The Historic District

It's the time of year the mice and rats want to come indoors! When the dog was alive I didn't have too much of a problem, but with him gone they seem to think I am in business to lodge them. Here's a slick trick I learned from the neighbour lady:

Take a five gallon pail and put about six or eight inches of water in it. Throw a couple of handfuls of dry popped popcorn in on top of the water (slightly stale popcorn is best.) Put it where the mice are sure to come upon it. Mice jump in for the popcorn and the water does the rest. Sometimes I have dumped eight or ten mice from the pail upon coming home.

i have two cats who have killed so many mice and moles (and, sadly, a few birds) i am surprised i still have them in the shop...i have traps set up in a few spots...really, i prefer to kill them quick...couldn't sleep if i knew they were drowning nearby...then again, when i see poop in the tool boxes on my bench, i swear i could strangle the little $hits.......

the only rats i've ever seen are scurrying around on the subway tracks...i wouldn't faint if i saw one but might have nightmares....eek!

...jade

We've used a similar trap, but instead of popcorn we use a pop can impaled on a rod. The pop can is covered in peanut butter, mice put their front paws on the pop can, it rotates, and the mouse falls in the bucket of water (or antifreeze if this is at a camp).

When we had the side of the house torn apart and jacked up earlier this fall we caught 8 mice and 1 mole in 2 days! I think we decimated the mouse population as we haven't caught any since.

I have 5 cats they keep my barns and house free of mice. The house was running with the pesky vermin when we moved here in 2008. Cats are the number one environmentally safe way of ridding yourself of mice.

Hey from an old gal in an old house that also had critters that wanted to live with us every fall. I'd read where police stations in Ca. started keeping stray cats inside to keep the rat population down and where just the smell of a cat would keep them out. Being tired of the trapping, poisons etc. i decided to get a cat.
First, it works. Not only do they keep all the critters out, they also keep the Palmetto bugs ( for those not from the South, these are HUGE cockroaches) at bay.
Second, be forewarned. As Hemmingway said "One cat leads to another...."
We were not "cat people". We now have four inside cats and six outside (these are feral's that we decided to have fixed and maintain). Each one has it's own personality and we don't remember being "not cat people".
So, get a cat(s) from a shelter, save a life and keep your home pest free. It's a good thing.

Great message, InGeorgia! ...Although my lazy cats feel they are off the clock when they are inside. My problem is that here in my old house, it smells like a hamster cage when the weather is very humid. Obviously there are decades of mouse nests behind the walls; don't think I want to open that can of worms, lol.

My fun loving cats like to bring mice IN from outdoors, and then let them loose. They think a mouse is a toy and they don't recognize food unless it looks like the hard dry kibble they have in their bowls. I have a house well stocked with mice now where I used to have none!

I tried the mouse bait and then after that didn't work, read that mice can get immune to it. They did seem to take the stuff.
I switched to the little seeds that come in like a matchbox, that worked better, and of course traps. I put a saucer of anti freeze beside that, with a board only an inch or so from the floor over the saucer so no pet could get into it. ( I dont have kids or pets but would hate to have a visitor get into the antifreeze) Worked well but I still have that lingering smell in the basement, but no droppings.

I think a lot of times cats learn from their mother so if they don't equate mice to food they probably never will unless they find themselves really hungry. I remember my cat when we moved to the country, it adapted well to eating mice and stopped eating in the summertime but would take milk. Later it had kittens and it got to work training the kittens from the time their eyes opened.

I have been thinking of getting a cat but wonder if I might be best to get one from a farm. It would drive me nuts to have a cat that can't hunt. maybe some breeds are better?

Phil, are you in a rural area? Some humane societies will relocate feral cats and are looking for places who can take them- a whole colony of them if you want - cats that might otherwise be killed. They will neuter/spay them, so you wont get a ton of kittens - the idea behind this practice is that the neutered cats hold the territory against invaders, but don't reproduce themselves... so over time the cat population goes down. you would provide some shelter for them and some food esp during winter to keep them around.

Our problem may be your solution. I have learned that mice will not live in a house with bats. My neighbor hung a bat house against the back of his house and poof, no more mice. Unfortunately a few of our neighborhood bats have found their way into our attic. We still can't find where they are getting in and out, but at least I do not have mice. Would rather have the bats in my attic than mice in my pantry. I just wish they would always stay upstairs!