Getting rid of mice without poisoning the dog?

[Tapatio]

I helped a friend with a mouse problem out in the county. A home made version of this spinner trap worked wonders. 12 the first night, then 7 then a couple trios and a single. Problem over. Cheap and efficient.

Those spinner traps seem to work but drowning the mice gives me the heebie jeebies. Almost as awful a way to die as dehydration while encased in glue.

At my house a guy from the County came out for a free pest inspection and gave me one of those jaw traps others have linked to, and big black plastic box that allows the rodent access while keeping larger creatures out. They make them for bait too:

https://www.amazon.com/Kat-Sense-Sta...zcF9hdGY&psc=1

[JCL]

[feudist]

Funny story about anticoagulant rodent killer:

I was 18 or so. My parents had a little wooded cabin a couple hours away.

Decided it would make a romantic getaway for the girlfriend….


Got up there and it looked like a murder scene with mouse blood everywhere…

"Oh that...never mind that. Come on down to my dung-er, basement for a minute."

[Malamute]

Ive had mouse problems over the years. When I lived in the tipi they came in pretty easily of course. I would wake up hearing one scampering across the canvas floor. I kept the marlin 22 loaded with CB caps next to the bed, id slowly reach for it and the light, point the light at the sound, then I had about a second, maybe 2 to get a shot once the light came on.

When I got civilized and moved into a poorly built cabin I bought, it was badly infested with mice. I asked my vet if a poisioned mouse was bad for my dog, he said it was, so I never had any around. The inside mice werent as wary as the outside or tipi mice, I racked up a fair number of mice with the marlin again. I also ran traps, the old school ones. I mistakenly bought some with the large weird plastic triggers that looked like cheese. I was pretty annoyed with myself, but it being a 35 mile drive to town, went ahead and used them. They caught mice. I also realized most werent even paying attention to the peanut butter bait, just walking along the walls and stepped on that big plastic cheese trigger. I stopped baiting after a while, and kept catching lots of mice. And keep buying the cheesy looking traps.

Before I had indoor plumbing I dumped my grey water in a bucket to toss out later. Id often find dead mice in it. I think they echo-located it and thought it was a surface they could jump onto, only they dont swim very well, or very long. I never watched one but saw some news bit that they gave up in a couple minutes, so its nowhere near as agonizing as dying of thirst in a sticky trap. Anyway, mice are one animal I dont have too much sympathy for, partly because of the damage they do and partly because they carry Hanta virus. I have no real desire to kill them or any other critter any more, but just dont have a lot of sympathy if they have to be dealt with. Pack rats, rattlesnakes and skunks are also in that category. I guess I not on great terms with black widows or scorpions either.

I enthusiastically trap them and wouldnt be all that bothered by a bucket/water trap. I sometimes notice the dog looking funny in the water bucket before getting a drink, theres a dead mouse in it when she does that. Doesnt deter her from getting a drink though.

Magpies love dead mice. When i put them out they start showing up checking to see if theres any more.

[Clusterfrack]

Wait until your wife is having a dinner party and your cat comes dragging a dead baby bunny into the bridal shower she is hosting for her friend. I paid for that dearly. But I still had the cat.

We had a similar situation, with our girl dog eating ‘something’ at my wife’s nice yard party. ‘Something’ turned out to be a nest of baby birds. She was was taking her time enjoying the chewy snacks.

Our dogs will kill mice, but only by squishing them with their paws.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Found baby bunnies in the back yard without heads. Some predator from the sky or land. Lots of them around. Saw a neighborhood cat snag a dove in front of a mom wheeling a baby. Mom freaked out and yelled at the cat. Most interesting, opened the garage door and two doves at about 4 feet off the ground were hauling tail across the lawn. In back was a red tailed hawk with afterburners on. Caught one, and took off vertically into the sky like a rocket. Something to see.

We have voles around the house. Trying all kinds of things - the exterminator was a waste. Dumping 'vole' pellets in the holes. Told that the construction nearby on fields drives them into the neighborhoods. Had a snake in the basement. Dead now - nothing to panic about after the large TX garter snakes that periodically came to visit inside the garage. The neighbors killed coral and rattlers.

[fixer]

I had some mice get into my garage somehow. Total freak out moment with two newer Toyotas. (The wiring has soy based outer sheath that is apparently a delicacy for rodents...any Toyota forum is chock full of horror stories).

I de-inventoried the whole garage. Cleaned it out thoroughly.

Then I put out a dozen traps and poison stations. Also put out mice repellent (lavender and bars of soap).

I took a blower and once a day blew through the different areas where they could hide.

In this same time it stayed above 105F. In my garage the temps hit 114 F consistently for hours. And would stay above 100 for 10+ hours.

Then I also got a surge of some yellow breasted swallows. These things are mean. They chase lizards around the property.

Mice have been gone. I don't know what did it.

In this situation I'd take a layered approach. Poison stations, traps. Remove food sources. Make the area inhospitable. If they are under a structure, try to trap them in there.

[Stephanie B]

Roomie had problems with mice getting into her CR-V and nibbling on the wiring. She hung a shedded snakeskin, which seemed to repel them. An outdoor cat taking up residence in her garage worked better.

I had mice in my airplane. I first made little bags out of old pantihose, put mothballs in them and hung them in the wings. Peppermint on cotton balls worked in the vents of my car, but it has to be natural peppermint, not the synthetic stuff grocery stores sell.

[camel]

There was the kid who developed a mouse eliminator as a science fair project in the good old days.
It looked like a cookie but was a mix of peanut butter and plaster of Paris. The oily peanut butter would not set the plaster, but digestive fluids would. Terminal constipation.

Then they smell when they die in your walls. Wait. That might have been the squirrel in the attic I tried that on.

[camel]

I had some mice get into my garage somehow. Total freak out moment with two newer Toyotas. (The wiring has soy based outer sheath that is apparently a delicacy for rodents...any Toyota forum is chock full of horror stories).

I de-inventoried the whole garage. Cleaned it out thoroughly.

Then I put out a dozen traps and poison stations. Also put out mice repellent (lavender and bars of soap).

I took a blower and once a day blew through the different areas where they could hide.

In this same time it stayed above 105F. In my garage the temps hit 114 F consistently for hours. And would stay above 100 for 10+ hours.

Then I also got a surge of some yellow breasted swallows. These things are mean. They chase lizards around the property.

Mice have been gone. I don't know what did it.

In this situation I'd take a layered approach. Poison stations, traps. Remove food sources. Make the area inhospitable. If they are under a structure, try to trap them in there.

ALOT of newer vehicles have soy based sheathing on the wiring harness. BMW has a recall a few years ago on what they did and the upgrade.