advertisement


Mice, or just a mouse.

MikeMA

MikeMA

pfm Member
Last Wednesday evening, while getting the dog's evening meal ready in the garage, I thought I glimpsed a mouse. On closer investigation I found what looked like mouse droppings - one could hardly call them turds - behind the sack of dog food. I called the dog in to have a poke about - she is a typical hunting terrier and will normally sniff out and chase anything which moves and is smaller than her - but she wasn't the least bit interested and just wanted to play. Anyway, I ordered half a dozen lethal mouse traps from Amazon and spent the afternoon blocking up some small holes by the garage door. The traps arrived today, but I keep hearing that old Ronnie Hilton song about the little mouse with clogs on in the windmill in Old Amsterdam, and I can't bring myself to set the traps. I wish I'd just bought one of those non lethal traps instead. I must be getting soft in my old age.
 
Strike while the iron is hot - if you suspect rodents, set traps, get the retaliation in first. Forget blocking holes - house mice can just about get through half inch diameter holes so your garage would have to be all but hermetically sealed.

I use self-set traps - a million times better than any other IME in over 40 years of rodent control (I keep poultry).

Non-lethal traps are a complete misnomer - you trap something and cart it X miles or whatever, you release it and within 24 hours it either dies from exposure or at the "hands" of the resident rodents, or the resident rodentarian predator.

Buy a Plysu dustbin for the dog food.
 
In our experience you will be catching several mice a night in your traps over several weeks...
 
Vinny said:
Strike while the iron is hot - if you suspect rodents, set traps, get the retaliation in first.
Click to expand...

This. Like the OP I'm soft hearted and it just doesnt work with rodents of any type. The lethal trap is the route of least suffering for them as a rule.
 
MikeMA said:
Last Wednesday evening, while getting the dog's evening meal ready in the garage, I thought I glimpsed a mouse. On closer investigation I found what looked like mouse droppings - one could hardly call them turds - behind the sack of dog food. I called the dog in to have a poke about - she is a typical hunting terrier and will normally sniff out and chase anything which moves and is smaller than her - but she wasn't the least bit interested and just wanted to play. Anyway, I ordered half a dozen lethal mouse traps from Amazon and spent the afternoon blocking up some small holes by the garage door. The traps arrived today, but I keep hearing that old Ronnie Hilton song about the little mouse with clogs on in the windmill in Old Amsterdam, and I can't bring myself to set the traps. I wish I'd just bought one of those non lethal traps instead. I must be getting soft in my old age.
Click to expand...
Rule of mice.
If you think you saw one, you did see one.
People say ‘the mouse‘. They are legion.
 
Cav said:
Leave them alone, what harm are they doing?
Click to expand...
That’s my view too. We have two in the composter stuffing themselves with fruit debris, veg skins etc. They just sit there and look when we pull the lid up to put more food in. The other night we were eating outdoors and one galloped across the garden toward us and sat at our feet waiting for some food. I’ve never seen a mouse do that before.
 
Cav said:
Leave them alone, what harm are they doing?
Click to expand...
Shitting and pissing everywhere, which spreads disease. Chewing holes and wires. Also they'll get into OP's dog food, and there are no guarantees the house won't be safe either.
 
Last edited:
If you can remove all food, and I mean all, then that's the route. If not then it's traps, proofing and poison. Proofing a garage with conventional steel door is hard work. Unless you proof it, traps are a waste of time. Traps also catch things like toads that just wander in and out without hurting anything.
 
Cav said:
Leave them alone, what harm are they doing?
Click to expand...
This crossed my mind. They can however get into all sorts of places and cause problems. Years ago, in another house, I was making toast one morning when I noticed a terrible singeing smell. I pressed the toaster ejector button, a piece of toast popped out of one slot and a charred, and by now dead, mouse popped out of the other.

I have resolved to set the traps tomorrow. I'm pretty sure it's only one mouse, gaining entry and exit through a small gap, now blocked, at the bottom corner of the metal up-and-over garage door.
 
MikeMA said:
This crossed my mind. They can however get into all sorts of places and cause problems. Years ago, in another house, I was making toast one morning when I noticed a terrible singeing smell. I pressed the toaster ejector button, a piece of toast popped out of one slot and a charred, and by now dead, mouse popped out of the other.

I have resolved to set the traps tomorrow. I'm pretty sure it's only one mouse, gaining entry and exit through a small gap, now blocked, at the bottom corner of the metal up-and-over garage door.
Click to expand...
Did you have it rushed to the serious Burns unit?


On Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough,
November, 1785

Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie,
O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi’ bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee,
Wi’ murdering pattle!

I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion
An’ fellow-mortal!

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen-icker in a thrave
‘S a sma’ requet;
I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave,
An’ never miss’t!

Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
Its silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!
An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,
O’ foggage green!
An’ bleak December’s win’s ensuing,
Baith snell an’ keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,
An’ weary Winter comin fast,
An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro’ thy cell.

That wee bit heap o’ leaves and stibble,
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou’s turned out, for a’ thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble,
An’ cranreuch cauld!

But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best-laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!

Still thou are blest, compared wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward, tho’ I cannot see,
I guess an’ fear!

Robert Burns
 
Last edited:
kensalriser said:
Remove any possible access to food source. Problem solved. It's that simple. No one turns up to a restaurant that has no food.
Click to expand...

Sadly, totally untrue. There is nothing edible in my garage but I caught something like 50 in there last autumn because I did not follow my own advice. I even caught a small number of short-tailed voles and they are GRAZERS!!!
How many people store edibles in a loft? How many people get problems with mice in lofts?

Just an old wives' tale I am afraid, but certainly don't make things worse by leaving edibles easily accessible.

As for leaving mice to their own devices in a building...…………………. I am still finding stuff that has been chewed - polythene bags, presumably so that they can check out what's inside, and any kind of expanded plastic foam, for reasons beyond me, but a particular favourite.
Trapping them outdoors - almost pointless except around pets and poultry, where freebie food is inevitable, where control is possible.

As for it being just a single mouse, Mike...……………………………...
 
Unfortunately, Vinny is right, they’ll chew up almost anything if they have time & access, especially in winter.

I won’t kill them myself, I trap them, release them in the woodshed at the end of the garden & rank them according to who gets back into the house fastest ...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top