French beans under attack

[Jimmy]

Sowed some dwarf french beans Stanley in a length of old gutter.
Placed gutter on the greenhouse floor for them to germinate.
Yesterday I had a suspicion some had been dug up !
Who could be the culprit ?
Fished my trusty old nipper out of the back of the shed.
Primed it with a nice piece of Red Leicester and left it over night.

POW, this morning little nipper had done it's job.
Must dig a hole and dispose of the culprit.
Then reset old nipper just in case.

Jimmy

[no_akira]

When you sow beans as the seed germinates it bloats to about double its size and gives off a strong smell of young growth.

Mr M.Mouse loves this smell... oh and his indoors, protected from nightime prowler Mr Owl. Happy days !

Maybe the soil level in the gutter is too shallow...

Cornflakes sprinkled over trap lever, works everytime.

[Jimmy]

No more takers last night so maybe a lone raider.
I had three pots of courgette seeds, I think it snaffled those as well.
Do mice like courgette seeds ?
Jimmy

[Bren In Pots]

I think mice will eat anything.

[Jimmy]

Of the three courgettes I noticed today that one had appeared , so will monitor if others appear.
Jimmy

[Jay-ell]

Mice will check anything to see if it's edible- seeds, plants, soap, electrical wiring. They're omnivorous preferring fruits, grains and seeds but will vary their diets to include other available food.

They are social animals living in groups. They usually keep close to their nest and don't move more than 30-40 feet away from it.

Mice will often nibble on alot of things then forget about them - rats will take a small nibble and see if they feel ill, if not then they go back for more.

[Finley]

Peppermint oil on cotton wool pads seems to have cleared them out of my shed! Lost a lot of beans before I figured out what was happening...

[Jay-ell]

If I remember correctly on one of the River Cottage programs Hugh used sage to get rid of mice - although I also think it involved chanting and possible the mother goddess.

Pretty sure it wasn't a football chant.

[ecudc]

If I remember correctly on one of the River Cottage programs Hugh used sage to get rid of mice - although I also think it involved chanting and possible the mother goddess.

Pretty sure it wasn't a football chant.

Mice probably moved out because of HUgh. I'd definitely move out if my neighbor put sage in my letter box and danced around the garden chanting :

[Jimmy]

No more takers.
Another courgette has appeared, as per Meat Loaf "2 out of 3 ain't bad".
Only one bean out of a whole pack has appeared. I have another pack so will resow the lot.
Gardening is fun !
Jimmy

[Jimmy]

Hmm
As I mentioned I bought 3 new little nipper clones.
I caught a couple of mice with them.
I reset them.

Of late there has been no takers, so suspected a problem.
Touched trap with a cane but it didn't fire, reason ... dumb old Jimmy.
The cheese goes on a little plastic table, this table is hinged on a small bar.
There is a different trigger bar that holds back the trap, this goes under the edge of the table. Once the table moves the bar is removed and the trap fires.

However you can put the trigger bar under the bar that hinges the table.
If you do the trap will never fire !

Difficult to describe but hope you get the picture.

Reset them all properly now so may be in with a chance.

Jimmy

[Jimmy]

Trigger bar should go under yellow bit here as shown.
Jimmy