Preventing Rodent Damage During Tractor Storage

[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.