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Mice Issues
- Thread starter Allan M
- Start date
OzDozer
Senior Member
I haven't seen anyone mention snakes as a rodent repellant. We have carpet pythons here, that are non-poisonous, but they sure make for good rodent control.
Buy half a dozen really life-like rubber snakes (there's plenty on eBay) - particularly those designs that resemble your local snakes, place them on the ground near tracks or tyres, and the rodents will vamoose immediately they sight the rubber snake.
https://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Explore/F...ngerous+species/Carpet+Snake+or+Carpet+Python
You guys must have pretty dumb rodents to fall for the 5-gallon bucket trick! I went to great pains, manufacturing a rodent trap using a durable poly bucket with a stainless steel polished roller, a beautiful timber pathway to the roller, baited with peanut butter, apple, ordinary butter, biscuits - you name it, every bait that was ever recommended as being infallible for catching rodents - and not a single rodent of any kind, ever went near that bucket in 18 mths!!
Meantimes, the rodents ate the fruit off my trees, ate most of my grapes, ate piles of the garden snails, and made multiple nests in my back garage roof!! I reckon there was a Sgt Rat or Cpl Mouse carrying out "trap avoidance" lectures to groups of rodents, using a pointer to point out to the other rodents, the specific dangers involved in going near my bucket trap!!
The only thing I've found that works locally is a wax block bait called RatSak. It's a small square block with a hole in the middle so you can tie it down, it stops the rodents from dragging it away. It nails them every time.
Buy half a dozen really life-like rubber snakes (there's plenty on eBay) - particularly those designs that resemble your local snakes, place them on the ground near tracks or tyres, and the rodents will vamoose immediately they sight the rubber snake.
https://www.qm.qld.gov.au/Explore/F...ngerous+species/Carpet+Snake+or+Carpet+Python
You guys must have pretty dumb rodents to fall for the 5-gallon bucket trick! I went to great pains, manufacturing a rodent trap using a durable poly bucket with a stainless steel polished roller, a beautiful timber pathway to the roller, baited with peanut butter, apple, ordinary butter, biscuits - you name it, every bait that was ever recommended as being infallible for catching rodents - and not a single rodent of any kind, ever went near that bucket in 18 mths!!
Meantimes, the rodents ate the fruit off my trees, ate most of my grapes, ate piles of the garden snails, and made multiple nests in my back garage roof!! I reckon there was a Sgt Rat or Cpl Mouse carrying out "trap avoidance" lectures to groups of rodents, using a pointer to point out to the other rodents, the specific dangers involved in going near my bucket trap!!
The only thing I've found that works locally is a wax block bait called RatSak. It's a small square block with a hole in the middle so you can tie it down, it stops the rodents from dragging it away. It nails them every time.
Allan M
Well-Known Member
You must have big brain rodents or intelligent rodents (is that an oxymoron?) Please keep those bad boys on your side of the world!
And exterminator company that services my property every other month uses a product similar to what you describe as RatSak. My problem isn't killing mice, it's keeping the mice from doing damage before they die. If you look at the two pics I attached on page three of this thread you can see dead mice inside my AC unit. The electronics didn't kill them, they clearly had feasted on the bait trap next to the AC unit. There were six dead mice inside the AC control system. The urine and fecal matter shorted out two of the three control boards...$1800. The ultrasonic unit installed now two months ago appears to keep the mice out of the housing. That's the only winning scenario for me with my cars, AC unit, and heavy equipment. I'll still use bucket traps, bait traps, pay a service to come monthly etc...to keep the population down around the house, barn, and out buildings. I guess mother nature just laughs. Eventually, everything will once again revert to her. I'll buy you a Foster's if you ever make it stateside. Best, A
OzDozer
Senior Member
Hi Allan - I don't seem to have many mice around the house block (I live on a 600 sq metre inner-suburban block in the city), but my problem seems to be almost entirely roof rats. I reckon they're the most cunning creatures on the planet - and the most "unkillable". I found that garden snails were encouraging them, so I took out plants that seem to harbour snails. The snail population is right down, but the rats are still here.
Here's an interesting Australian car news item that reveals U.S. car owners are suing manufacturers - Toyota and Honda specifically - for changing over to environmentally-friendly soy-based wiring insulation. The car owners that are suing, claim the rodents are attracted to the soy-based wiring, and they want compensation.
My take on their legal argument is, "good luck with that!". Rodents will chew on anything, in my experience, they simply need to chew to keep their tooth length down, and the flavour of what they chew on doesn't matter.
https://thecarguy.com.au/dirty-rats-usa/
Many a camper in remote areas of inland Australia has had their 4WD wiring chewed up by bush rats overnight, while they're camped. Rodent destruction of vehicles is a huge problem in rural and semi-rural areas of Australia. At least one car owner claims rubber snakes work for her.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-25/rats-chew-through-car-wires-seatbelts-upholstery/100478622
I was reading a recent article about the rat problem on the smaller Pacific Islands. The rat problems there are mind-blowing. On Henderson Island, a group set up a rat baiting programme to try and completely eliminate the islands rats - but just somewhere between 60 and 80 rats survived, and now the Henderson Island rat population is back to the 50,000 - 100,000 rats it was, before the major baiting programme was commenced.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-21/rat-extermination-on-a-remote-tropical-island-tahiti/10544694
Here's an interesting Australian car news item that reveals U.S. car owners are suing manufacturers - Toyota and Honda specifically - for changing over to environmentally-friendly soy-based wiring insulation. The car owners that are suing, claim the rodents are attracted to the soy-based wiring, and they want compensation.
My take on their legal argument is, "good luck with that!". Rodents will chew on anything, in my experience, they simply need to chew to keep their tooth length down, and the flavour of what they chew on doesn't matter.
https://thecarguy.com.au/dirty-rats-usa/
Many a camper in remote areas of inland Australia has had their 4WD wiring chewed up by bush rats overnight, while they're camped. Rodent destruction of vehicles is a huge problem in rural and semi-rural areas of Australia. At least one car owner claims rubber snakes work for her.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-25/rats-chew-through-car-wires-seatbelts-upholstery/100478622
I was reading a recent article about the rat problem on the smaller Pacific Islands. The rat problems there are mind-blowing. On Henderson Island, a group set up a rat baiting programme to try and completely eliminate the islands rats - but just somewhere between 60 and 80 rats survived, and now the Henderson Island rat population is back to the 50,000 - 100,000 rats it was, before the major baiting programme was commenced.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-21/rat-extermination-on-a-remote-tropical-island-tahiti/10544694
Allan M
Well-Known Member
OzDozer: Followed the links above. Great articles. Didn't know about the soy material in car wiring looms. Makes sense. Shows how trying to be "green" can create a new set of problems. I know that Jaguar had been using a wiring harness insulation that broke down with ozone exposure...which had caused a lot of the electrical issues that they were experiencing in their cars. Ford Motor Company, when they bought them, fixed that. Now I think Tata Motors (Indian Company) owns Jaguar. Rodents like roaches are tenacious. I guess we're lucky that we are fighting 1st world problems like mice and not a darker evil that many of our brothers and sisters are fighting in other parts of the world. Thanks for sharing. A
Have a smart mouse
Made a roller bucket trap this summer and managed to get 6 to 8 so all good using peanut butter. The cold weather comes and started noticing all the PB is gone and no mouse. Setup a trail cam and got several pics of a mouse going back n forth from the roller. The little $hit goes off the roller, rotates it and goes back for more.
Thought I'd try greasing the roller leading to the PB, and just checked, same dang thing, PB is gone and nothing in the bucket.
Managed to get a couple with old fashion spring trap
Would post the pics but can barely make out what it is.
Made a roller bucket trap this summer and managed to get 6 to 8 so all good using peanut butter. The cold weather comes and started noticing all the PB is gone and no mouse. Setup a trail cam and got several pics of a mouse going back n forth from the roller. The little $hit goes off the roller, rotates it and goes back for more.
Thought I'd try greasing the roller leading to the PB, and just checked, same dang thing, PB is gone and nothing in the bucket.
Managed to get a couple with old fashion spring trap
Would post the pics but can barely make out what it is.
Dam, maybe you should catch that 1 for the circus
treemuncher
Senior Member
Try dropping the roller axle deeper into the bucket. I built mine with 2 empty freon cans and a piece of 5/32 stainless tig filler wire for the axle. The rollers sit up higher and look wider so the mice are more likely to see it as a larger platform and jump down to it. More peanut butter & Nutella coverage area too.
treemuncher
Senior Member
An update on something that seems to be working to keep the mice out of my cab. I've installed a packet of Fresh Cab Botanical Rodent Repellent in a couple of my cabs that have had the most mice issues. The packet alone did not seem to work for a very long time, if at all. However, once I noted more evidence of mice rehabitation, I added a few drops of my Wood Lock Oil to the packets and that has really seemed to do the trick. I think it has been three months since I last dosed the Menzi cab and I still do not have any evidence of mice in that cab. The Kubota looks to be doing just as well.
I bought the packets at Rural King. For the $15 cost for a 4 pack, I find that the packets are expensive and only worked for a short time before the mice returned. The addition of the oil keeps the packet working and smells like everything is working in unison. I don't mind the smell, it's not burning my eyes like a heavy dose of straight WL oil does and the mice have stayed away longer than previous periods. Maybe someone else can confirm my experiment?
I bought the packets at Rural King. For the $15 cost for a 4 pack, I find that the packets are expensive and only worked for a short time before the mice returned. The addition of the oil keeps the packet working and smells like everything is working in unison. I don't mind the smell, it's not burning my eyes like a heavy dose of straight WL oil does and the mice have stayed away longer than previous periods. Maybe someone else can confirm my experiment?