Corporate cat

We discovered that have some mice in the warehouse.

I set up some mouse traps, but I doubt that it will take care of the problem fully. Maybe we should get a cat here. If so, what cats are least troublemakers and good at catching mice?

Reply to
Ignoramus16116
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Ignoramus16116 wrote in news:ramdnU8buLECA8rNnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Hungry ones. Give the cat just enough cat kibble so that it knows it has a steady supply of food, but not so much that it's too sated to hunt.

Best to get a female (it won't scent-mark your equipment).

Don't worry about specific breeds. Any cat will do; they all hunt mice. And don't pay for one, either; you should have *no* trouble finding someone who's happy to give you as many cats as you're willing to take. Try searching craigslist for "free cat" -- I get about a dozen hits in the Indianapolis area. IIRC, you're in metro Chicago, aren't you? I'd be surprised if you don't get at least fifty.

Reply to
Doug Miller

steady supply of

...

Not true (well, at least not in my experience). We had a great hunter* who always had a bowl of food to eat at his pleasure. My take was that he hunted for the pleasure of it. I.e., because it was in his nature to do so. Neighbors with cats say the same.

We did have a cat that was a terrible hunter. She was a pure bred, whose ancestors had not been outside for generations! Confirming what I've heard that cats are taught to hunt by their mothers.

So, I'd recommend getting a kitten (or 2) whose mother was a hunter.

Bob

  • - he caught and ate gray squirrels!
Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

If the'yre only mice, traps work well. If they're rats, wear latex gloves whenever you touch the trap.

Set mouse traps along every wall. Bait them with garlic oil or peanut butter or -nothing-! Put them against the wall where the mice run, with the set bail away from the wall and the trigger closest to the wall and they'll run through them even if they aren't interested in the food. They move that way, close to walls every time, with only very infrequent dashes across empty spaces without walls. I catch more mice in empty traps than in baited ones.

Imagine the smell of cat piss every day, all day, Ig. Pets suck, even in huge warehouses.

-- The most decisive actions of our life - I mean those that are most likely to decide the whole course of our future - are, more often than not, unconsidered. -- Andre Gide

Reply to
Larry Jaques
[...]

Amen to that. I am having an on-going battle with a feline who chooses to crap on our path followed by a half-hearted attempt at burying it.

Michael Koblic, Campbell River, BC

Reply to
mkoblic

What usenet posters are least troublemakers and most prone to stay off politics in a metalworking group? It's more or less the same.

Individuals vary. Generally speaking, most any "purebred" is unlikely to have the upbringing required for maximum efficiency. Not much to to with the breeds, a lot to do with the early environment and teaching opportunities.

You don't need to and it's not efficient to starve them - they hunt for the hunt. One of the best ratters I've met was a 30-lb tub of lard. Being fat did not impact his desire to kill rodents, including bitg ones, a bit. A starving cat that's a crappy hunter will not magically become a good hunter. If you can source a cat who's mother happens to be a good hunter and a good teacher, great - if you can find a well-behaved adult cat that's a good hunter, irrespective of it's mother, great. Male or female should not matter much for "marking the territory" if you get them fixed, which should be a part of your employee benefit plan for them, along with vaccinations and worming. You are likely to have happier, better adjusted feline employees if you get two, rather than one. If that seems like too much trouble/expense, stick to traps, and put out a lot of them.

You also need to make sure that any traps you set when you have feline employees are not set in such a way that they can get a leg broken in them.

Other than that, plug the holes and control food waste.

Reply to
Ecnerwal

steady supply of

don't pay for one,

get about a dozen hits

surprised if you

Excuse me, but females certainly do pee on everything to advertize they are ready. When she is spayed, she will still do it for 1-2 years. Females don't spray quite as high as males, which can hit 10 ft or more.

If you get a cat, try for one that is part Siamese. They are by far the most intelligent and best mousers. Ours also gets rid of rabbits in the garden.

May I also suggest you invest in a large wire cage for the cat during the time your business is in operation. They love to get in front of moving equipment and then lay down, expecting to be picked up. Oops, too late!

Litter boxes will tell you when it's time to replace the clay pellets.

Traps are a whole lot less trouble!

Paul

Reply to
Paul Drahn

Get a 5 gallon bucket half filled with water. Tie a string tightly to the handle where it attaches to the bucket Poke a hole in the bottom and top of a soup can and drain the soup. Place the can on the string and smear it with peanut butter. Take a 2' long or so piece of wood and lead it against the bucket near the string.

Mice will smell the peanut butter, walk up the wood and onto the soup can. The can will roll due to their weight and they will fall into the bucket and drown. I've caught as many as ten in one night. (not at the factory but in a Canadian fishing camp)

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Russian Blue of course, like my Sophie, super intelligent and affectionate. She stays indoors so she doesn't hunt regularly, but in the winter when mice tend to get in the garage or enclosed porch she will get them in short order.

Reply to
Pete C.

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Reply to
Pete C.

On traps I always put peanut butter and light it with a torch - burning off the scent of man and the oil spreads in the area to draw them in. Oh - I use a tie wrap twisted on the trigger and have that coated. They can't let go.

Mart> >

Reply to
Martin Eastburn

I use the Victor traps with the metal bait holder, these are the best if you can still get them. I put a chunk of peanut from chunky peanut butter in the rolled-up part of the bait holder, there's no way they can get that peanut chunk out of there without tripping the trap. Smooth peanut butter they will just lick off without triggering it.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

My Grandfather's record in the hunting camp (November) was 56 the first night. Second week of the hunt h got three mice all week.

Reply to
grmiller

Wow, looks great, a rare moment.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus14527

How did he prepare them? Any good recipes?

My other mouse trap is a paper plate with a loop of duct tape and baited with peanut butter. That's when you prefer them live!

Reply to
Tom Gardner

This is what I do, but with a proviso:

The as-purchased traps are too insensitive to catch timid mice, which can lick the bait off the trigger without setting the trap off.

The solution is to bent the vertical flag on the trigger towards perpendicular (to the top of the trap), thus increasing sensitivity. I go all the way I can, such that one cannot set the trap and set it down. One must instead put the trap down and then carefully set it.

One other thing - put a lanyard on the trap, and tie it to something immovable, so a mouse caught by a leg cannot drag the trap away and die somewhere hard to get to.

Joe Gwinn

Reply to
Joseph Gwinn

Yes, I have a series of pics from that time, she walked past me carrying the mouse so I grabbed the camera and followed.

BTW, I sent you an email with a couple quick Linux questions a while back. I didn't hear back so I don't know if it got through. What email should I use?

Thanks,

Pete C.

Reply to
Pete C.

I got one with an empty potato chip bag, and a computer. It had chewed itself free from a glue trap, so I put the bag on the floor and waited till it took the bait. Then I dropped a scrap computer case on it.

Another that got free from a trap fell for a similar fate. Potato chip bag, a spray bottle of bleach, and one with ammonia. When it went into the bag, I gave a couple shots of each, and closed the bag. It quit moving in a couple seconds.

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

The Final Mousolution?

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Another that got free from a trap fell for a similar fate. Potato chip bag, a spray bottle of bleach, and one with ammonia. When it went into the bag, I gave a couple shots of each, and closed the bag. It quit moving in a couple seconds.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

It thought it was Mighty Mouse!

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

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