I didn't read the whole thread, but I use the electronic bug machine that you plug in the wall socket. I have used then for 20 years in both my RV and the garage's. Never had a problem after my mother got me to try them, thought she was nuts but found out she was right.
I was recently told to use peppermint extract. I put a cotton ball in a glass mug and put some peppermint extract on the cotton ball. Placed one mug in the passenger compartment and one in the trunk of both cars. I renewed the peppermint extract after a month or so. So far no mice in either car but I have found a couple dead ones in the garage from the d-con I put out. This is the time of year I seem to have the most trouble with the mice. The cars smell a lot better than when I tried moth balls, which didn't work too well on the one car. I have found over the years if I use car covers in the winter it is like putting up a vacancy sign on the car. In no time the mice move right in. I think they like the darkness and isolation they create. Think I'll set up a bucket trap in the garage too.
The buckets work great, I use a dried plum or fig as bait and either antifreeze or used oil in the bottom. No dead critter smell. I also use several 'Tin Cat' gizmos with the same bait, but the bucket is easier to empty and refresh. The bucket also takes care of big mice and small rats that don't fit through the trap door. .
If you're too cheap for D-Con, then go put a bag of white rice out for the fuckers...and I use anti-freeze in my bucket traps as well, I drain old anti-freeze out of my cars at the end of the year and put new in, then use the old stuff on the mice...I'm trying dryer sheets for the first time this year, so we'll see how that goes...
ive used dryer sheets before [worked ok]------now im in the country and i think the mice are more hearty---------im going to try the bucket route-----and already have 5-6 bins of decon gone------
Getting mothball smell out of a car is next-to-freaking-impossible. If you are sensitive to smells try to avoid it. Gets into tar underlayments and just really is pervasive. Male cats, even neutured ones, may decide to pee in your cars to mark territory if you have a few cats, then you have a huge problem. We had one here get into a 944 and completely destroy the front carpet and door panels and that cost me a lot of money. Peed in the Suburban, too. They had egress, they just decided to mark territory. We let the female cats roam around the basement where the cars are and keep the door and windows of the cars shut if possible, well, when there are doors and windows.
I find critters dead around the yard, never leaves anything on the doorstep..Doesn't like to share I guess? Vet says he is eating the critters too but can't prove that by the amount of dry cat food [or the dog's dry food] he devours..Not a lap cat, never goes on the furnature and if you pet him too long [Ah, three pets, max] odds are he will bite..Never breaks the skin, he's just toying..The dog gets a mouse once in a while but he gets frustrated cause when he puts his paw on the mouse there isn't much sticking out to get his teeth in to..
Sorry for your loss, been there many times and it doesn't get easier..When you feel comfortable get another cat..
lots of cat people on here, i'm a dog person, back when i was married i had a Jack russel, lived on 5 acres, that dog eat every little critter it could hunt down, mice, rats, rabbits, the ex left with the dog, i miss that dog.
I'm trying peppermint oil too, but I read that the mice will eventually use the cotton for nesting if the oil dries out. I put the cotton balls in baby food jars with holes punched in the lid so they can't get to the cotton, in case I don't add more oil soon enough.......
IRISH SPRING SOAP---fresh bar every fall. Don't leave any paper, etc. in the car. This soap even keeps the mice out of the cab of my grain combine over winter storage. that "fresh cab rodent deterent" didn't work for us & it smells almost as bad as the mice. I don't know what's worse for lingering smell in your car- laundry sheets (in time your car will smell like an old laundromat), those fresh cab things or mouse pee...all bad. Try the soap and set up a trapline in your shop and check them. use several cheap spring traps, you don't even need bait, just set them right against the wall cause that's where they run. If you need to bait, skip the cheese and peanut butter, use a ju-jube-they go nuts for those and if you wedge it onto the trap they have to pull on it to get it...they can lick peanut butter off of the trap w/o tripping it.
I have just had a cat move in. Its pure white except for what looks like an oil smudge on its head. Don't know where it came from.
Laffy Taffy works the best. They must love the smell, sometimes they hit the trap a few minutes after its set. If you heat it up a bit and force it into the trigger it hardens up like a rock and wont come off.
It was like a message from above for me. Someone threw a cat out of a moving car in front of our house, cleaned the little guy up, fed him and let him in the garage door. The next morning, he brought me a pile of three dead mice. Guess he was saying thank you....
Thanks for that, I just ordered some of these. I'm going to put one on an extension cord underneath the car and hope it solves the problem.
mice hate aluminum. I put that in the ends of the tailpipes of my dads motorcycle because the mice were trying to make it into a motel. I've also herd that steel wool is a deterent for rodents. (they can chew threw metal)
I've got one of them wall socket things, haven't seen any critters in the kitchen, so I guess they work.
Small rodents hate these scrubbie pads that are like thick steel wool.Find the mice holes and stuff in those pads. We have two cats that spend most of their time ouside.My wife grows catnip for them.....The cats roll around and eat fresh catnip right off the bush,get all jacked up like Meth freaks.Then go out on a rodent killing spree.Body parts everywhere,a red squirrel head ,a chipmonk half body ,mouse guts,natural born killers them cats are.
That's what cats do... seeking your approval. My mom had a cat that brought in a live bird once in a while. Mom was not in approval! If cats have kittens in the house, they'll bring in live critters to show the little ones what to do with them. Bob
I've used steel wool when I lived in less than desirable abodes. Stuffed it in where heating pipes came up through the floor, etc, worked ok I guess. Bob
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