Mice

[Two_Sheds]

enviromental health chap ...said that bird food really attracts rats and mice and advised me not to feed the birds in the summer

Can I add my twopennorth? Please DO feed the birds all year round, but don't put the food on the ground (rat shelf!); hang it up in feeders.

[Protea]

Can I add my twopennorth? Please DO feed the birds all year round, but don't put the food on the ground (rat shelf!); hang it up in feeders.

I'm still not convinced i've solved my rat/mouse problem in the garden but want to put my birdfeeders back up - i always use feeders on a pole but the birds always drop some seeds on the floor, and this is what the rodents were eating - is there any way to solve this?

[anney]

Re what to put in mouse traps.

We had great success bating the mousrtraps with dried pasta! We decided to try it aftwr noticing that The bags of pasta in the larder had been voraciously munched at. It did the job when chocolate failed. They say also, to put on latex (or some such) gloves when bating the traps as the cute little devils can be put off going near by the human smell. Dont know how true that is though as obviously the pasta bags must have had some human smell on them.
Anney

[Madasafish]

Wel I caught one mouse (white bread and trap) in our greenhouse over the weekend... nothing there yet to eat foodwise so it chewed two marigolds:-(

We put bird food down for all our bireds and can watch a field mouse hiding around the bird waterer which is a very large ceramic pot base and mounted on the patio cobbles - so an ideal hiding place. (I prefer to watch the pheasant feeding :-)

[TonyF]

Sam the Cat lives here now and three morning from four this week I've had little mousy gifts outside the front door.

The mouses were warned ....................

[derwentmole]

Hi, definately put any food/seed in a sealed METAL tin/tub. Plastic has a good chance of being chewed through. Proofing against mice is a fairly simple procedure of looking for access holes(and remember mice can climb very well incase there are any climbing plants or cables around the shed leading to ground level) and sealing them. People often overlook the really small holes suspecting mice will never fit through them so really go to town and search thoroughly. A small mouse can pass through 10mm wire mesh so any gap from about 6mm and above should be looked for and sealed to be on the safe side. Proofing should always be the first step and if that fails, trapping next with a good mouse trap(set perpendicular to a wall with a good bait such as mars bar or milky way[good self setting plastic ones are best]), with a finger nail size piece of bait well moulded onto the treddle or into the bait holder(so they cant just lift it off/out), making sure there is no other food about for them to eat. Failing that, and as a last resort, poison is available and if you do use it for the control of mice make sure it is a poison recommended for the control of MICE, not MICE AND RATS as this seems to be less effective. If the bait dissappears, replenish it and keep replenishing it until it isnt being touched anymore. Some people just put a small amount down and when it goes they think thats it, only to find in most cases it causes more problems. I would always go for the traps on finding mice. A quick, humane kill and you cant go wrong. Also bear in mind that even though we are just talking mouse traps, setting these traps outside is generally considered bad practice, I see too many birds being caught and traps disappearing too often(its surprising what some people will do with a complete lack of common sense just to try to get rid of mice and other pests).

[dexterdoglancashire]

Mices update

Guess what I found in my storage container again last week? Well, I could smell them, rather than see them. OH put down a couple of humane traps - checked the following day, to find they had eaten the cheese and cleared off!
On OHs day off, he rang me to tell me he had caught them, and did I want them BBQd? (We were having a BBQ for tea) How awful! I said kebab style! Only JOKING!
When I came home, the metal bin I keep my bird food in was by the gate and there was a scrabbling noise - I lifted the lid - the OH had caught the mice (two of them) and put them in there.
We then put them in containers (could only catch one at once!) and walked a short distance to the local park where we let them loose. (Away from anyone else's homes of course).
Hopefully they'll live happily ever after!
Bernie aka DDL

[Madasafish]

So far this year our mouse traps have caught 16 mice. Time soon to put them into the strawberry bed as we are pestered there. They pick and pile up unripe strawberries.

As we have fields beside us, catching mice is never ending.... I leave the carcases in the field for the foxes.