Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Monday, January 4. 2021

It's mousetrap season around here

Actually it's always the season for House Mice. We have an issue with them right now.


In cold weather, their numbers can be supplemented by outdoor wild mice.


The solution is good old (humane) Victor Mousetraps. $11 per dozen. 


Posted by Bird Dog in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 14:31 | Comments (15) | Trackbacks (0)

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Our mouse problem was in a cabin that only got checked once a week or so, and of the many things that we tried the solution that's worked well for us is the JT Eaton 420CL "Repeater Multiple Catch Mouse Trap with Clear Lid"

It' a little steel box with a door mechanism that's "entrance only" for mice.

Here's a video from someone else who finds them really good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cIJ_NhbEp4

We tried everything in the hardware store, and the Victor "Tin Cat" was by far the most successful when evaluated by returning to a cabin with signs of mouse presence only in the trap -- along with all the mice. In looking for the best price/place to buy several, I stumbled upon restaurant supply place
where one can buy by the dozenthe very similar Eaton one which has the advantage of the clear-window for inspection.

It's been easy to bait them with a single-serve cup of Jiffy peanut butter and a handful of bird-seed.

So successful in the cabin that we use the same model traps now in our home, garage, and (fairly well sealed) barn in any place that has ever shown sign of mouse activity. The pets can't get to the bait food, the traps don't ever get dragged to inconvenient or inaccessible places.

I don't want to 'dis' the improved classic spring trap you suggest -- they're popular and widely available for good reason, and they are pretty widely considered to be the most humane in terms of quick kill and lack of distress to the mouse when they work correctly. It's just that the 'repeater' style worked for us in our situation, and others with similar less-attended locations might like to know of our success with them.
#1 Douglas2 on 2021-01-04 15:38 (Reply)
We had such visitors from time to time at our house. I used those types of traps to great affect, but the thing that did the most to rid us of mice was a thorough review of the outside of the house looking for possible points of entry. Mice can get in through the smallest of openings. I then caulked small openings, stuffed insulation in larger ones, and secured any perforations, such as around gas and electrical supply lines. The last few years in the house I would check the outside of the house and secure any new openings, and previous ones in which the filler had failed, in the fall.

Nothing worse than lying in bed, just about to go to sleep, or to be awakened by the scurrying and gnawing of mice.
#2 steve wlsh on 2021-01-04 15:39 (Reply)
The JT Eaton 420CL costs $113 ?!?!?!? Sorry, but I think I'll stick with the traditional Victor spring traps for $1 each.
#3 John Cooper on 2021-01-04 16:23 (Reply)
well, the $113 one on Amazon does seem a bit steep, and "may ship in two months" does not sound appealing. I think that price might be a bit of an outlier, as that is typically the price for a dozen of the traps:

WebstaurantStore ~ $90 for a dozen, plus about $20 for shipping

Home depot has the pack of a dozen for about $115, so also below $10.

$10 each at Tractor Supply
#3.1 Douglas2 on 2021-01-04 20:56 (Reply)
After we got our two puppies at 5 weeks, we waited a couple of weeks and then got two kittens at 5 weeks as well. Both sets were litter-mates. And by getting them that young, they bonded with each other very well and formed one pack - both sets have some behavioral characteristics of the others that can get pretty comical to watch.

But I've only seen the cats catch mice (and voles and lizards and snakes and sometimes, rarely, birds), all deposited whole on the back porch for our delectation. One of the dogs did run down a rabbit the other day, she was very full of herself when she dropped it at my feet. Failing that the old Victors work wonders.
#4 Aggie on 2021-01-04 16:46 (Reply)
Travel trailers up at our property at a lake year round had mice. Used traps, used bait. What worked was moth balls. Put around & under the trailers. Apparently they don't like the smell.
#5 rick9911 on 2021-01-04 17:03 (Reply)
Our cats prefer to bring the field rats in alive and turn them loose so we can also enjoy the chase.
#6 bobmark on 2021-01-04 17:24 (Reply)
Visited family down in LA and Arkansas one year in the summer. Out on the water in canoes and there was a canoe with two young gals (14-16?). Every once in a while they would paddle in to shore take a big bag (pillowcase) with them on shore. They were barefoot and in their shorts. You would see them jumping around and then they would come back to the canoes and move on. When I asked what they were doing the answer was stunning: "we have a big old barn and these black snakes are real good for keeping the mice population down". Yeah darlin I bet they are!!
#7 Apple Pie on 2021-01-04 18:19 (Reply)
Mouse traps baited with peanut butter. Rat poison mixed with a little peanut butter, place these treats near any entry point like the garage or doorways.
#8 OneGuy on 2021-01-04 18:26 (Reply)
For many years, we had a black snake that lived under our house (he actually probably stopped by on his way to the crawlspace of another house). I don't think that would help you up there where it gets cold though!
#9 mudbug on 2021-01-04 18:43 (Reply)
For several years we used a Havahart trap. Every time we'd catch one I'd put a mark on it, in much the same manner as my late father-in-law used to put mission marks on hid B-24. We'd set the mice free in a nearby field and let them take their chances with the resident hawk, which is a beautiful.specimen.

We still have it, but haven't needed it in over two years. This is because we established a professional relationship with a cat. The mice don't come in anymore, preferring the safety of the wall. Last May, a chipmunk, which had been taunting the cat through the screen door, tried to come in and barely escaped with its hide.

The cat, improbably named Lilly, is also quite entertaining.
#10 Phil, Jr. on 2021-01-04 20:08 (Reply)
100% Lavender oil soaked cotton balls, stapled into triangular coffee filters do the trick. We use these off season in our boats and stored cars & no rodents. I've started scattering them in the walk-up attic & rodent signs are gone.
in re: sealing up entry points, coarse steel wool stuffed into the gaps then filled with dense aerosal spray foam does the trick, fits any sized gap and lasts forever. rodents won't chew the steel wool.
#11 Louie Miiller on 2021-01-04 20:39 (Reply)
Restricting entry helps. Over the years, my unit has had some mouse/rat problems. One time the problem was solved when a siding replacement project included replacing the sheetrock sides of the patio closets with plywood. Mice/rats had chewed a hole through the sheetrock in my patio closet. Patching didn't work. Maybe your steel wool might have worked.

Some years later, mice/rats found another entry. I killed 2 in my unit. The problem appears solved when the HOA repaired a neighbor's roof flashing. If water can get in, often mice/rats can also get in.
#12 Gringo on 2021-01-04 22:41 (Reply)
We occasionally have mice in the basement, so I use kill traps. If you catch one that hasn't been killed, fill a pail of water and drown it.

Second, if you want to know if you've caught them all, set a trap as usual, but place in front of it a few sunflower seeds in a straight line or other artificial pattern. That way you can tell at a glance if you have any uncaught-and-wary mice around: they'll eat the loose seeds or disturb the pattern.

And this is a hoot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiFWZ8MC2cE
#13 PubliusII on 2021-01-05 08:43 (Reply)
The house mouse has been domesticated as the pet or fancy mouse, and as the laboratory mouse, which is one of the most important model organisms in biology and medicine. The complete mouse reference genome was sequenced in 2002.

This Wikipedia entry is interesting because it delicately tries to gloss over the fact that sadistic people torture millions of these poor animals to death every year. The mice are burned, shocked, poisoned, dissected alive, and every other kind of abhorrent behavior that you can imagine. This happens because morality has become completely detached from science. Somehow, any crime can now be committed because its all being done in service to mankind. What a crock. We need to review all scientific activity worldwide, and come-up with a new standard of ethics which forbids the mistreatment of animals, including rats and mice, the creation of new animals, the implantation of computers into animals, the mixture of human DNA with animal DNA, and any psychological experiments which would cause the animal emotional distress. Our claim to being human means that we must not do inhuman things. We're supposed to live by a moral code.
#14 Ron Liebermann on 2021-01-05 15:37 (Reply)

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