Preventing Rodent Damage During Tractor Storage

[bdhsfz6]

This topic has been discussed many times here at TBN but not recently. I keep hoping someone will come up with a scheme that really works.

Five years ago, I purchased an adjacent piece of land with a deteriorated, rodent infested house and a steel pole barn. I tore the house down which seems to have forced the rodents, mostly mice, to move into the barn where I store my tractors & equipment.

I use a combination of traps, the Tom Cat brand seems to work best, Decon rat bait and mothballs. In 5 years, I've killed hundreds of mice, a few rats a snake and a couple of chipmunks. Even so, I still lose hydraulic hoses and fan belts every year to the gnawing pests. You'd think I would have put a dent in the population by now but the critters just keep on coming in droves!

A few cats would likely help the situation but my wife is allergic and that isn't an option.

To make matters worse, the poison isn't effective anymore. Decon's original formula worked pretty well and I would find dead mice on a regular basis. My supply of the old stuff ran out last year and the new formula is all but useless. The stuff gets eaten but no more dead mice. I swear I'm just feeding the rodent population with it. I've read they eventually become immune to the products active ingredient. I believe a law was passed a few years back forcing the formula change.

I'm curious how others deal with the problem and if anyone here has found that "better mouse trap".

 

[ericm979]

The new poison may be working more slowly, allowing the mice to hide as a sick animal often does. The problem with poison is that it often kills the predators that eat the mice. That is the opposite of what you want.

There are some mouse traps that claim they can trap multiple mice in one setting. I have not tried them as snap traps seem to be enough here.

 

[Teachu2]

1. Get a few cats.
2. Keep the cats in the barn at night.
3. Don't let the cats in the house.
4. Don't keep the wife in the barn.

 

[Thumper & Buttercup]

We use the Hawk poison in our shop and it does a great job, we get the pellets and
put them on plastic lids. We change it out a couple times a year. We've had no
damage to anything in our shop.

Amazon.com : Hawk Rodenticide Place Packs - 1.5 Ounce : Home Pest Lures : Garden & Outdoor

 

[RedNeckRacin]

Sounds like you need to rodent proof the barn. If its in any way open to the outside you are never going to win the battle.

 

[wagne223]

1. Get a few cats.
2. Keep the cats in the barn at night.
3. Don't let the cats in the house.
4. Don't keep the wife in the barn.

^^^^^^^
Best solution!

I hate poison for many reasons. The main ones are the poison going up the food chain, killing non target animals and poisoning is a horrible death.

Snap traps are my favorite.

Glue traps work great but they too cause suffering.

I have heard that a 5 gal bucket with peanut butter inside, lid on with 2 inch hole in the center, will trap many rodents in one setting. You can then kill them with CO2 (hose from exhaust pipe into bucket)

 

[LMychajluk]

Our family has a vacation home that field mice always manage to find thier way into, probably not too far from the OP. It's not 'infested', but I'll catch a couple a week in glue traps around the first floor. I read recently that mice don't like the smell of Peppermint, so I bought some Peppermint seed and planted it in the flowerbeds around the house to try and help keep mice out. Supposedly, it spreads fairly quickly, and some sources on the internet say it's not an effective repellent. Not sure if I'll regret planting it or not...

If it works, I may add some around the garages as well. I've used the ultrasonic repellent and things like fox urine around the garage w/ little success. You do have to keep anything that they could possibly eat sealed up.

 

[JRobyn]

Our pest control guy uses the "blocks". Contrax, I think. He occasionally changes from red to green ones. He explained somehow how it does NOT go up the food chain, but I forgot the details. We have had VERY few sightings since he started using a few of these scattered around the basement.

Rat Poison & Rat Bait (Rat Killer) | Rat Control | DoMyOwn.com

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

I hate poison too, for many reasons. Have had great results from these humane traps:

Amazon.com : HUX EYE Humane Live Mouse Trap Catcher with An Inspection Window, Easy to Use Mice Traps No Kill, Orange 3 Pack : Garden & Outdoor

To set the trap, I put in a half a paper towel on the bottom, a grape or slice of apple for hydration, and usually a cracker with some peanut butter on it.

I literally catch up to 6 at a time; you get the whole family in one go. Sometimes looks like mom, dad, and 4 young'uns. They will eat the cracker, shred the paper towel to make themselves a little nest, and look pretty content when I check the trap the next morning. Then I drive them 5+ miles away where there are woods/fields, no houses and let them go. The traps are reusable so less money too.

Before using these traps, they were getting into the Jeep and did a lot of damage to the electrical system.

Also, if you have bird feeders, bring them in at night.

I cannot in good conscience torture/kill God's creatures, but can't have them destroying my property either. For me this was a great solution.

 

[big bubba]

good for you, like your method over the easier toxic version. wish more would follow the same

 

[lennyzx11]

^^^^^^^
Best solution!

I hate poison for many reasons. The main ones are the poison going up the food chain, killing non target animals and poisoning is a horrible death.

Snap traps are my favorite.

Glue traps work great but they too cause suffering.

I have heard that a 5 gal bucket with peanut butter inside, lid on with 2 inch hole in the center, will trap many rodents in one setting. You can then kill them with CO2 (hose from exhaust pipe into bucket)

My version is a 5 gallon bucket with a free spinning axle across the top through a couple of holes. A small ramp of scrap wood from floor to one end of axle. Smear peanut butter on middle of axle. Put about 6 inches of water and antifreeze ( I use the rv kind to protect pets). This keeps it from freezing and kills them.
They go up the ramp, go for the bait and the axle pivots( I use a 1/4" steel rod). Dumps them in the liquid below drowning them. A minnow scoop net fishes the bodies out touch free.
Great part is it can hold a lot till you can get back to it.

 

[D2Cat]

I made a trap using the 5 gal bucket with the rod going through the top of the bucket with a can centered on the rod. Then smear the can with peanut butter. To this date I have never caught a mouse. I think I have too many coons and possums who eat the peanut butter before the mice have a chance. They get somewhat angry when I don't get more peanut button on the can and get destructive!!

 

[oosik]

I tried poison one summer. My dog ate a dead mouse and got sick. He got over it but I quit using poisons.

I've tried all sorts of traps - (five gallon bucket, spinner and about six inches of water), three types of Victor traps, friendly traps - - they all work to a certain degree.

The very best solution, for me - barn cats. But try as I might - so far the only cats I can find are house cats. They are worthless and simply become a snack for a barn owl or coyote. When I had three or four barn cats - zero evidence of any mice.

 

[oosik]

D2Cat - let me suggest mods to your bucket trap.

1) replace that soda pop can with a stronger can - yours looks like a coon tried to eat it I have a can made of steel - had to drill the two holes with a drill
2) be certain there is at least 8" of water in the bucket
3) lay down a ramp up to the lip of the bucket- put small dabs of PB on the ramp. Ramp can be narrow strip of wood about two inches by 24 inches. Makes it easy for the mice to get up to the lip and jump across to the rolling can in the center

Last summer I caught - 47 mice and 18 chipmunks over a four month period

Still no where as good as - - barn cats. Yea - I got a hang-up for barn cats.

 

[plowhog]

I drive them 5+ miles away where there are woods/fields, no houses and let them go.

Not presenting any opinion either pro or con, but just observing this is the first I have ever heard of using "catch and release" for mice.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

I attached tight fitting coated sheet metal to the bottom of my siding in a trench about 8" deep and buried it. No rodent problems so far, and been through three winters with the shed I remodeled in September 2015.

 

[TheMan419]

If you are using poison there are three or four different formulations. You need to rotate or the mice will become immune. Tomcat sells all the variations. The packaging is different colors. The tsc by us rotates every couple months which one they have in stock.

My understanding is that as the mouse metabolizes the poison it kills the mouse but is also converted to a substance that will not harm a cat if the cat were to eat the mouse.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Not presenting any opinion either pro or con, but just observing this is the first I have ever heard of using "catch and release" for mice.

I don't believe in killing unless you absolutely have to.

If I had no other choice than to kill them, I would use the snap-trap because at least it is quick. Drowning takes a long time. So does poison. I give mercy and hope for the same at my death.

 

[cqaigy2]

Dryer sheets and Irish Spring soap have worked well for repelling mice. Have put in tractor and inside car hood and keeps mice out.

I'm experimenting with spray bottle of fabric softener, spraying around perimeter on the inside of shop. So far seems to be working. Looks like the mice have left and none come back.

 

[Fuddy1952]

1. Get a few cats.
2. Keep the cats in the barn at night.
3. Don't let the cats in the house.
4. Don't keep the wife in the barn.

Yes!!!!!
Be sure all poison is completely gone though. We've had great mousers over the years. That will work.