Mouse in the House

[tortoise]

What are your best tips for mouse-proofing a farm house?

 

[Hinotori]

I really lucked out with dogs. My german shepherd absolutely hates rats and has always loved killing them. She bent a chainlink fence sticking her nose and jaw through different holes to catch a rat and biting down. She did kill it.

She loves the chickens. Gets really protective of them and they know it. We've had a hawk go over and the hens ran for cover. Some ran for her because she was close.

The problem comes when I'm moving silkie houses to make sure there are no rats in the daytime. She waits to get them. The silkies also will attack so I try to do it where they can't see as she'll let it go rather than hurt a silkie when they come at her face where she's got it.

My silkies are fairly good at killing rats in their pens if they see them. The large fowl run away but silkies mob. Mom still laughs over the half a rat I found that was still holding tightly to the chainlink in death.

 

[Britesea]

A friend of DH's services the local radio towers and told us what he does to get rid of rodents (don't want them getting inside and chewing the insulation off the wires!) He found that Big Chew gum (the stuff that comes in shreds) really works for him. Apparently they eat it and it clogs up their system and they die. Here at home everything is kept in metal, glass, or plastic containers, plus DH will put out traps baited with peanut butter in winter if we see evidence that someone's moved into the warm.

A fun story about mice and chickens: DH and his dad were filling up the truck for a dump run, and scared a mouse that was in the pile somewhere. When it ran out, it ran right in front of Henrietta, the pet chicken. She grabbed it by the tail and snapped her head so it went up into the air, and it came down head first straight down her gullet! But the tail was long enough to stick out of her mouth, still twitching. The rest of the day, he said they could watch as the tail first eventually stopped twitching and then slowly got shorter. I've never heard of another chicken treating a mouse like this.

 

[FarmerJamie]

In the previous life, had a Jack Russell terrier. She was easily trained to leave the chickens alone. The two alpha hens went vole/mouse hunting with her all the time. The dog would find the nest, dig out the adult, and the hens would clean up any babies. I miss watching the antics. 😀

 

[Alaskan]

What are your best tips for mouse-proofing a farm house?

Sorry to laugh.... it is NOT funny....

But well... my house is a more-on house... so built like a seive. Rodents come and go as they please. If we wanted to stop rodents coming in we would have to blow up the house and build a new one.

So.... ALL food must be in rodent proof containers, or up where they can't reach.

Luckily we don't have rats... just little rodents, tiny shrews, mice, and voles.... so heavy plastic is enough security for food.

Where they like to nest... like IN THE STORED AND FOLDED BEDDING.....all stored bedding is now kept in containers.. just cloth ones with lids...but the rodents haven't crawled in...

And other "housing" choices...like under the boy's bunk beds we try to clean out once a month so they don't nest there.....


Spouse is super allergic to cats...


Trapping and poisons only work until the next wave moves in...

However....being very careful to reduce all food... means we have WAY fewer rodents now.... close to zero actually.

Having older kids helps hugely... since food is no longer all over the floor.

 

[Alaskan]

Dogs are very good at killing rats.

When kids were little... so food all-over so lots of rodents....

I once watched a mouse run across the room, OVER THE DOG'S FRONT PAW, yes he was awake and WATCHED IT.

Anyway... my worry is if the dog is happy to kill rodents, it is difficult to keep it from killing chickens and those breeds also tend to be more prone to nipping.

Our last big dog was a mastiff (the one that watched the mouse and did nothing). He NEVER hurt or chased livestock of ANY kind or age, but did follow our kids around and would always stand between them and any danger (stray dog, moose, unknown human, etc)

After he passed we got an Australian shepherd x poodle.... well... he killed chickens for a bit... we did train him to stop that... he is prone to nipping...both livestock and kids... but is in general a good dog... but.. we never managed to get him to kill the rodents! I was hoping the more active dog would kill rodents...

Anyway... so not sure about the trade offs... the mastiff, and the Pyrenees we had before the mastiff were much safer with kids and more sedate but still protective....

Not sure how hyper a dog needs to be a mouser.

 

[Mini Horses]

My chickens will devour any baby mice if a nest found out in their travels.

I love that your mice ate the peppermints @Hinotori. Bought the oils after reading of a dislike. My house smelled yummy😁. HOWEVER -- I gotta say the 10-12 cats here sure did make a difference. I never know how many friends they'll invite to dinner. but here they're welcome. I see them hunting!! Haven't seen a mouse in ages. Even in the barn!

 

[Hinotori]

😁 . No such place.

They dislike peppermint. It can help, not a 100% result. Does help them not want to stay around. Put drops of peppermint oil in drawers, along baseboards, etc.

Not actually true. They ate a bunch of peppermint life savers I had on the counter a few weeks ago and a bar and a half of Dr Bronners peppermint soap. They ignored the bars of Dove sitting next to the Dr Bronners. That stuff makes sensitive skin burn slightly from the peppermint oil.

We used to feed peppermint patties to our pet rats when I was a kid. Well until Mom saw and yelled at us for giving them chocolate.

They do seem to not like the smell of fresh catnip and prefer to avoid it, but will go through if there is no easier way.

I've disolved menthol crystals in oil and smeared spots. They just went around it or leaped over for a few days until the scent died down. I tried added sugar and put drink caps of it in spots hoping they would lick it up because menthol is toxic. The package came with warnings because stupid humans have tried to suck on crystals and poisoned themselves.

I've considered putting my male cat in a crate with a potty pad and taking him for a drive as he doesn't do rides well. Then I can cut up the wet pad and stuff them anywhere I think a rat can get in. Cat pee is a deterrent unless the rats have toxoplasmosis.

 

[Hinotori]

I cant get over them eating the soap. Nibbled down on the 3 bars I had. I yelled and complained a lot.

 

[tortoise]

Ugh we have this problem too. Are they in the basement, main floor, etc?

We have done the bottle on a dowl on a 5 gallon bucket over water-put a ramp and some peanut butter on the bottle and they spin and fall.

We got a kitten this summer and haven't seen any upstairs this year.

DH also made a mixture of dry peanut butter and plaster of paris. They eat it and when they drink their inside hardens up and they die. We have never seen any of these as we don't have water in the basement (that I know of anyway)

DH found an irregularity in the sill plate, possibly a cavity? It's inaccessible from indoors and outdoors, so we're not sure what is going on or how to shore it up. We think the basement mice got in this way. It seems they had a nest outside because we were able to find a food source, trap and eradicate. Had they nested inside the problem would have been ongoing?

I'm not sure how they get into my kitchen. I plugged gaps in my under sink cabinet with steel wool a couple years ago. DH filled the rest of the gaps between cabinets this year so they can't move from one cabinet to another. I have seen mice run between my laundry room and under the fridge. I'm not sure how mice get into the laundry room. In the past they were stashing dog kibble inside the walls - we found it when remodeling. We put new walls up and all the vents are sealed now. (The heat vent was previously wide open and gaps around it).

IDK.