OT Rat or mouse trapping

Awhile back there was a good bit of discussion about trapping rats and/or mice with a five gallon bucket. My kids have a couple rabbits in the garage and as they are taken care of by kids, they are also well fed with rabbit pellets, and they aren't going away. I've yet to see exactly what they are, other than a flash, and kids aren't so sharp at distinctions like that. Could I get refreshed on what worked best? I've got too much stuff stashed all over in the garage to try and clear it all out to chase critters, and would rather collect them all up once and for all, and encourage the kids to be a bit neater with the rabbit cages by showing them how many they have facilitated.

Thanks!

Reply to
carl mciver
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I can give you free rat traps. The old 1800's style, with a menacing spring. I have a box of them.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus14487

"carl mciver" wrote in news:7lxJf.1605$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net:

Get a cat!

Reply to
Eregon

I had heard of one type that interested me very much. It used a fence electrifier. It consists of a five gallon bucket of water, or one of those plastic tubs about 18" deep. A piece of wider flatbar is put on top stretching over the tub and over the water. A wire or another piece of narrower flatbar is placed about 3-4" higher than the first and bait placed there. The wires are hooked up, one to each piece of flatbar. Rat or mouse walks out on the flatbar, reaches up to touch bait. Stands on bottom contact bar, touches top contact bar, and zap. Falls unconscious in the water where it does a Natalie Wood impression, floating just under the surface of the water. A quick easy bloodless easy to use and clean system.

I am going to make one for my cabin this summer, as we have lots of mices that like to get in and make a mess in things.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

I've made a couple of those and they are the best mouse traps I've ever used. Mine took maybe 10 minutes total to make. Flashing tin, pop rivets, small square of hardware cloth and the wires with clips. A piece of lathe for the ramp & peanut butter for bait. Haven't changed the bait for 6 months.

I use a ice fishing ladle scoop to fish out the floaters. Keep a few inches of water in the bottom. I use powered fencing on the place so that part is available. Used chargers are common at garage sales for $10 or so.

After the initial kill off it now yields a couple a week or so. The first week the bucket bottom was literally covered every morning.

I used to buy $20-30 bucks worth of Decon every fall, this is way better. One in the pump room & one in the feed room. Antifreeze this time of the year is needed.

DE

Reply to
DE

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Need cats??????

Gunner Cats R Us

"A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

- Proverbs 22:3

Reply to
Gunner

In Australia,every once in a while, we get a mouse plague. The little buggers are everywhere. Mostly in the bush, but also in the outer suburbs of the larger cities as well. A traditional trap is to take a 5 gallon bucket and bury it in the ground so that it's rim is near ground level. A 26 ounce beer bottle is propped in such a way that the neck is well over the edge of the bottle. A bit of bacon is stuck in the end of the bottle as bait. The mice crawl out on the top of the bottle to get to the bait, loose their footing on the slippery glass and fall into the water and drown. Sometimes a bit of wood is leaned against the bucket instead of burying it. In a real mouse plague its a waste of time as no matter how many you get rid of there are always more to replace them. Eventually we get a bit of cold wet weather and they just disappear, leaving behind the musty smell of mouse which fades over the next month or so. you may not see another mouse of a couple of years

Tom

Reply to
Tom Miller

I had a 5 gal plastic bucket with a few inches of antifreeze in it. It had a plastic pop bottle on a coat hanger wire axle (think log rolling) strung across the top. A couple smears of peanut butter for bait, on the bottle sides, and you were in buisness.

Place it where there is something that the mice can crawl up, or along, in order to reach the bottle. Rats require more water or antifreeze as there must be enough to prevent them jumping off the bottom, but not enough that they can reach the edge of the bucket from inside.

Not suitable if you have cats or dogs in the area, as the antifreeze is hard on them, but mice drown in water just as well. No power required.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Reply to
Trevor Jones

While adding insulation to our attic, I discovered that our house had a major mouse metropolis in it. Previous owners had used poison bait, and there were desicated mouse carcasses in various nooks & crannies. They had pets, and we found a couple pints worth of dry dog food stashed in a wall. This is just the stuff we know about. I haven't seen any fresh droppings in the living areas, but to be sure, we put a couple of these traps up in the attic:

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They don't have to be checked all the time, and I can verify that they will catch at least a couple mice at a time. The pecan paste bait helps, although they claim no bait is required. The same outfit has a lengthy turotial on dealing with rats & mice in general, with lots of options:

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Good luck!

Doug White

Reply to
Doug White

I own/used that type trap and they are effective, the down side of that particular type is you really need to keep it tended regularly. The mice die quickly and decompose into a nasty mess. They also rust and lose effectiveness over time.

Hanta virus is a serious issue and that's the advantage of the bucket trap with water in the bottom, a little pinesol added to the water prevents the possible transmission of hanta virus. You do have to keep the bucket traps tended but they are considerabally cleaner/easier than the tin cat type.

DE

Reply to
DE

"DE" wrote

I've always been interested in building a tin cat. Do you have plans?

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

"DE" wrote

Sorry. I thought your "tin cat" was a typo, but upon reading your site, I found out that it is a type of trap.

As Yogi said, "You can see a lot by observing."

Doh!

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

Only an HSM would have mice that rust over time. :)

jk

Reply to
jk

On Sun, 19 Feb 2006 19:28:30 -0800, with neither quill nor qualm, jk quickly quoth:

I woke up to a fresh, previously untouched stick of butter on my counter which had been gnawed on all sides since yesterday morning. Grrr: critters in the house! Time to set traps and take care of the little buggers.

Peanut butter and garlic make a nice lure.

Reply to
ljaques

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