Anything besides mouse traps and poison...

[pines4equines]

Okay, here's my situation. We have a feed stall that has meshed fencing up the sides. It keeps racoons out, good! But alas, it keeps the cats out as well. My feed room is over run with mice. What can I do besides traps and poison? ANything?

I mean I'll do traps if I have to do but....Or maybe there is a trap people have used that is better than the older snapping mouse traps...

[jazzrider]

Put in a cat door. :D We have an solid walled, insulated feed room put in to keep critters out, but then I realized that the mice were getting in there and hiding from my barn cats! So we put in a cat door. Now no more mice! :yes:

Before we put in the cat door, I would leave the feed room door cracked during the day (when racoons etc. aren't out and about), every few days, so the cats could hunt and let the mice know it wasn't a safe place to be anymore. That worked well too.

[pines4equines]

How did you keep the raccoons out of your cat door? We've thought of this but we do have a cat door going out behind the barn and I have to say I've seen several HUGE raccoons squeeze their large bodies through a 5 x 5 inch square. (COuld be 6 x 6inch square?) But still those things can squeeze in like rats do...

We do leave the door open during the day...I'm afraid I'm going to have to do traps. We used to do poison but one of our barn cats ate a mouse or rat that gorged itself on poison and almost died. We have the rather large vet bill to prove it so we stay away from poison. So traps it is.

The floor is festooned with mouse poop so I know they are in there eating everything they can and it makes it feel dirty.

[IslandGirl]

If you don't like the "snapper" traps, get glue board traps. The little buggers walk over them and get stuck, you don't have to worry about baiting them, and you just pick the whole board up, mouse and all, and throw it away.

Downside of the glue boards is that the mouse dies a very slow death while it struggles to free itself. However, if you have even a slight sadistic streak from your mouse battles, you might not mind.

[goodhors]

Offer to board a Jack Russell or any of the energetic Terrier types while a friend is gone!! Dachunds are also VERY good at mice. They will work hard for you in mice control. You can put them out with a nice blanket to lay on, just locked in the feed room.

This would mean you could NOT use any poisons. I would not be using poisons where I had cats killing the varmints anyway. Some dogs pile up the carcasses, others eat them, so they might need additional worming. Locking a couple cats WITHOUT cat food, inside the room could work if they were hungry. Give them a box of sand to use and most of them will not make any extra mess.

I would NOT put in any cat doors. The Coons DO get inside using them. If not the biggest one, the little ones can still fit in the doors. Possum and skunks will fit inside the doors too. They like mice and grain too.

Next, look around at the food supply provided. Is there a lot of spillage as feed is scooped out? Remove the food supply laying around on the floor. A shop vac run daily, can get that spilled grain mess picked up fast. Maybe some new scoops, better handling of the full scoops, could reduce the waste and spills. I put my hand under the tip, catch the loose grains. Other folks here do not, so there can be quite a bit on the floor. Spillage is wasted money, no horses eat that pricy grain, you toss it or mice eat it. Just being cleaner on the floor, should help reduce the mice.

[HoofHeartSoul]

you can also go to a pet store and ask for Ferret bedding ( i am sure they will be happy to give you some LOL) it is suppose to keep mice and rats away without poison, because they thik something bigger and meaner is around. (but i don't know how messy that would be, maybe just tuck it in corners? or outside? something. maybe just get a ferret :D

i also saw on a show that you can go to a salon and ask for hair clipping off the floot and spread them around...but YIKES that grosses me out more than the ferret bedding.

i also second try ot stay REALLY clean in the room, and also put some of your cats in there with a litterbox.

[lizathenag]

It is a horrible way to die. sometimes the mice will chew off their feet to get away.

snap traps are the best I think. if you must use glue then be prepared to drown them or something.

the humane traps don't work at all!

[Petstorejunkie]

the ferret bedding sounds genius, but they have the WORST smelling poo out of any creature on this planet (worse than cat diarrhea)
You could always lock the cats in the feed room at nite and provide them with water and a litterbox....

[katarine]

I can't say a struggling mouse on a glue board bothers me much. Unless you're a full on vegan worrying over a mouse is hypocrisy anyway.

Keep the feed room as clean as you can but honestly it doesn't take much to attract a mouse.

Plain old snap traps work fine but I hate loading them, I'm always worried about my fingers LOL.

[jazzrider]

How did you keep the raccoons out of your cat door? We've thought of this but we do have a cat door going out behind the barn and I have to say I've seen several HUGE raccoons squeeze their large bodies through a 5 x 5 inch square. (COuld be 6 x 6inch square?) But still those things can squeeze in like rats do...

Our cat doors open into the aisle, not the outside of the barn. For some reason we just haven't had problems with raccoons or other large critters. Maybe because they don't know the food is in there...yet. :rolleyes: Or maybe because one of our cats is a very large maine coon.

We also tried the peppermint oil trick that some folks have mentioned here on COTH for our cabinets and drawers (cotton ball with 2-3 drops added every two weeks or so), and it seems to have worked. And best of all, now everything smells minty fresh!

[pines4equines]

Previous poster said: "A shop vac run daily, can get that spilled grain mess picked up fast."

Super idea and I love the peppermint/cotton balls idea as well! I'm all over it!

[SevenDogs]

Locking a couple cats WITHOUT cat food, inside the room could work if they were hungry.

Please don't do this. As has been discussed on other threads, hungry cats do NOT make better mousers and it is inhumane. Some cats hunt, some don't and keeping them hungry does not change that. "Locking" a creature in a place with no food is completely inappropriate. :no: :no: :no:

[pines4equines]

Don't worry. We won't lock any cats in anywhere. My SO LOVES his barn cats. God forbid, I forget to give them warm water and warm wet cat food every morning...

Gosh, it would be unforgivable if I locked the cats in the feed room. No food would be a concern, yes, but there would be no cat beds. I'd never hear the end of it.

[SevenDogs]

Don't worry. We won't lock any cats in anywhere. My SO LOVES his barn cats. God forbid, I forget to give them warm water and warm wet cat food every morning...

Gosh, it would be unforgivable if I locked the cats in the feed room. No food would be a concern, yes, but there would be no cat beds. I'd never hear the end of it.

:)

[katarine]

Previous poster said: "A shop vac run daily, can get that spilled grain mess picked up fast."

Super idea and I love the peppermint/cotton balls idea as well! I'm all over it!

Note that Mrs Mouse WILL crawl into the ShopVac and make a glorious, safe, dark nest in its bowels. Then, the next time you ShopVac the feed room, and you finally finish and turn it off, you will find her hopping OUT of her mouse-condo, tiny babe in mouth, pi$$ed, and moving into your basket of leg wraps and hoof boots.

[akrogirl]

We had mice in the house when we moved into our horse property. No way was I going to kill the little cuties so we used the no-kill traps with great success.

http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Mouse-Trap-Humane-Mousetrap/dp/B000YFA7HW/ref=tag_tdp_ptcn_edpp_url

[MaybeMorgan]

I can't say a struggling mouse on a glue board bothers me much. Unless you're a full on vegan worrying over a mouse is hypocrisy anyway.

It always bothers me that people supposedly concerned with humane death just don't see these as living creatures too.

Not that you want them living with you or eating your barn. But the snap traps (broken neck) and dog (broken neck) are really more humane and fast.

[cloudyandcallie]

Big Blacksnake

[Plumcreek]

Try these:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/NTESearch?storeId=6970&N=0&Ntk=All&Ntt=mousetrap&Nty=1&D=mousetrap&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Dx=mode+matchallpartial

I would use the small one. I had the larger one and very occasionally it would mis-flip and catch a mouse across the stomach half way. We use electric zapper traps (very effective and humane, as they die instantly) from Northern, but I could not find them this search.

[jilltx]

Honestly the traps work well and kill them fast. Invest in some surgical gloves and bring some grocery bags with you for the disposal. I've even left a few up on fence posts for our resident hawks and they EAT them.

My problem is RATS (see other thread), but the traps are working, so I'll stick with them.