Got a Rat/Mice Problem...

Usually all objections cease after the first fire/heating bill happen. The really stubborn ones take two or three cycles/bills to cave, just to make sure it isn't a fluke.

She's a tough one to crack, but this is what I am hoping for.

We keep the house at 63 at night and the one zone where the living room is, we keep at 68 when we are home. I am hoping mid-70s is to her liking.

Oh... plus she's getting the dining room she wants.

Yes or a 30" piece of PVC pipe with the rodent bait pushed down to the middle. If you just want to target mice get a smaller diameter pipe. I use this around the chicken coups.

The PVC trick may be a good idea, as I have 4 lbs of the granules to use up. Haha.

I'd one up her on the ultimatum... If the wood burning thing is a goner, well honey... SO ARE YOU!

Tons of fun seeing how many splits it takes to get each article of clothing to come off. 4 and the sweatshirt goes..... 5 and...

LOL. Good point.

That might work, unless it's her house. Then some other things besides the wood piles may have to go.

I don't know. I think the mice like my stacks so much it actually keeps them out of my house. Why settle for a dark corner of the basement when you could have the penthouse suite at the hippest rodent condo in town?

For real though, they do love my stacks but it really doesn't bother me.

A bottle of wine and a bearskin rug doesnt hurt.

Use traps inside the house NOT POISON. Mice are stupid and very easy to trap out(Unlike rats) With poison what happens is you have dead mice crawling into places you cannot find to die but they still stink. I would imagine the smell would be a bigger wife deterant than the nearly invisible mice. Get yourself a 1/2 dozen Victors and set some along the wall inside the garage door baited with peanut butter. In a night or two you will know if there are mice in the garage. Mice will stick to edges and tight spots. Use strategy with the traps and you will be mouseless in no time - if there are any inside the garage at all.

Ok. No signs of mice in the house or garage at this time. But good idea on traps inside.

Dont worry about the piles...just keep doing what you are doing. Besides a few mouse dudes on the kitchen countertops help strengthen the immune system.

Your gonna have mice no matter what you do with your woodpiles. It always kills me when I hear someone say they have (A) mouse in thier house. For every 1 mouse you actually see you probably got 50 more of it's kin lurkin around somewhere. Tomcat bait chunks work well as a poison but need to be used with care around children and pets. If you want a repellant to place inside the house this is a good product as I have used it in certain situations.
http://www.bonide.com/lbonide/SalesFlyers/Mouse_Magic.pdf
Just remember, a mouse can get thru a hole the size of a dime iffn it wants to.

Wait till you start bringing the wood in and she finds a bug in the house, then she'll forget all about the mice.

The mice didn't smell the stacks of wood from miles around and come running.
You find mice because you have mice.
The wood stacks just provide you with an easy means to document their existence.

+1.

You'd better start preparing her (and you) now for the day a mouse is seen in the house. It is only a matter of time - and it has nothing to do with your woodpile.

No cats but I do see a few snakes around the wood pile. . JK on the

I keep a small wisk brush on the wood pile to brush off the little turds and random insects.

I tried poison years ago and they took it from the wood pile to the engine compartment of my parts car. So I switched to snap traps that I screw to a split with a drywall screw and they have worked pretty well.

She might find dead rats/mice in the house though.

Mice are every where, they just are, just like rabbits, coons ,moles,squirrels,skunks, etc
If they take up residence in my new wood piles, that's better than them building their nests in my lawn mower and tractor engine.
I would rather have them chewing on the wood than my wires which they have done.
Moth balls will keep them, and other critters away .

Got mine. Let the games begin.

Sorry, but that needed clarification....

Hmm. Not fond of the poisons, esp outside, where whatever other wildlife that eats mice can end up poisoned too? I don't really know how that works but I would think maybe poison in the basement might not be as bad as outside. In any case, I had mouse problems just in particular houses I lived in, but not in the one I live in now with wood heat. Still have a mouse problem where I work. The only thing that I found that works are these awesome traps "better mousetrap" - grey plastic ones from Target. They kill the mouse everytime (that I have ever seen) and you don't even have to touch the mouse to unload it because it works like a big chip clip. Get a few of these and keep them in the house wherever you think the mousies are. I had a prob in my last house and I set three traps and caught 5 mice in one night and didn't have another for months.
http://mousetrapsthatwork.com/the-better-mousetrap/