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Had it with mice

Started by terrifictimbersllc, May 10, 2011, 07:28:55 PM

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SwampDonkey

Had a good chuckle this morning on the way to work. I pulled off the pavement and into a field road to my latest thinning project. It was misting rain, so the wipers were on interval. All the sudden I'm looking straight ahead, but see something grey pop up from under the hood of the car toward the windshield. I squinched my eyes, as it was just coming daylight. I see it again and focus in on it. It's a mouse! Well, he crawls across the windshield as I'm treking across this rough road in the field. I tried the shake him off with some bumps and a little brake play, but nope. And you'll never guess where that DanG fool mouse headed up. Yup, it held on to the helical antenna on the car with all fours and was climbing the antenna. It probably went up close to three feet. He hung on real good and never fell off. When I got to where I was headed, I got out and grabbed the top of the antenna and bent it over and flung the little guy into his new home in some fresh cut brush along the road. :D I wish I had a video camera to show his acrobatics. You fellas all think I'm lying. :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

wesdor

I have "hired" 4 cats to take care of that problem.  Last week when the temps began to drop I went out to feed them.  One of them wasn't interested in the dry food I had because he had a really fat mouse. 

The cats get out when I'm around home, but otherwise they are locked in the metal building.  It is a one way ticket for any mouse to venture in.  When they are outside they tend to keep theoutside mouse population down also.

I used to have all sorts of mouse damage, but not anymore.  Of course, just yesterday, someone looked at my truck and asked "do you have cats at home?"  There were several paw prints on the hood.  In my world that is a fair trade for them keeping the mouse population down.

terrifictimbersllc

Quote from: SwampDonkey on October 04, 2011, 04:51:39 PM
When I got to where I was headed, I got out and grabbed the top of the antenna and bent it over and flung the little guy into his new home in some fresh cut brush along the road. :D I wish I had a video camera to show his acrobatics. You fellas all think I'm lying. :D
Would it be inaccurate to say that you "cat"apulted a mouse?
DJ Hoover, Terrific Timbers LLC,  Mystic CT Woodmizer Million Board Foot Club member. 2019 LT70 Super Wide 55 Yanmar,  LogRite fetching arch, WM BMS250 sharpener/BMT250 setter.  2001 F350 7.3L PSD 6 spd manual ZF 4x4 Crew Cab Long Bed

Chuck White

Quote from: SwampDonkey on October 04, 2011, 04:51:39 PM
Had a good chuckle this morning on the way to work. I pulled off the pavement and into a field road to my latest thinning project. It was misting rain, so the wipers were on interval. All the sudden I'm looking straight ahead, but see something grey pop up from under the hood of the car toward the windshield. I squinched my eyes, as it was just coming daylight. I see it again and focus in on it. It's a mouse! Well, he crawls across the windshield as I'm treking across this rough road in the field. I tried the shake him off with some bumps and a little brake play, but nope. And you'll never guess where that DanG fool mouse headed up. Yup, it held on to the helical antenna on the car with all fours and was climbing the antenna. It probably went up close to three feet. He hung on real good and never fell off. When I got to where I was headed, I got out and grabbed the top of the antenna and bent it over and flung the little guy into his new home in some fresh cut brush along the road. :D I wish I had a video camera to show his acrobatics. You fellas all think I'm lying. :D

This would have been a good place to post your video SD.  :D

He probably went like this  :o when you let go of the antenna.  ;D
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

Magicman

One of the very few times that I have ever left a band on the sawmill overnight, ended with a bang.  The next morning I cranked the engine, tightened the band, and when I engaged the clutch, I instantly had a thrown band and a very smashed file tail rat wrapped around my blade guide.   :o
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shelbycharger400

irish spring dosnt keep them away,
i have had micro teeth marks in the bar downstairs before,  and green micro poops..    got a cat,  the cat keeps the mice down now

moth balls....dont work.  i stored my at the time, an  89 shadow out by the woods at my parents house... had a full box of moth balls in it,   jumped the car one morning, half way to work... and they came out of the ducts

poisons....bad idea...   again.. parked my shelby charger out by the woods , moth balls inside, poison box under,  bout a year later,  every nook n crany had mice in it,  they crawl inside places when they are sick and die in thier.          i completely gutted that car down to a shell ( future prostreet project) took another year just to air out from the dead mouse smell.

terrifictimbersllc

My wife and I have a boat with an outboard motor.  A couple of years ago we were setting out into Long Island Sound to go fishing.  As we were getting underway I was quite surprised, especially in this setting,  to be face to face with a very large-eyed gray deer mouse looking at me from atop the motor housing.  Right after I got my wife's attention, the little fellow fell off into the wake, and was lost at sea.

I didn't think much more about it until putting the boat away at home.  I took off the motor lid and sure enough it was packed full of a mouse nest which I picked apart slowly and found Mom in there with at least half a dozen similar stowaways hanging off of her.  Just glad they didn't all come out and jump into the boat with us.
DJ Hoover, Terrific Timbers LLC,  Mystic CT Woodmizer Million Board Foot Club member. 2019 LT70 Super Wide 55 Yanmar,  LogRite fetching arch, WM BMS250 sharpener/BMT250 setter.  2001 F350 7.3L PSD 6 spd manual ZF 4x4 Crew Cab Long Bed

Tom L

they got into everything I own last winter, ate all four wire harnesses on my quad, ate the plastic and the copper wire inside up to the plugs and then nibbled them down about 6"
can't even get an end to splice back together. it is still sitting there, dealer said cost to fix over 1G

I have to take a look at the mill, I don't remember any open holes but have to take a hard look at it and make sure they don't get into it and ruin anything.

catskillpond

We had the same problem with equipment over the winter and those chipmunks. Last year we were doing work for an eldery couple in their 90s. We dro[pped of a dump truck at the job and the munkers had left acorn husk all over the manifold that started to smoke at lunch the couple asked what caused the smoke and we told her.
She told me to use dryer sheets in the cab and under the hood and it worked now we get those stick on ones that go in the dryer and put them under the hood and cab keep some on the mill now in a coffee can laid down. Seems to work dont know why?   
Pond&Lake Specialist Norwood MX34 and a whole bunch of other Iron

Chuck White

Sounds like that would work catskillpond!

Something else I've done since I've owned my mill was to remove all covers and sheilds as soon as I got it backed into the garage for the winter.
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

Mooseherder

I have been using a half gallon of anti freeze in a five gallon bucket.
We keep one in the camp and one in the storage trailer.
Each bucket had over 6 mice in them over the last year.
It still doesn't get them all though but it has been a better than nothing approach.
I learned this from a member here.  Drill two holes across the top of a bucket to thread a line thru.  Save an empty toilet paper roll and position in the top center of the pail having been threaded thru with the rope it'll spin when a mouse jumps on it.  Smear peanut butter on the roll.  Place it along a known wall where mice travel.  Position a piece of wood up to the topside of the pail for easy access.

We put the pails away in closed storage when we are at camp to make sure no animals have access to the anti freeze.   I dig holes for the dead mice burials.  They are well preserved in the AF and the smell stays contained.
There sure was a lot of mice seen while bush hogging this summer. :(

spencerhenry

i have a half dozen "victor tin cat" metal mouse traps, they hold about a dozen or so mice. once they start to stink i empty them. i also use d-con in the house. last year we had a huge number of short tail weasels, they do a number on the mice. but this year they are gone, i think the neighbors cats get them. i have had rats nest on top of the motor of the mill, what a mess that is. pith, crap, and nesting material all over everything, i have shot a couple of those. chipmunks this year are the problem, they are nesting in the ceiling of my house, in my shop, in my shed, they chew on everything. i got mad when they were chewing the insulation off the firewall of my GOOD truck. now i keep a .22 with me at the mill. got about 20 or so so far.

redbeard

Owls are my friend they like to sit on the cross beams behind the front 6x6 post in picture. The first time I realized this I almost had to change my shorts because the wood owl has a 6' wing span and they have to swoop down before they can fly out. Well you can imagine one flapping his wings behind you and knockin



g your hat off. They love to eat mice
Whidbey Woodworks and Custom Milling  2019 Cooks AC 3662T High production band mill and a Hud-son 60 Diesel wide cut bandmill  JD 2240 50hp Tractor with 145 loader IR 1044 all terrain fork lift  Cooks sharp

MotorSeven

Go to the local shelter & get a couple of kittens. Raise them in the mill shed. It shouldd not take long for the primal genes to kick in.

I had a huge mouse problem soon after moving here and building the Quonset hut. They were in the shop, outbuildings and vehicles. The best mechanical trap was the 5 gal bucket trick....1/4 full of water(windshield washer fluid in winter), a coat hanger across the top speared thru a soda can. Put some peanut butter on the can and set the bucket where they can climb over onto the rim. They walk the wire onto the can which spins & dumps them and they drown in the pool...no lifeguard on duty.

However, that requires maintenance, or it can get smelly. So, one day my daughter calls me from FL. Says that her friends have this cat that that keeps killing SQUIRRELS and bringing them home. "Baby squirrels I say?"...."nope full grown ones" and it's freaking out the mother so they are going to get rid of the cat. I told her that I would disown her as my daughter if she did not get that certified ratter in a cat kennel and bring her up to the Farm ASAP. Well, boys the cat is a girl named Sherman, mostly white with some big black spots....."hmmm, doesn't look like much"  That was 4 years ago, and the "Sherminator" has deleted every mouse within a hundred yards. Recently, we added a couple of rescue kittens from our shelter. Sherman has taken them under her wing and I have seen them out stalking together.

These cats all live outside, so there really isn't any issues except for finding mouse parts and the occasional half eaten wood rat or bird in the shop ;D
WoodMizer LT15 27' bed

JP135

Quote from: terrifictimbersllc on May 12, 2011, 06:35:38 AM
Quote from: terrifictimbersllc on May 11, 2011, 05:10:29 PM
  Maybe leaving a radio on in there with NPR playing at one end, and Rush Limbaugh at the other,  Noriega style,  would drive most of them out of the holes in the middle.

Just realized this won't work...they will go to one end or the other.   But it will break up the family structure anyway.

Correct. You'd just end up with strongly polarized mice quoting what they heard on the radio as "The Truth". They'd spend all their time arguing and would forget to eat or breed.

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