The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk mice

I am surrounded by thousands of acres of corn, and harvest time is coming. I'm wondering what ingenious methods that actually work, that you guys might have devised to keep them out of your bolt. I'm toying with a moat but they probably swim like otters. I've plugged all holes in the trucks I can find and have traps all over my shop but they are persistent. It appears that 100's of moth balls under the seat with reduces the bench seat activity, but I can hardly breath in my shop and they pesky critters will climb and nest above the visors. I don't want to use poison and kill my cats. They are as effective as can be expected but their buffet table is staffed 24 hours per day and they can only eat so much!

I've put bars of Irish Spring bath soap on and under the seat, in the glove box and engine compartment when I stored my 50 at my buddy's farm in Neb. Seemed to help and it smelled a lot better.

Bob

You need more cats,I can send you a few,,Brian

My brother uses some kind of sonic device that emits a high frequency sound that keeps the mice out of his building. He keeps his firewood in there and rarely ever gets a mouse. He's out in the country surrounded by fields and pastures too. The dog doesn't like to go in there, though.

Get a 5-gallon bucket and a 6-foot 2X4 board. Put a little grain, a cup or two of sugar, and about a gallon of water in the bucket. Prop the board up to the rim of the bucket. Mice (and rats) love fermenting grain, and they'll climb the board and dive in. Ever heard the term "ugly as a drowned rat"? It comes from the necessity to dip rats out of the mash vats at moonshine stills, something a few of my Tennessee relatives know well! BTW, rather than dip them off the bottom, if ya wait a couple of days, they float. It's easier to pick them off the top, and it doesn't affect the taste of the shine at all!

You'll need to empty the buckets every 3 days or so, or the stink sort of gags everybody in the shop!
Jerry

Hotrod - That is definately an ingenious idea. The bonus of knowing they will freak out for a good while and then DIE makes for dandy icing on the cake!

I've not tried Irish Spring but it does smell really good and might mask the mothball odors.

The sound device would be worthwhile even if all it did was keep dogs out!

And if Fleetside has any siamese mongrel cats, send 'em!

We used a wire fence normally for a horse, we just put it all around our yard. Every morning you'd have to go out, and they would be about 15 BIG ol rats hanging from the wire, dead still, with teeth still attached. Animals will run into it once, then never do that again.

Oh and if you have cats, they're good at chasing them towards the wire thing...

get a new cat

get a bigger cat

There is a product sold in the upper Midwest called "Cab Fresh." It is sold mostly at farm and feed stores - you can get it at TSC up here (a national chain). The product was originally intended to be put in combines and tractors that are at rest for a good portion of the year.

One box (about $15.00) includes 4 pouches of mothball/cedar chip (sort of) stuff. You hang it in your truck and change it every three months. It has been working pretty well for us.

I've got it in all four trucks and my Honda - the mice had even found their way into the trunk! It's pretty strong smelling, but it works.

I have been having the same probelm in my daily driver. I too am surrounded by fields and pasture. My truck is just under a carport and I have mice in there every night. I have tried fabric softener sheets as they are supposed to work and not smell as bad as mothballs. They seemed to work for a few days and then the mice made them into nests. I cant stand mothballs and dont want to smell like them all the time. I have been just setting a mouse trap with peanut butter on the floor board every night. I get one, but the others go on their way, "The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese". My son plays in the truck so poison is out of the question. I will look for that cab fresh. My cats work overtime, but its a loosing battle.
Ralph

Cats outside the truck. Mothballs inside. Two of my family's three cats have nearly cleared their property of mice.

Boy HotRod reminds me of the days we use to store ears of corn in the corncrib. Biggest rats I have ever seen but during the winter time one of my jobs was to clean out the cattle tank because the rats would try to get a drink and fall in. If the d+++ things were still swimming I would wait until the next day.

popcorn The Truth is Out There (if a farm dog was not a good "ratter" you didn't keep him)

I'm talking about hundreds of mice flowing out of the fields when harvest hits. No cat or herd of cats can get every single one, and that one who survives is pregnant and programmed to seek out my ADs. I have plenty of fat blacksnakes too, but not enough. How they get in the cab to start with is the mystery to solve. Through the weep hole in the cowl, up through the door post cavity, across the headliner and down the backside of the cab? That is the only thing I can think of that I have not plugged.

Mom had some rats that had set up camp under the chicken house slab, eating all the chicken feed & even some eggs. No poison used due to dogs, cats. Couldn't use traps around chickens. I hooked an old vacuum cleaner hose to the exhaust of my truck,& stuck it in the biggest hole after covering all the others I could find. I held the choke about 1/2 to 3/4 shut & held the throttle. Smoke poured from out from under the chicken house, & out came the woozy rats. We were ready w/.22's & rat shot, pitchforks, shovels. Killed 16 rats that day & a couple more the next. One rat was bigger than our tomcat. Never had a problem since, but maybe you could start & run the old truck in the shop for a while(make sure no people nor cats in the shop)Brian

Fleetside - Thats Funny! I was picturing the entire event happening! LOL! Thanks

I wish I was there to help with the rats. I have a 40 x 60 with 15 foot ceilings and rafters above that, and a 60 foot ridge vent. Sounds like a good idea for others with smaller sealed shops.

i have had my shop up for almost 20yrs. have had chipmonks but i put rat poision out and no chipmonks or mice. thought he was cute stealing seeds from the bird feeder until i found out he was storing it in my mga and truck. the corner of the overhead seal had gotten torn and he got in there, very small hole. none since about 2 yrs now. ron

50GMC253,
We go through the same thing up here - Hotrod's idea is a good one. I find dead mice floating in the dogs' water all the time.

Unfortunately, you will never be able to seal them all out of your truck. An adult hamster (much bigger than a mouse) can sqeeze through a hole the size of a quarter. I can only imagine how small a hole your average field mouse can squeeze into.

When I was a kid, they would somehow get into sealed 55 gallon garbage cans full of grain for our horses. You could literally scoop up the mice by the grain scoop-full. You might just have to admit the problem is too big and mark it up as one of the few drawbacks to rural life.

Run about 220 volts through the sheet metal. That should solve the mouse problem...

Got no mice in my truck.

http://www.stovebolt.com/gallery/ducor_doug_1966_02.htm

Look... Some of you guys are expressing joy at watching mice and rats drown. I think that this is deplorable. There is no excuse for cruelty and definitely no excuse for enjoying it.

Mice and rats abound because humans kill their predators, like coyotes, foxes, snakes and birds of prey.

I had them in my car several times because I'm out in the country, but never in my truck. Keep your vents CLOSED.

Here's what I used to get the mice out of my car. It works perfectly. Only problem is that, I was concerned that I was recatching the same mouse night after night. I finally marked him with white paint and confirmed my suspicion. The next day I released him about two miles away next to a stream. He was happy and so was I.

[img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0SADr...CoffeeCanTrap.jpg?dc=4675527697975000885[/img]

I don't relish in torturing mice...but I don't like them tearing things up. The cats are a nice, natural population control - hunters, hunted. Life goes on, and the cats are happy.

Obviously, Tab has never had mice chew the wiring harness off of a new car, or had them nest inside a clutch or air breather. They are called vermin for a reason. Brian

64fleetside: IN FACT, mice chewed the wiring harness on my Bronco which I was preparing to sell. It took me forever to figure out what the problem was. I sunk so much money and time into this truck.

Mice also recently got into my Honda car, on three separate occasions.

A few years ago they got into my home by climbing up some vines into my attic. From there they chewed through the drywall to get inside. It was Hell. I live trapped as many as possible then had to resort to snap traps but I didn't take any pleasure in killing them. They are just trying to make a living the ONLY way that nature provides.

But again: I'll bet that most of the people here kill snakes. Some of you shoot cats, bobcats, foxes and snakes on sight. The mice only over populate an area when people alter the natural balance.

BTW: I also live trap rattlesnakes and copperheads when I find them in my yard.

I'm no buddist and I've spent many hours repairing their damage. Death to motoring mice.

Man, you got patience. I have non-poisonous King snakes around, but the poisionous ones buy the farm, I got a 5 y/o that plays in the yard. I take in dumped animals at times, never shoot anything except rats & mice. Copperheads, water moccasins/cottonmouths get the shovel treatment. I ain't having a cottonmouth come into my yard & chase me w/o smacking it. Don't enjoy it, but its gotta be done. Brian

Man, who woulda ever thought you could get so many ingenious mouse-trap ideas from a truck website! "Hundreds of mice running from the fields"! All I can say is, if you ever get the truck cleared out, how about trying a fence around your truck of electrified hardware cloth!?!

>> ...recatching the same mouse night after night.

Hummmm. Mice must be really stupid, visiting the same shiny motel night after night.

Rance

Brian: I understand your concern about poisonous snakes especially having a child about. My dogs find the snakes both poisonous and non. I can tell when they do by their tentative sniffing. My Chow mix found a big, Copperhead last Spring in the tall grass ( I needed to weed wack ) along my foundation. I knew that it was a Copperhead by the location and the way my dog was sniffing.

You've actually had a cottonmouth chase you! LOL! I've heard about this but have never had the experience.

There are "blotched water snakes" that resemble Cottonmouths. It has been my experience in TexAss that many Cottonmouth sightings/killings are really Blotched Water snakes. I bought an an excellent book called, Texas Snakes which goes into detail about the differences between similar serpents.

Good job taking in strays. Someone just dumped four puppies in the ditch in front of my house. Amazingly, I already adopted two ! This is a first for me. Still have Herc and Spunky though.


[img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0PwCb...1ejGaLIf/Herc.jpg?dc=4675537244146388113[/img]

[img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0QgDrAiQUSagrSBPFjsh!w*Vcz9iU3lzm5J2arGsiuIQQU8d!0OgeTJvr68yWRdAiOrHQcp1h*6vhTBQQqe9jWj0hAfObb5DUmknstPOtKh0/Puppies.jpg?dc=4675537062365285562[/img]

The cottonmouths here are black as coal & will chase a dog or a man, they also like to get into boats while you are fishing. They are not afraid of humans like most snakes. Pups look like they have some Heeler in them,, Brian

As Brian said Cottonmouths will attack without being provoked. They are the only snakes that I know of that will do that. In my younger days, we used to play with all kinds of snakes. As long as you grab them by the tail, your okay. Now that I am older, I will only play with the non-poisonous types.

Phil

What in the hell does this have to do with "General Truck talk"?

We are recommending cottonmouths to keep mice out of 50GMC's truck. Brian

Lots of good ideas out there.

AD - you are funny...the title of this thread is mice but you read it and took the time to reply instead of ignoring it.

Tad - please reply to explain how your livetrap is triggered.

Mice deserve a choice! I don't really WANT to see them dead, and if a good scolding would work I would never consider death. I warned them twice but they didn't listen.

I will implement both Hotrod's and Tad's ideas and report back. I have a cat nursing babies for insurance.

50GMC:

My trap has a stiff wire (used for electric fencing) which I coiled at one end. Within the coil I put a piece of dog food. The other end sticks through a hole in the door. When the mouse goes in he pulls on the coil with the dog food allowing gravity to close the door.

In the picture you can see the wire sticking out of the front of the trap by about an inch. When I set it, I push the wire back so that it trips easily. Notice that I adhesive caulked some aluminum flashing to the coffee can top, which acts as a door guide AND keeps the mouse from chewing threw the plastic lid. I cut the bottom out of the can so that I can rebait easiy but this is not necessary because the mouse never gets the dog food out of the coils. lol.... If he does you can always pull the wire through the front of the trap as the coffee can lid still allows you to remove the entire trap door assembly.

Also notice that I adhesive caulked a stabilizer to the can bottom.

If you build a trap like this, you will need to release the little monster far from your home or they will come right back. I had to learn that the hard way.

well i seen this thing about rats and mice, and have yet to have a problem now that the truck is in my yard. in the city we cant shoot them, and cats wont last long. "roadkill"
i do have a little mouse that comes in the shop office when im here at night. and it looked thirsty, so gave it a cap full of my beer. i laughed for an hour after seeing how that drunk mouse played with the cap and anything that was close. and his fear of me was not half as strong.
so i say, if you cant beat them, party with them.

demo man,

What a great story..I wonder if the mice prefer light beer.

This is an interesting thread from a historical standpoint. At least two of the gentlemen who posted seem to have gone on to greener pastures, and a third has called a truce with a adversary.

One was shown where the front door was and the other seems to have left of his own accord. I actually was going to try and contact HRL and let him know his knowledge was still in high demand here, but felt maybe I was treading where I didn't belong.

Maybe I'll hook up with demo man and the mice for a tall cool one instead.

Stuart

No really, my wife has at least 25 cats and I bet I could ship one, or two, or twenty postage FREE
and "we don't have to say a thing to my wife", we
can just keep this to ourselves. Well ok you can think about it !
Cliff59