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timmmay

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#173716 3-Jun-2015 08:07
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I went into my shed drawers last weekend, I expected to find drills, drill bits, and such, and as well as finding that I found a fairly large amount of mouse droppings. I broke out the old mouse trap, the slightly more humane kind that crushes their entire head not just maiming them, and I've caught three but I know there are more. I use a bait that's a sugary gel, I got it from the hardware store a few years back.

Some of the little buggers have gotten smart - they eat the bait without setting the trap off. Either they're very delicate, or they're working as a team, one holding the trap open while the other eats. It's probably the former though, eating delicately.

Does anyone have any good tips on getting rid of mice?

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MikeAqua
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  #1317338 4-Jun-2015 12:11
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Cats: Go outside, catch mice and bring them, lizards, birds and largish insects inside, making a racket usually at 3am.  We have two and in our last house that didn't stop mice getting inside at all.  Our new house is vermin proof and I have never seen evidence of a mouse living in the house.  If the cats were employees I could just fire them, but apparently they are 'family'.

Traps: +1 for better mouse trap (and rat version). Very effective.  Not as quick/humane as the old fashioned finger breaker, but safer for humans.  The mouse version also catches rats, but it doesn't harm them just stops them from seeing or climbing, so you still have to deal with them, manually. 

Trap bait: The #1 rule is mix it up.  Bacon, peanut butter, tinned cat-food, jam, butter ... all work, but you have to change it around as mice get bait shy.  Also make it hard to get off the trap mechanism - bait elastic (fishing shop) works well for this.  Wear gloves when you handle/bait the trap, so it doesn't smell like people.

Catching clever ratty:  Get a 40L rubbish bin, fill 1/4 with water, use a piece of wood as ramp up from the floor to the rim.  Often ratty will get thirsty and jump into the bucket but he will never get out due to the smooth sides.  Put a permeable sack over the top of the bin, then take it and a cricket bat outside.  Up end bin while holding sack in place.  Secure ratty in a sack ... an accurate hard whack with the bat will humanely send ratty on.  A cage trap may work too, but it's difficult to humanely deal with a big rat in a cage.




Mike


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