Mice out

[CUElk]

Everyone with campers or cabins in the woods, just wondering what methods you use to keep mice out during winter storage. We had a few get in this year, not bad, but just a few can make a mess. There are several repellant products on the market and of course home remedies. Give me your tricks. Thanks

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

I use Irish spring soap bars. In camper and in all our work trucks that sit all winter with pretty good success.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Sevin dust works well also.

 

[CUElk]

I use Irish spring soap bars. In camper and in all our work trucks that sit all winter with pretty good success.

Yeh. I read that works well. I thought about using soap along with a product called Fresh Cab, has good reviews.

Sevin dust works well also.

You sprinkle a barrier around the camper?

 

[Pucky Freak]

Dcon mouse poison, the little enclosed bait stations. When mice first invade a structure they search for food before shelter, so they eat the poison and leave the structure to die. If you have an existing infestation it’s important to be present to clean up the dead mice because they will die inside your shed, camper, etc.

 

[WyoDoug]

They have pellets you can place around a structure to control rodents. I know Home Depot here in Cheyenne sells it. They are loose pellets in a bag that you place on the ground next to buildings. It's supposed to be pet safe but I am afraid my little dogs might try to chew on them so I would take that with a grain of salt if you got pets.

 

[CUElk]

Yeh. I don't want to do the pellets because I'm not able to check on it regularly. Don't want em dead in the camper. Thanks for the suggestions tho.

 

[brockel]

Cab fresh works but loses potency after a little while.

 

[Sasquatchewan]

x2 Irish Spring soap bars, buy a bunch, cut them in half and leave them around the trailer/cabin.

 

[WyoDoug]

Something my aunt does to discourage mice is plant spearmint around her house. That seems to work.

 

[kwyeewyk]

No experience w/ Irish spring, but I think I've heard the same about moth balls? If you only have a few around and you're able to keep/leave things very clean, you probably won't end up with many more. Don't leave any sources of food or nesting material around. The nesting material part can be hard because they'll use fiberglass insulation if they have to. They will populate to carrying capacity if allowed, so the less food and habitat they have the fewer there will be. Set out snap traps as a back up if you don't want to use decon, then at least you know where they die. I have enough areas where I'm worried about them that aren't living areas that I usually put decon out in certain spots just to make sure they never set up shop. They only stink in the walls for a couple weeks, so if you're not there you'll never know the difference!

 

[Red Fox]

One of my friends put a five gal bucket with about 2" of antifreeze in the bottom. Then put a dowel rods across it with a piece of plastic pipe over it just a little shorter. Put some peanut butter in the middle. They fall in and with the liquid they can't jump out and then drink a little. just have to dump it out from time to time

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Yeh. I read that works well. I thought about using soap along with a product called Fresh Cab, has good reviews.



You sprinkle a barrier around the camper?

Sprinkle in the camper along window sills,floor edges etc.
It does need to be swept and wiped up when your back in the camper.

 

[BrentD]

Sevin dust works well also.

Sevin is probably pretty ineffective. It's lethal to invertebrates, but it's effectiveness on mammals is pretty much nil - and that is why it is used in gardens and food crops.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Yea,I use it on cockroaches and ants.
Noticed mice have disssapeared too.Possibly they are eating the roaches?

 

[BrentD]

Yea,I use it on cockroaches and ants.
Noticed mice have disssapeared too.Possibly they are eating the roaches?

More like a certainty. As a mouse biologist, I have to say there are WAY better methods of dealing with mice than most presented here. Drowning in antifreeze is one of the least humane, poisons can have indirect effects, cats too, and so on and so forth.

Consider reverse game management for mice. If conservation for game species is "Habitat, Habitat, and Habitat!!" then think about how to reverse that for mice by removing habitat, in your garage, around your garage, etc.

If dispersal corridors are critical for mule deer, they are for mice as well. How are they getting into where you don't want them? Find it. Fix it. There are tricks to finding access points. There are tricks to figure how to block them. But they aren't hard tricks, just situation dependent and may require some ingenuity.

If forage matters for a healthy elk herd, what are those mice eating (besides dirtclod's cockroaches )? Clean it up. I've met a million people that have declared death to anything and everything around their country acreage because they don't "learn" to stay out of the cat food bowl that is out 24/7/365. Don't be lazy, clean it up and learn to feed your pets properly!

These methods work better because once you have done them, they tend to solve the problem more or less permanently, unlike simply inflicting mortality which simply creates a vacuum to be filled, usually sooner than later.

Finally, if all that won't work, put out a few snap traps baited with a 50:50 mix of dry oatmeal and peanut butter and check them once in a while (don't be so lazy that you can't check a trap or two once every week or three). Dead mice pretty much dehydrate in most climates so it's not that big of a deal.

And know what species you are dealing with. One or two of them can kill ya. Which means cleaning up after them may require a few precautions. Lysol or dilute bleach and a mask are your friends - sounds familiar, eh? Take it from someone who learned the hard way - you don't want to go there.

Okay, enough ranting for one morning. Off to the range with a new gun.

 

[Howie]

We get mice in our sheds, garage and such. we have tried everything anyone has ever mentioned......... here and anywhere else and it doesn't work. My answer is a trapline, in all the buildings and the camper. I usually have 9 to 12 traps out, its all that works for us. i check em every couple days and found Ill catch maybe 12 then get nothing for a week or two, then hit the next "family" to move into the Neighborhood. With good peanuts and peanut butter they go right to it when they enter and they are done. placed along walls and at access points. if you aim the trigger toward the wall they get caught runnin over the trap if they dont go for the bait.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

We get mice in our sheds, garage and such. we have tried everything anyone has ever mentioned......... here and anywhere else and it doesn't work. My answer is a trapline, in all the buildings and the camper. I usually have 9 to 12 traps out, its all that works for us. i check em every couple days and found Ill catch maybe 12 then get nothing for a week or two, then hit the next "family" to move into the Neighborhood. With good peanuts and peanut butter they go right to it when they enter and they are done. placed along walls and at access points. if you aim the trigger toward the wall they get caught runnin over the trap if they dont go for the bait.

Trigger toward the wall...great idea.

 

[Pucky Freak]

@BrentD - there is a reason the pest control professionals use poison, and if the problem persists, they use more poison and/or place it better.

You’re overcomplicating things. Yes, if a food source is present it’s good to clean it out, but as far as bedding areas go, it’s pretty impractical to plug every mouse-sized hole in many sheds, garages, vehicles, and old houses.

 

[BrentD]

@BrentD - there is a reason the pest control professionals use poison, and if the problem persists, they use more poison and/or place it better.

You’re overcomplicating things. Yes, if a food source is present it’s good to clean it out, but as far as bedding areas go, it’s pretty impractical to plug every mouse-sized hole in many sheds, garages, vehicles, and old houses.

Ye$ there i$ a rea$on why the pe$t control indu$try u$e poi$on$.

Impractical or just too lazy? Until you've tried you don't know and you never master the problem with poison, you just push it down the road when you have to deal with it again.