Seasons Greetin,Vermin!

[RDVAARK]

Last night brought the first dusting of snow here in suburbia, where all of the feral 'barn' cats have been captured and had surgery and are now tucked,snug in their beds, into cages at the cat rescue hoardingplaces. The old cat door on the garage isn't forgotten. So many cute little rodent tracks lead to it that the snow is pushed aside.
Well, time to drag out the awful, sickening, drier sheets. Soon they will litter the cars, shop, and yard when I open the door. I leave the hoods up, and prop up the folding seats with an empty paint can, because mice dislike open space.
The stinking drier sheets pile up, and end up in nests and the paint cans when they lose their magic. However there is a use for them-they aren't absorbent enough to be rags, except when checking the oil. They don't burn nicely. But they do have a use.
My wife has had horses for sixty years. A T- shirt recently said "Yes I smell like a horse, but that's not a problem for me." For many years she has been given perfumes, lotion, creams, all that girly stuff. It builds up,too.
Well, even more than drier sheets and open spaces, mice hate girly stuff. A paint can full of old drier sheets will hold a lot of well meant gift scent. Most successful so far is "Jean Nate's Apres le Bain". Re-gifting, recycling, multi-use, whatever. It stinks, it clings, it lasts and it makes her wonder who's been in the car. Of course ,your mileage may vary-YMMV. Peppermint scent diffuser refills from Walmart are nice, smell like 'Cab Fresh' from Tractor Supply, but don't last.
Happy Holidays, Russ

[Gary WA]

Better get the big guns out!!!

[eagle]

I've had good luck with putting a ring of powder laundry detergent around each tire. Also, take a 2 foot or so long piece of 1" PVC pipe, duct tape one end, dump some rat poison in it and set them around the shed. Keeps the cats/dogs/chickens out of it and gives the mice a place to eat their fill in peace.

[RDVAARK]

Very nice easy solution for four-legged pests near the birdfeeder! Thanks

[Synchro909]

Originally Posted by eagle

I've had good luck with putting a ring of powder laundry detergent around each tire. Also, take a 2 foot or so long piece of 1" PVC pipe, duct tape one end, dump some rat poison in it and set them around the shed. Keeps the cats/dogs/chickens out of it and gives the mice a place to eat their fill in peace.

Mice are not much of a problem here but I like that idea. I don't like leaving baits out where other animals can get to them.

[katy]

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I used to know a fellow that shot the mice with .22 skeet shot.

[Bud]

I highly recommend the "Texas Trap". I have disposed of at least 30 mice in the last several years with this method. No poison, easy to dispose of the mice and reset the trap. I have completely eliminated mice from the house and the garage. Dead mice do not reproduce.
What is a "Texas Trap"? Google it and you will find a water bottle which rotates on a coat hanger over a bucket of water. The water bottle has peanut butter smeared over it. A handy ramp to the water bottle provides an easy path to death (they drown in the bucket water). To dispose, simply throw out the mice with the water and refill. I just got three mice in one bucket last week.
If the mouse is too smart, I use a mechanical trap. The mechanical trap is set in a Half-&-Half container sliced lengthwise so the little critter can't easily lick off the peanut butter without getting nailed.

[Big hammer]

Question if you use poison to kill rodents, if cats or dogs eat the dead rodents will the cats or dogs get sick or die? Potato flakes put out that rodents will eat, and then the rodents die from a bloated stomach !

[fried okra]

Are you folks having good luck using the "glue traps" sold commercially?

[RDVAARK]

Neighbor has a hot tub with a clear view of my shop. Once they had it a while, they got into nekkid hot tubbing. My buddies would come over and watch. One guy didn't want to leave, his brother nagged at him. "C,mon, Bunkie, they ain't doing nothing, and they're OLD." "C'mon,Bunkie, it,s all over..." Bunkie says, in a loud stupid voice, "Like HELL it's over. It ain't over till that fat lady swims." Of course they heard that. End of nekkid hot tub watching.
Worse, she became the town zoning enforcement officer. And here in suburbia, no gun fire within 500 ft. of a dwelling.
So, no shooting mice with a 22 skeet.
Some fishermen around make Nuc Mam. They fill a five gallon bucket with crappies(local name), add some water and let it ferment. Strain it and repeat, and repeat.The best is 'five time Nuc Mam'. Every time someone comes up with the bucket trap idea, I wonder if you can make it with mice?

[David in San Antonio]

@Rdvaark - what’s the purpose of Nuc Mam? Is it a condiment?

[CHuDWah]

Instead of drier sheets, should've adopted a couple of those rescue cats. When we lived in the country, we had a feral cat (really more of a mini-panther) that lived in the woods behind our house. Never had a mouse problem.

[CHuDWah]

Nuc Mam sounds like a waste of crappie. Fry up some filets - they're good eatin'!

[updraught]

Been around since 1930 and made in the good ole USA!
You do need a clear area and about 6 cats when you open the box

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPKi4_ss6aY

[RDVAARK]

Originally Posted by David in San Antonio

@Rdvaark - what’s the purpose of Nuc Mam? Is it a condiment?

Nuc Mam is a condiment mostly,good on sandwiches, rice,etc. Also it's a dipping sauce for ,say, fresh veggies like scallions,elephant garlic, cabbage or bok choy. It's widely used in a lot of cooked dishes, usually listed as the ingredient "fish sauce". Even the recently popular hot garlicky Sri Racha uses it. It gives a sort of anchovy tang to food.

[marko39]

Originally Posted by fried okra

Are you folks having good luck using the "glue traps" sold commercially?

They work great. 2 years ago we got mice in the house and they took the bait from the snap traps without triggering them. Put out sticky traps and caught them all in 2 days. This was winter so I would throw sticky trap with mouse attached in the wood burner.

[5851a]

We get 1 or 2 in house in the fall and just trap normal type. A few years back we had an invasion from the "hmm" neighbor's house. Smart ones wouldn't set off the traps, they would only set 1 foot on the glue ones then proceed to drag the glue patch around. Gave up, rescued 2 cats. Only have had 2 in the last 3 years, 1 managed to crawl his half dead body under a closet door and the other was 1 the cat brought to show the wife. They seem to be very aggressive protecting their home. We don't even have bugs. A simple housefly can be a disaster for lamp shades and drapes. How did I know that little kitten would end up at 17# and the 7# can jump straight up 6.5' .

[Chris in WNC]

If I were in that situation, I'd have kept a couple of those feral cats after they were spayed/neutered......

[Big hammer]

Daddy can we keep the kitty? he can spend the night in the garage, it was cold outside. Next morning beside the water and food bowl was a dead mouse. He spent the next night in the garage and in the morning next to the bowls where two dead mice, dad decided that the kids could keep him ! He was a inside/outside cat, one evening I was talking to neighbors and Jacs was going into their garage and I told him no but the neighbors said he was welcome in time as he got rid of their mouse problems! Jacs turned around and went hunting in their garage!

[RDVAARK]

Once cats enter our rescue system, it costs about $300 to get one out. IF you pass the background check, complete the home visit interview protocol, and sign a pledge. Bullets,not allowed around here, are cheaper than lawyers (not to mention bailing out a rescued surgically modified cat).
Feral barn cats are almost extinct here. The rescuing forces will track them down anywhere eventually. If not, the foxes, bobcats and coyotes get them within a week.
When enough coyotes gather to howl at night, and the lost pet notices appear, what could be gunshots are heard, and coyotes aren't.