mice invasion - what to do?

[sillyme]

Thanks very much to everyone for all the excellent and helpful responses. They really clarified my totally muddy ideas on the subject. Poison is certainly a path to avoid. But the traps with their cholesterol rich additions sound like just the way to go.

Many thanks again.

 

[stuart45]

When you hear the trap go off, go and make sure the rat is dead and not just trapped by its leg. It may chew its leg off to escape and die out of site. I keep a few chickens and ducks and these always attract rats. I have got a feral cat that kills and eats them as well as rabbits and mice. Most house cats are a waste of space with rats. Its best to put the traps near walls as they like to keep close to them. They learn quickly so you need to use a few and vary the position. If they get established rats can be a real problem to get rid of. Most councils will come round and poison them free of charge in domestic properties.

 

[mattylad]

I once had mice come in when some low lifes moved in next door to me, they came in via the back of the chimney some how.
I would be up at all hours going down & changing the trap that we put under the gas fire. worked in the end.

 

[Symptoms]

The green solution: Forget cats! Get a terrier type of dog, what the old folks used to call 'a ratter'. It will become obsessed with catching the rats and will be brilliant at it.

If trapping is your thing get a cage trap, these should be re-baited after each capture with anything fatty. These will catch the rats live so also invest in an air pistol for dispatching the beast - don't be a wimp and release the thing at the bottom of the garden as it will return. The giant 'mouse traps' (Tom & Jerry type) for rats are not as effective as the cage jobbies.

 

[breezer]

The giant 'mouse traps' (Tom & Jerry type) for rats are not as effective as the cage jobbies.

yes they are. dead is dead, no matter how you look at it.


View media item 6472

Non squamish version of dead mouse. Picture of real rat caught is available


and besides your way incurs:

expense of buying said trap

expense of air pistol

not being squeamish to shoot said vermin

danger of having air pistol

and as for the dog being a green solution, how can it be green when you have to:

Buy it in the first place

buy it food

vets bills

maintain it

oh and being "green" its expensive

 

[regsmyth]

Getting rid of mice and rats is easy. It's how to stop them coming back.
When we moved here we found we had lots of resident mice. I found three places where they could get in (garage boiler pipework, missing pointing from brickwork under bellcast, and chewed hole though flashing under timber cladding) and blocked up the holes. Eventually the poison did the trick, but I still recover dead ones now and again.
If they can find somewhere warm, dry and safe to live, and bring in enough supplies from outside, they'll be very grateful for your hospitality.
Stop them coming in/getting out, and kill them before they eat your wiring.
This may not be very easy if your house is terraced, or has old stonework, or if the party walls under the ground floor or in the loft are in a bad way. But they will cause huge damage if you don't do something.

 

[Symptoms]

breezer - that's a chocolate mouse/rat in that trap.

As a lad brought up in the country my folks always used live capture traps for rats (they're also good for grey squirrels - tree rats) - the advantage being that you could nab more than one at a time. We used a .410 shotgun to polish them off.

 

[breezer]

breezer - that's a chocolate mouse/rat in that trap.

No, its not.

its the non squeamish version of a rat in a trap. its actually a computer mouse

 

[wms]

follow this link


http://www.choiceful.com/choiceful-id-18233-PestStop-Pestclear-Ultrasonic-Pest-Repeller.html


this is supposed to send ultrasonic waves through the wiring making the living conditions to pests intolerable not used one personally but know of people who have they also work on spiders etc. but are harmless to domestic pets.

 

[Symptoms]

Another thing we used to do once we found their nest in an eath bank (I lived on a farm) was to use propane or butane, from the bird scarers, hosed into the hole. A torch bulb, with the glass broken, attached to a long length of cap wire and a battery, ignited the gas causing a percussive underground explosion. This drove the rats out to face our .410s and dogs; most lads in the countryside had these small shotguns. We never really defeated the mass ranks of rodent kind but it was great fun. Before anybody complains, this was decades ago and the rats did untold damage to feed stuffs, stored grain, etc.

 

[breezer]

this is supposed to send ultrasonic waves through the wiring

doesnt say that.

it does say its ultrasonic.
ultrasonic is high frequency sound which can not travel down cables.

as i said previously, waste of money ( i tried one)

There is how ever a device that supposed to send electromagnetic pulses down the cables in which it is plugged

 

[wms]

this is supposed to send ultrasonic waves through the wiring

doesnt say that.

it does say its ultrasonic.
ultrasonic is high frequency sound which can not travel down cables.

as i said previously, waste of money ( i tried one)

There is how ever a device that supposed to send electromagnetic pulses down the cables in which it is plugged

This is the one I was trying to refer to, that utilises the wiring in your home .so in my own defence against the Smart ar ses I only did a quick google and as stated had not used one my self,

 

[storeman]

Try an ultrasonic plug in device.Mice and other animals cannot go near them. Therefore any mice in the property should hastily vacate.

 

[breezer]

Try an ultrasonic plug in device.Mice and other animals cannot go near them.

as i said previously, waste of money ( i tried one)