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Striek
Member
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# Posted: 12 Sep 2020 09:39pm
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Sorry if this has been asked before - new member here, and I haven't found quite the question I was looking for.
A friend of mine has a hunt camp I'm welcome to use any time I like, and I've been using it more and more in recent years. In exchange, I stock it with firewood, propane, and fine spirits.
I was up there with the missus last weekend to find a family of mice living in it, likely a dozen or two. I offered to go up there and exterminate them, so I'll be heading up probably tomorrow.
I have three or four days to deal with the infestation. I'd like to do it as humanely and ecologically responsible as possible, but priority #1 is eliminating the mice, as the cabin will be used for the moose hunt in the third week of October. Sealing the entry points is not realistically possible with the tools I will have available (read: no electricity, and I will be solo), and the cabin has been standing since the 1930's, so I highly doubt all the entry points can ever be sealed - and they'll just make new ones anyway.
My plan is to set snaptraps up for two or three nights, maybe a bucket trap, and leave rat poison for what I can't dispatch with the traps. Some poison in the pellets, and some in the blocks.
But should I destroy the nests first? Remove the food hoard? Or let them sit comfortably unaware of their impending doom?
And to clean up/disinfect after the mess they leave - my plan is ammonia in a spray bottle.
I have just a few days to deal with this and I'd appreciate any insights from folks who've had to deal with this before.
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 12 Sep 2020 10:54pm
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I use peanut butter glue trap from Amazon.
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Striek
Member
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# Posted: 12 Sep 2020 11:35pm
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Glue traps are NOT humane. They are quite likely the cruelest way to kill mice ever conceived of.
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darz5150
Member
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# Posted: 13 Sep 2020 12:06am
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Quoting: Striek Glue traps are NOT humane
How humane is the Hunta Virus killing you because the mice pissed and crapped in your food storage or licked your tooth brush? Or your cabin burning down after they chewed up your wiring, while they humanely die in the fire?
Sticky traps, regular traps, bucket traps, whatever it takes.
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KinAlberta
Member
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# Posted: 13 Sep 2020 12:26am - Edited by: KinAlberta
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Could The Great Stuff PestBlock foam be combined with steel wool / copper wool to deter mice?
Mix something bad tasting or painful to chew into the steel wool then foam it into place?
Can steel wool stop mice? | HowStuffWorks
“ Don't use plastic sheeting, wood, rubber or a screen to close off an area because the mice can gnaw right through it. A mixture of steel wool and caulking compound makes a good plug to seal small openings. You can't use steel wool on its own because the mice will be able to pull it out or chew through it. The caulking compound makes the patch surface smooth so the mice can't get through it.â€
https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/steel-wool-stop-mice .htm
Great Stuff PestBock
https://www.greatstuff.dupont.com/content/dam/Dupont2.0/General/greatstuff/Documents/ 43-D100015-enNA.pdf
I’m back. Seems that copper wool and foam is already an old solution:
How to Seal Siding to Keep Out Mice | Hunker
...“Step 9
Plug up larger gaps with pieces of copper scrubbing pad from the hardware store. Fill up the gap by spraying expanding foam into it. The copper keeps mice from eating through the foam later. Look for "minimal expanding" foam on the can's label for a cleaner job. “
https://www.hunker.com/12266232/how-to-seal-siding-to-keep-out-mice
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Striek
Member
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# Posted: 13 Sep 2020 02:58am
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Quoting: darz5150 Quoting: Striek Glue traps are NOT humane How humane is the Hunta Virus killing you because the mice pissed and crapped in your food storage or licked your tooth brush? Or your cabin burning down after they chewed up your wiring, while they humanely die in the fire? Sticky traps, regular traps, bucket traps, whatever it takes.
Let me put it this way. I wince every time I swat a mosquito, yet I hunt. I don't often kill, but when I do, I do it humanely.
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 13 Sep 2020 06:49am
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If you want humane you would just let them live in your cabin with you. Seal up all cracks even 1/8in wide with steel wool and caned spray foam.
In all reality just about every member here prob has had or has mice in there cabins. Poison works well but do not use it in the cabin, its bait to your attracting more in.
If you think you have a dozen mice its prob more like 4. They dont care if you destroy there nest, there not just going to move out if its destroyed.
I have found that the key to being mice free is to poison early in the spring and keep that poison fresh and full all through the first snow.
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FishHog
Member
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# Posted: 13 Sep 2020 08:41am
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Bucket traps 365 days a year with antifreeze. It preserves them and they don’t smell even if left for months Burn the dead ones so nothing eats them
Snap traps while I’m at the cottage And can remove daily. I will leave some poison as well and step up my trapping if it’s getting eaten.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 13 Sep 2020 09:30am
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Don't have a problem at the cabin, touch wood, but the bucket trap was the answer when they invaded an old RV I had. On my trucks I use those 12v ultrasonic gizmos and they seem to work. They do sell them home use.
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justins7
Member
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# Posted: 14 Sep 2020 11:44am
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I would destroy their nests, clean as much as you can. This removes their own scent somewhat. Then fill all holes that you can.
I recently went on a tirade and filled the main holes with a mix of steel wool and spray foam. Since then I haven't seen a mouse — it's been weeks.
I struggled with mice problems for a long time but I have learned to control it well enough.
I use heavy duty "Nara"-type traps. They're great because you can just keep reusing them. Each one I have must've killed scores, at least. I use a mixture of popcorn kernals, sugar and peanut butter as bait. The popcorn is heavy so they have to dig for it in the trap, thereby making it more likely to set off.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004B9XPOO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF 8&psc=1
I stopped using poison because the other animals can ingest it outside (like birds). But I still may use it if they are hidden in the walls.
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hattie
Member
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# Posted: 14 Sep 2020 12:54pm
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Here is what we do:
Bucket traps are the best. You can get LOTS of mice that way and they don't need resetting. Bait them with peanut butter. In the winter use RV antifreeze and in the summer just plain water with a bit of dish soap in it. The dish soap makes them sink so they won't be as smelly the next time you go in to the camp.
Steel wool works amazingly well to fill entry holes. They won't chew through it.
Unless you use a poison that will not kill secondary animals and birds (owls, etc.) don't use it.
After you set up the bucket trap, you can clean up the mess they left. Use lots of lysol to disinfect the areas and wear a mask.
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Voiceofwisdom
Member
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# Posted: 16 Sep 2020 04:51am
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Quoting: darz5150 How humane is the Hunta Virus killing you because the mice pissed and crapped in your food storage or licked your tooth brush? Or your cabin burning down after they chewed up your wiring, while they humanely die in the fire? Sticky traps, regular traps, bucket traps, whatever it takes.
OP asked for a humane way, not a torture device. Stop being so melodramatic. Sticky traps should be illegal.
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