mice in wood pile

FJLayes625 said:

I dont have mice in my wood pile but everyone is saying that if you stack the wood next to your house you will have mice. My wood pile is about a foot away from my mobile home stacked all the way down the side..is there any way to keep the mice away ? wife is getting nervous and ready to jump up on a chair...lol

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Poison bait?

My dog hunts mice in the wood pile. The kids call him a wood fox. He think is is too.

Indoor / outdoor cat should solve the problem.

One cat, several inside/outside poison blocks: no mice.

FJLayes625 said:

do you use it in your pile? i heard that ya can use decon and put pieces of it in different spots in your pile...

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I really dont have much of a pile yet. Im new to this whole thing.

I'm 5 months old and caught this a couple of days ago....

swestall said:

One cat, several inside/outside poison blocks: no mice.

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One cat+several inside/outside poison bocks = 1 very dead cat! Do the math!

I've had a couple cats over the years and occasionally put out rat poison but never thought that the cat would eat it. I suppose if someone had a cat known to eat almost anything, it would be a concern. I worry more about the cat getting caught by a rat trap.
You can also put bait in a place where rats or mice can get at it, but not a cat.
I occasionally see old mouse (or rat?) nests in my woodpile but have no rodent problem thence.

My neighbors cat does a fine job of taking care of the mice.

Beanscoot said:

I've had a couple cats over the years and occasionally put out rat poison but never thought that the cat would eat it.

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I believe the problem would be the cat getting a hold of a poisoned rodent.

My wood pile is about 15ft from my daylighted basement. I find mouse nests from time to time when grabbing wood,but dont think much of it. I kind of accept mice as part of living were I do. I try not encourage them by leaving stuff that they can eat, but it seems they get around anyway. The cats keep them out of the house for the most part, but they are pretty old and lazy and rarely spend much time outside. I don't mess with bait or even traps, seems like the best practice is to keep places that you don'twant them less attractive. Also when I do find 1 or 2 I keep that on the down low because the wife isn't crazy about mice.

Steve

We never had too any Hoot owls in my area until I started stacking piles and piles of wood. In my 2 cord mini Holzhausen, I found about 3 mouse nests. On a full moon night, you can hear all kinds of owls now. I never had any mice problems in a long time.

i hate mice with a pasion, i see one out comes the shotgun ,,,,literally blow them straight to ---- :coolsmirk:

jeffman3 said:

Beanscoot said:

I've had a couple cats over the years and occasionally put out rat poison but never thought that the cat would eat it.

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I believe the problem would be the cat getting a hold of a poisoned rodent.

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Yes- anytime you introduce poison into an environment you have no control over where it ends up. Cats and any other predator/scavenger species are at risk when you use a poison bait.

Traps- whether humane or the more permanent fix- are far preferable IMO. Cats or terriers work best, but traps are a close second.

Mothballs

Just found a chipmunk cache of seeds in my woodpile. I felt bad about breaking it up.

I have never seen mice in my wood pile. I figure the snakes make sure of that! LOL.

One thing to do is go around your home and make sure there are no entry points for mice. Maybe this isn't relevant for a mobile home. If you find a crack or other hole, fill it with "Great Stuff," available at hardware stores.

Cearbhaill said:

Cats or terriers work best

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I have a beagle-rotwieller mutt that will gladly challenge any terrier at that feat... She was hunting morning doves yesterday... at least 1 of them did not fly away...

You have mice whether you see signs of them or not.
All manner of varmints will cache food in piles.
Mice will cache the poison and not eat it, often, too.

I'd be more concerned with bugs, but I hate bugs.


That pile also should have some value as a wind break, but I've never liked more than a week's worth of wood on, in, or near the house. I once kept a three foot pile in the garage. I kept finding nice round holes in the sheet rock at bumper height.

Your wife does not want to examine your attic or wall insulation.

Hi, My woodstacks are high rise condos for mice and chipmunks. They need a place to live too. Better there than in the house.

Jim

Mice hate mint----it can be pretty invasive, but you could try planting some even in pots around the woodpile---I'll dry some to scatter around the basement too. When I worked in garden centers lots of 'snowbirds' would buy tons of it for their camps and swore it works.