What a beautiful morning! It follows a probably miserable evening, where there was high wind and rain → freezing rain → snow, so that the leading edge of every surface looks like this…
I had intended to drive to morning chicken chores but after less than a minute of trying to scrape global warming off the windshield I just put the Jeep in gear and let it roll down the driveway a bit…
…so that the sun could gradually do my work for me. Walking to chicken chores was certainly going to be less work than chipping ice with a plastic scraper.
And I’m glad I did, because – like I said – it was an absolutely beautiful morning for a walkie.
I had to go and spoil my own mood, though, by stopping by the reloading shack where I found that mice had moved in again. And made a big excremental mess. Again.
You know, I don’t really mind rodents. I often think they’re kind of cute. And my rodent-related troubles are really my own fault, right? This is the desert, where they’re basically the lowest and therefore most well-populated niche on the food chain, and I moved here on purpose. So I don’t seek to preemptively murder every rodent that might theoretically cross my path. (sorry, Zelda.) But there are rules. And my standing traps had only killed one mouse, and they rarely live alone and this mess wasn’t made by one mouse. So…
…they gotta go. Again. I don’t know how they’re getting in but I need to spend some time in the shack with the door closed and the lights off, to find the chink of sunlight where they’re getting in.
Just part of life in the desert. Along with cleaning up my loading bench. Again.
I was having issues with mice in my workshop and SUV. The way I keep them out is by using copious amounts of peppermint oil. The mice seem to hate it and tend to stay away. Maybe this would work for you, Joel.
Other scents that are known to work are:
– Black pepper,
– Cayenne pepper, and
– Bleach,
Good luck, Joel.
Joel- have you tried the peanut butter roller over a bucket of water? I use that in my garage, as there’s NO way to seal the garage all up. Works well, and no messy cannibalism…
I’ve used it in Landlady’s barn with some success. There really isn’t room for one in the reloading shack.
Even if you hang the bucket from the rafters???
Why not reload at the lair?
I have no idea where I’d put a reloading bench and storage in the Lair, it’s rather small. Also loose powder and open flame is not a good combination.
I keep 6 to 10 cats prowling my place at all times . The few mice,rats,tree rats ever seen had no head . Well fed and kept cats only eat the head . It’s a motivational thing !
Bucket traps work very effectively.
https://isserfiq.blogspot.com/2018/01/best-mouse-trap.html
Hi Joel. You might want to try using milk chocolate as bait on an ordinary mouse trap, before you spend money on anything new. I’ve used it and it works. You just need to form it in the trap so that they can’t take it away as a piece.
Those little buggers can get thru the smallest cracks. I’ve used steel wool in obvious mouse runs that originated in a gap not much more than 1/4 inch. They will not chew through that.
Then all you have to do is get rid of the ones that have already set up residence.
Another option,, of course, is to bait them with tannerite, then swat them with the flat side of a shovel…
Only time we had trouble with rats and mice, it was quickly solved by a rat terrier pouncing on them! Right now, I think our outside cats take care of anything creeping around, judging by the half mice I’ve found in the driveway.
That ‘Multiple Catch Mouse Trap with Clear Lid’ model works really well for me. Once it has caught one, it seems to attract and catch the rest.
Speaking of traps… this one would be a bit much for Joel, but the video is hilarious. 3minutes of Grade A humor.
https://ogdaa.blogspot.com/2021/01/sunday-video-3_24.html
That’s just mean.