MICE

[Helicopter]

There have been a lot of mice around here this year and a few RATS

Now that the weather is cooling down more of them seem to be coming inside (the shed not the house).

I look after my mice really well.

Lots of traps to play with and nice poison blocks and liquid poison for partying.

Even so in the last few days I am beginning to actually see them moving around the hay bales (not just dead in the traps and round about).

Does anyone have any tips for continuing the good fight against these oh so cute but rotten little critters or am I just

 

[Reble]

Had the same problem a few years ago, our neighbors stopped pig farming, and they ventured to new territory.

The only way we found we could get rid of these pests was with a live trap got 1-2 aday last count was 35 mice and rats.

The last few years only the odd one.. Plus keep all your feed in bins where they cannot get into them.

Cats do not usually do the job, sorry live trap is the only way, that worked for us and rats are smart so the other type of traps will not catch them.

 

[Ashley]

Cats do wonders for me. I do however have 7 in the barn. I have not seen a mouse are rat in years, except the dead ones that show up outside my door.

Since you are throwing a party for them you might as well put out some coke for them to drink. This will help with the problem.

 

[anoki]

Every fall here when the weather starts to cool and the corn is being harvested from the fields....the mice come in! Some years are worse than others.....a few years back, we caught 23 in under 8 hours!!!!

I couldn't believe it! My workshop was in the basement, and I'd walk through the kitchen every 10-20 mins or so, and there would be at least ONE caught! Even saw a couple scurrying away from the trap when I opened the cupboard door.....

The barn cats were very well fed that day!

Last year I believe we only got 1 or 2....so it really does depend on the year.

~kathryn

 

[Helicopter]

Yeah, the drought broke here last year and there is so much feed around. There is talk of a mouse plague soon because the farmers are starting to plant the next round of crops.

HORROR

I catch about 10 a day in the traps and have been for months so I've thrown out hundreds. Hate it.

I was advised to sprinkle salt and sulphur between the hay bales when I stacked but ....................................... I think the mice must like their poison with a bit of spice.

 

[chandab]

Can't be much worse than poison if it works, but I read somewhere to put out dry beet pulp pellets for them. They eat them dry, then they expand in the digestive system. Like I said, I don't know if it works, but with other animals around, it might be a better choice than poison. Worth trying, especially if beet pulp is fairly cheap.

 

[Ashley]

Coke is cheap as well. They cant deal with the gas and explode.

 

[Eohippus]

I got exciting thinking this was about pet mice (I recently acquired 2) haha I should've known better!

Cats (from my experience) only work if they're not really pets but more feral and if you don't feed them but make them rely on the mice for food. Thankfully we don't have a problem with mice out here. We have kangaroo rats which I think are cute and, most importantly, eat scorpions so they're encouraged to stay.

Live traps work wonders and so do the sticky glue type ones. I always get nervous about poison around the horses (and other animals we have wandering around such as chickens and the dogs)

 

[anoki]

Cats (from my experience) only work if they're not really pets but more feral and if you don't feed them but make them rely on the mice for food.

That depends completely on the cat. We have barn cats here who are feral and SUPER mousers, others that aren't soo good and rely more on the food we give them. Our house cats: one of the 4 was a feral barn cat that I 'rescued' many years ago-he is a HORRIBLE mouser, not interested at all. On the other hand, my Him/Ragdoll cross that is very domesticated (and has never set foot outside of the house) goes bonkers in the house trying to catch the mice in the cupboards!!! The other 2 were brought in from our barn as feral kittens at about 6-8 weeks of age. They are somewhere in between the other 2...interested, but not quite as crazy as the Him/Ragdoll.

At the horse barn, we had a cat who was an awesome, AMAZING mouser....caught (and brought up to the barn....) anything and EVERYTHING. Baby rabbits (which I wasn't soo keen on finding), mice, rats, birds, snakes....you name it, she caught it. She was always a barn cat, but never feral, and always had food available to her. Her replacement was very wild when she came, scared of people, not as good a mouser, but she is getting better....

I'm not big on the poison either, but I wouldn't put out beet pulp either....dogs and beet pulp do not mix well at all, so I'd be careful if you have many dogs accessible to areas where you put beet pulp out. There is always a downside to everything, so being educated and knowing what will work best in your situation is the key!

~kathryn

 

[chandab]

I'm not big on the poison either, but I wouldn't put out beet pulp either....dogs and beet pulp do not mix well at all, so I'd be careful if you have many dogs accessible to areas where you put beet pulp out. There is always a downside to everything, so being educated and knowing what will work best in your situation is the key!

~kathryn

Well, with the beet pulp, you wouldn't have to put out much to cause a problem for mice, probably just a few pieces, not enough to cause a dog harm (and its not poison), and if you put it in out of the way places that dogs couldn't get to, so much the better.

Wanted to add... Just imagine would happen if you combine beet pulp with the coke.

[Not in the same dish, just both available at the same time.]

 

[Ashley]

The saying that cats only hunt if they have to rely on it for food is a myth. My barn cats are well fed. The seven of them get 1 2qt. scoop of cat food a day. I have one out there that isnt fix as I cant catch her. The others are all fixed. 2 are friendly the rest are wild. The fixed cats are fatter then the one that isnt fix and was jut preggo not to long ago. The one friendly cat doesnt really hunt but she is young (under a year) and I think was somebodys house cat before she got dumped. I suspect the others will teach her this summer.

I no longer have an issue with rabbits, gophers, snakes, mice, rats, pigeons and anything else they can catch. I dont see any of them around anymore unless they are dead and either on my door step or by my feed bins in the barn. I just leave them be, and it seems once I have gotten to see them they come back and eat them.

The better the cats are fed the better they seem to hunt.

 

[Katiean]

At this point my cats do a very good job. They are well fed. They come in the house and sometimes bring me a present they caught. However, at one time I had rabbits in the shed I keep me feed in now. The cages were stacked 3-4 high (with trays in between). The mice would make trails through the shavings in the trays and eat the rabbits food at feeding time. Because I have free range chickens and dogs I do not use any poison. I had a live trap that would get 5-10 mice at a time. I would fill up a 5 gallon bucket with water and drop my closed trap into the bucket. After about 5 minuets I would dump the water and dispose of the dead mice. You really do not even need bait in the live trap. Just place the opening along a wall the mice will go check it out.

 

[Helicopter]

OK so I'll add beet pulp, coke and a live trap to the mix. Party central.

That'll teach those 'miserable meeces' to show their cute, little faces around my barn.

Can't get a cat, my Cocker Spaniel would die. If I had a cat it probably wouldn't be interested in a barn it would just want to sleep on the lounge like everything else around here.

 

[HGFarm]

Yep, my cats have dry food 24/7 and they hunt like crazy- even doing in a couple of big rats- EW!!! I cant put poison out because of the dogs, cats and just dont want other animals in it either.... so stick with the cats, or traps if we must for the bigger varmints.

 

[Thinking small]

That depends completely on the cat. We have barn cats here who are feral and SUPER mousers, others that aren't soo good and rely more on the food we give them. Our house cats: one of the 4 was a feral barn cat that I 'rescued' many years ago-he is a HORRIBLE mouser, not interested at all. On the other hand, my Him/Ragdoll cross that is very domesticated (and has never set foot outside of the house) goes bonkers in the house trying to catch the mice in the cupboards!!! The other 2 were brought in from our barn as feral kittens at about 6-8 weeks of age. They are somewhere in between the other 2...interested, but not quite as crazy as the Him/Ragdoll.

At the horse barn, we had a cat who was an awesome, AMAZING mouser....caught (and brought up to the barn....) anything and EVERYTHING. Baby rabbits (which I wasn't soo keen on finding), mice, rats, birds, snakes....you name it, she caught it. She was always a barn cat, but never feral, and always had food available to her. Her replacement was very wild when she came, scared of people, not as good a mouser, but she is getting better....

~kathryn

My experience to, ironically i have ragdolls in my house as well and my youngest is an awesome mouser catching and killing several within a small timeframe... he's never been outside and is a total floppy well fed boy he just has a great prey drive. My barn cats are not feral either and both well fed.

 

[LAZY J MINIS]

my cats are also well fed and hunt but the best mousers are my birds. peacocks,geese,guineas,and chickens. no meeces no snakes no unwanted varmits. skunks and possums and racoons leave also, the birds are awsome and no poisons. the horses don't mind the birds and the birds have their favorite horses to roost with.

 

[Ashley]

my cats are also well fed and hunt but the best mousers are my birds. peacocks,geese,guineas,and chickens. no meeces no snakes no unwanted varmits. skunks and possums and racoons leave also, the birds are awsome and no poisons. the horses don't mind the birds and the birds have their favorite horses to roost with.

Just be careful with the birds and horses mixing. I know somebody that lost 2 big draft horses due to Salmonella

 

[Marty]

Take an empty 2 liter soda bottle and put your bait in there. They will croak right inside. No mess!

 

[chandab]

Take an empty 2 liter soda bottle and put your bait in there. They will croak right inside. No mess!

Sounds like its time to start drinking soda from 2L bottles and save up some mouse traps. thanks for the idea.