Mice repellent

[2nevets]

any ideas as to what actually works? I have used dryer sheets in the past and they actually chewed them- has anyone used those ultrasonic devices?
thanks in advance
Steve

[wmsue]

I've tried dryer sheets, Irish Spring soap, moth balls, ultra sonic plug in's and so far I like mouse traps with peanut butter.

I place the traps in the car and in the corners of my shop behind the floor jack.....etc.

I bought new plastic traps this year that have a small removable reservoir for the peanut butter. It installs from the bottom and is easy to load and reset. No touching the carcass to discard.

I also have a roller setup that is suspended over a 5 gallon bucket. I bait that with peanut butter and give the little critters an easy pathway to get access to the roller. The roller is setup in my potting shed that has a sliding door and it doesn't seal perfectly. It has caught 9 mice so far. Almost forgot to say, you have to put a few inches of water in the bucket. Otherwise they can jump out.

 

Mouse traps have caught 3.

 

So far none in the traps that are in the cars.

 

Good Luck

 

Bill

[TerryB]

Shotgun!

[keiser31]

This....

[HarryLime]

The world is still looking for the better answer. There have to be thousands of solutions tried. I have tried so many ways, even resorting to begging and pleading. i believe the answer is don't have a garage and take the bus. Do well and keep in touch.

[TerryB]

Everything you wanted to know.. company is in my hometown 

https://www.woodstream.com/media/wysiwyg/corporate-site/media/catalogs/Victor_Catalog_2018.pdf

[Ronnie]

Mice repellent

 

 

 

[John_Mereness]

2 hours ago, keiser31 said:

This....

Yes, that this works fine !

[John_Mereness]

Also, helps to have all the holes in a bottom of a car plugged up so they cannot find their way in - hard to do though without putting a car on a lift - 30's and earlier cars have lots of gaps and ....

[trini]

It all depends on where you live, the critters will be more or less numerous. If there is field mice they will come in when the temperature drops. Small rodents have a penchant for peanut butter . They can smell it from afar. You have to keep watching or listening for the trap to click. Dedicate some time to the cause until they come no more. I removed about 80 squirrels from my neighbourhood using peanut butter and a cage. The exhaust manifold of my 28 DB was full of oak seeds. Behind the back seats and everywhere else. It was sitting in a barn. I would suggest  constant vigilance using every method available including the pet cat.

[keiser31]

I nailed my rat trap to a board and the big varmint got away anyway.

[Curti]

Victor mouse traps with the yellow plastic bait platform. I use a sanding wheel to polish the the side of of the wire that contacts the bait platform.  Push the peanut butter into the holes  of  bait platform.

If you sand/polish the rod too much, you won't be able to set the trap . This is a HAIR trigger. There will be no stolen bait.   I put the traps outside around the buildings when the weather is mild. Occasionally I would loose a trap, due to larger critters stealing the baited trap.  This is rectified with a small chain and weight  connected to the trap. I get hundreds a year.  I do live in the country. ALWAYS place the traps close to the outside walls . 

[PFitz]

I have had house cats and since they are already fed they mostly just play with the mouse and it often gets away to hide. 

 

I use the same Victor yellow paddle traps as Curti, with peanut butter pressed into the holes in the paddle. Much better at being set off by a small mouse. But I don't do anything to the wire. I find they are already sensitive enough to be easily triggered.   Sometimes, if your not gentle enough, just placing them down can set them off.  I've had the swollen finger tips that proved it !

 

Paul  

[19tom40]

Peanut butter and poisons seem to attract the critters. When I used baited traps and poisons, I would catch a few every fall and spring.

 

Now I buy a few small bottles of ammonia and insert a piece of cotton rope in each of them to act as a wick. I place them strategically around the garage, near the doors and where the electric and gas enter.  The critters do not like the smell of ammonia and they stay away. It even keeps the raccoons from tearing at my roof vents when they are looking for a warm space to hibernate. They can smell the stuff even when it isonly on the floor. The dog doesn't go near the garage either. I also tape plastic over my garage windows. I use unbaited traps and have not caught a critter in the past 10 years. Also I do not see any droppings in my garage anymore.

[John_Mereness]

Buddy here too would not let one in the garage 

[Jim Bollman]

I have had good luck with dryer sheets but I guess some mice like them. I spread sticky traps around the shop in corners and a few spots where a mouse may run or squeeze in, they catch a fair number every year. I gave up on cats years ago, my FarmOroad (see Avatar) seat was the favorite spot for the shop cat to sleep, I found a mouse nest under the seat where he slept every night.

 

I have some old 4 sided (4 traps in one) plastic traps that pull up a wire to strangle the mice when they stick their head in, that I may get out again. One was my grandmothers and she use to pay me 5 cents for every mouse I removed from the trap and re-bated with cheese when I was about 8 years old ( a long time ago). I used hers for a long time in the shop with success and then found a second one at a flea market. Not sure why I switched to sticky traps but they are less mess to dispose of the mice, just foldover and drop into the trash.

[lump]

I have had great luck with those green wax-block mouse baits...Tom Cat is one brand. Once I put them in a shop that seemed to have lots of mice in it. The next day I went back to see if any of the wax blocks had been chewed on. They were all MISSING. Even the ones I had tucked into tiny cracks and spaces. But then a couple days later the whole shop stunk to high heaven, from hundreds of dead carcasses. A week later the smell was gone, and I put out more wax blocks. Nothing bothered them, and I never saw evidence of mice again. Moved away a year later, without ever having seen another mouse or droppings, etc. I use these Tom Cat blocks now at home, work, and in my hunting cabins. Works great. 

[wmsue]

Just  make sure you or your neighbor's cat or dog don't eat the dead mice or the bait. 

They'll be joining the mice in the cemetery.

 

 

 

Bill

[avgwarhawk]

Do your best to block holes the mice can use to access the garage.  Sticky paper traps work.  Placed in the corners or along walls where they run.  Heck place them around each tire were they might climb to get into the engine bay or interior. 

[5219]

I never liked the idea of poison because I don't want them going into the car to die. Nothing works like a wooden snap trap. The more the better. I have twelve of them in a 10X20 garage. I put them along the walls and bait them with peanut butter.

[Mikefit]

Put a little butter on the catch wire to lubricate it and now you have a hair trigger.  

[lump]

On 11/19/2019 at 12:11 AM, 5219 said:

I never liked the idea of poison because I don't want them going into the car to die. Nothing works like a wooden snap trap. The more the better. I have twelve of them in a 10X20 garage. I put them along the walls and bait them with peanut butter.

Understood. At the same time, I will point out that a trap can only kill a mouse when it enters your trap zone. You can catch dozens of mice in a season, and still have a sizeable population remaining. But in my experience, mice will drag that poison bait back down into burrows, and their entire clan will feed upon it. You do have to be careful with pets, etc, when first deployed, but again, most of the blocks I deploy soon disappear, never to be seen again. And I have yet to find a dead mouse in one of my cars. 

[CarNucopia]

This thread popped into my head shortly after I opened the trunk of one of my cars and saw a mouse run away.

 

From what I've read, mice hate the smell of peppermint. That's what I'm using right now, along with a variety of traps.

[Dave39MD]

If you can get use to seeing barn snakes they seem more motivated than my cats. The King snake is preferred to all others.

 

Dave

 

 

[Graham Man]

King snakes are great!  hard to keep them interested once they eat all the mice, they move on.

 

2X "I have had great luck with those green wax-block mouse baits...Tom Cat is one brand"   I hate the poison but it is the only thing that works.  I hide the blocks out of the way of most critters, mice can climb anything, I hide them in the walls of my shed.  The poison make them thirsty so they head out side to die.  Also from my experience, keeping the ground around my garage/shed clear of stuff and the grass kept short, mice don't like crossing an open areas, I go out about 30 ft.

 

Good luck, keeping them gone is easier then getting rid of them.

[wmsue]

Peanut butter and traps or the roller has been working strong all winter for me.

I have 3 dogs and they each love to root out mice and moles in the yard and eat them. They will hear the moles under the snow and dig till they find them.

I won’t use poison cubes or d-con on my property because the dogs would eat the mice or moles and then they would die.

Heck, 2 days ago they attacked an oppossum and left it by the back steps to die.

 Not worth the risk to me.

 

Bill

[Akstraw]

I have been using a product called Fresh Cab in all of my cars.  Hard to say whether it is effective.  I don't have any rodent problems, but can't say whether I would have otherwise.  

 

[ted sweet]

tried freah cab with poor results

[Tom Boehm]

I used to have a big black snake in my barn/workshop before I enclosed it for HVAC. It ate the mice for sure but then "redeposited"  them on my tools. It also left skins behind. That's how I know it was at least 5 feet long. I put traps out about once a year now. 

 

[huptoy]

My brother lives in Iowa with corn fields on 3 sides of him.  He says to feed your mice outside the garage, not inside.  He sets snap traps & peanut butter under 8” to 10” clay pots. He also puts the Tom cat green mouse cubes under the pot.  He sets them over small stones with a heavy rock on top.  Keeps the cats away from the snap trap.  It seems to work for him.