Mouse Wars

Same trick works in the garden for keeping deer away. 

Love it!   Need to try that.

They eat it and then poop green!

The best method I have found is the bucket trap.  I started with the 5 gal. bucket filled 1/3 up with water then put in enough black sunflower seeds (which float) to cover the surface of the water.  Then write on the boards leading up to the top of the bucket "Stairway to Heaven". The mice then look over the edge of the bucket, exclaim "It's the mother load!" and jump right in.  You'll catch them in bunches!  When the bucket is too full of dead mice just take the bucket out to the woods and dump it.

Now there are a couple of problems with this method.  First, you can't see if you have caught any mice because they are hidden by the floating seeds so the signal is the eventual horrible smell in the barn.  Second, sunflower seeds eventually get waterlogged and sink so you are always having to add more.  Next thing you know you've spent 50 bucks on seeds to catch 15 mice.  Third, the water freezes in cold weather and the mice just jump back out (unless they are too fat from eating your expensive sunflower seeds).

My fix for these problems has been to go to the roller set up with peanut butter on it instead of sunflower seeds.  I have had better luck with rollers with a big rubber washer or 2 in the middle that the mice will try to climb over - makes it harder to balance.  Next, the water is clear so you can easily see your catches and remove them before they get ripe.  I use a dedicated(important) long handled hotdog turner.  And finally, for cold weather I use some RV antifreeze in the water to make the traps effective year round.  It is non toxic in case other animals get a drink out of the bucket.  I have 4 of these setups in the barn and have not had any more damage to the camper or jeep.  

One advantage of the sunflower seed set up is that in addition to mice it is also good for catching chipmunks.  I have never caught a chipmunk with the roller setup - they are very good at balancing! 

Happy Hunting!

-Barry

That seems short sighted.  You could just use the turner to put them on the grill--------

I have constant rodent problems also.  Anything you leave parked outside becomes mouse habitat, vehicle vintage makes no difference.  Well maybe it does.  There are all sorts of additional options for menus and nesting locations in newer vehicles.  And most of those are much more difficult to deal with than what you have in a flatty.

I duct tape my mouse traps to various places and use several different mouse poisons.  But feel real fortunate if you don't have pack rats in your rodent mix-------

The old buckettrap works day and night, they can't resist crunchy peanut butter so it doesn't have to be rebaited for months. All I have to do is empty th dead bodies out.

I also drove the Jeep and could not find a nest in the Jeep.  

Unfortunately my wife complains that the scent is too strong and is causing her headaches> Maybe an allergic reaction? I told her she must have a mouse in the woodpile, but she didn't get the joke. 

So, I can use the stuff in my Jeep, and storage sheds, but she put the damper on using it indoors.