Well, in fifteen years I have never resorted to using d-con to eliminate the mice but since moving to this house 2 years ago we have had a big problem with rats and mice in this house. I have used traps with some limited success and even recently bought "mice cubes" - cute little plastic trap-door devices that supposedly work great - no catches in 2 weeks. Am preparing to open up for daycare after the Y2k rollover (as long as things are doing ok) and had to do something to stop the little mouse turds on the canned goods so....... resorted to the nasty old blood thinner/Warfarin poison. Yeah, I know the risks and also know that it kills them slowly - but had to do something - winter sends them in from the grain fields surrounding us. Anyone have any better ideas?

-- Kristi (securxsys@cs.com), December 13, 1999

Answers

Got cats?

-- SH (squirrel@huntr.com), December 14, 1999.

Those mouse traps work really good using a teeny piece of bacon. In a couple of days, it drys out and never comes loose but retains the odor, nabs em everytime. Have mice myself on occasion and haven't changed the bacon in a year. Keep the trap in a baggie until ya need it next time. Regarding the warfarin, my neighbor's cat died by ingesting a mouse that had been poisoned with the stuff. Bad Sh*t.

-- Sue (number9@mindspring.com), December 14, 1999.

Well, you can tell the weather is getting cold everywhere, this is the fifth rodent post I've read today (multiple forums).

There's a Stored Food Pests FAQ on the Providence Cooperative site that has a lot of good rodent and insect infestation control information in it. It's free to view or download. I cover rodent control in even more depth in my book The Prudent Pantry.

If they're in your attic the rodents are probably roof rats and cat's will only have a limited effectiveness. Eliminating harborage (nesting areas) and food sources is probably what's called for. You may need to do some screening work with some heavy wire hardware cloth to eliminate how they're getting in and out.

If you simply must, poison will work just fine but I really recommend the use of a bait station (described in the FAQ and book) to keep the poison where you mean it to stay. You'll also have to be very vigiliant about keeping the dead rodents picked up as well.

Good luck!

..........Alan.

The Providence Cooperative

http://www.providenceco-op.com

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@sprintmail.com), December 14, 1999.

I had a mouse (mice?) in the attic about two months ago. I used two strategiess: one, I took an old towel, let one of the cats sleep on it all night and put it in the attic. I added hair from the daily brushing. Two, I soaked a couple of paper towels in some pheromone stuff I got at PetsMart. It's meant to clean areas where a cat sprays and leaves a pheromone (which is not an unpleasant smell) saying, "it's okay, you've already marked this territory." Haven't seen any droppings since. Could be coincidence, but one or both methods are worth a try. (Perhaps a cat-owning neighbor would oblige with the towel.)

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), December 14, 1999.

Kristi,

I have been given the golden mouse trap
award from a happy home owner because of
my mouse eradication skills.

Number one: All possible entries into the
house must be closed. A mouse can fit into
a =" hole. Circle your house and close any
suspect openings. Also check under eaves and
on the roof. Mice can climb up walls!

After a *thorough* check, place traps in places
where you see their droppings. Live traps work
best, you can always kill them later with a shot
gun :-' The best bait is either peanut butter or
bread soaked in sour cream. What your looking for
is something that will not dry out and continue to
produce an odor.

Just reread your post and it seems to me that we
might be dealing with field mice instead of house
mice. If this is the case do not use the shot gun
but just let them loose outside.

Poisons have two major problems. One other animals
might eat the mice and die. The other is if a rat
dies within your walls you will regret it for many
months. The stink is more than any human can
withstand.

There is a lot more but this will be a good start.
Send email if you need additional tips. If your in
Oregon - - - Have trap, will travel

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), December 14, 1999.

Thanks to you all!

I had stopped using the poisons years ago after witnessing a very ill little mousie going in slow circles around my kitchen floor. After reading up on how the stuff worked I was horrified (even more horrified when I learned that warfaring was designed with warfare in mind!). Kind of panicked last week because I had 3 different county inspectors coming to my home, checking it out before licensing me for childcare/daycare and the list of regs included making sure there was no sign of pest/rodent infestation. Had one can cupboard and coat closet smelling mousey (not to mention seeing the little buggars out of the corner of my eye) and felt I was losing the battle of the little turds so gave in and used the poison. I will also use the above methods (have already been hunting down those little holes and gaps at bottoms of doors, etc. and am hoping not to ever have to use the nasty stuff again. Thanks everyone!

-- Kristi (securxsys@cs.com), December 15, 1999.

a serious note about "mouse droppings" the CDC pages will tell you about the latest outbreaks of Haunta viras. its not just in some parts of the country anymore. I remember reading about 6 months ago that a man died in N.Carolina. he cleaned out his garage and had swept mouse dropping up. the virus is spread in the air. It is suggested that it could possibly crop up in any area. they suggest that before anything is disturbed that has droppings that the area be sprayed with chlorine bleach.

-- terry (tmcmi@alltel.net), December 15, 1999.