Got a Rat/Mice Problem...

I started collecting wood in November and this is the first sign of mice. I found him in front of my garage. The Fiancee freaked and said that the first sign of them in the house (i.e. the indoor cat goes nuts at night), the wood is gone...and thus the possibility of a stove.

Here is my woodpile near the house (is it too close?):


I guess on the positive side of things, the rat poison granules I put down underneath my wood racks is doing it's job....but I'm worried as I plan to collect twice this amount of wood and put one more row of wood closer to to the house before stacking it in the backyard. Is the answer just to keep the woodpiles populated with granules?

Thoughts?

Get a couple weasels or a Ferret

Just to add some context. I'm in suburbs. I won't be getting any out animals for pest control.

I have two cats that patrol my woodpile. Just the scent of them seems to keep the critters at bay.

KaptJaq

I am actually moving my entire stack right now to prevent this. The stack slowly encroached towards the house and I did see a few mice, so now it'll be about 50' away at least. One interesting thing I found while moving old underwood is there must have been a bunch of snakes living under there in the summer time because I found all kinds of small animal bones near what appear to be snake holes.

A healthy feral cat population keeps my mouse population at bay. I know its them because I see the cats sitting by my woodpile every evening waiting.

Perhaps its time to accidently release some cats... If you have a mouse problem they are bound to stick around.

Tell her "Hey, a mouse never killed anybody." Hopefully, she's never heard of Hantavirus...

lol. 1st world problems. it's tough man, so tough.

I'd rather have a mouse or two in my house than a cat.

I had a cat adopt us earlier this year. He was on his last leg when he strolled up the drive way.
He sleeps on an outside porch when he wants to. He might be gone all day and come home for dinner and a fresh drink.He loves to patrol the stacks.
I have seen far less mice this year then any year before.

Cats can raise a little hell in the house at times. Cats are muy cool, though...much cooler than mice.
Right now I have two outside forming a perimeter defense against the despicable rodent.

Well with the amount of rat poison I put out I am hoping there isn't much left to eat for wild animals. I guess I'll monitor the green granules and replenish when need be.

Kicker is, the dog runs around in the fenced off back yard.... can't have him downing any of the poison so I'll have to be careful where I put the stuff.

oh, don't get me wrong, I don't mind cats all that much. it's their hair on everything. same goes for dogs. almost as bad as danged wemmenfolk.

Yer gonna have mice with almost ANY woodstack, that's for sure. And for me, the feral cats seem to do a pretty good job of patrolling the pile. I'm not a big fan of those feral cats, mainly because of a tom that keeps.spraying the one end of my stack. But you gotta consider the good (mouse control), so I guess I'll have to deal with him for now.....

Does anyone else use chemical rat suppression techniques with success? Or is everyone fostering feral cats in the neighborhood?

Im sorry Bster13 but I truly believe your woodplies and the appearance of a mouse is pure coincidence. Mice dont eat wood. They are attracted to food sources and heat. I live on a farm. There is No association between woodpiles and mice. More likely they are attracted to bird seed or bags of cat food stored in your garage.
Its probably folklore that mice try to make their way inside of your home to survive an anticipated cold winter. Like the amount of fuzz on wooly bear catipillars.
Check to see if you have food stuff they are going after. Really, the stacked wood provides safe shelter from cats but woodpiles dont equal mice infestations.
Of course, snakes and squirrels are a different story. ;-)

Unless they are chewing on used motor oil, i don't have any food sources in my garage at this time.

Perhaps there was a mouse or two around the house prior to stashing the wood, and it found the rat poison in the wood piles?

Like, maybe I'd of never known there were mice around if I hadn't put out the poison?

Bster, if by chance you were worried about wild/not-so-wild animals accidentally getting into the poison, they make bait stations that a cat or dog shouldn't be able to get into.

Feral cats don't do as much as most would think for rodent control. About 3 years ago in the mornings when I wood tie my work boots on the front steps, as I bent over I started getting a whiff of cat urine quite frequently. I set up some specialized traps and to date have caught 87. I never wood have guessed I had that many local ferals.
I've had little success with the pellet type poison. The mice tend to drag these pellets off and store them in a cache where they may get wet and dissintegrate or worm,grubs or other animals may eat it .
The Tomcat blocks I've found to work the best. You can nail/wire them down forcing the mice to chew off small bite and injest. I usually put a few at the bottom of the stack in the wood shed when i refill it in the spring.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...s=tomcat poison&sprefix=tomcat poison,aps,339
A well fed pet cat/dog won't injest a poisoned mouse unless it's a flat out glutton.

+1
Mice will enter houses/wood piles to escape ground den flooding from fall rains.

Thanks MasterMech... the Fiancee is yelling at me for not going for those in the first place, but they were more expensive and the granules got good reviews (which my dead mouse confirmed)

I guess I am going w/ this at this time:

- The wood piles may give a home to the mice, but I don't think they are increasing the population.
- The poison did it's job this time around, and if I never put out the poison I would of never see the mouse in the first place.

I guess we'll see what happens over time as I double my wood pile (want to get two years ahead). The wood pile I'm going to put in the fenced back yard will have no poison (dog goes in the backyard) so perhaps it will be a good test to see if the mice start a knocking then.

I've seen 3 legged cats hopping around, but never a one legged cat. Must be quite a sight!

I'd rather have mice running around outside than feral cats. Wouldn't want either in the house, but just because the mice are outside doesn't mean they will end up in the house. Just make sure your house is sealed up tight and don't leave the door open. Even if you get rid of your wood stacks that won't eliminate all the mice in the neighborhood or the possibility that they can get in the house.

Maybe I'll put some Rat poison in the basement for good measure... if the Fiancee notices any signs of mice in the house, this wood burning thing is a goner! Haha.