Beware the mouse!
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maple1
Minister of Fire
Mice in the house is a fact of life around these parts - wood in the house or not.
I've got a 9 trap trapline going year round in my basement. Been slim catchings lately though.
I've got a 9 trap trapline going year round in my basement. Been slim catchings lately though.
If your out away from the city mice are a way if life. I keep traps out and have not found one in the house yet. Garage and barns yes.
yeah, as the temps start to get cold, the mice make the migration from the outside to the protection of a building. I've found they like chocolate......gives new meaning to "death by chocolate" on the desert menu.
Bret Chase
Minister of Fire
Yup....
My mouse control strategy involves D-con in the cellar, shed, and barn... and my daughter's cat in the house.. My hound tries like hell to get the mice, but never can catch one it seems.
Lyndenbrook Farm
Member
I did feel a tad guilty about all the critter homes I destroyed today moving wood.
Some little fella had spent a lot of time making a nice little moss&feather lined chamber in a hollow in my stack.
None came in with me, though
Some little fella had spent a lot of time making a nice little moss&feather lined chamber in a hollow in my stack.
None came in with me, though
Be careful they don't take residence up in your car, namely the air filter-had that happen several times !
I had told the story back in April when I was splitting wood and a field mouse bolted out of the round I was splitting, and there were 4 babies in there that didn't even have their eyes open. I took them to a woman who works for a local animal rescue organization, they actually had a "foster" mouse that nursed them and they were released into the woods. I am the typical "he wouldn't hurt a fly" type guy, henceforth the "rescue"
jeffesonm
Minister of Fire
Bret Chase
Minister of Fire
I had told the story back in April when I was splitting wood and a field mouse bolted out of the round I was splitting, and there were 4 babies in there that didn't even have their eyes open. I took them to a woman who works for a local animal rescue organization, they actually had a "foster" mouse that nursed them and they were released into the woods. I am the typical "he wouldn't hurt a fly" type guy, henceforth the "rescue"
maybe I'm a insensitive circle of life type... I would have tossed them into my chickens... they're finishing up a molt, and could use the protein.
maple1
Minister of Fire
Car - ha, yes, had some car episodes too. And there's no firewood there.
Never forget the time the wife came home freaking out because she was driving along and a mouse came up from under the hood, ran across a windshield wiper right in front of her, then ran back under the hood. Don't know what the fuss was about - at least it was on the outside. At the time. Anyway, an overnight in-car trapping session got rid of him pretty quick.
Just keep in mind that if you see little bits of black dirt on the dash or floor - it might not be ordinary dirt or dead black flies you're seeing.
Never forget the time the wife came home freaking out because she was driving along and a mouse came up from under the hood, ran across a windshield wiper right in front of her, then ran back under the hood. Don't know what the fuss was about - at least it was on the outside. At the time. Anyway, an overnight in-car trapping session got rid of him pretty quick.
Just keep in mind that if you see little bits of black dirt on the dash or floor - it might not be ordinary dirt or dead black flies you're seeing.
blacktail
Minister of Fire
I almost brought a bee in the house this morning. Had he not crawled out of his hiding spot and stung my finger, he would have made it inside.
I've brought wood into the house . . . just wood . . . nothing so exciting as bees, mice, werewolves, etc.
Bret Chase
Minister of Fire
I've brought in ants... in suspended animation, or whatever "they" call it.... they explode spectacularly in am already lit stove :D
Michael Golden
Feeling the Heat
Thislilfishy
Member
I never knew this about chickens. We've often humoured the idea of keeping a few laying hens, but never actually pulled the trigger on the idea. Just another critter around the house to take care of. We have two cats (lazy lump Maine Coone, and a rescued barn cat). The barn cat is a through and through mouser...the Maine Coone likes to lay in front of the wood stove when it's on full blaze...then move to lay somewhere else. We don't have mice per se, but we do have moles...which I just found out are carnivorous...meaning they eat mice and other moles and such. Funny little creatures if you ever catch one....I hear the super loud high pitch screech every time the little barn cat catches one!
Ian
Michael Golden
Feeling the Heat
A chicken will eat anything, I try not to feed them chicken lunch meat because that is wrong! But they eat all are other left over lunch meat.
Maybe it's that I built this house myself way out in the woods tens years ago and I sealed every little hole and crevice but, knock on wood, I've never had a mouse in this house that I know of. Others on the road have said they use steel wool to plug the holes where mice will come into their places.
Bret Chase
Minister of Fire
well not quite anything... my birds don't like broccoli... they do LOOOOOOOVE the slugs and grubs I find in the woodpile..
I've got a Maine coon mix . . . well two technically . . . although the other one seems to have more Manx than Maine Coon in him. The Maine Coon is huge though and while I wouldn't say he is lazy, he is very, very mellow and easy going -- my wife personally witnessed him watching two of our other cats playing with a mouse and he just sat there watching them with zero interest in chasing the mouse. He doesn't really like the heat at all though . . . typically we find him in the coldest parts of the house.
Bret Chase
Minister of Fire
Between my wife and I, we've had 3 or 4 coon cats, all fairly pure bred, the M on the forehead, 6 toes on each foot, etc. They were all a******s esp if there was another cat in the house. excellent mousers though.
Michael Golden
Feeling the Heat
And celery! But we found if you rip it up they will eat it. They are a nice garbage disposal.
Hate to tell you this, but mice will eat steel wool if they've a mind to. A couple of them broke into the below-sink cabinet in my kitchen by chewing through the insulation around the drain pipe, and in one night, they ate up 3 bars of soap, several sponges, both natural and plastic, and an entire box of Brillo, among other things.
I shoulda paid better attention when the cats spent the evening just sitting comfortably in front of the cabinet doors listening.
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