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Protection your house and privisions from rats/mice

3K views 15 replies 12 participants last post by  OrneryOldBat 
#1 ·
So, the other day it was posted in the forum that Los Angeles had a bad problem with rats, then I saw some reports on New York having problems too. Today I saw this https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/93539...gham-palace-rats-as-court-calls-pest-control/
It looks like not even the Queen is safe from pests.
So my question is, what do you do to keep pests away (more specifically rodents) from your house and your provisions? Do you stock on rat poison? Use traps? How bad is it the mice problem in your area?
My city has pest control, they regularly spray poison for rats and cockroaches in the whole culvert system. I have a cat and she sometimes catches a small rat, mostly in the garden. We do not have many issues with rats, but if the city stopped with the poison, I am pretty sure rats would spread real quick here too.
 
#2 ·
Hey. Great topic. We used to live on the Coast at Corpus Christi and there are more rats than people..guess because of all the ships. Anyway we live up in N.Texas now and we do have some but not as many. We take a varied apporach to keep em under control. Poison..shooting them with my adult pellet gun...and have three cats which can catch one sometimes. All kinds of cool home made rat traps on Alfgores internet. Usually involving something to dunk them in a bucket of water. My grandpa made one back when I was a kid with a trap door lid. worked well.
https://stoppestinfo.com/50-homemade-rat-trap.html
 
#3 · (Edited)
Spinning bottle , into 5-gal bucket mouse/rat trap. Bait w/peanut butter a ramp so they can get to bait.

Put one upstairs and basement of house. all out buildings. Check them fermented vermin stink.

I take 40-70 from my barns each fall. 1-4 in my basement. Keep them 24/7.

Mice/Rats carry fleas/plauge
 

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#4 ·
We have a couple of Rodent Poison Bait Traps under the front and rear porches and they work pretty well. Usually in the winter I'll put a couple of Sticky Traps in the basement as well as the 5 gallon bucket trick with a spinning bottle and I'll catch a couple. We also have a Yorkshire Terrier that catches a few mice every year.

2 Redtail Hawks and at least 1 Owl live nearby and I suspect they do a pretty good job of mice control.

Been wanting a couple of barn cats to assist, maybe this fall.
 
#5 ·
I used one of these Bucket and peanut butter things. Nothing was caught. But, It was to prove a point to the family they were no hearing rats/mice in attic. It was squirrels on roof. They do work, really do.
This does work , having 4 cats inside and one outside, I have not had one rat in our yard or in the house in 8 years.
There were rats in attic when I bought it.. Cleared them, and cut trees away from house and cats..
Also, weird one, but if you dont want cats, invite Opossums into your area. They love bones, chicken type, cat food etc.. They kill snakes, rodents, moles and grubs too.
 
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#6 ·
Living back in the woods it's a constant battle. Don't think for a minute that you've got them all and stop trapping/killing the little bastards. We leave poison out year round in the sheds, shop and traps in the house.

Don't waste your time with moth balls they don't work. Storing vehicles for more then a week, open the hood if stored inside. Keeps them from nesting in the engine compartment and destroying things. Move the trash away from any dwellings. Having the garbage can right outside the back door might be convenient but attracts the unwanted.
 
#7 ·
Every several months I put out traps to catch the few rats I see. They don't seem prevalent in this area but every now and again they will get up under my back deck. I know they are out there. this is Houston after all. I keep traps and poison on hand.
 
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#8 ·
I had a nasty problem with mice in my work shop, . . .

They "nested" in every drawer, . . . urinated on everything . . . droppings were all over, . . . and at times, the odor was overpowering.

Saw a thing on I think, Facebook, that Irish Spring soap would keep em out. Bought a case of it, . . . cut up about 6 bars into 4 pieces each, . . . tossed em here and there in the shop.

Voila, . . . ZERO MICE, . . . ZERO RATS for the last 4 or 5 months.

Yes, . . . I am thrilled with the results.

May God bless,
Dwight
 
#10 ·
@Yavanna, fortunately I live in a community where the city takes steps to curb rodents. Except for squirrels, I have seen only one rodent in my neighborhood in 20 years. On the brighter side, while this is a suburban community, we often see deer walk through our streets and in our yards.
 
#11 ·
When we lived in the country there were indeed way more rats around, since they grow in the wild. We had traps, but they did not always worked. We had a dog that ate all the rat poison we put out (it did not seem to make her any harm at all, so I have some doubts about the quality of said poison), so we had to only put it in high places.
Now the irish soap is an interesting idea 🤔 I will look if I can find it around here.
 
#12 ·
We do it a bit differently here in Wisconsin. We do not use soap or poison to control mice. We have "Pluto."

It's a never-ending story, actually. The mouse chases a female mouse, and it looks like rampant breeding is afoot. Then comes along a loyal canine named 'Pluto.' Without poison, or traps, or exterminators, Pluto makes sure--in many bizarre and creative ways--that the mouse never gets to "taste the cheese" if you follow my non sequitur.

It's why we have dog. And like Pluto, our little mutt never allows our "cheese in bed."
 
#13 ·
A good cat is great. As soon as a rodent gets inside it alerts to the presence of the vermin.




Even with a good "mouser", I leave traps and buckets out 24/7. If I get 1 I'm very vigilant looking for more/signs/droppins.

For my cabinets, I lined the backs with 1/4" galvanized mesh. They had vents and they would get into stores like rice befoe you knew they were inside. I also lined my root cellar with the same.

Using poison I avoid. Pets can eat it, or pets/wildlife eat the poisoned vermin.
 

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#16 ·
We had a run in this winter with a raccoon or three. Someone left a couple of trail bars in a bag in a wooden shed over the winter and a raccoon chewed its way in, nested and left urine and scat everywhere. I spent almost a whole day cleaning and disinfecting that shed come Spring. Had to throw a few things away. Needless to say, the person who left the food got a piece of my mind. Follow up was to patch the wall and then line the bottom 3rd of the shed wall and the edge of the floor with some fine grade wire fencing I had on hand.
 
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