Vermin control in a garage er shop

Ick indeed. Last year I got one of the little secondary pumps that comes on and dumps water overboard for five minutes for every 8 (? think that's right) hours of operation -- the swamp cooler smell is

On Sun, 08 Jul 2007 19:24:24 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Gunner quickly quoth:

Yeah, cute.

If I were mean, I'd ask "Which animal, the cat or...?"

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Peanut butter works.

Chocolate works better. MUCH better.

Had an alarm system installer tell me several (40) years ago that ultra sonic motion detectors were the best available rodent deterrent. Never tried it myself. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Had a smart mouse that could lick the peanut butter off without tripping the mechanism. I tied a short, knotted string to the pan, then applied the peanut butter - greedy bugger couldn't resist the moveable, tasty treat.

Works every time, even

Gerry :-)} London, Canada

I love the glue traps, that's all I'll use if any mice get in the house on a real cold winter. The shop on the other hand is not as well sealed as the house and the reuseable plastic snap traps are more economical.

Pete C.

You missed a biggie.

The mice travel along and dribble urine as they go. This is what marks the trail that tells the other mice that this is the "path". Like, the path into your house, or shop. Also part of the reason that the traps are still productive after the bait is long gone. There is a well marked path that leads directly across here...!

Mop out the area with a strong bleach solution to clean the area and disinfect as well. A bleach solution in a spray bottle will get into holes and crevices better than nothing at all.

I used a couple different tools. The standard mouse traps are pretty good, if well set up, but only get one mouse at a time. My "log rolling" mouse trap got 4 in one night, and did not have to be reset to remain effective. String a plastic bottle on a straight bit of wire and mount this assembly across the top of a plastic pail. Put a couple goobers of peanut butter on the bottle. Place a couple inches of liquid in the bottom of the pail. In the winter, I used old antifreeze (no pets had access to the shop area).

Place the trap where the mice can easilly climb up to walk out on the bottle. The bottle rolls, and dumps them into the liquid, where they drown. You have to have enough liquid in the bottom to keep them from jumping out, though, if killing them is not your thing, I suppose a funnel for the little pests to slide down would work, too.

I have seen similar self resetting traps for rats, that apparently work quite well.

Cheers Trevor Jones

After drilling some holes in the wall to run air lines to the garage, I left the holes unplugged, and mice got in. I baited traps with CHUNKY peanut butter, making sure to jam a chunk into the claw so there was no way to pull it back out. The mice lick the peanut butter off without setting the trap off, but then, they can't leave that big morsel behind, and POW! I also tinker with the trigger mechanism on the trap to make it a total hair-trigger. I have to place the trap and then set the spring, any vibration will set it off.

When I have the mouse problem, I usally can get the whole family within 4-5 hours! They just can't leve that peanut butter alone. But, I think using a chunky nugget they can't pull out is part of the key.

Jon

Hmmm, good point. This is the kind we have here, anyway, so that's what I used for traps. Nothing like feeding the best to our vermin!

Jon

That's why I use a string with knots very close to the pan/trigger. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

I use big brand.

The trick is this :

1. new trap helps. Not required.
2. Twist tie tight with 1" long wires sticking outward like ears.
3. lump of peanut butter.
4. Propane torch

1. Light torch as required, then catch the PB on fire. This is where you are trapping, not in the kitchen. PB smell spreads. Masks human scent. But best use rubber gloves to not leave smell on. Let the PB do that for you.

2. The trash bait starts to lick the PB and runs into a 'whisker'. Grabs on and tugs....

Martin - used it many times on mice and rats.

Mart> Pete C. wrote:

Gunner, would YOU like to be the one to open that box full of pissed off cats? ;-)