The Mouse Thread

[Peter Minde]

For all of you in the UpState: I'm using peanut butter for bait. How often should I refresh it?

 

[Campgottagopee]

I refresh mine at the beginning of each trapping season. I'd say you'd want t have fresh peanut butter in place by 10/1.

 

[Harvey]

I'm going with the bait stations outside the house. It's much better system.

Unfortunately if you want to use the best stuff, you have to pay a pro. It's a system designed to keep the "exterminators" in business. I went with the pro after I paid a bunch to replace all the wires in my HVAC that were chewed.

Not cheap, but I haven't seen a mouse since about 2 weeks after I started.

 

[Campgottagopee]

I'm going with the bait stations outside the house. It's much better system.

I've never heard of these? Interesting.

I sprinkle a poison around the base of my house to kill moles, chipmunks, and mice/rats. I started that 2 years ago and I've noticed a big drop in my inside trapping count. 2 winters ago I had a critter living in one of my basement walls, it drove me crazy. That's why I started the poison stuff. I believe it has worked for the good.

 

[Harvey]

I've never heard of these? Interesting.

I sprinkle a poison around the base of my house to kill moles, chipmunks, and mice/rats. I started that 2 years ago and I've noticed a big drop in my inside trapping count. 2 winters ago I had a critter living in one of my basement walls, it drove me crazy. That's why I started the poison stuff. I believe it has worked for the good.

I had this really cool pest control, kid. He was maybe 24 years old, but he explained the whole strategy behind it, and I wasn't sure if he was b*********** me, but 2 months later, it's clear he knows exactly what he's talking about. I'll explain it when I get to my keyboard.

 

[Harvey]

I'll explain it when I get to my keyboard.

So mice are primarily attracted to other mice, or more accurately the scent of other mice. The kid calls it "pheromones" but as far as I can tell it's the smell of the mouse poop and pee.

He told me that my peanut butter traps inside were messing with the strategy, and asked me to remove them. The peanut butter draws them away from the bait stations.

He said the ultimate goal is to do it all outside the house. You don't want the pheromones inside the house attracting more mice.

He has this bait called Blox. This is it:

Contrac Blox

Contrac Blox with bromadiolone is a single-feed rodent bait block with high palatability and weather resistance. Effective indoors and outdoors, it provides reliable control of rats and mice, including warfarin-resistant strains.

diypestcontrol.com

He put 4 stations around the house one at each corner. Mice (and I think rats) can get in but cats and dogs are too big. The first visit he also put a few ministations in the house, in the basement where the wires were chewed. FWIW we were seeing mice in the house before he came.

The second visit he showed me the results. All the exterior stations had chewing, and the minis inside had some chewing too. The stations are built so there is no way for the mouse to remove the bait. The only way to interact with the bait is to eat it.

The mice go into the station and chew (and pee and poop). It becomes MORE attractive to them than the house.

The third visit, a month later, the outdoor stations were again chewed, but the inside stations had no chew. The poison makes the mice thirsty, and they seek out water. Ideally you have no water inside your house. Once they drink the water it activates the poison and they croak pretty quickly.

My house has the advantage of being new construction so it doesn't smell much like mouse. We added one station for the garage and one for the cabin. The garage is new too, but the cabin has had mice for 20 years so could be more challenging. Both garage and cabin stations have been 100% empty each time he checked them.

We are in the woods and the supply of mice is probably infinite. Still the results have been dramatic. Even with one door to the house being plywood (temporary) during construction — with a gap at the floor a mouse could get through — we have had no chewing on the inside stations. (As of two days ago we now have all doors legit.)

The kid told me they no longer use the term extermination because it's impossible to get rid of all mice. It's called "pest control."

It's $70 a month which is a lot. I wanted to "DIY" it, but apparently to use the blox you need a license. He told me you can buy stations to use yourself, when I did they came with some other kind of poison. Not sure how that works as you can buy the blox on amazon. If you do DIY it, the kid never touches the blox, always uses rubber gloves.

One other important thing. With blox there is no secondary poisoning. If your cat eats a mouse that ate blox they are not harmed.

 

[Campgottagopee]

Great info. Thanks, Harv!

I'll be looking into this. Again, the poison I've been spreading around my house has definitely made a difference. It costs me aprox $100 so not too bad. I do it once a year in the fall. Like now. I better get over to the farm store --- lol

 

[tirolski]

One important point, with blox there is no secondary poisoning. If your cat eats a mouse that ate blox, there is no harm to the cat.

You sure about that?

Rodenticide use to be restricted under new statewide regulations

CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson University regulators are imposing a statewide, one-year restriction on the use of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides,

news.clemson.edu

Cuse did beat the catshit outta the Clemson Tigers last Saturday in Death Valley however.
We lost QB1, Steve Peanutbutter Angeli, for the season though.

 

[DomB]

So mice are primarily attracted to other mice, or more accurately the scent of other mice. The kid calls it "pheromones" but as far as I can tell it's the smell of the poop and pee.

He told me that my peanut butter traps inside were messing with the strategy, and asked me to remove him. The peanut butter draws them away from the bait stations.

He said the ultimate goal is to do it all outside the house. You don't want the pheromones inside the house attracting more mice.

He has this bait called Blox. This is it:

Contrac Blox

Contrac Blox with bromadiolone is a single-feed rodent bait block with high palatability and weather resistance. Effective indoors and outdoors, it provides reliable control of rats and mice, including warfarin-resistant strains.

diypestcontrol.com

He put 4 stations around the house one at each corner. Mice (and I think rats) can get in but cats and dogs are too big. The first visit he also put a few ministations in the house, in the basement where the wires were chewed. FWIW we were seeing mice in the house before he came.

The second visit he showed me the results. All the exterior stations had chewing, and the minis inside had some chewing too. The stations are built so there is no way for the mouse to remove the bait. The only way to interact with the bait is to eat it.

One other important thing. With blox there is no secondary poisoning. If you cat eats a mouse that ate blox they are not harmed.

The mice go into the station and chew (and pee and poop). It becomes MORE attractive to them than the house.

The third visit, a month later, the outdoor stations were again chewed, but the inside stations had no chew. The poison makes the mice thirsty, and they seek out water. Ideally you have no water inside your house. Once they drink the water it activates the poison and they croak pretty quickly.

My house has the advantage of being new construction so it doesn't smell much like mouse. We added one station for the garage and one for the cabin. The garage is new too, but the cabin has had mice for 20 years so could be more challenging. Both garage and cabin stations has been 100% empty each time he checked them.

We are in the woods and the supply of mice is probably infinite. Still the results have been dramatic. Even with one door to those being plywood (temporary) during construction — with a gap at the floor a mouse could get through we have had no chewing on the inside stations. (As of two days ago we now have all doors legit.)

The kid told me they no longer use the term extermination because it's impossible to get rid or all mice. It's called "pest control."

It's $70 a month which is a lot. I wanted to "DIY" it, but apparently to use the blox you need a license. He told me you can buy stations to use yourself, when I did they came with some other kind of poison. Not sure how that works as you can buy the blox on amazon. If you do DIY it, the kid never touches the blox, always uses rubber gloves.

One important point, with blox there is no secondary poisoning. If your cat eats a mouse that ate blox, there is no harm to the cat.

Have had mice in the past. The best way to get rid of them is to seal all entrances to your home bigger than a dime. With Steel wool and compuound or something like this. A practical fix when you live in an apartment. Less so on a home. If there are cats around, mice will usually stay away.

 

[Harvey]

We got a cat. She's oldish, but she can be feisty, and is ocassionally seen galloping.