# Mouse issue



## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

The furry kind, not the computer kind
I think I mentioned a while back about seeing one.
We put out some poison & couple of days let no sign of the mouse (or mice)
the after a few weeks we saw dropping & later a mouse a couple of times.
So some poison has been consumed & some then we added traps when there were still signs of mouse activity
But despite multiple traps of different types -always placed where we had see a mouse or signs of a mouse-with different types of bait--no takers.

Do mice have a school here they learn to avoid traps?
Do we have a picky eater on our hands? (Well figuratively on our hands)

It's been probably at least 10 years since any sign of a mouse was seen inside our home.
But any previous time traps &/or poison took care of it within 2 or 3 days tops (sometimes overnight)

Weird--they keep avoiding the traps.


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## JeremyP (Jan 10, 2012)

So funny because I have been having the same problem and you are local to me. We don’t have them in the house but in our warehouse it’s BONKERS. I tried everything and in the end the one and only thing that works are bucket traps. Look up peanut butter bucket mouse trap. It’s a horrible drowning way to go but I couldn’t get anything else to work . The last two years they are like a plague.


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## JeremyP (Jan 10, 2012)

I use one kind of like this , only I fill the bottom with sludge so it kills them otherwise I am just releasing the plague out on someone else . The first nights I put my three buckets out I caught DOZENS


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I use the catch and release type. They walk in the trap tips and they are trapped. Fill with peanut butter then flush them down the toilet when you catch them


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)




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## JeremyP (Jan 10, 2012)

@laristotle , that’s a good one as well. The only issue is it’s only good for one pop. I use a bucket one with a wobbly plank or spinning can because it will keep catching them all night and day.


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

My experience with traps....

Use bait that is a little tough. Something that they have to tug at a little. Not something the can carefully lick off. Swiss cheese works. 

Move the traps around until you find the sweet spot.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

Put out traps and bait them with peanut butter. You need to be persistant because there is never just one mouse.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

The poison is not very effective anymore. The govt changed the laws and the warfarin that was once available to consumers is not anymore. I was checking it out last fall and the mouse and rat bait I could buy said the mice had to eat it 7 days in a row to kill them.

I switch to traps with peanut butter and it works really good. I always throw the trap out with the mouse so I don't get any disease from the little critters. Deer mice can carry the deadly hantavirus.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

We had a mouse....one....problem and tried some of these traps. Too easy for the mouse to set them off without getting caught.








so I got one of these and put peanut butter on it. That did the job.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

These still work the best.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)




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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

zontar said:


> The furry kind, not the computer kind
> I think I mentioned a while back about seeing one.
> We put out some poison & couple of days let no sign of the mouse (or mice)
> the after a few weeks we saw dropping & later a mouse a couple of times.
> ...



Every fall we tend to have an influx of mice and it seems very easy to eliminate them.

A conventional mouse trap ALWAYS gets them. Peanut butter is the best bait I've used.

If the bait is gone, that's a good thing. It means they feeding. They may get one or two free meals but their luck inevitably runs out.

Of course, you have to place the traps in the right places and protect your cats and dogs from them.

I have three cats and they are not very effective at mouse hunting.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

laristotle said:


>


Clever. Although if you have THAT many mice, you've got bigger problems! And what on earth does one do with a pail of ornery mice?

We have a large schoolyard behind us - currently uninhabited - and a ravine abutting the far end of the schoolyard. S0 we get some urban wildlife. I use a trap very similar to the one shown here. I bait with peanut butter too, making sure that they really have to reach down to get at it. We've caught 7 over the last 2 weeks. The aspect I like best about this style of trap is that releasing the mouse does not have to require touching it. You just press down on the same handle used to set the trap, and the corpse is released. Now emptied, and set, you can just place it back where you know you'll have success again.








I suppose at one point in time, the "classic" form was about as good as it got. But I find many to be defective. The staples holding the mechanism come out of the wood,and setting them often requires tweaking them to get the release-pressure required just right. Often, that can involve "catching" your fingers before you get to catching any mice. Those black plastic things are much easier on both your fretting and picking hands.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

mhammer said:


> Clever. Although if you have THAT many mice, you've got bigger problems! And what on earth does one do with a pail of ornery mice?
> 
> We have a large schoolyard behind us - currently uninhabited - and a ravine abutting the far end of the schoolyard. S0 we get some urban wildlife. I use a trap very similar to the one shown here. I bait with peanut butter too, making sure that they really have to reach down to get at it. We've caught 7 over the last 2 weeks. The aspect I like best about this style of trap is that releasing the mouse does not have to require touching it. You just press down on the same handle used to set the trap, and the corpse is released. Now emptied, and set, you can just place it back where you know you'll have success again.


Nice thing about those traps is it's easy to wash the blood off if there is any and they are relatively cheap. 2 for $1.25 at Dollar Tree. Big problem with them is after while they loose their power.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

mhammer said:


> Clever. Although if you have THAT many mice, you've got bigger problems! And what on earth does one do with a pail of ornery mice?


Add water, makes it's own sauce.

I try not to kill anything unless it poses a real risk to me and my family. Mouse feces is well known to cause all kinds of illnesses and respiratory problems.

They die quickly, but they do die.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Just make sure the pail is deep enough.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

mhammer said:


> Just make sure the pail is deep enough.



There's a YouTube channel that features mousetraps from all over the world and from throughout history.

I suppose it's a bit of a grim subject but interesting in terms of man's inventiveness.

There are many that feature five gallon pails half full of water, with rotating assemblies above. Those seem to be used more in agricultural environments where you can tend to have large populations of the little varmints.

For onesies and twosies, the old Victor traps still work best for me.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

It's a good idea to always wear latex gloves when disposing of the bodies. It's better to be safe than sorry.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

butterknucket said:


> It's a good idea to always wear latex gloves when disposing of the bodies. It's better to be safe than sorry.


I often toss the trap along with the body (picked up with a paper towel or some other barrier (no direct contact), and that was well before Covid-19.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

Milkman said:


> I often toss the trap along with the body (picked up with a paper towel or some other barrier (no direct contact), and that was well before Covid-19.


We reuse the traps, but always wear gloves while handling them, and use a sepearate jar of cheap peanut butter that only gets used for the traps.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

We tend to get them late fall. Not many, but a couple find their way in. Same area too.
They follow a scent trail laid down by previous inhabitants.
I set up one of those simple Victor's, unbaited, on the path and they walk straight into it.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Used to get them at the nursery.....traps and cats worked well in the green houses and buildings. In the fields was a different matter. Poison was out though if you found a nest in the spring when spraying weed killer it would take care of the mice too. These in a smooth bore pistol came in handy.








Worked for birds, squirrels and sometimes rabbits too. Occasionally we'd put out meat to keep the Coyotes coming around. Probably not too good in the house tho.


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## Boogieman (Apr 6, 2009)

A couple of years ago, my parents' house had a mice problem. Didn't have much luck with the conventional mouse trap or the fancy plastic spring-loaded one (they never went off, not even once). Either they were not fans of Kraft peanut butter, or there were easier food source. After 2 weeks of no joy, I asked my folks to:

1. Only eat at the dinning table and clean the area thoroughly after every meal. Not just the table, but cleaning the floor as well. Also, no more snack munching while watching TV in the living room.
2. Keep the toilet covered when not using. (A tip that I got from an exterminator many years ago. Not sure why, but I told my folks anyway).
3. Make sure the kitchen is clean after cooking. No scrapes or bits or food on the stove, sink, or the floor surrounding either the garbage or compost bins. My parents are in their early '80s. Sorry to say, but older folks can be sloppy.

I laid the glue traps on the possible paths in the kitchen: the range, the fridge, pantry door, garbage bin, shelves. No bait was used. By the third week, we got the first one. Three more weeks later, we got four in total. I added more traps and left them for another 4 weeks. No more mice and no sighting of droppings. Putting glue traps on their paths worked for me.

My dad kept forgetting to watch where he went while he was in the kitchen, so he had stepped on a few. Always the same place.

I decided against the use of poison. Their house is really old. The last thing I want is having to rip a wall apart because one mouse ate the poison and died in a hidden area behind a wall.

The glue traps that I used were bought at Canadian Tire. They come in at least 2 sizes.

I handled the disposal of the trapped buggers each time, but I will not discuss how. I don't mind catch and release when I go fishing, but not this, sorry.

Always wear disposable nitrile or latex gloves when handling the trap with a mouse on it, COVID-19 or not.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I don't wear gloves during disposal, but I never touch the corpse and always wash both the trap and then my hands afterwards.

As effective as peanut butter can be, the scent has to be strong enough to attract, so make sure you stir your peanut butter regularly, so that there is still some oil in it, and it's not dry. I've never tried it, but I imagine a drop or two of sesame oil on top might also bring them. And make sure the peanut butter is distributed in a manner that does not interfere with the mechanism or allow them to get a lick or two without springing the trap properly. I've had one or two instances in past where the animal was caught but not killed. It wasn't pretty. They really need to throw themselves enthusiastically at the bait.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I have a perfect kill zone in our kitchen. It's a spot I can place a conventional trap where the cats can't get at it, and where the mouse's access is so controlled, he (or she) has to put their head in the strike area to get the bait.

Like I said, having to replace bait is a good thing. It means they're gaining confidence and their luck ALWAYS runs out. Some are smarter than others.

I remember one used to leave me notes.....but I don't really talk about that anymore.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

First--thanks to all who responded, way more than I expected.

We've done everything suggested other than the bucket (Which I heard from elsewhere as well--and we will be trying that) and any of the live capture ideas. Live capture would not mean live release though--why pawn my problem off on somebody else or just have the problem come back?
In any case I would need to get some of those.
I don't like glue boards though-anybody I know who has done that has sworn to never do it again--they scream/wail/etc.
Some of those here are not prepared for that.

And I did get a big bag of Nitrile gloves when I go the first batch of poison.
We are cleaning more than ever & checking any way they/it could have gotten in.


Nothing caught overnight, but no droppings either.

We will see.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Electraglide said:


> Used to get them at the nursery.....traps and cats worked well in the green houses and buildings. In the fields was a different matter. Poison was out though if you found a nest in the spring when spraying weed killer it would take care of the mice too. These in a smooth bore pistol came in handy.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've had an offer to come & lie in wait--but with a BB gun.
Not crazy about holes in the walls & furniture, etc.
We do have skunks in the neighbourhood & they eat mice.
If only the hares would do the same.
The coyotes are close but not close enough to eat the mice, and may be why the mice fled.
Their population has increased over the last couple of years, so that may have forced mice our way.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

zontar said:


> I've had an offer to come & lie in wait--but with a BB gun.
> Not crazy about holes in the walls & furniture, etc.
> We do have skunks in the neighbourhood & they eat mice.
> If only the hares would do the same.
> ...


I've seen coyotes on occasion here but not as bad as Red Deer.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

mhammer said:


> We have a large schoolyard behind us - currently uninhabited - and a ravine abutting the far end of the schoolyard. S0 we get some urban wildlife. I use a trap very similar to the one shown here. I bait with peanut butter too, making sure that they really have to reach down to get at it. We've caught 7 over the last 2 weeks. The aspect I like best about this style of trap is that releasing the mouse does not have to require touching it. You just press down on the same handle used to set the trap, and the corpse is released. Now emptied, and set, you can just place it back where you know you'll have success again.


We have two of those--they have not eaten any bait from either one--even though the are right in paths we know they travel.
We have used other types of traps as well.

the "Classic" ones were useless--they could eat bait without setting them off--and using a pencil & a light tap I tested them--they did go off.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Electraglide said:


> I've seen coyotes on occasion here but not as bad as Red Deer.


They are getting more common here--any where there's large green space that isn't a park.
And the city does put out warnings online & signs that paths are closed or to watch out.

Some people who live closer have lost small dogs to them.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Lots of coyotes here. Lots of white tail deer as well.

We’re on the banks of a nice big river full of wildlife.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Milkman said:


> Lots of coyotes here. Lots of white tail deer as well.
> 
> We’re on the banks of a nice big river full of wildlife.


I've been in Brantford--I can see that..
I think the coyotes mostly feed on mice, gophers & squirrels --maybe skunks or porcupines if they get bold enough/stupid enough.
And if that's not an option they will go for small pets.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Sometimes the coyotes try and trap their own food. But it seems that traps not only don't always work for people; they don't always work for coyotes either.


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## spacebard (Aug 1, 2009)

That's one mouse i'd like to catch


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Time perhaps to turn it up a notch and zap them.








or really turn it up and fry them......if it is actually 7000V. 








Or go around the back of almost any grocery store and get a bait trap or two free.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

zontar said:


> I've been in Brantford--I can see that..
> I think the coyotes mostly feed on mice, gophers & squirrels --maybe skunks or porcupines if they get bold enough/stupid enough.
> And if that's not an option they will go for small pets.


They'll go for pets as fast as mice and squirrels. My son used to live on Centre St. N for a while. Across the alley was a park of some sort. You could sit and watch the Coyotes all day. Now he lives in Airdre.....same thing. When he bought the house there was nothing East of him and the Coyotes, Deer etc. used to rule the fields....now there's about 7 streets of houses and the animals still rule. Still a lot of missing cat and small dog signs too.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

I think in Ontario you have blue racers and maybe a couple other rat snakes as native species? Corn snakes also do the job and are one of the most popular reptilian pets. 
Imagine coming across one of these in the Ontario woods.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Maybe you need better bait.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

spacebard said:


> That's one mouse i'd like to catch


How about a little cat and mouse?


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

They're back.




Are they fake? How else do you explain missing socks. Maybe you should try chips and raisins


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## Eric Reesor (Jan 26, 2020)

You guys ain't seen nothin' Last year I trapped at least 5 Norway rats a week. I am environmentally sensible when it comes to animals but these little jerks are an exception as bad as Yellow Perch and Bass here in BC. Removed 7 live nests from my crawl space last year, redid the rat proofing around my foundation. Had my crawl space re- insulated and sealed. The nests were in the rock-wool under floor insulation I was told 12 years ago by an expert at Home Repo would deter rats from nesting in the crawl space. So much for the "experts" at the desk at that joint I will stick with local knowledge this time,

I still have a trap line in my attic and under my bath tub behind an access panel. So far only a few of the beggars have made it past my new "rat proofing". I am at war here in Victoria with the little jerks to say the least! Vancouver is the number one city out west for the numbers of rats Victoria is a close second. Here is the theme from one of the worst namby pamby movies of all time. No sympathy for rat hugging morons from this camper!! GO KITTY GO!


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Electraglide said:


> They're back.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



For a while we thought we had House Hippos but video surveillance cameras have shown otherwise.

What we do seem to have is a cat that enjoys bringing up dirty laundry from a hamper in the basement, upstairs and making a path to the upstairs bathroom.

It's like it's his job or something. He does it every night. I wake up and find a trail of laundry. You can follow it directly from the bathroom to the laundry area.

If I could teach him to do the opposite and pick up the laundry and put it in the hamper I'd be much happier.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

player99 said:


> The poison is not very effective anymore. The govt changed the laws and the warfarin that was once available to consumers is not anymore. I was checking it out last fall and the mouse and rat bait I could buy said the mice had to eat it 7 days in a row to kill them.
> 
> I switch to traps with peanut butter and it works really good. I always throw the trap out with the mouse so I don't get any disease from the little critters. Deer mice can carry the deadly hantavirus.


Well that explains a lot...shit. It used to be one or two nibbles and gonzo.


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## MarkM (May 23, 2019)

zontar said:


> I've had an offer to come & lie in wait--but with a BB gun.
> Not crazy about holes in the walls & furniture, etc.
> We do have skunks in the neighbourhood & they eat mice.
> If only the hares would do the same.
> ...


My bride knew she was married to a ******* a couple years ago. I had mice in my shop so I would sit in the dark(maybe sipping whiskey) and I had a marshmallow in a bullet trap, when I heard scratching I would turn on a flashlight I had on my pellet pistol and blind them. Easy pickings and fun too!

I have moved out to an acerage since and I just have a hut for feral cats, I provide shelter, water bowl and feed them every second day and they keep the mice population at bay for about 3-4 acreages around us. About 3 other neighbours do the same so we have coverage through the whole subdivision.

Coyotes get the population at bay outside the perimeter and the cat population in check.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

MarkM said:


> I have moved out to an acerage since and I just have a hut for feral cats, I provide shelter, water bowl and feed them every second day and they keep the mice population at bay for about 3-4 acreages around us. About 3 other neighbours do the same so we have coverage through the whole subdivision.
> 
> Coyotes get the population at bay outside the perimeter and the cat population in check.


Perfect example of "eco balancing"


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

I know people who live in the country & several who have been farmers
Many of them have cats around.
Not house cats or pets, but farm cats (including feral ones)

Most mice stay out of the house as they never make it that far.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Electraglide said:


> Time perhaps to turn it up a notch and zap them.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've considered similar ideas.
But given they ignore the bait so far--how can I be sure this would work?
No sign of any activity last night though.
(Doesn't mean there wasn't any--they just left droppings hidden, not out in the open.)


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

MarkM said:


> I have moved out to an acerage since and I just have a hut for feral cats, I provide shelter, water bowl and feed them every second day and they keep the mice population at bay for about 3-4 acreages around us. About 3 other neighbours do the same so we have coverage through the whole subdivision.
> 
> Coyotes get the population at bay outside the perimeter and the cat population in check.


i fucking HATE feral cats. i am severely allergic. the neighbors have several that they feed. they call them "outside cats". as soon as i get my next u.i. deposit, those cats are dead meat. they love to sit on my bike. there is no keeping them out. if i don't wash the bike before i go for a ride - every single time - i'll get 10 minutes down the road, and i won't be able to breathe. i develop hives, and i get blisters on my eyeballs. i have tried several times to talk to these people. i try to explain to them that them having a cat should not affect me, or be my responsibility in any way. if i had "outside dogs" how do you think that would go over? spca wont come and get them, and if i wanted to drop them off, it costs me money. they spay them and release them. i could hire a guy to trap them, but that costs even more, and frankly, fuck them. their wanting a cat they don't intend to properly care for is not my problem. 2 days ago i wanted to go for a ride. my bike is completely covered in hair. it's in every crack of the motorcycle. i'm sick of the bullshit excuses from them about how they keep the mouse population down. they aren't going to hunt mice when they can get food for no effort from several different neighbors. i tried to play nice. now i'm going to kill them. all of them. no more outside cats on brookside ave very soon.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Well, I don't go out of my way to kill or bother feral cats, I don't follow the old school paradigm of letting the cats out at night.

I don't appreciate them using my yard including our flower beds and in past years, my kids sand box, as a litter box.

I also don't like that they kill some of the birds we feed.

There's probably more, but they spray (which stinks to high heaven) and you have to bungy your garbage cans closed or face a nasty mess each morning.

I think the normal indigenous wildlife can control the mouse and rat population without the help of peoples pets.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Still got mice? This might be the ultimate answer and it lets you know if the mouse takes the bait.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

We have been cleaning before, but went extra over the last couple of days--I am sore.
Still a mouse presence, but it will be easier to keep track of it now & see if we can do anything else.
Found some heavier duty stuff as well.


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## Bubb (Jan 16, 2008)

I use a half or quarter of a peanut jammed into the bait holder of the old standard Victor traps,it's better than peanut butter because they can't lick it off.
The scent stays on as long as the peanut is there and one loaded trap will catch multiple mice without needing to reload.
I also set my traps outside along the perimeter of the house so they are caught before they get in.
Poison just leads to messes and odours.


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## Distortion (Sep 16, 2015)

Leave the lid up on your top loader washing machine. the four I removed from my basement ,two were laying in the bottom dead and stinking when I went to do the wash. Don't under estimate them they chewed through my poured concrete foundation at the gas line entrance.


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

If you can fit your pinky finger...a mouse can squeeze through (obviously if it’s a long enough opening). They can flatten their bodies quite a bit.


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## AJ6stringsting (Mar 12, 2006)

15 years ago, we used Reese's Peanut Butter Cups ....works like a charm.

Since then we have three cats .... They love hunting and now we have no nice problems ....

Infact, they like to give their mice to us as gifts.....as all normal cats do !


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

AJ6stringsting said:


> 15 years ago, we used Reese's Peanut Butter Cups ....works like a charm.
> 
> Since then we have three cats .... They love hunting and now we have no nice problems ....
> 
> Infact, they like to give their mice to us as gifts.....as all normal cats do !


A whole mouse is no problem. Half a mouse on your pillow or that you find in the middle of the floor at 3 AM could be.


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

Milkman said:


> For onesies and twosies, the old Victor traps still work best for me.


Yep, and you can repurpose them as mitten-holders by screwing them to the wall of the boot room.
"Daddy, why does my mitten holder have seventeen notches?"


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

jb welder said:


> I think in Ontario you have blue racers and maybe a couple other rat snakes as native species? Corn snakes also do the job and are one of the most popular reptilian pets.
> Imagine coming across one of these in the Ontario woods.


We have black rat snakes here. But ya know, people and snakes.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

AJ6stringsting said:


> they like to give their mice to us as gifts....


that's not a gift. that's your cat telling you they think you're not capable of feeding yourself


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Bubb said:


> I use a half or quarter of a peanut jammed into the bait holder of the old standard Victor traps,it's better than peanut butter because they can't lick it off.
> The scent stays on as long as the peanut is there and one loaded trap will catch multiple mice without needing to reload.
> I also set my traps outside along the perimeter of the house so they are caught before they get in.
> Poison just leads to messes and odours.


We have sued a variety of bait--including peanuts.
No takers for any of it.
We do have some outside as well, but no clear way they got in.
(Could have been through an open door)



Distortion said:


> Leave the lid up on your top loader washing machine. the four I removed from my basement ,two were laying in the bottom dead and stinking when I went to do the wash. Don't under estimate them they chewed through my poured concrete foundation at the gas line entrance.


We have a front loading machine.
but years ago at a different place I had top loader i tried that with--no takers--but that time the traps worked.



JBFairthorne said:


> If you can fit your pinky finger...a mouse can squeeze through (obviously if it’s a long enough opening). They can flatten their bodies quite a bit.


I've seen them do that in person.
I lived in a basement suite at the time, and was walking by the door to go upstairs.
I turned around & saw a mouse.
It saw me, froze for a second, changed direction and ran at the door-falttenign out as it ran, and it went under the door.
I was right by the door so I opened it, but no mouse on the stairs.
A trap caught it later that day.

but this current situation?
No takers on the traps.
But no sign of any for a couple of days.
The poison may have done the trick.
(& we did a heavy duty full cleaning the other day--so if we get new mouse droppings, we'll know they're new.)


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

zontar said:


> We have sued a variety of bait--including peanuts.
> No takers for any of it.
> We do have some outside as well, but no clear way they got in.
> (Could have been through an open door)
> ...


I always judge the effectiveness of my traps based on the diminishing activity at the traps. When they stop feeding at the trap and there are no more droppings I consider the problem more or less solved.
Mice aren't smart enough or inclined to hide their droppings.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Milkman said:


> I always judge the effectiveness of my traps based on the diminishing activity at the traps. When they stop feeding at the trap and there are no more droppings I consider the problem more or less solved.
> Mice aren't smart enough or inclined to hide their droppings.


Certainly diminishing activity is a good thing.
Which we've had since the heavy duty poison was used.
And once again new placement of bait traps.

The mouse traps weren't even touched--even though there were droppings near them.

Who knows maybe they're getting smarter?


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

zontar said:


> Certainly diminishing activity is a good thing.
> Which we've had since the heavy duty poison was used.
> And once again new placement of bait traps.
> 
> ...


Oh I've had a few that took a day or two longer than their peers to run out of luck, but keep the traps baited and set and sooner or later.....


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Milkman said:


> Oh I've had a few that took a day or two longer than their peers to run out of luck, but keep the traps baited and set and sooner or later.....


well it's been four days now--and no signs of any mice.


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

Move the traps around.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

zontar said:


> well it's been four days now--and no signs of any mice.


You got em.

Keep the traps baited for another week or two and repeat in the fall. When the weather cools off they start coming back inside (where I kill them).


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

You might have killed them all or they could be in their nests making and having baby mice. They can have up to 10 litters a year and they will stick around in the house all year too.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Rats are smart enough to watch each other, learn from them, and adapt. Mice not so much.
My favourite rats-are-smart story came from my time at McMaster. Jeff Galef, the prof one lab over, was interested in social learning. He set up a compound in a closed-off room, with a pool-table-sized sandbox on the floor, and a ramp leading from the sandbox up to a table where an aquarium (initially unfilled) was perched. He caught wild rats at the dump and, one at a time, would painstakingly train a rat to clamber up the ramp, dive in, swim to the bottom and retrieve a chocolate treat (a piece of Jersey Milk chocolate, triple wrapped in plastic, foil, and more plastic) from the bottom of the aquarium, climb up a ladder with the chocolate held in its teeth, and unwrap the chocolate. He did this because:
a) rats do not get their food, nor _look_ for food, in water; they will swim if forced to but not spontaneously;
b) rats do not eat anything that is even remotely shiny;
c) no smell of what was under water and triple-wrapped could be detectable by any animal sitting minding its own business in the sandbox;
d) it's a complicated multi-step task, not spontaneously "invented" by the animal.
It would take him several months to gradually train each step. Once trained, he would catch another rat at the dump, spray its back with a distinctive marking so that the trained and new untrained rat could be easily distinguished on the video-recording (a camera with a wide-angle lens was situated in the ceiling to see everything), and place the new rat in the sandbox. Within 24 hours, the new rat had learned to run up the ramp, dive in the water, retrieve the chocolate from the bottom of the tank, bring up the chocolate in its mouth while climbing up the little ladder, and unwrap it at the side of the aquarium.

Mice ain't that smart. It's why they're easier to catch.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Yeah that's important to note. Rats are not just big mice. They're a lot harder to catch and or kill.


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## oldjoat (Apr 4, 2019)

2 scientists talking to each other
1) we've drawn a conclusion that rats dressed in 3 piece suits that masturbate have 3 times the cancer rate of those that don't masturbate.
2) "what was the most difficult part of the experiment ?"
1) getting the rats to wear 3 piece suits.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)




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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)




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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Milkman said:


> You got em.
> 
> Keep the traps baited for another week or two and repeat in the fall. When the weather cools off they start coming back inside (where I kill them).


Hopefully--even though they never took the bait on the "Kill" traps--they did nibble at the poison--so eventually they seem to be gone--but we still have the traps & will try different bait & locations--just in case.



Electraglide said:


> You might have killed them all or they could be in their nests making and having baby mice. They can have up to 10 litters a year and they will stick around in the house all year too.


Hopefully they're gone.

Every other time I've had a mouse issue they were gone after a few days--but this time was different.


mhammer said:


> Rats are smart enough to watch each other, learn from them, and adapt.  Mice not so much.
> My favourite rats-are-smart story came from my time at McMaster. Jeff Galef, the prof one lab over, was interested in social learning. He set up a compound in a closed-off room, with a pool-table-sized sandbox on the floor, and a ramp leading from the sandbox up to a table where an aquarium (initially unfilled) was perched. He caught wild rats at the dump and, one at a time, would painstakingly train a rat to clamber up the ramp, dive in, swim to the bottom and retrieve a chocolate treat (a piece of Jersey Milk chocolate, triple wrapped in plastic, foil, and more plastic) from the bottom of the aquarium, climb up a ladder with the chocolate held in its teeth, and unwrap the chocolate. He did this because:
> a) rats do not get their food, nor _look_ for food, in water; they will swim if forced to but not spontaneously;
> b) rats do not eat anything that is even remotely shiny;
> ...


No rats--I'm in Alberta--if it was rats--we have a rat patrol...
(Doesn't mean rats never get into Alberta)
Glad it wasn't rats.


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## MarkM (May 23, 2019)

If you can figure out where they are getting in shove steel wool and use spray foam. They will never chew through that.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

MarkM said:


> If you can figure out where they are getting in shove steel wool and use spray foam. They will never chew through that.



Yup. That's one of the little tricks I was advised to use in protecting my car during winter storage. I tuck balled up steel wool in both exhaust pipes to keep the little buggers from building nests in there. So far I've had no problems.


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## MarkM (May 23, 2019)

Used to do it with motorcycles etc.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Which way to Medicine Hat?


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Electraglide said:


> Which way to Medicine Hat?


Holy Shit! I recognized that instantly.

I remember enjoying the Rat Patrol as a kid.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

MarkM said:


> Used to do it with motorcycles etc.


No spray foam tho. Never had any problem with mice climbing in the pipes.....at -25 or so they wouldn't have lasted long in the Straights . Had Pack and tree rats nest under the hood of an old truck once. Took a while to get rid of that. If you do find cracks in the foundation that a mouse can get thru and you can shove steel wool and spray foam into you could have a bigger problem than just mice.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Milkman said:


> Holy Shit! I recognized that instantly.
> 
> I remember enjoying the Rat Patrol as a kid.


If you take the three part "Last Harbour" shows from the series and put them together you get


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## MarkM (May 23, 2019)

Milkman said:


> Holy Shit! I recognized that instantly.
> 
> I remember enjoying the Rat Patrol as a kid.


When I was about 12 my buddy and I were walking thru the little potash mining town I lived carrying Cooey single shot 22's and this old guy yelled at us asking " where you going? We said to the dump to shoot rats, he said " hang on a minute" and went and got his guns. He told us to jump in the truck and off we went to the dump. It was a late 60's Chevy with a three on the tree and he pulled over and asked if either of us could drive. I told him my grandpa lets me drive all the time and taught me open hand shifting , first up, second down on the gear shift.

We went in the dump with him in the back with a pump 12 gauge and he shot two skunks on the way in. We shot rats til dark sitting on those uneven boards in the box of that trunk.

That there is good ******* fun!

To me as a young lad I sure it was just as cool as that!


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

JBFairthorne said:


> Move the traps around.


We have done that.
Always to where we'd seen one or seen evidence one was there.



MarkM said:


> If you can figure out where they are getting in shove steel wool and use spray foam. They will never chew through that.


Years ago there was a mouse in our kitchen--I looked outside & saw a space where the phone wires/tube had pulled away--and it was possibly how the mouse/mice got in.
I stuffed that full of steel wool, as I had some on hand, and nothing after that mouse was caught.
Later we repositioned the wires and sealed it with spray foam.
That was one of the first things I checked now, years later--did that happen here?
No--it did not.

but I did use some steel wool in some possible places mice were travelling into the kitchen 
(The worst was an apartment I lived in with a crawl space--real easy for them to come up through that under the sink.)


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I'm not so sure moving the traps around is the best approach. I think _adding _a trap or two if you think they're moving their path can be helpful, but I really think once you find a spot where they have been passing and/or feeding, you need to leave a trap there one way or another.

Different environments may need different approaches.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Milkman said:


> I'm not so sure moving the traps around is the best approach. I think _adding _a trap or two if you think they're moving their path can be helpful, but I really think once you find a spot where they have been passing and/or feeding, you need to leave a trap there one way or another.
> 
> Different environments may need different approaches.


We've actually done both--some traps were moved & some were not.
Ones that were sued were ones that no longer showed any signs of activity to spots that showed more activity.

But it didn't matter --they never went for it.
Well some of the poison did get eaten, and hopefully did its job.


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