Shorts!

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
  • Hope everyone has a wonderful and warm Thanksgiving!
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
Status
Not open for further replies.

EatenByLimestone

Moderator
Staff member
Hearth Supporter
I pulled the tarp off my shorts pile last night to find a few field mice in it. Would raising the shorts up off the ground convince them to head on to other locales?

Matt
 
Matt - It probably isn't gonna change their mind much. You have built them a nice comfortable home. Its pretty hard to make a stack of wood, uncomfortable to them. If you can figure out a way, you may just have had your million dollar idea.
 
Matt, maybe a cat would do the job nicely....or a fox...or a weasel. It's hard to get rid of those critters completely. Around here the chipmunks and squirrels make most of the nests.
 
Round my house, the mice are welcome to make a home in the wood stacks, until they are evicted when its time to use that wood.
Better in the wood stacks/piles then in the house, each one with a home outside, is one less with a home inside my home ;)
 
When we lived in Northern Virginia, we had these little critters called Pine Mice outside...never came in the house. Real short tails, distinctly different from the common "house mouse". The Pine Mice would build their nests in about any protected nook or cranny, quite often within a woodpile. Other than the unpleasant smell of the nest itself, I never bothered to try to do anything to keep them out...not sure just what I could have done about it anyway, because they're very small animals and can climb and squirm into about anywhere they want. One winter, a Pine Mouse built her nest up inside our covered gas grill out on the deck...she had her own elevated cast aluminum fortress in which to safely raise her offspring. (Cleaned the grill out REALLY well that next spring before the first B-B-Q of the season!). Rick
 
Over the years I've had mice, weasels, mink and possums living in my wood pile...I don't mind though. Of course I don't stack my wood I just pile it up as high as I can. Crude but an effective time saver...does have a pleasant look when I'm all done with it.
 
Here in North Texas, the Rat snakes and Cane-break rattlesnakes usually keep the mouse population at a decent level. Sure am happy too, cause I HATE mice in the house !
 
rmj said:
Here in North Texas, the Rat snakes and Cane-break rattlesnakes usually keep the mouse population at a decent level. Sure am happy too, cause I HATE mice in the house !

Well, there ya go! Keep a few snakes in the house and some outside around the woodpile, and your mouse troubles just melt away. :ohh: Rick
 
fossil said:
rmj said:
Here in North Texas, the Rat snakes and Cane-break rattlesnakes usually keep the mouse population at a decent level. Sure am happy too, cause I HATE mice in the house !

Well, there ya go! Keep a few snakes in the house and some outside around the woodpile, and your mouse troubles just melt away. :ohh: Rick

Yeah. I am a native Texan and I will take a couple of mice over a rattlesnake any day.
 
fossil said:
Well, there ya go! Keep a few snakes in the house and some outside around the woodpile, and your mouse troubles just melt away. :ohh: Rick

I just can't get that logic through to my wife! Even innocent little garter snakes. She hates them all and kills them (or expects me to kill them) ....after she stops freaking out! <sigh>

OTOH, we have a fieldstone exterior on our house that they can climb. A couple of times we have had snakes staring at us at eye level on the other side of the window screen! I'm worried about her having a heart attack!

Ken
 
Status
Not open for further replies.