I hate mice

[CJ5Dave]

Try this bucket trap.

five gallon bucket trap - Google Search

I have also had luck with dryer sheets. Stinkier the better.

 

[Bi11Hudson]

Mice aren't the only problem, although very common. Rats, squirrels, moles, and many other mammalian critters love the newer insulation. Way back when ('60s) in the days of tube type televisions, roaches (water bugs) would nest in the innards. Both for heat and insulation. That's the reason I only lasted a couple of quarters in Radio & TV classes.

There are many solutions to the problem. Even in hospitals, bugs get into electricals. And hospitals are some of the cleanest places around. And each type of critter has a different deterrant. I have mostly worked out what works for me in the deep south urban. Many critters react to pure camphor. Yeah, it stinks to high heaven, but it works well. Then there's https://www.predatorpeestore.com if things get serious away of town.

Wife is allergic to cats. I love them but concede to her needs. She keeps small dogs and they actually do better for some critters. We have had very small dogs, but the current one is around 35 pounds, part rapscallion and part scallawag. I like cocker spaniels, they are deadly on mice. As are chihuahuas, but they are too noisy for me.

We don't have trouble with bugs that much. There is diatamacious earth scattered everywhere. The house is very old and over twice the original size.(~1887) Which means virtually unlimited access to the attic and over the lowered ceilings. Moth balls, both older and the new formulation, help with squirrels and rats. But camphor seems to work better, and has uses in the shop as well. When I urinate, it is in a plastic container. Physical problems. . . The urine is poured out along the fence line, just outside the wire. That helps with opossums, racoons, and other larger animals. It also reminds the dogs who is really in charge.

An ongoing fight with critters is a part of humanity. There is no "magic potion" to deter critters. I happen to prefer natural repellants over chemicals. There are many, ask any serious gardener. Camphor has been known for millenia and is one of many. Asking around will usually turn up suitable repellants for different regions and climates.

.

 

[projectnut]

For a while there, I believe around 2013, in an effort to go “Green”, a lot of electrical wire used soy based insulation. Mice say “Yum!”

This is another case of "Those that don't know history are destined to repeat it". Back in the 1930's Ford tried making some dashboards out of soybean-based material. The same thing happened. The critters enjoyed munching on the dash and everything associated with it.

I've also had problems with mice getting into the cooling fins and wiring harnesses on my Case 224 garden tractor. The cure seems to be leave the hood up and spray the area with a product called "Hot Stuff". It's meant to keep squirrels from chewing on wood siding, but it worked fine to keep the mice out of the engine compartment.

 

[projectnut]

I didn't know mice went after the wiring??
I always thought it was rats.
I remember a customer had a new truck, maybe one month old.
He had it towed in, all ****** off that it broke down so soon.
We found rats had gotten into the PCM wiring, shorted out some expensive components and the main engine wire loom had to be replaced.
It was over $12,000. He thought Ford should pay for it . I was the one that had to enlighten him to contact his insurance.
This type of thing happened all too frequently.
Steve, I hear you man.

I had a 1987 Ford Bronco that had to have almost all the body and engine wiring harnesses replaced. It wasn't due to animal infestation, but rather a problem with the way the connectors were attached to the wires. For some reason the wire at all the connections got brittle and would break if the harnesses were moved even slightly.

I repaired about a dozen connections, but others kept breaking as time went on. I took the truck to the local Ford dealer to have them see what the problem was. I never really got an answer, but they were willing to supply new harnesses at no cost to me even though the truck was out of warranty.

The only catch was that I had to replace the harnesses myself. That wasn't a big deal since I was the shop foreman there for a short period before a drastic downturn in business. I was the guy that had to let 25 of the 35 technicians go for lack of business. The writing was on the wall as to who would be the last one out the door. Fortunately, the business survived and is now going strong. We've bought 5 cars from them since then, so all is well.

 

[rabler]

Don't get me wrong, I want all those hanta-virus laden, tick-infested, equipment destroying, chew monsters dead!

My problem with the poison route is the secondary effects to the animals that eat the poisoned mice/rats.
If you have cats or dogs around it could be really bad for them.

Some of the newer ones like Wilsarin, that despite the name, are NOT warfarin-based and therefore are a little more discriminate.
That one is made from corn cellulose meant to "interfere with the rodents digestive system and causes dehydration", but not affect cats and dogs.

Brian

Tangent story. When I was young we had bee hives, about 12 of them. The hives were in a 5' chain link fence, mostly as a safety/liability thing. This was on 5 acres at the outskirts of Duluth, Mn. A black bear took to raiding the hives, climbing over the fence with the help of a birch tree. My father put out a 5 gallon bucket inside the fence, with some bacon and strawberry jam, mixed with quite a bit of strychnine hoping to kill the bear.

Well, sitting in the loft of the small horse barn, I shot the bear at dusk that evening. But we left the bucket of poison out to deal with in the morning. As I recall a raccoon got into the bucket and died without leaving the bucket. And a fox was found dead near where we left the racoon body the following day. I buried both of them after that to avoid decimating the neighborhood.

Currently on the farm with have cats. A LOT of cats. We seem to acquire them (as in they are dumped at our barns). Cats do seem to enjoy hay stacks in the winter, and for having a litter of kittens. Rodents are not a problem. Which is fine, as a large rodent population seems to attract snakes. My wife picked up a feed bucket in Savannah to find a copperhead curled up in it, not good. She avoided getting bit, but her love of cats blossomed after that.

 

[tq60]

We also bring home the tubular mouse catchers.

We find them sunning on mountain roads on way to communications sites.

They get where the others can't.

All natural....

4 ft mouse catcher

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[rwm]

What kind of snake?

 

[Eyerelief]

We also bring home the tubular mouse catchers.

We find them sunning on mountain roads on way to communications sites.

They get where the others can't.

In Malaysia they used the same all natural technique when rats completely took over the palm oil plantations. It worked great. They used king cobras as their tube of choice as these are varsity sized rats and cobras are extremely efficient hunters. Actually worked too good. With all the available food the cobras thrived. Now the palm oil plantations are unsafe for obvious reasons.

 

[RJSakowski]

I thought about a resident snake for rodent control. The problem is they have a low metabolism. They eat one rodent and they are good for a couple of weeks. Now, shrews have an extremely high metabolic rate and can eat their body weight each day. They are also small enough rhat they can follow the mice into their hiding places. I do catch one in the mouse traps on occasion.

My wife has a phobia about cats. They also can be destructive in their own way, So that rules a cat out. We do have occasional feral cats make a home in the barn but since no one dairy farms any more the supply has dried up. Our dog will kill mice if he can catch them, along with rabbits, moles, and woodchucks but he is a sight hunter and he is not allowed in the basement which is the entry point of the mice. Now a ferret or two might be a good solution.

 

[Bone Head]

All of the suggestions outshine an old riding partner's way of dealing with rodents in his pole barn. He drank 'shine sometimes; sitting at his workbench or on his bike. With his .22 revolver. He had no love or patience with the little intruders so...
This came to an end when he shot his bike's new front tire. The rest of us were just happy he didn't shoot the bike's gas tanks.