Those who know me know I hate varmints and vermin with a passion. We had a small problem last year but we quickly got it taken care of and didn’t have any further issues. Well this year they have returned, with a vengeance.
Our cats clued us in to their return as they started staring at the access panel to the Jacuzzi tub again. We opened it up and there was evidence galore they had recently come back. Down went the kill traps and the wait began.
Yesterday morning I woke up to this:
The other trap had been set off but evidently they got lucky and didn’t take a metal bar to the face. I reset the traps and away we went. The wife got home and informed me of the following:
That’s right, two more of the little buggers took metal bars to their necks. I reset the traps and not even 3 hours later I’m informed by the wife, they’re full again.
Now I’m saying, holy !@#$ Huston we have a problem. I clean it all up. Reset the traps and add in two more. I wake up this morning to find the sneakiest bastard of the bunch:
The little bastard tripped three out of the 4 traps and some how didn’t get snapped… Well the 4th trap broke his neck and ripped open his nose.
Earlier in August the wife and I signed up for pest control which thus far had worked well. Took out a couple of larger wasp nests that were forming in areas that were difficult for me to get to. We’ve seen fewer creepy crawlies overall. At that point we hadn’t seen much in the way of mice signs so they didn’t do much at that time.
Well now that harvest is in full swing, and I’ve killed 6 in 24 hours, they’ll be back out on Thursday. TMW is less that thrilled right now though because I’m leaving with Joe tonight for Mecca and then we’re headed to Reno for GBR tomorrow morning. So that means if there are any more of the little buggers she gets to clean them up and reset the traps.
As an FYI, just about everyone has mice problems this time of year in the area, even brand new construction. It’s the down side of basically living surrounded by wheat fields. I would poison them, but the last thing I want is for them to die in the crawlspace. The house would stink to high heaven and then finding the little buggers would be an interesting venture all of it’s own.
TMM is the owner, editor, and principal author at The Minuteman, a competitive shooter, and staff member for Boomershoot. Even in his free time he’s merging his love and knowledge of computers and technology with his love of firearms.
Many know his private name and information however due to the current political climate, many are distancing themselves due to the abandonment of Due Process.
I’m going to have to set down a trap to get the one in the kitchen as the cats have yet to get the little bugger. The mice generally don’t come in on their own, my idiot fur children like to bring their toys/breakfast/midnight snacks into the house to play with. They don’t always finish them or even kill them. So we have at least one on the loose and I did finally find the one someone had stashed behind the door in the bedroom under some stuff 😛
At least is wasn’t as bad as the one I found in the linen closet (thought it was a dust bunny). Poor hubby couldn’t interpret my screams or ICK! dance. Then there was the one some one either chased into the lining of my bag or hid it there.
Just gotta love living surrounded by wheat fields 😀
Wow I hope that’s all of them, I hate those buggers.
Best solution for mice, rats & other critters:
1 part sugar
1 part flour
2 parts Portland cement (not concrete, just the cement)
Optional – spray lightly with something yummy smelling, such as Pam. I haven’t found this necessary, however.
Mix up and place in a shallow pie tin. Put the tin on the floor in a shed away from the house, or even under a cardboard box out in the yard.
Causes fatal constipation, generally well away from the house, shed, or other human areas. No blood, no mess, very few carcasses. Generally the ‘coon and neighbor cats will dispose of the leftovers.
Bonus – any pets or other scavengers won’t be eating poisoned mouse McNuggets.
Bonus 2 – Check for flour tracks every couple of days. You’ve bagged them all when no tracks for a week or two.
Bonus 3 – if you keep the amount down to a pint or so in the pan, monumentally stupid dogs shouldn’t be able to seriously hurt themselves if they decide to chow down. Don’t ask me about this one.
This method was used to eliminate all rodent activity after the bastards chewed through the wiring on my motorcycle one winter.
-R
I’ve had good results w/putting moth balls in the concealed spaces. Seems to keep the buggars away.