Infestation

[CaptSquid]

I have been plagued recently with a serious infestation of Mus mus. In our neck of the plains, these critters can carry the dreaded hanta virus. I've set out bait blocks, but these wee beasties are ignoring them. I'm going to set out traps. My brother recommended setting out blocks of Irish Spring, claiming that they don't like the smell. We'll see.

Any other recommendations, besides finding a cat?

 

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

Oh captain my captain?
What in the **** is MUS. MUS?

 

[CaptSquid]

A Mus mus is the scientific name of a small rodent, a pest, what the Romans called "Little thief", aka, MOUSE!

 

[Tango-SKO]

I'd vote for the cat cure.

 

[Johnny Mullet]

Try the Irish Spring and let us know if it works!

 

[o1marc]

Well what a coinkydink. As I was reading this thread I got an email from Pinterest. Logged on and one of the top pins was a story on the Irish Spring trick.

Enjoy:
Two Men and a Little Farm: IRISH SPRING SOAP FOR MICE

 

[bus-bro]

Traps with peanut butter is what I use. I now have baited traps in the bus at all times. They crawled up through the brake and accelerator pedals and nested in the Hurri-Hot heater.

I call it mouse pressure, they're always around trying to get in. I also keep a rat trap set too, but I trapped out the ones here, and haven't had a problem since my neighbor stopped raising ducks.

I heard that if you get the hanta virus before puberty all you get is a funky cold/flu thing, then you're immune to it. I sure hope so. Living in the country I have had to deal with many pounds of piss soaked mouse poop and stuff.

 

[milkmania]

Buddy takes care of our mouse our mouse problem... and glue traps in places he can’t hunt.

 

[o1marc]

Traps with peanut butter is what I use. I now have baited traps in the bus at all times. They crawled up through the brake and accelerator pedals and nested in the Hurri-Hot heater.

I call it mouse pressure, they're always around trying to get in. I also keep a rat trap set too, but I trapped out the ones here, and haven't had a problem since my neighbor stopped raising ducks.

I heard that if you get the hanta virus before puberty all you get is a funky cold/flu thing, then you're immune to it. I sure hope so. Living in the country I have had to deal with many pounds of piss soaked mouse poop and stuff.

In that link I thought putting traps with peanut butter kind of defeats the purpose of the Irish Spring. The mice will overcome whatever negative it has to get to the peanut butter every time.
I had a mouse problem here at the house one year. My cat would sit and watch them run across the room, not interested at all. Since then she's had 2 litters and I brought another kitten home from Fla. a year ago. I have 5 now and haven't seen a mouse on the property since. Have seen a pile of entrails on the kitchen floor every now and then.

 

[bus-bro]

When the bait is fresh it might draw them in, but after a while not so much. In the winter here the mice will eat almost anything, probably even Irish Spring, because they are starving.

The trapping has worked well, and I'm not wanting to deal with a herd of cats.

 

[84chevyguyid]

I tried the irish spring bars in my 69 AMX over the winter and they ate half of them. Sticky traps with one piece of dog food sitting in the middle of it has worked good for me.

 

[brokedown-SKO]

I mean, you needed a cat anyway, right?

Our new cat will eat anything. He regularly eats dragonflies, butterflies, crickets, and frogs. You'd think we didn't feed him but he just loves fresh meat or whatever is inside bugs.

 

[magnakansas]

mouse

The house mouse (Mus musculus) is a small mammal of the order Rodentia, characteristically having a pointed snout, small rounded ears, and a long naked

 

[Tango-SKO]

The house mouse (Mus musculus) is a small mammal of the order Rodentia, characteristically having a pointed snout, small rounded ears, and a long naked

...tail. Their primary diet consists of electrical insulation.




Just thought I'd complete that post.

 

[Dagnythedoodle]

As some people have pointed out, sticky traps are really successful. The one downside is you usually find the mouse alive on them still =/.

If you want to go cheaper (and deadlier) -- you can always go old school snap-traps. They come in packs for super cheap. I would put food in them and NOT SET THEM for like a full day or so (or enough to see that they know where to get the food from consistently-- refill traps as needed). Then set all of them with food at the same time.

I'd recommend Nutella, Peanutbutter, Smushed jellybeans, pieces of snickers bars. I've had the best luck with these things over the years =].

Also- prevention after you destroy all of your invaders, spray peppermint essential oil around, Irish spring soap, and rodent specific potpourri pouches.

 

[Ronnie-SKO]

...tail. Their primary diet consists of electrical insulation.




Just thought I'd complete that post.

Oh yes electrical insulation, have a bunch of rewiring to one of our railroad cars because of that.

 

[o1marc]

Squirrels basically totaled my brothers Ferrari when they got in and annihilated the wiring harness.

 

[Tango-SKO]

When I picked up my '46, there was a mama and nine baby field mice (Disney Cute!) in residence. Chased them out then went ahead with moving it from Utah to Texas.

 

[2kool4skool]

Glue a few MJ seeds on the trigger. Works well and reusable.

 

[CaptSquid]

UPDATE Two of those pesky meese have succumbed to the bait blocks - that, and a liberal dosing of being smacked with a Thermos bottle.