Mice

[stanwelch]

Engine on the LT15 would fire a couple times but would not run. On the third attempt a mouse popped out of the engine ran down the mast and under the slab pile.  >:(. This can't be good. I pulled the gas tank and shroud. This is what I found. 

  

 
Insulation chewed from two wires from the switch. Ground wire only had a couple strands of wire intact. Replaced ground wire and wrapped wire to coil. Engine runs fine now 8)
Mouse that ran out must of been visiting his long lost cousin that got fried!
I'm going to hang a bag of mothballs under the engine to see if that will keep the buggers out of the engine. Anyone try this before?

[Rando]

Same thing happened on my mill. Pain in the butt but the second time we found them it was a much faster clean out and got them before they ate the wires.

[1ruralmailman]

   this sounds like crazy talk i know,but here it comes.from years of fighting these little devils,skip the mothballs.i have actually seen them chew them in the engine bay of my snowmobile.what i did find worked was bounce dryer sheets in engine bay under covers.four years now,havent seen hide nor hair evidence of the buggers in there since.good luck with them whatever you choose to use.

[Greyhound]

Good luck!  I hate them dirty destructive demons.  We got a cat and that has helped somewhat for in the house and garage, however, the barn is free range for them suckers.

[cutterboy]

I got hit by those little rascals too. A while back they chewed the wires going to the on-off switch. Mothballs might work. I have used them on and around the engine when I store the mill away for the winter. (in the barn) No problems when I did this, but I've had years when I didn't use mothballs and had no problem. So, who knows?
Suggestion... Remove the slab pile often. All kinds of little critters love to hide under it.

[Kbeitz]

They dont like fresh paint. You can paint the inside of your shroud.
I dont think they like the stink of the paint.

[Chuck White]

A couple of weeks ago, my mill had been sitting in my back yard for about 5 weeks waiting for any customer on my list to get ready for me to bring the mill!

The mice had gotten in the engine by climbing up through, following the spark plug wire and didn't really do any serious damage other than fill the grill on the front of the engine dang near full of leaves, grass and half of the prefilter from the intake!

Glad I saw it before I started the engine.  pulled the grill off and emptied it and everything was good except the prefilter!

[WH_Conley]

I had trouble with the little buggers all the time til a 6 foot black snake decided to take up residence in the mill shed. I am now mouse free.

[SCSawyer]

Parked my new tractor in the barn used it a couple weeks, went to crank it one day it would start but not run , popped the hood, big pack rat nest chewed all the wires to everything including fuel line, 3 5 gal bucketsof rat poison and 2 cats later I haven't seen them in a while, they caused my new John Deere mower to blow up a couple years ago and chewed everything under my f250s hood out in the spring.

[ladylake]

 Moth balls don't work, I put moth balls and poison in the back of my skid loader  2" apart, moth balls didn't keep them out as they ate the poison.  Steve

[WDH]

Yes, you need a sawmill snake.  This one has an attitude, though. 



 

[DMcCoy]

An owl or two with babies to feed will work wonders. 

I use bait blocks by the 5 gallon bucket ( @ 2 yrs worth).  These can be strung on a piece of wire and hooked to engines.

I also use these bait stations - keeps family pets and raccoons from eating the bait. 
I use about 2 1/2' of 4" thin wall pvc non-perf drain pipe.  Drill a 1 1/2" hole in the middle and then drill a small hole on the opposite side for a 16p nail.  Hot glue the nail in.  I then build a slider to cover the big hole - @ 8" of the same pipe split lengthwise.   Have used these for 10+ years and they work great.  Keeps the bait dry too.  The rodents must eat the bait to carry it away unlike the dog food shaped stuff they tend to stash.


 



  



 



 

[Ljohnsaw]

Well, this is timely.  Last month I was unloading a few pallets with my SkyTrak.  As i was positioning a pallet, I had a mouse pop out at the end of the boom, run past me to the back of the boom and crawl in.  Kind of reminded me of "Mouse Hunt" :D

Didn't think much of it, thought he came from the pallet.  Last week I was moving some fill, and another (same?) one did it again!

Guess I should make some bait stations...

[red]

5 gallon bucket mouse trap , half fill with water then add sunflower seeds .

[AnthonyW]

An owl or two with babies to feed will work wonders. 

I use bait blocks by the 5 gallon bucket ( @ 2 yrs worth).  These can be strung on a piece of wire and hooked to engines.

I also use these bait stations - keeps family pets and raccoons from eating the bait. 
I use about 2 1/2' of 4" thin wall pvc non-perf drain pipe.  Drill a 1 1/2" hole in the middle and then drill a small hole on the opposite side for a 16p nail.  Hot glue the nail in.  I then build a slider to cover the big hole - @ 8" of the same pipe split lengthwise.   Have used these for 10+ years and they work great.  Keeps the bait dry too.  The rodents must eat the bait to carry it away unlike the dog food shaped stuff they tend to stash.

DMcCoy: Why so long? Why 4" diameter?

I'm liking the design, but thinking somewhat shorter and with a smaller opening to further limit the bait station to mice. I'm also thinking it could be modified to contain cotton balls laden with permethrin to also have it work as a tick tube.

Thinking further, perforated 4" drain tube. add your 1 1/2" loading and 16p nail holes and cap the ends. The mice would use the perforated for entry/exit while keeping out the other critters.

[69bronco]

If your near electric I've been using those plug in repellers. Used to have a major problem when we got back in spring. They were in the vehicles,  backhoe and tractors. Started using the (chirpers) 3 yrs ago, haven't had an issue since (knock on wood)!

[DMcCoy]

[/quote]

DMcCoy: Why so long? Why 4" diameter?

I'm liking the design, but thinking somewhat shorter and with a smaller opening to further limit the bait station to mice. I'm also thinking it could be modified to contain cotton balls laden with permethrin to also have it work as a tick tube.

Thinking further, perforated 4" drain tube. add your 1 1/2" loading and 16p nail holes and cap the ends. The mice would use the perforated for entry/exit while keeping out the other critters.
[/quote]

Sorry the tube is 3" not 4.  The 16p nail when glued in almost touches the opposite side so if it gets rolled around the bait won't fall out.

Why so long? - The original design (not mine) was to use the tube with a long piece of wire.  First wrapped around the bait blocks and then it came out both ends and was long enough to tie to itself outside. 
If I used a certain kind of bait the raccoons would tear those apart to get the bait.  So I guessed at raccoon arm length and this seems to work.  So far dogs or coons have not been smart enough to slide the cover off.
The holes you describe would limit target size.  I'm not sure larger rodents would not just chew a bigger hole anyway. 

[Kbeitz]

Around here we just use a 5 gal bucket with a wire and a soda can.
Put peanut butter on the soda can. Mouse jumps on can. Can turns
dumping mouse in water. End of story...



 

[Gwhunter]

I've been using this stuff called Fresh Cab, my Deere dealer recommended it. It seems to work quite well.

Matt

[AnthonyW]

Sorry the tube is 3" not 4.  The 16p nail when glued in almost touches the opposite side so if it gets rolled around the bait won't fall out.

Why so long? - The original design (not mine) was to use the tube with a long piece of wire.  First wrapped around the bait blocks and then it came out both ends and was long enough to tie to itself outside. 
If I used a certain kind of bait the raccoons would tear those apart to get the bait.  So I guessed at raccoon arm length and this seems to work.  So far dogs or coons have not been smart enough to slide the cover off.
The holes you describe would limit target size.  I'm not sure larger rodents would not just chew a bigger hole anyway.

2 1/2 feet makes sense now given more thought. (a) That would cut a 10 foot long pipe into 4 even pieces. (b) that would give about 16" from each end.

I'm going to try the perforated pipe if they make it in 3"m and I can find a cheap way to cap the ends. I need to do something to knock back the number of furry residents. They are taking up residence in my lumber stacks.

[SineWave]

Ditrac Blox work pretty well for me...if you use poison, you definitely want a "multiple feed" rather than a "single feed" poison. They get wise to the single-feed stuff...

[timcosby]

just be thankful it wasnt a $1000 vette wiring harness....dont ask!!!! i hate mice now

[Chuck White]

Around here we just use a 5 gal bucket with a wire and a soda can.
Put peanut butter on the soda can. Mouse jumps on can. Can turns
dumping mouse in water. End of story...



 

Why not make it "year 'round", use used motor oil instead of water, and they don't stink!

[Kingcha]

I use the 5 gallon pale with a pop bottle coated with peanut butter .... ...... But I use antifreeze.     No smell and is good year round.

The only building I have food in has never had mice in it, I have only used the pale in it once with no evidence.   I am pretty sure we have snakes under the building.   As far as I am concerned as long as they don't bother me they can live their forever.    8)

Matt