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CabinRookieWNY
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# Posted: 11 Jun 2013 19:03
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That is the question! So I've been having our little friends in the cabin during the week while I'm not there. I assume mice, but maybe chipmunks or other tiny visitors. Short of taking a week off from work and holding target practice, does anyone have a way to keep the cridders out? I was thinking of getting a couple plastic owls and setting them on the floor when I leave. I wonder if anyone has had luck doing this? I know I have a place in the country, but the hr. it takes to sweep up droppings and wipe stuff down is getting old. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks for the time!
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PA_Bound
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# Posted: 11 Jun 2013 19:37
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I would suspect mice also- and keeping them out when you live in the country is difficult. Owls are not going to work. You have to find out how they are getting in, and then seal those entrances up. Since you already have some inside, you will also have to trap them to clean them out also. You could trap those inside now, but if they path they use to get in is still open others will simply replace what you remove. Find the openings (look around wires, pipes, knot holes, anything that penetrates the wall or floor, attic, or around any doors/windows that don't seal tight) and plug them. Mice can get through amazingly small openings so don't assume anything is too small.
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beulahfarkward
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# Posted: 11 Jun 2013 20:35
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We have spent hours stuffing any little hole. Finally figured out they were going under the door! I am fastidious about cleaning up before we leave. Absolutely no crumbs anywhere, no boxes they can chew through etc. That helps too. We leave a few traps just to see - last trip - not a single mouse!
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tcmatt
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# Posted: 11 Jun 2013 21:04
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I just built my place last year and filled all small cracks and openings with steel wool. So far, so good. Not a single critter. Apparently, they won't chew through steel wool.
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Grandma Off Grid
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2013 03:55
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put some bar bait out if no pets or people there.
put in small plastic grocery bags on floor in areas you think they are. easier to clean up.
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Kudzu
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2013 05:23
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The ole time mousetrap works great for me. I use cheese for bait and set the in the evening and check them in the morning. Do not set them and leave for over a day or you may have a mess when you get back. I once set them and was gone a week, I could smell them as soon as I walked in.
Some people really get upset over mice, we just think it is part of it and deal with it.
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Ejm
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2013 07:30
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Bucket mouse trap... It is very easy to make and no smell when you come back a week latter, just add antifreeze! Check you tube they will show you how to make it
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Martian
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2013 08:06
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Please avoid poisons, except as a last resort. Poisoned animals poison other animals. A poisoned mouse goes outside and can poison an owl, hawk, or other carnivore which are beneficial in keeping the rodent population under control. Traps are much better than poisons.
Tom
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jrbarnard
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2013 08:34
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I always have 2-4 of those sticky pad mouse traps around the cabin...under the beds etc. I cleared out the cabin and once a year I will get there and find 1 or 2 that found the things and I just throw them out.
I add a spoonful of peanut butter to the middle of the things, since they are under the bed etc.
Good luck!
Russ
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Grandma Off Grid
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2013 09:02
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ok if it wont bother you to dump it: put couple gallons water in
3-5 gallon pail. put stick or something mice can climb on,
outside of bucket leaning against it.
they will climb in but cant climb out and drown.
gross but works.
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creeky
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2013 09:29
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there's an insulating foam spray you get at the big box / hardware stores that tastes bad and it's for use blocking little critters. it's easy to use and it fills the tiniest crack. worked just the ticket last fall when all the field mice started thinking my rv was the perfect winter hideaway.
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Brent Stevens
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2013 17:13
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I use a product called stuff it. It is a big roll of mess copper. It like steal wool but will not rust and deteriorate. If you can find the hole it works. Can't find the hole, very frustrating
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old greybeard
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# Posted: 20 Dec 2013 07:59
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It would take alot to seal my cabin up. We just use snap traps all year. We are up enough that the smell/decay is not a issue. And most mice try to come in fall and winter when its cold anyway.
Keeping food cleaned up is a big help.
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TheWildMan
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# Posted: 20 Dec 2013 08:18
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try a bucket trap (without water if you think it will freeze). a 5 gallon bucket is too tall on the sides for mice to jump out, they stay in till they either starve alone or turn "cannibal survivor" and start fighting to the death and feasting on the flesh of their mouse brethren (I seen it happen, 5 mice in a bucket overnight, only one survivor, who I threw to the cat). water or antifreeze will drown them, if they are dead and dry they turn to unscented mouse jerky in a couple days then you just dump them outside.
these photos came up on a google search. trap is simple, they run up the ramp, try to get the bait on the lose can, it spins and drops them in where they can't get out.
102_1572.jpg
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DIYMouseTrap.jpg
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cabingal3
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# Posted: 20 Dec 2013 13:04
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we are waiting to see.we had droppings.then I showed the mister openings in the cabin.we did not have weather stripping under the door and places here and there were little cracks.we laid out several mouse traps and got them.one nite I was sitting up in our new room of our cabin and reading and I look at the door and a mouse poked its lil head in to look about.i yelled get out.it did.ha.then garyo fixed the bottom of the door.
I always put plates and bowls and cups unside down.and always wash every can top.
good luck.love the five gallon bucket idea.
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jackaxe
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# Posted: 20 Dec 2013 14:41
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When I bought my log cabin in 2009 it was infested with mice and carpenter ants. The cabin was vacant for at least 3 years before I bought it. I used Tomcat brand bait boxes and bait(sold at TSC). The mice will die where they live, so stinky till the cabin was clear(first year). Then moved the bait boxes to my shed to get the rest of them. It take 5 yrs, now I use very little bait! For the carpenter ants I use (from Epestsupply) gourmet liquid ant bait in 2 bait stations. Carpenter ants are gone. My cabin is 1500 feet of the road and in the woods.
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 20 Dec 2013 20:48 - Edited by: silverwaterlady
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First you need to seal all the entry points. Than you need to trap the mice that are in the cabin. After you get them than you can trap them outside. Don't continue to lie traps inside the cabin. Why lie food out to attract them inside?
PS:bucket traps are MEAN. Why make them suffer like that?
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pfireproof
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# Posted: 21 Dec 2013 07:04
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Get pure peppermint, mix with water in a spray bottle and spray around the inside. No mice and nice smell
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sparky1
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# Posted: 25 Feb 2014 09:51
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In the Bucket trap---windshield wash (blue stuff) works great -no freeze -no stink in the one I did.
for single snap trap. peanut butter holding one piece pet food.
but if you have crickets--trap will not trip but food gone.
sparky1.
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Just
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# Posted: 25 Feb 2014 11:34
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New law in Canada you can no longer by mouse and rat baits without a pesticide licence [to get a licence it's 150 $ plus 6hr class room study plus a1 HR. exam every 5 years].
I recently went to buy a new supply for our holdings [ 4 homes 3 cabins 4 barns] . went to t.s.c. 9lb. 105. 00 $.. you now must ask for it as it is kept under lock and key. then the sales staff must carry it to the cashier were you must produce your licence [ I do have the licence] and pay for it before you can leave with it .you are not allowed to stop until you get home unless you have a locked trunk in your truck . this is the same way we must buy amo here in Canada
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SE Ohio
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# Posted: 25 Feb 2014 12:06
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On a previous cabin stay, I found quite a gap by some interior trim. Made a tight wedge and hammered it in. Stopped a big draft, too. Only had mice in 1 of 4 traps in our more recent visit. Before we would sometimes fill 'em all!
One of my boys and I just finished up tacking more hardware cloth (screening) under the cabin to fill some gaps. The guy who built the cabin had the right idea (screen under joists and insulation) but didn't get a good fit. I could see a few mouse tunnels in the insulation as we worked. We think we got all the entry points.
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Smawgunner
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# Posted: 26 Feb 2014 12:34
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Don't know if this has been mentioned, but the poisons are a bad thing. Once the mice digest the poison, they can be picked off by hawks, owls, fox etc. and then they too will have digested the poison. Even if they die first, then other scavengers could eat them and also die. Food for thought...no pun intended.
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Malamute
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# Posted: 26 Feb 2014 13:07
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I lived in one place that was impossible to keep the mice out of. Before I had regular plumbing I would find them dead in my grey water when I tossed it out. They have sonic ability like bats, They would climb the log wall, think the surface of the water was a solid, jump in and drown. The higher the water was, it seemed like they were more likely to jump in.
I agree about it being cruel to leave mice in a bucket to starve or eat each other. A few inches water or antifreeze will kill them fairly quickly. I dislike mice greatly, but have no desire to inflict cruelty upon them.
I found the traps with the plastic cheese looking trip bars to be best. I discovered that I caught at least as many that were simply walking over them as looking at the bait, so stopped baiting them and still caught a lot. They walk along walls mostly, so putting the traps so they had to walk over the trip bar was catching them, even when they ignored the bait. I gave up on the old fashioned trip bars years ago, they are nearly worthless compared the cheese looking ones in my experience.
Theres no good excuse to build a place and not get it sealed up properly. It just isnt that hard to do when building. I've never had a mouse in a cabin I built, other than one, when I fell asleep with the door open once.
Mice are not to be taken lightly in the west, they can harbor Hanta Virus. Hanta is present in the feces and urine of infected mice, and can be breathed by the dust kicked up in cleaning up after them. Hanta is 50% fatal when contracted by people. Cleanup should be with a bleach/water solution in a spray bottle, sprayed on, left a few minutes, them cleaned up. A mask isn't out of the question either.
In that first cabin I lived in (I didn't build it), I shot a couple dozen mice with my 22 rifle and CB loads. It was entertaining in an odd way, I'd prefer not to have them ion the house though.
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 26 Feb 2014 13:22 - Edited by: silverwaterlady
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How soon do they die if there is antifreeze in the bucket?
I just don't know what we are going to do about mice now that I wont be able to use my Oust A Mouse.
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Malamute
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# Posted: 27 Feb 2014 00:14
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They typically drown within a few minutes.
The antifreeze would be so they drown if its cold enough to freeze water. If the water was frozen, they'd starve or do the cannibal thing.
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