kill. In other words the residual poison in the dead carcass cannot kill a subsequent scavenger.

    So a professional grade poison is viable. Consumer grade stuff frequently can remain toxic in the dead body. This is due to a loophole in the laws allowing companies to sell products containing substances that can kill afterwords. The single kill stuff<I wish I remembered the chemical name> is not available to the public because of special handling restriction and it's initial toxicity.

    In interest of DIY though. I would have a service come in and place an initial poison box. This is to significantly reduce your population.

    Your DIY end... All holes no matter how small around your home need to be plugged or screened. Get debris away from the perimeter of the house. Put all foods inside resealable glass or plastic containers. Search out any and all water leaks or potential water sources inside the house. Regularly pull the stove out and clean out ant food debris under it.

    Remember with mice rats and cockroaches for every once you see there are dozens or hundreds you don't so it is best to make your place as unattractive as possible to them.

    JSin

    After the initial kill cycle
    • Unsu...
       

      Re: Mice

      Tue, April 14, 2009 - 10:45 AM
      I prefer the humane traps that catch the mouse so you can take it to a field and let it loose. But don't forget to check them. There's nothing humane about catching a mouse only to have it starve to death in the trap.
      • Unsu...
         

        Re: Mice

        Thu, May 28, 2009 - 8:14 PM
        < I prefer the humane traps that catch the mouse so you can take it to a field and let it loose. But don't forget to check them. There's nothing humane about catching a mouse only to have it starve to death in the trap.>

        Screw that. I like the ones where their feet get stuck, then you can go all Dahmer on em.
  • Re: Mice

    Sat, April 4, 2009 - 10:02 PM
    suggestion>
    cat>
    Do Not Feed The Cat>
    Deny affection to the cat>
    cat will become hungry, and aggressive>
    cat's nature will come up>
    cat will hunt out it's food as is true to its nature>
    mice gone
    • Re: Mice

      Sun, April 5, 2009 - 7:47 AM
      Might work Briggi but after owning a lot of cats in my life and knowing folks who have tried the deny food and affection to get them to hunt.

      The usual chain of events are
      Don't feed
      Deny Affection
      Cat says FUCK YOU
      Moves out to a house that gives them affection and food

      That being said I have had several cats that are great mousers and ratters as well as bird killing machines
      All have gotten plenty of food and love
      Their instincts were much stronger to hunt

      I have also noticed that cats I have had either seem to be birders or mousers
      They have a preference as to what they like to hunt.

      <currently share my home with 5 cats, one is a mouser and ratter, another will take birds down by the dozen but a mouse could snuggle with her, the other three wouldn't even make it in the wild>

      JSin
      • Re: Mice

        Sun, April 5, 2009 - 12:56 PM
        What's broke in her household ecology is the cat forgetting how to be a cat, and surely not real happy about it. So what needs to be fixed is the cat. The cat should be allowed to be a cat....to re-find its cat self... and it will find much happiness after all the tough love is over.... and become an effective rodent exterminating predator ... the way Nature intended.

        The cat becomes bonded to its host home and to you. It may slip away out of displeasure, but it will always be lurking in the background, quietly watching you to see if it can get you to knuckle under by offering it treats to regain its affection. The cat can't go Fuck You because it's not like a dog who runs away. The cat circuit is wired to you and it's accustomed pathways around your house.

        Years back I had a pair of cats who were scaredy-cats. I'd toss them up on the roof and they would cry. Soon they learned to shinny down the side... and then to climb back up on their own. Soon they ate everything within 100 meters of the home... all rodents, jackrabbits and birds. They'd drag back meat for me... to share. They're gone now. Dead. I never fed them nor gave them water....(made em bloodthirsty), and if I left them off in town 8 miles away, they'd find their way back.

        The reason those two cats stayed with me is because they were free agents, and because they truly enjoyed the lifestyle.
  • Re: Mice

    Mon, April 6, 2009 - 7:47 AM
    ************On several occasions, I've found little mouse "presents." I found them on the stove, and underneath the sink. Then I found some in two of kitchen drawers.************

    That is indicative of a full on infestation.

    You have literally hundreds maybe thousands of some species of small rat overrunning the place.

    If you use poison you may end up with as hundred pounds ( or more) of dead rats stinking up the place.

    I suggest you get another few cats and stop feeding them.
    Just don't make any food available to the cats. Water yes, food no.
    They will quickly do what Cats do naturally.

    • Re: Mice

      Mon, April 6, 2009 - 12:24 PM
      >They will quickly do what Cats do naturally.

      Which is go over to the cat lady's house where there aren't any nasty, scary rats infestin' the place! Seriously, either your cat is a mouser or it is not. Ticking off a cat that is not a mouser by not feeding said cat is only going to make that cat angry/dissatisfied. And angry cats generally leave little messes around the place until they get their way. The older the cat, the more this is true. Also, males more than female cats tend to take that attitude. Seriously.
  • Unsu...
     

    Re: Mice

    Mon, April 6, 2009 - 10:18 AM
    Ugh... I always get the feeling that everything has germs all over it when there are mice in a place I rent.

    This has always been a touchy issue for renters we have that have had a mouse. Some renters want you to kill it, some want you to trap it safely and take it away. Take it away where I don't know, but it is always interesting to note how different people want us to deal with it.

    I think the best way to get rid of them all is to get a professional to deal with it. If you are renting you can get the landlord to handle it, assuming they are professional and will actually do more than set a trap or two.

    As another member mentioned, you have a potentially full scale infestation, so you should think about getting rid of them, and calling a professional. If you want to handle it yourself, then you might want to consult some advice from professionals or google it and see what other ideas are out there.... it's not going to be easy that route though...

    good luck
    • Re: Mice

      Mon, April 6, 2009 - 10:27 AM
      While we'd all like to think that cats will "take care" of the mice, in reality they don't. Few domestic cats will hunt well enough to erradicate a house full of mice. Get out the traps or the poison. I love critters, but the reality is that mice will foul your food, chewing through cereal boxes and peeing while they snack. They also breed so quickly and efficiently that in no time your home can become uninhabitable.
      Time to get rid of the rodents.
      • Re: Mice

        Mon, April 6, 2009 - 1:21 PM
        I bought an old property in northern main. there was a large barn and a out building complex.
        there was a serious rat problem. The little fukers'd look at you with an expression like: "What's in the bag kid?"

        I got two bad assed cats and left them to it - no food. Nothing nada not a smiggen.

        Mice evaporated and cats thrived.

        Nature finds a way.
        • Re: Mice

          Mon, April 6, 2009 - 11:11 PM
          Or a balance. For instance, did you start feeding the cats eventually or not?
          • Re: Mice

            Tue, April 7, 2009 - 6:49 AM
            The other thing to consider is you local animal protection laws. In most places it's illegal to have pets and not feed them. So if you're going to do it, talking about it in an open forum probably is not a good idea.
            • Re: Mice

              Tue, April 7, 2009 - 8:07 AM
              ************The other thing to consider is you local animal protection laws. In most places it's illegal to have pets and not feed them. **********

              There is a difference between having a pet and having some semi wild critters hanging about the place.

              And it is a fairly arguable proposition that the rodents are perfect provision for any pet's feed. In fact I'd be willing to say that letting the cats have the rats is the most natural and humane thing to do since you are not turning your cat into a worthless parasite with no dignity but letting them earn their place under the roof.


              • Re: Mice

                Tue, April 7, 2009 - 9:59 AM
                Its one thing to have a stray cat show up in your barn. Its quite another to acquire a domestic animal and not feed it. But I've read your posts for years, Cliff. I've seen you be cruel and heartless many times, why change now?
                • Re: Mice

                  Tue, April 7, 2009 - 10:06 AM
                  What's cruel and unusual is to take a semi-feral animal and turn it into a neurotic apartment-bound petfood-consuming warm purring lapwarmer. Not fair to a living being. A gross perversion of the natural plan in the name of so called civilized behavior.... and yet this is considered an acceptable standard... turning a helpless animal into a love slave.

                  So we are here to come up with solutions, not to defend the perverse decadent status quo.
                • Re: Mice

                  Tue, April 7, 2009 - 10:07 AM
                  OH MY!!!!

                  How long are we gonna drag out this thread???

                  GEEZ!!!

                  Buy some snap traps and be done with it!!!!
                  • This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.

                    Re: Mice

                    Tue, April 7, 2009 - 10:11 AM
                    Well said, M.
                • Re: Mice

                  Tue, April 7, 2009 - 11:43 AM
                  **************Its one thing to have a stray cat show up in your barn. Its quite another to acquire a domestic animal and not feed it. But I've read your posts for years, Cliff. I've seen you be cruel and heartless many times, why change now?*****************

                  HA HA HA HA HA HAH A HA HA

                  You are joking right?
                  Animals have fur because they evolved to live out of doors. It is a perversion of nature to house them indoors
                  Animals have sharp reflexes and senses that enable them to find their own food. It is perversion of nature to turn them into useless parasites.

                  Two can play at the moral outrage game.

                  If you find yourself unable to take your ridiculous and false moral outrage elsewhere then I suggest you take yourself elsewhere.
                  This tribe is not the place for soap box preachers.
                  Such conduct is against the TOU and will result in stern measures.

                  • This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.

                    Re: Mice

                    Tue, April 7, 2009 - 12:02 PM
                    I see, so disagreeing with Cliff will get me banned. Okay.

                    I didn't domesticate cats. That was done long ago and can't be reversed. If you think cats hunt well, go look at some strays and tell me how fat they are.

                    I'm not on a soapbox, I just don't agree with your methods of erridating mice. And I think you'll find most cities and towns don't agree with your methods, either. That's why there are laws preventing people from acquiring animals and then not feeding them.

                    Ban me it you like, I don't have to agree with you.
                    • Re: Mice

                      Tue, April 7, 2009 - 4:56 PM
                      **********I see, so disagreeing with Cliff will get me banned. Okay.*******

                      Nope.
                      Getting all preachy and holier than thou will.

                      So long as you can both discriminate between the two and then act accordingly you are golden.

                      Pets and environment are just religion and politics by other names to a great many people.
                      If it's that hot and heavy with you then you need to re-think the tone, timber, and substance of a post making it milieu appropriate
                      It's DIY not: Tell others what's what according to you.

                      So if you have a way to eradicate mice that comports with your preconceptions, ideals, religion, or politics you go right ahead and advocate for it. After all, just because you may have got there by a path other than some one else's and just because your underlying motives may be different from some one else's does not mean your methods are without merit.
                      Just leave the strident tone the self righteousness and other unhelpful and off topic baggage aside.

                      Tell us how you think mice and rats should meet their maker ( or otherwise be made absent from the building) and forget the other crap - it's useless - worse actually - because it sows ill will.

                      Here: Take your original message I the one to which I responded, which I found unproductive, provocative, preachy and self righteous:

                      *********Its one thing to have a stray cat show up in your barn. Its quite another to acquire a domestic animal and not feed it. But I've read your posts for years, Cliff. I've seen you be cruel and heartless many times, why change now?***************

                      There is nothing of any worth in there about eliminating mice and rats. I'm just not seeing it.

                      Sentence #1: "Its one thing to have a stray cat show up in your barn. Its quite another to acquire a domestic animal and not feed it."

                      What's that got to do with getting rid of rats? You tell me~! All I see is some one getting all holier than thou and condemning others. In this case it's me. My response to you would be the same no matter to whom it was you unleashed that crap.

                      Sentence #2: "But I've read your posts for years, Cliff. I've seen you be cruel and heartless many times, why change now?"

                      Same response: What's that got to do with getting rid of rats? You tell me~! All I see is some one getting all holier than thou and condemning others. In this case it's me. My response to you would be the same no matter to whom it was you unleashed that crap.


                      So if you can figure a way around all that preachy self righteous holier than thou crap you are more than welcome to post every thing you can think of about getting rid of rats by whatever means you think it might be done best.

                      The OP's goal is to get rid of rats. Whatever you have that leads to that end goal is more than welcome.

                      Are we Copostetic ?



                    • Re: Mice

                      Tue, April 7, 2009 - 4:57 PM
                      You are feeding them........Mice. They just have to catch them.
                      If I "acquire" mice to feed to my Cat, Snake, mother in law, do I have to feed the mice first ?
                    • Re: Mice

                      Tue, April 7, 2009 - 5:02 PM
                      *******I didn't domesticate cats.**********

                      I don't believe any one was crediting you with that.

                      ************* That was done long ago and can't be reversed.*************

                      I have found too many feral cats ( even as kittens) that were entirely unresponsive to any amount of love and kindness to be dissuaded by such an unsupported conclusion.


                      ********** If you think cats hunt well, go look at some strays and tell me how fat they are. *************

                      It's a competitive world. Some critters are better at it than others - that includes people. Have you discovered otherwise?

                      • Re: Mice

                        Tue, April 7, 2009 - 5:27 PM
                        You win. Keep on advising people to do illegal things. Have fun.
                        • Re: Mice

                          Tue, April 7, 2009 - 9:44 PM
                          I have an unprofessional, semi-slumlord, and there's no way in hell that he's get a professional to come out, and the manger is paranoid of the owner. He's so paranoid that sometimes it drives me nuts. I can't afford to move because I lost my job, and this place is cheap. There are things that I don't like about it, but I don't have much of a choice right now. I had to move out of my old place fast, and this one was available immediately, plus the rent was low. The cat essentially came with the place. He was one of several that were abandoned some years ago, and the manager had been feeding them. He was smart enough to move in with me, the others (3) are still outside, and I also feed them. They make great little garbage disposals, but don't come inside. I'm an animal lover anway.

                          When my next unemployment checks arrive, I plan to buy some snap traps and put them around. They worked well at another place that I lived where I had a mouse. Bait boxes would be better, but if it costs the owner money, it doesn't get done unless it's essential.
                        • Re: Mice

                          Tue, April 7, 2009 - 11:41 PM
                          Considering the whole ilegality slash humane-ity slant of this thread, I'm glad I didn't link to my entries in the lengthy thread in the archives that thoroughly visited this issue.

                          Heh. Now that I mention it (to myself).... and now that tribe is a boring ghostland in general these days..... Here 'tis: do-it-yourself.tribe.net/threa...3cf992
  • Not all cats are mousers. My domesticated ,formerly ferral cat Antonio (yes Banderas! why not?) is the only cat in my household that proudly brings me still -warm presents. They were nestiing in my linens drawer in the kitchen. He has dispacthed a dozen or more this winter. I praise him profusely and then recycle the blood sacrifice to my three year old oak tree. The last rodent I saw him with was still alive and sitting up on its haunches a few inches from Antonio's face. They appeared to be having a conversation. "Words" were exchanged. The rat sighed, slunk away quickly and I haven't seen any evidence of vermin since. don't use poisen or glue boards. Let nature take its course. Ask around. Borrow a proven mouser. And get some of the 'spray foam in a can' to caulk EVERY hole and crack especially around where pipes enter your house.
  • Also, when I didn't have cats I used the electronic plugins that emit an inaudible noise obnoxious to rodents, spiders, and fleas. Sort of a a pied piper device. I would not use it if you have pet guineapigs or hamsters, however.
    • I tried one of those. It didn't do anything.
      The bats still nested in the attic.
      I found one bat hanging like three feet from the gizmo.
      • I think the electronic device screws with the varmit's ears somehow. Bats have a sonar responder thingy.
        • leave the bat roost out of it

          Fri, April 10, 2009 - 10:46 PM
          Bats are our friends.
          Bats eat mosquitos....
          ...plus nasty bugs.
          Bats are not rodents.
          Bats are on an entirely other wavelength.

          You must not harm bats.
          Accept bats as our allies
          in the war against verminous pests.
          • Re: leave the bat roost out of it

            Sat, April 11, 2009 - 8:02 AM
            ******************Bats are our friends.
            Bats eat mosquitos....
            ...plus nasty bugs.
            Bats are not rodents.
            Bats are on an entirely other wavelength.

            You must not harm bats.
            Accept bats as our allies
            in the war against verminous pests. **********


            So long as they stay out of my house they are golden .
            • Re: leave the bat roost

              Sat, April 11, 2009 - 9:16 AM
              Send your bat colony to briggi.
              Bats = marvelous.... and interesting pets.
              • Re: leave the bat roost

                Sat, April 11, 2009 - 12:09 PM
                **********Send your bat colony to briggi.
                Bats = marvelous.... and interesting pets. ************

                You got a stronger stomach than I.
                One gets into the house and I break out a tennis racket
                Stand in he middle of the room it's in and before ya know it there's a line drive to the floor.

                ~ ~ ~ Bats creep me out. ~ ~ ~ ~

                I've thought about building 'em little bat houses out side in my back woods just to give 'em some place besides my attic.

                And I understand that guano is a common vector for TB among other things.
                • Cinema Drakula Verite

                  Sat, April 11, 2009 - 3:00 PM
                  Cliff, use the tennis racket to guide the poor scared helpless thing out the door, just as you would a bird that flew in by mistake..

                  Stop being so bigoted.
                  They are really soft and furry and friendly once you get to know them.
                  The TB thing only happens if you spend too much time as a fertilizer harvester working way close to pulverized dried airborne guano,
                  Chalk it up to childhood exposure to Hollywood culture myths, and get over it.

                  A bigger bat will give your night owl a run for his money when it comes to rodent patrol, OK?.

                  But OK if you are so dang dead set against warm fuzzy & cute, then a sand bucket holding burning charcoal topped off with a handful of suphur crystals will fumigate the attic.
                  And there went the scary old critters like a ... like something out of hell.
                  • This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.

                    Re: Cinema Drakula Verite

                    Sun, April 12, 2009 - 3:32 PM
                    ****************Cliff, use the tennis racket to guide the poor scared helpless thing out the door, just as you would a bird that flew in by mistake..************

                    Next you'll tell me to be kind to the spiders.


                    *******Stop being so bigoted.**********

                    One man's bigotry is another's squealing terror. Don't ask me why the damn things scare the shit outta me but, they do.

                    *********They are really soft and furry and friendly once you get to know them.***********

                    Come on by and you can take all my bats. To me the critters are as ugly and revolting dead as they are alive.

                    **********The TB thing only happens if you spend too much time as a fertilizer harvester working way close to pulverized dried airborne guano, Chalk it up to childhood exposure to Hollywood culture myths, and get over it.*********

                    Prolly so. They still creep me out.

                    **********A bigger bat will give your night owl a run for his money when it comes to rodent patrol, OK?.**********

                    Ya see??~!!!
                    I understand owls. They don't creep me out.

                    ************But OK if you are so dang dead set against warm fuzzy & cute, then a sand bucket holding burning charcoal topped off with a handful of suphur crystals will fumigate the attic.
                    And there went the scary old critters like a ... like something out of hell. ***********

                    Interesting trick. I never thought of smoking the buggers out.

                    I suppose it'd be nice of me to build 'em some bat houses in the back woods.

                    I have never convinced myself that they'll actually use 'em.
                    you know the ones from wide boards with about an inch of space for th4em to sneak up into and grip on.

                    Will they winter over in that?
                    • Re: Cinema Drakula Verite

                      Sun, April 12, 2009 - 6:05 PM
                      I don't know. Bats are kind of picky about where they roost. They are adaptable enough to find another place.

                      Yeah, spiders are nice... but like all little things that bite, you need to respect their space.

                      I don't know all that much about the dark creepy side of man's inner psyche.
                      I don't want to go there.

                      If you don't want to get the attic all stinky, then maybe that pair of toms from the barn in Maine could get locked in the attic for a week.... see who comes out live.

                      Thanks for the invite. I'll look you up next time in Jersey.
  • Re: Mice

    Wed, April 15, 2009 - 7:33 AM
    Richard- I prefer catching mice live too, but from what I understand, unless you take them many miles away, they'll come right back to their last home.
    • Re: Mice

      Wed, April 15, 2009 - 9:02 PM
      • Re: Mice

        Thu, April 16, 2009 - 7:59 AM
        Those things ( in .22 cal. ) are USELESS out of a pistol, and only good for a kill out to abt 10 ft. from a rifle. You can get them in .45 long colt. that's' not a bad snake/rat shotgun/pistol
        To those who " prefer" live traps....how many of those cute little mice do you think you have around your property ? And let them go , where ? you do have to take them a long way off, so they can then go into someone elses house, thanks a lot !
        • Re: Mice

          Thu, April 16, 2009 - 8:29 AM
          Catch-and-release is obviously not the solution.

          Years back, when I first started country living, I used to think myself quite the household hero when I'd bludgeon the odd rattlesnake that showed up with the flat of a shovel.
          Then shameful realization hit: rattlers are amongst the most effective rodent predators known. Rattlers thrive on rats (& mice) as their main entree. And, when serpent space is respected, they pose little threat to people. Rattlesnakes were made for a reason.
          Rattlesnakes are a fascinating and useful home ecology ally against filthy destuctive vermin.
      • Re: Mice

        Tue, May 5, 2009 - 10:20 PM


        How about a water pellet? I heard about them on "Burn Notice" the spy game uses
        then in soft warfare. I am sure a mouse could not recover if hit.

        R.
  • Re: Mice

    Wed, May 6, 2009 - 12:46 PM
    Of course if this were Cuba the mice would be seen not as pests but rather as a source of valuable protein.

    Cubans have been eating rats harvested from the sugar cane fields for longer than I've been alive.

    If it works for them ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
    • Waaay OT: cane rats

      Wed, May 6, 2009 - 2:35 PM
      My guess would be that cane fed rats taste pretty good.
      • Re: Waaay OT: cane rats

        Wed, May 6, 2009 - 4:19 PM
        They might.
        I recall a national geographic on Cuba when I was a kid. . They had pictures of the kids running the cane fields with sticks. Winner goes home with a passel of rats held in bunches by their tails.
        • Re: Waaay OT: cane rats

          Wed, May 6, 2009 - 5:13 PM
          I guess its a matter of how hungry you are. I've eaten plenty of squirrel and rabbit, plus a few snakes, buffalo, deer and even puppy (at a pow wow in a stew). But, having dressed a lot of game, rats seem like a lot of work for the quantity of meat.
          • Re: Waaay OT: cane rats

            Thu, May 7, 2009 - 6:00 AM
            >>having dressed a lot of game, rats seem like a lot of work for the quantity of meat. <<

            There in lies the beauty of the " Rat'o'matic" blender , makes a great sauce for topping that main course coming out of my, "Road kill rotisserie" !!
          • Re: Waaay OT: cane rats

            Thu, May 7, 2009 - 6:35 AM
            **********I guess its a matter of how hungry you are. I've eaten plenty of squirrel and rabbit, plus a few snakes, buffalo, deer and even puppy (at a pow wow in a stew). But, having dressed a lot of game, rats seem like a lot of work for the quantity of meat.************

            I rather suspect that they don't dress them too carefully.

            The Indians in Alaska and elsewhere would put the rabbit fur and all on the stick and roast it whole over a fire. Then they'd eat all of it.

            In the US we don't dress smelts sardines clams and oysters the whole thing is consumed intestines poop and all.

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