Mice

[Solo]

Well I'll post this here. The other day before I went out to mow, I was checking the air filter, well low and behold mice crap and a partially eaten filter, $53. To solve the problem I took a piece of wire mesh from a small shelf, a piece of exhaust pipe and made a screen and shoved it into the intake hose. When I took off the hose I found D-con pellets in it. Anyone know of any good rat and mouse poison. This is also a good lesson in checking filters and oil levels daily.
Solo

 

[mrcaptainbob]

That's a good question about what's good to use for mice. Maybe that should be posed to the D-Con company along with your story. They may come across with something for you to use since their first product didn't do the job. Unless you live near one of the nuclear power plants. Those atomic mice are known to be resistant to D-Con.........

 

[chim]

I sure hope someone comes up with an answer for you. We're surrounded by fields, and when we get the first cold snap in the Fall, the little buggers move in. So far, no success whatever in keeping them out of the garage, and limited success in keeping them out of our living quarters.

My 1210 sits outside, and a few years ago when I was doing maintenance, discovered a bunch of dogfood in the air cleaner. Hardware cloth over the intake prevented a repeat of that. In the garage it's normal to have dogfood roll out of the HiLift jack handle, which is essentially a piece of pipe. Fido lets them run away with his food, figures we'll give him more if the mice eat it all?

We had some sport last Winter. Our one closet had been a target for Mickie and Minnie. #3 Son and I developed a plan to block the doorway and grab the hose and wand from the central sucuum system. Then one of us would move stuff around while the other chased the meeces with the wand. Made for lots of laughs.

The vac method started about 14 years ago at our first house. It was a bi-level, and mice had no problems getting into the place in the Fall. I went downstairs one day, and caught a glimpse of something darting away. I figured it was a mouse, and it disappeared (I thought) under a stuffed chair. I tipped the chair to check now big a hole he had made in it, but found nothing. Then I realized our 25' vac hose was on the floor next to the chair. I gently picked up the end and plugged it into the nearby outlet. The vac started up with a kinda wwwwwwwWWWWWWWTHUNK!. The little critter must have been doing 60mph when he hit the 90° fitting in the wall. Ruined his day, but really made mine. Poor Wifey thought I finally went crackers when she heard me howling and laughing in the basement...........chim

 

[RoyJackson]

If you don't have any pets that can access the area, toss some moth balls in the area you park your tractor, or put some in an open box (lid or small box).
I've stored a Porsche during the winter for years. Always tossed a few mothballs on the floor, trunk and a small open box in the engine compartment.
Never had any trouble with mice chewing or nesting. Normally smelled like mothballs for about a week after I pulled the car out of storage.

The one year I didn't do this, they nested in the heater ducts (Porsches are air cooled engines and use hot air off the engine for heating...like an old VW Beetle). Smelled like burnt toast when I used the heater!

This keeps the squirrels and other rodents at bay too.

 

[buppy69]

I cranked up my tractor last week and the muffler spewed Kibbles and Bits for 5 minutes.

Eugene

 

[rancar]

<font color=blue>Anyone know of any good rat and mouse poison.</font color=blue>

I think you've already answered your question. D-Con makes some of the best rat and mice poison around....have used it many years and it does do the job if you can tolerate the stench that develops from the dead critters when they drop and decompose in unexpected places.

 

[Phred]

Solo,

Luckily I have only had an expereince with a very small nuber of these pests. However, the one thing I found that really works are the sticky traps.
As a plus they work even better on spiders. I keep several in my garage and they have done a number on the spider population.

The ones I found work best on mice are little boxes with a sticky goo in side. Place it along a wall and the little turkey will walk right in and get permentaly stuck.
The open trays of goo work better on the spiders.

Fred

 

[Soundguy]

Two methods. I have, in the past used those green or beige colored bait/poison bars that use coumadin ( sp? ) as rat poison. Worked 100% of the time. ( Makes them bleed internally, etc. )

Now that I have farm animals, I didn't want poison laced food anywhere my turkeys/pigs/horse/cows could get to it.
So I have a barn cat, and convieniently she sleeps on the tractor seat. Needless to say, to mice/birds mess with the tractor. However, she has a bad habit of leaving feathers and entrails under the tractor.... it looks like a mice burial ground under there.

Soundguy

 

[Solo]

Thanks guys for the info. I am going to try the moth balls, I already have some D-con and some Just One Bite in the shed. I never have liked cats, but wife thinks thats a good idea. I've tried sticky traps and caught snakes, bugs mice etc... Well I'll keep trying. The screen I put in seems to be working nothing in the air cleaner for a day or two.
Solo

 

[pfoxy]

I don't wanna sound like a tree-hugger here, but "by-catch" is one reason I don't like sticky-traps.

I live in bug country (Maine) and I LIKE spiders (and bats, and barn swallows) cuz they eat them dang black flies and skeeters.

Also, Dcon and other mouse-medicines that use coumanin as the active ingredient are VERY small doses. My vet tells me that anything cat sized or bigger can't physically consume enough to do any damage without vomiting. Of course, it's always a good idea to keep your pets and kids away from it.

I've even used it in the walls of my chicken coop (where the birds couldn't get at it) to eradicate the flippin' rats that wuz chowing down on my layer pellets. About three weeks, and no more rats. About two weeks after that, PEEEEE-YEW!, but I found 'em all and disposed of them.