BYE BYE MICE!

by ROBERT
(BEAR ROCK, NH, USA)

This isn't a story but rather a how to. How to get rid of a multitude of mice. It is irrevelant where they are; in the barn or down in the cellar enjoying your potatoe harvest, this will eliminate the pests.

The trap, if you want to call it that is very simple to construct and even more important, simple to empty.

Start with a five gallon plastic pail which are available everywhere. Home center if you must buy but recycling centers are good sources.

A coffee can with plastic lid and 2' of wire, grass trimmer line or even string.

Drill a wire size hole 1" below the bucket handle attachment points. Drill the same size hole in the center of the coffee can ends.

Usually the plastic end will have a center mark. Snap that over the metal end and drill both holes at the same time, using the center mark as a guide.

Attach one end of the wire to the bucket and slip the metal end of the coffee can onto the wire.

Slid the plastic can end onto the wire and snap it on the can. Attach the other end of the wire to the bucket squeezing the bucket between your knees so when you release your knees the wire is "tensioned".

Get a narrow board (2") and about 2' long. Put 2" of water in the bucket and place where the mice are and the dog isn't.

Coat the coffee can with Cabot cheddar and a film of cheese up the board which you rest against the bucket rim perpendicular to the coffee can.

The mice will follow the cheese scent to the top of the ramp, smell more on the coffee can and jump onto it only to have it turn and dump them into the water. Once they have met their demise pour them out and replace the water. If you don't put water in they can jump out.




Comments for
BYE BYE MICE!

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Careful What You Do!
by: Berny

I just had to but in and add my twenty cents worth here. I have just finished watching an amazing documentary on raptors.

It discussed how these birds of prey where being affected by the poisons we use to rid ourselves of mice and rats.

If you think giving poison is nasty for the rodent you do not want to know what it does to the bird that eats it. Anyway they have come up with an amazing plan that they are using in and around the docks where they set up nesting boxes for rescued owls around the perimeter of the area.

At night the owls hunt the rodents that infest the docklands and you have a win win situation.

Fact not Fiction ... with a smile
by: Anonymous

Relocation; laughably idiotic since they've no food sourse from their usual stashes, which would mean slow starvation. In the our very country setting we have cycles of huge mouse infestations, & clearly for health reasons, whatever gets the job done is what you go with. NOTHING else works. It is what it is. 3 minutes of futile paddling around a bucket is the lesser of the many 'evils'.

Mice..not a pet
by: Marguerite

I think Doug's method is a great one. For those who think killing a mouse is inhumane...did you ever open your cupboard with a room filled with people and have a mouse looking straight at you?? I did! My carefully prepared food lost it's appeal. We think nothing of swatting a mosquito, a fly, beetles eating our veggies....well, mice are even more dirty! I'll take any suggestion I can get! THANKS DOUG...great design.

Doug says - this Doug did not write this tip - for author name see under the main post.

Why kill?
by: Elaine

I cannot imagine going to all the trouble to design a trap that would cause a little mouse to fight for its life. If one wants to go to any effort, why not trap them & relocate them? Then, take more effort to either plug up ways for them to access your home or, in the case of barns etc., live with them. We store our seed in metal containers & the wildlife facility we volunteer at stores their grains in metal silos.

killing is never easy
by: vb

Killing any pest is never pretty, but we do it to the bugs we pick off our plants and squish, or spray neem on. So it is with small furry (but destructive) mammals. I'm glad to find out about this way of ridding ourselves of an overabundance of mice without using any chemicals. I would also not be opposed to enlisting a cat or two.

Killing mice-not so nice
by: Anonymous

For all those people who use mice poison.... not a pleasant way to go either. Cat's? pretty darn awful...snap traps-fast kill... one maybe two mice, and then they get street smart... A really cruel way to get them are the traps with glue on them. The little guys are stuck there until they die of thirst or worse- crushed by the garbage truck- kind of similar to the mouse poison but with/out the internal bleeding and excruciating pain. Maybe you can come up with a humane way to kill the critters effectively but, if you ask me killing humanly is an oxymoron. Getting rid of mice is just simply not nice! I would like to point out that the above listed methods are all sanctioned....acceptable methods of demise, available in your local hardware store or Humane Society!

Mice
by: Marlene

What a cruel way to do this! How many awful minutes would they struggle for life? There's got to be a better way.......

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