My pest inspector told me mice can squeeze in holes the diamter of a dime!
You might want to ask a pest company for traps that have food in them that when eaten makes a mouse increasingly dehyrated. They it goes outside looking for water. When they find it, they are dead.
Someone mention Bear's?......
Take Care!
Frank
hon30critter Somehow that seemed to detract from my ability to enjoy my coffee with Baileys.
NOTHING, I mean NOTHING, should detract from enjoying a Baileys laced coffee, at any time of the day!!!
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
We have used peppermint spray as a deterrent in our sheds. Spray around the perimeter. In our car storage area, we use scented dryer sheets including in the trunk and under the hood. I was considering the ultrasonic device out in the parking lot after a critter got into a car and chewed the wiring. At home, the problem pretty well vanished after we spray foamed the inside walls of the basement. All these pests seem pretty clever for dumb animals. Haven't seen any bears yet but coyotes and foxes are back in force at our shop. At least they will chomp up the smaller critters. Good luck Howard.
I agree about finding and sealing up holes in your walls or foundation.
I find that the glue traps work best out of all the trap types. Just lay them down in areas along your walls where mice go (they tend to run right along wall as opposed to out in open spaces) and they will walk right onto them. The glue traps I buy come pre-baited but sticking a dollop of peanut butter on them should help, as long as you don't have dogs that also like peanut butter!
As for (red) squirrels, they hate citrus. Scattering orange peels around a storeroom keeps them away in my experience.
A messy cat or dog food dish can easily become a mouse attractant. If your cats free feed put the dish on a table with a single centre support that is not near any walls or other things they can climb. We did that in our shop, and not only did the mouse count decrease, so did our cat food bill!
I had set up a trail camera, and got loads of photos of mice eating cat food, while the oldest, fattest cat watched them do it.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
Mice by me only appear when it gets cold. Had a ground squirrel or chipmunk get inside and take up residence on the layout. Took quite a while to catch him. We have a lot of redtails and Coopers Hawks here if your lucky u get to see a Bald Eagle. Also Fox and coyotes kepep the vermin population down.
I have no objections to killing mice. They are nothing more than vermin.
I have a model railroading friend that owns a pest control company nearby. He uses 12 by 12 glue traps to catch mice. Put some peanut butter in the middle, and toss it in the trash when the mouse it trapped.
I don't like poison, mice can wander off and die where you will never find them, and the smell is awful.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I used to be a home inspector. I attended an entire continuing education class that was dedicated to rodents. Mice by themselves are not dangerous. The problem is that they carry fleas and ticks. Ticks can transmit Lyme Disease and mice carry fleas. A video was shown during the home inspector's class of a house that was infested with mice. The people that lived in the house had to leave the house because there were fleas jumping all over the place. That's right, the video showed these small black specks jumping up and down. The specks were fleas. One more thing, if mice get into your house they usually die inside of walls or ceilings which results in a horrible smell. It is really important to keep mice out of ones house. I use poison bait traps around the outside of our house. No more mice in our house.
We tried sonic deterents on our deck to keep the squirrels from building nests and eating the wiring. Waste of money!
I agree with what several others have said. Find the entry points and block them off. There is a type of expanding foam that is resistant to varmits. We have used that in a couple of places and it worked. We have also used steel wool to good effect.
At our cottage we used snap traps with peanut butter and they worked well too. I just didn't like having to start my mornings off by emptying the traps. Somehow that seemed to detract from my ability to enjoy my coffee with Baileys.
There is a home built trap that can be quite effective for trapping larger numbers of mice. You will need the following:
- 1 pail, 3 to 5 gallons,
- 1 dowel long enough to bridge the pail,
- 1 pop can with both ends removed,
- 1 narrow board long enough to form a ramp from the floor to the top of the pail,
- 1/2 gallon of automotive antifreeze*, (used will do), *optional
- 1 gallon of water,
- 1 dollop of peanut butter.
1. Place the antifreeze and the water in the pail.
2. Put the dowel through the can and rest the dowel across the top of the pail with the can in the middle.
3. Put the peanut butter in the middle of one side of the outside of the can. The mice have to be forced to climb onto the can so don't put the peanut butter close to the ends.
4. Lean the stick up against the pail so the mice can climb up and get to the rim.
What will Happen:
The mice will smell the peanut butter, climb up the stick and cross the dowel to get to the peanut butter. Once they are on the can the can will rotate thus dropping them into the antifreeze solution. The mice can't hang on to the can. The mice will drown. The antifreeze will keep things from smelling so you can let the trap work for a few days. Then you can just flush the mixture down the toilet.
If you aren't in favour of flushing the antifreeze into the sewer system, you can use plain water but you will have to empty the pail regularly.
KEEP PETS AWAY from the antifreeze!!! It is very poisonous!
Happy hunting!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I've had occasional mice visit the layout. I imagine they think it is a giant funhouse!
Just the other night I was moving some hopper cars that have been on a distant siding for quite a while. One of the bays of the hopper had quite an accumulation of sunflower seeds in it. The little buggers must have been going out to the bird feeder and "stocking up" for the winter. Another time I found some slag cars in the steel mill with the thimbles full of collected mouse food.
Yes, this is a mouse turd in the back shop!
IMG_2818 by Edmund, on Flickr
In the past few years I have been actively sealing up "chinks in the armour" and I belive I'm finally successful. Of the six or eight spring traps I have set in the layout (basement) room, none of them have been active in the past year
Good Luck, Ed
mbinsewiI don't get why people are trying to be so humane to mice?
I agree, Mike. In addition to the diseases that mice may carry, there's also the possibility that they'll chew the wiring in your home, possibly causing a fire. Squirrels and chipmunks are known to eat the insulation of some automobile wiring - my daughter had to replace the main wiring harness in her Accura due to squirrel activity - not a cheap repair by any means.
Wayne
doctorwayne I'd otherwise shoot them, but living in a relatively built-up area, that's neither practical nor safe.
I live right in town, 66' lot, close neighbors on each side, I use a 22ca. air pellet gun. Has a great scope. I do my "hunting" while the neighbors are at work.
Howard needs to plug up the holes where the mice can get in.
I don't get why people are trying to be so humane to mice?
If thats the way going to attack the problem, you'd be better off living with them.
Good grief!
Mike.
My You Tube
Mice are remarkably unattracted to cheese by the way, compared to peanut butter.
A friend saw his beautifully forested layout look like the devastation near Mount St Helens when a band of mice invaded his basement, evidently while his dogs stood by and yawned. We have had mice in the house and our cat was utterly uninterested (it is believed cats have to be taught how to hunt and kill by their mother.)
While natural materials (a/k/a mouse food) make wonderful looking trees, perhaps the answer is in changing what the scenery is made of. I can recall when steel wool and brillo pads were used as tree material. The old plastic trunked Woodland Scenics tree kits are I think still being made.
Dave Nelson
MisterBeasleyI discovered that when I had peanut butter traps in the summer, they would draw an endless parade of mice indoors, even though it was nice outside.
I use peanut butter on rat traps outdoors, in the summer, to control the chipmunks, another destructive pest.
The ones I'd really like to eliminate are squirrels. They've destroyed lots of stuff stored in my detached storey-and-a-half garage (a former house, over 150 years old and impossible to seal effectively). One of my sons-in-law lent me a live trap for squirrels, but the mice and chipmunks could gain access to the trap no matter where I put it, stealing the bait without tripping the trap. I'd otherwise shoot them, but living in a relatively built-up area, that's neither practical nor safe.
It soon became obvious that cheese-based foilage wasn't a good idea...
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
When I lived in Massachusetts, I had mice. They never came up in the train room, as no food was kept there.
I discovered that when I had peanut butter traps in the summer, they would draw an endless parade of mice indoors, even though it was nice outside. I stopped using peanut butter traps and just used the sticky pad traps, and had far fewer mice. I then switched to keeping peanut butter traps out only for the fall and start of winter, until the heavy snow stayed on the ground and gave us that protection.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I had the same problem with mice getting into my house. Does your house have wood siding? If so, there is (are) a gap between the bottom of the siding and the top of the foundatiion wall. Mice can squeeze through an opening the size of a nickle. Run your fingers between the siding and the foundation wall and feel for any gaps regardless of size. Plug the opening solid with steel wool. Then seal the steel wool in place with Great Foam. The steel wool is important because mice will not chew through steel wool but they will chew through foam. Also, seal any openings between pipes and the house wall in the same manner. I used to get mice in my basement until I plugged all openings in the exterior wall.
In 1995, a large research project was conducted by the University of Nebraska on the ultrasonic pest repellers.
It found that they may work for several hours, or even days, but within a short time they became ineffective. The pests seemed to grow used to the sound and ignored it.
In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission stopped some companies from advertising the devices as pest repellers until proof could be provided to back the claims that the devices "worked as advertised". So far, in 17 years, no company has provided research proof the devices work, so you won't find that wording in any of the ads.
Some of the online products have 5 star reviews. Are those reviews legitimate?
Do they work? I guess no one really knows.
York1 John
Just let the mice in during the winter, and they will help create a winter layout for you!
Talk about timing. Though I see Bear's experience with sonic repeller didn't work to well with birds, this morning as I went through computer, there was an ad for "Ultrasonic Pest Repel", a plug in device, says it does not bother cats and dogs.
Even though Bear didn't have luck with one for birds, it might be worth a try. Don't know how much they are or where to get them, but that is the name.
Good luck,
Richard
I had a rat issue in my house for much of this year. Finally got it under control, although there's still one known to be at-large. Fortunately my layout is too high for them to mess with, but having rodents living rent-free in your domicile is nothing to be desired. Also, I can't STAND the sight of their dirty little droppings (I fill an atomizer spray bottle with 90% water/10% bleach to disinfect any rat dropping surfaces). Got rid of the lot of them using snap-traps and glue traps, using Cheerios or croutons as bait. You can also buy Peppermint Oil spray; rodents hate the smell of that stuff even though it smells pleasant to humans. You can find it at any home improvement store. You can regularly spray your model trees with Peppermint Oil to keep them away.I solved my moral issue of killing them by using this logic: I am eliminating them to prevent disease in my house and so they can become food for other animals. I set the rat carcasses on the roof of my garage for the local raccoons, opossums, feral cats or birds of prey to feast on. Imagine my delight when I re-check the roof the next day and find the rat gone! It's not murder, I'm feeding other animals to sustain their lives. Circle of Life, Simba!
The only real long term solution to Howard's mouse problem is to cut off their access to the house.
If I recall correctly, Howard has a basement layout. The mice may be gaining entry over the top of the foundation where the walls are not properly sealed. When I had my mice problem, I sprayed a foam insulation that expands upon release from the aerosol can. I did that from inside the house.
Since my basement is unfinished, it was easy to use a short step ladder to spray the foam insulation directly onto the point where the exterior wall met the foundation. I did that all around the basement.
Rich
Alton Junction
Can I reserve a couple of rounds of Crown Royal if I have something that works?
Ammonia. Rodents hate ammonia. Mice dislike cat pee, too. So all you have to do is mix some ammonia with dry cat pee from the box and mist it gently over the foliage...
No? Well, now that you mention it, there are better things to try.
I'd test the bitter apple spray for dogs to see if it makes the trees unpalatable to rodents: dilute it and mist over the trees, then let dry.
A few canonical things mice are supposed to really hate are peppermint, clove, and cinnamon essential oil. Diluting those in water and alcohol, perhaps with a little detergent, and misting over the trees ought to make them a deterrent for a while, with the good effect but not the drawbacks of the ammonia method.
I am advised that strong pepper and citronella also work, leading to the idea that one of those 32,767-Scoville-unit ghost pepper sauces might be used ... one catch being that after treating the trees with even a dilute tincture of that stuff you'd be advised to handle them with gloves thereafter! But I'd reserve that for the case if the essential-oils don't git 'r dun.
My plastic rat traps, the snap kind, and Jif got 8 rats last winter, and I have three out in the garbage as I speak. No mice that I know of, but...mebbe the rats take care of 'em?
For the creepy crawlies in your basement, go to Wally's, outdoors section, find Black Flag smoke bombs. They're made in Canada, but you can't purchase them here. Go figger.
Open all drawers and cupboards, close vents, close windows, turn down forced air heat and turn fans off, set off one of the plastic cup bombs, and return four hours later to sweep up. Shopping trip or a visit with friends is a great time to do this.
Having dealt with critters inside and out, I have gotten over qualms about traps. I use simple spring traps with peanut butter.
We don't have to spend any more time than necessary on critters.
richhotrainFrank, come on over and bring your mask. We can maintain a proper social distance and, rest assured, I have enough Crown Royal for both of us. If you think of it, bring along some Maraschino Cherries. Rich
Now THAT I would love to be part of!
How ya doin Frank? !
I bought a round!
We have a washer and dryer in the basement. A dryer vent without a screen covering is a possible entry point.
Years ago I came home from work. My dog and cat always greet me at the door when I get home. That day, they didn't meet me. I found them in the basement staring at the ceiling where the dryer vent entered the house. A mouse was scratching inside the vent pipe.
Howard Zane...I have caught to date 12 of the critters in traps, but I hate killing them. I tried live traps to no avail, and although I have a mess of cats, they would do more damage chasing the mice on the layout. Also....any fresh ideas on how to unmouse a basement layout room? I have checked sump pump outlets and their screens are still in place. Since I have to build many more trees, I'd like to use a material that mice do not like.
The first thing to do is find out where they're coming in - an adult mouse can fit through a hole the size of a dime, as, like raccoons, they're capable of collapsing their bodies to fit through any holes large enough accommodate their skull - which is dime-size.Even worse, a two-week old mouse is capable of breeding, and if you think rabbits are fast breeders, they're like frozen statues compared to mice.
There's no reason for not killing them, as they carry some diseases that can kill you! They don't have to even bite you, some of what's dangerous can be in the air you're breathing.
Peanut butter on a snap-type trap works well, so place lots of traps and empty them frequently.The key to ending the invasion is sealing those entry points. One good sealant is steel wool - simply stuff it into any openings dime-size or larger, as they will easily chew through stuff like caulking or rags packed into cracks.
As for spiders, I am generally very tolerant of them, as they kill and eat many other bugs and insects that are harmful or otherwise a nuisance, or simply creepier than most spiders. Probably the home-invading insects I like least are centipedes, and those daddy-long-leg spiders are, at least around here, the only ones that can kill them, as their venom is deadly to most insects.
Another deterent to mice is stuffing their access points steel wool. They won't chew and pick at it. Dan
Snap trap with Picante Provolone preferred by 9 out of 10 mice over peanut butter but maybe I've spoiled my rodents. In the winter I then hold a cremation in the wood stove. The word spreads quickly every fall amongst the critters and after a few don't return home from a foraging trip the rest bail on the premises.