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We live in a 200 year old stone cottage (they're very common round here) and the walls are really rubble-filled double piles of stones. One disadvantage, amongst many, is that they provide spacious accommodation for small rodents from time to time. We don't usually have a problem in warmer weather; mice infestation is normally a Winter problem and relatively minor. Not so right now.
We're soft-hearted souls and have been successfully catching and evicting our unwelcome guests by using a humane mousetrap. Unfortunately the latest captive was clearly more determined than his friends and succeeded in chewing his way out of the plastic trap making it useless (very difficult to effect a satisfactory repair). We simply can't call a halt to our campaign (they breed like ... mice); we've been catching at least one/day for the past 2 or 2 weeks. I have been wondering if we're getting returners though. They all look remarkably similar plus we have no idea where they're getting in.
So our little friend could be thought to have won a pyrrhic victory because we've had to resort to our old stock of lethal traps. Now, instead of getting a chance to survive in the surrounding fields, they're ending up dead. However I'll be glad when we get the new (large capacity) trap we ordered on-line last night. Perhaps the rest of the mice will be too.
btw I didn't notice any signs of transgender mice but as I can't tell which are male and which female you never know.
Geoff
Comments
Been there, done that...
EVENTUALLY (& quite by accident) found the entrance... Those suckers can squeeze through some amazingly small holes!
Consider
Repellants also there is the old fashion cat of course.
If you are releasing them, I assume you are doing it far, far away.
Sometimes lethal traps and poisons are the only solution though.
Kim
Take them far away
A friend had a pack rat problem, he caught them in a live trap made of wire mesh, baited with bread and peanut butter. The first one he caught, he released four miles away while on his way to the store. When he got back home, the pack rat was waiting for him on his porch! My friend swears it was the same one he'd caught and released earlier!
After that, he would drop them off about ten miles away, he said they didn't come back then!
Mr. Ram
The sex of a mouse
Believe it or not check their behinds you'll be able to tell immediately.
Personally I use lethal traps. I believe the word gets around in the mice community (if they have one) if you enter my house you don't come out alive.
I have a secondary back up, a cat that loves chasing and playing with things. She is a good mouser.
Jill Micayla
May you have a wonderful today and a better tomorrow
Jill Micayla
Be kinder than necessary,Because everyone you meet
Is fighting some kind of battle.
Mark them
Get some shoe polish or something and dab a bit on them before you release them. Then you can see if it's the same ones. Or if you really want to get fancy you could start numbering them, and tracking the comings and goings. You could write a paper! :-)
m
They know they can survive
An old fashioned milk bottle
can be used as a humane trap, obviously placed at an angle. The best bait is chocolate.
Angharad
Angharad
The best bait
Is Chocolate? No-o-o-o!!!
Only a heathen would waste good chocolate baiting a mousetrap! Let them eat cheese!
Nevah!!
Waste cheese?! Perish the thought. Hey, is chocolate poisonous to them like it is to dogs?
Nope, sorry
Mice and rats are omnivorous. Omnivores usually can eat anything since that's sort of their job. Humans, pigs and rats are really hard to poison. Rats are slightly easier since they can't vomit, so something that makes you sick before killing you is less likely to work on a pig or a human than on a rat or a mouse.
Chocolate is an upper, like coffee or cocaine. Cats and dogs are evolved to run their internal systems on high so an upper is very dangerous to them, chocolate hits them like cocaine hits a human and caffeine is like meth. Chocolate also hits carnivores in their liver since they lack an important enzyme to detox it. Onions and certain fruit skins are also poisonous to dogs due to nasty anti-fungal chemicals that dogs can't handle.
Horses run on high, too, but it would take a lot of chocolate to poison a horse. I think you would make the horse colicky with all the oil first. Oh, horses can't vomit either which is why they get poisoned much more often than cows.
On the other hand, enough benadryl to make a 200 pound human lay down and drool will hardly make a 20 pound dog yawn. I found this out when I had to treat my dog for allergies. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
another solution
if you do not like cats or allergic to them then try a rat terrier because they are actually very good mousers. They are more likely to chase them out of the house so the mice never come back. It was one of the reason's why teddy roosevelt called them rat terriers.
hugs,
Jenna from FL
Proud owner of a "rattie"
Hugs,
Jenna From FL
Moderator/Editor
TopShelf BigCloset
It is a long road ahead but I will finally become who I should be.
Old fashioned?
We still have our milk delivered and so milk bottles are regularly washed and returned. (I'm very much against bottle banks - bottles should be re-used just as they were in my youth). Not sure if it's quite fair to return bottles after they've housed mice though. I suppose they're sterilised so we might give it a try. As it was the peanuts we keep to feed garden birds that seemed to be their favourite food we've found them to be successful. Apparently peanut butter is good too.
A cat is out of the question. We often leave the house for weeks at a time and that doesn't make pet ownership a good idea. Moreover we've both been downed by cats and so aren't particularly fond of them - quite apart from their habit of crapping in our garden.
I suppose marking each release would tell if we're getting persistent offenders but that would mean handling them and that's not something either of us are keen on.
Geoff
I used, at one time, to have milk delivered...
...in reusable bottles, until one fine day I opened up the milk box on the porch and discovered a milk bottle with the paper top intact and the little foil cover undisturbed, but in the midst of the milk (with cream floating at the top, thank you) was the pathetic body of a mouse, an obvious casualty of a plot to smuggle himself past the dog on guard at our door. One could just make out his little hands and feet, and a substantial portion of his tail, pressed against the glass whilst other bits were mercifully obscured by a milky haze. I decided then and there that it would be disrespectful to drink either the milk or creme, and left it as a memorial to his ambition when I returned it to the milkman. (They were all men in those days, so please don't go on about gender stereotyping)
On sober reflection, I decided that quality control at the particular diary I patronised (Berkeley Farms, now defunct, a victim of modernisation) left something to be desired (this was only the last of a string of somewhat less disquieting discoveries, including a folded wire coat-hanger, a glass marble*, and, on one occasion, bits of glass), and changed, reluctantly, to paper cartons.
Puddin'
---------------
* I thought for a moment that it might be a prize, something like one found in boxes of Cracker Jack candied popcorn.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s191/chuggin/10017.jpg
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Downed by cats...
Pets are an amazingly common source of falling injuries, accounting roughly for a third of all such accidents requiring treatment in hospital, although the primary culprits are dogs, who tend to "dog" one's heels more than cats do, who spend most of their time asleep or watching interesting objects through windows. In the USA, dogs and cats together account for a little less than eighty-seven thousand attempted incidents of manslaughter every year, which ought to put the hysteria of some over the possibility of terrorism in at least some perspective.
Puddin'
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Puddin' 87,000???
I asked around and found some interesting statistics. It seems that two dogs on the east coast are responsible for nearly a third of attempted manslaughters. Once again the innocent majority are being framed by a few bad apples.
I word of caution to those two dogs -- we know who you are and we're going to smoke you out no matter where you try to hide.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Downed?
I thought it was a typo for owned. :) Or would that be pwned? :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
In our case ...
... the 'downings' involved us on bikes and the cats carelessly running across roads. These are 2 separate incidents. In mine I was totally paralysed for several days through spinal damage and even now, 18 years later, suffer the effects - it changed my life radically. SWMBO was fetched off and knocked unconscious despite her helmet. Her collarbone is a VERY strange shape so it's good job she's not too bothered about fashionable clothing.
That 'pwned' word is odd. When I first saw it (in YouTube comments) I assumed it was a typo for 'owned' but it appears not. It puzzles me but not enough for me to get off my backside to find out :)
Strange this somewhat off-topic trivial blog is attracting more comments than any fiction I've ever posted. Is the world trying to tell me something? LOL
Geoff
Pwned
Pwned did originate as a typo for owned. Now it means "dominated" or even "humiliated" which was the sense owned was likely being used in during the original typo. It's pronounced "owned" or "poned" or even "pooned" for MHP. Sometimes it's even spelled out loud.
You were using "downed" in a jargon sense which I didn't understand, I actually thought you meant tripped. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Pwned
You were right the first time, but for the wrong reasons.
It's a leetspeak (leet is a variant of eleet or elite) term much used in the fields of online gaming or computer hacking, which last is where it came from.
It means to "own" or dominate through superior skills or brainpower.
The etymology, although much obfuscated on the net, is probably through the *other* leetspeak, the substitution of ASCII letters for "foreign" letters. Speakers of Welsh may recognise the reference to "poon," short either for "poontang" (female genitalia) or on its own a reference to the anus used sexually. This has, after a moment's reflection, the advantage of explaining *everything* about the word in hacker subculture.
Puddin'
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
>> Is the world trying to tell me something?
What it seems most to be telling us all is that there's a lot of unrepressed hostility toward mice out there. I'm only surprised that someone hasn't suggested plastic explosives strategically poked into mouse holes as a cure.
I personally am opposed to using cats as mousers, because the mice have their revenge on both cat and owner through parasite infestations which cost the owner more trouble and money to cure than the poor mice did to begin with, not to mention the discomfort for the cat.
Better, though very difficult, is to "mouse-proof" the home, contain all sources of food, and eliminate them through humane traps. Better karma as well, just in case the Dalai Lama is right. I know I'd just hate to be floating around up there in Bardo and belatedly discover that I was destined to be reincarnated as a damned mouse because of repeated murders of the sleekit creatures. Set back my summer reading schedule immensely...
Puddin'
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
C4
I propose we fill the center of the earth with C4 in order to eradicate the meeces pieces.
WMDs
I guess I'm the meanie here, since I used to use WMDs to deal with my rodent problem, (weapons of mouse destruction). Actually, I employed mercenaries to do my dirty work - cats. We had an upper barn pride, a lower barn pride and an in house pride for internal security. Since cats didn't use chemicals or plastics and both the mice and cats are bio-degradable, I guess that would make my system eco-friendly.
I know, I know. I am a real (fill in the blank ________________). But since someone has to be the big meanie here, I might as well be it.
Nancy Cole
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
Nancy,
from you I'd expect nothing less. I feel sure you have suitable ant-rodent assault weapon always to hand. Though I confess I can't argue with your feline's ecological credentials. Now get back to the important stuff and keep us entertained in occupied France. If you want to be a real meanie then deprive me/us of more of your story :)
Geoff
Cat and mouse
Some respondants have suggested the use of domesticated felines to aid the removal of small rodents from homes. While this appears to be a sound suggestion, it only works if the animals involved are fully trained.
Some months ago, a little mouse invaded our property, wanting a humane method of removing said mouse, a local cat was employed on an ad-hoc basis to persuade the mouse to leave of it's own volition.
Unfortunately,
The cat had not been trained in counter mouse-ism.
The mouse had not been trained to recognise a cat, and to expedite an escape on seeing one.
Thus, the two of them were sitting 2 feet away from each other doing nothing!
The mouse was eventually captured using an overturned bucket and removed to the local park.
Say What
You mean, in all the excitement, the mouse didn't kick the bucket?
Sorry folks, I couldn't let that one go.
Nancy Cole
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
TG mice
It is not possible to tell from inspection if a mouse is TG. But a study of behaviour suggests that a tg mouse will migrate to the laundry basket to nest in a bra cup
Rat/Mice
Geoff; I had a problem with black roof rats for over a year, and it was real hard to get rid of them as I have 10 birds of difference sizes and I had to be careful of poisons, I had someone tell me to try "d-COM's latest Granulated Rat Poison and withend two weeks all I found was dead bodies" just a thought for you. Richard PS: The Poison dehidrates there bodies so there is no smell from those that are hidden in walls!
Richard
Rats ...
... are a different kettle of fish err rodent all together. We had rats in the garden a couple of years ago and the council rat-catcher came and put poison down. Apparently rats like warmth and underneath our compost bin was an ideal home for them. The local authority takes rat infestation quite seriously and provides a free service but I don't think they do for mere meeces or ants come to that and talking of ants we have this problem .... :)
I prefer to deal with our problem humanely if I can. I quite like mice but NOT in the house thanks very much.
Geoff
COKE and Cemnt
Yep, jus put somemat in a saucer and give to em. They liek the suger and thens then their guts get real hadr and they dies. :)
omg
-_-
mousers
"Training" cats to be mousers is simple. Don't OVERFEED them. :) They are natural-born mousers. But they have to be hungry (at least part of the time). A stuffed cat will chase nothing. My two are snoozing peacefully right now. Why? Because ALL the rodents within 6 miles KNOW my house is a deadly place for their kind. Lacking rodents to play with, any insect or arachnid large enough to see is fair game. :)
Count me as one of the "meanies". I will NOT suffer vermin in my house, and am not inclined to take them for long drives in the country. When cats have not been resident (rare), I've used lethal traps, clubs, pellet rifles, and ... ummmm, perhaps I should stop there. :)
- vessica
Where is my dictionary, and my BEER!
I just love it when someone forces me to get my dictionary out. Thank you so much for helping me so much in my quest to refrain from dying an uneducated fool.
That's beer two. Tonight I think I will kill all six of the little devils while I read and listen to "Queen"! I'm gonna get rocked tonigh or is that stones or something else>?
Just given my detractors someat to bitxh about. Am so down that I thot Id just get good and plowed rather than do somethin destructive self. Ha!