How to catch mice

[76zimmer]

Over the years Ive tried many methods of mice control to keep them out of the Vette, trucks, shop and garage.
The first step is to take care of accessible entries.
Plug the holes, remembering the little bastards love to chew on things.
Here are some of the ways I've tried and the results IME

Steel wool: slows them down but it don't get rid of them.
Electronic wave devices: they must be deaf cause it don't drive them away.
Scented dryer sheets: they thanked me for the nest padding.
Irish spring scented bar soap: they used it as an appetizer.
Glue traps: caught a couple of mice on these but they have gotten away from them too.
Bait boxes (D-Con): these work well eventually when they've ate enough, but the usually go die somewhere, then you have to search out their coffin to rid the stench of dead carcasses.
Water bucket traps: peanut butter bait leading into a bucket of water works well, but a mess to clean up after they sit a few weeks.
Baited spring traps: these work well, I use peanut butter for bait, these need to be checked every few days/weeks depending on how many invaders there are.
Peppermint oil extract: I use 2 ounces of extract mixed with 16 ounces of water and spray it with a mist sprayer bottle inthe affected areas, and any entry points. This has worked very well, haven't had any mice in the traps since I started this method a few months ago. I have sprayed the area under the vehicles, around door openings and the interior.
It needs to be touched up about once a month but no mess to deal with and it smells better than dead carcasses!

What have you tried and post your results

 

[blazinzuk]

Cats. Very good results.

 

[skunked]

Peppermint oil is what I use inside primarily. I don't dilute it though, I just drop it around the edges of the garage walls with a dropper. My truck is on the side of the house so I dropped some in the cab and around the inner front fenders.

On my 6' fences I have rats that run down them, so there I have large spring traps loaded with Peanut butter, old meat, cheese in a can, whatever I have on hand (trick is to tie the meat to the trap). Also I screwed a couple of those TOMCAT bait boxes with the green poison. They love that stuff, but I need to keep it away from my dog so that's why I screw them to the fence.

I hate those bastards.

 

[max 02]

This catch made me laugh!
Buck liked it too!

 

[blazinzuk]

When we moved to our place we literally didn't buy cat food for the entire summer. I saw my cat catch and eat 4 mice in one day. They had cat food but I guess my cats prefer mice and voles

 

[skunked]

This catch made me laugh!
Buck liked it too!

That's pretty awesome.

I caught a bird a few weeks ago, I would've taken a picture but I had to get rid of the evidence before my daughter saw it.

 

[big dan]

I mainly use the spring traps. Our cat sucks and rarely catches mice, usually goes for birds.

I did have a blue tick hound that was great at catching mice and rats. When I would mow or the neighbors cut hay he would spend all day catching and eating them but someone decided they needed him more than me.

My wife doesn't like it much, calls me a redneck, but Ive been known to take down my fair share with a .22 pistol. Just use shorts and they don't have enough power to go all the way through.

Ultimately I don't have a real method. This peppermint oil does sound pretty effective so I may try some.

 

[skunked]

When I clean my garage floors I use a shit ton of pinesol, they hate that too.

 

[tRustyK5]

around the house our cats do a good job...enough that neighbors have commented on the absence of mice since we moved here. The one neighbor even buys our cats treats as a reward. I've yet to see them eat the mice they catch, usually just find the bodies in our yard.

My big mouse problem is in my garbage truck. It's a rolling smorg for the little ****ers...the only thing I've had much success with is the spring traps and peanut butter. I will try the peppermint oil extract though. I've got one (at least} living in the headliner right now.

 

[blazinzuk]

When I clean my garage floors I use a shit ton of pinesol, they hate that too.

Interesting.

 

[beags86]

My great uncles "Coon cocktail" seams to fix racoons, sunks, possums, rats, and mice. And dogs and cats if you aren't careful!!

Coon cocktail is a recipe of

1 shot of triple sec
1 shot Sprite
1 shot rat poison
Dash of bitters
Shaken not stirred.

Lol jk. It's equal part Sprite and rat poison. Works like a f'in charm.

 

[blazinzuk]

Zim I really do think in your case you ought to look at getting an outdoor cat or 2. Just like at my house for every one caught in a trap there's a dozen you never knew were there.

But it can be hard getting a good mouser and you still gotta feed em a little. I'm gonna try cleaning my floors with pine Sol this spring I think.

Other things I have found helpful is nothing on the floor. I mean nothing. Everything on shelves. Some thin sheet metal wrapped around the bottom part should keep them off the shelves

 

[skunked]

If your feeling lazy you can soak some rags in pine-sol and put them around the garage. Got rid of the squirrels in the attic using this method too.

 

[max 02]

Some good ideas! I need to try pine-sol and the peppermint oil trick in our tucks and tractors that are sitting all winter in the back shed.
Gotta say though around our house a good cat works darn good!

 

[blowedupmotor87]

We used to put out bowls of Coca Cola when I was a kid, supposedly the mice would drink it but can't burp so it kills them. It seemed to work but, I have no quantifiable proof.
I use sticky traps in my garage, I feel bad about it (not very humane) but, I really don't like having mice in the house.
I prefer to stay away from using poisons for two reasons:
1) the above mentioned stench of hidden dead mouse
2) the possibility of poisoning the various predators that might eat the mice
Speaking of eating mice, our Pitbull used to catch mice, LOL!

 

[rjfguitar]

Bait bait bait..... Put out bait. Yeah, every once and a while one will die in a bad location and stink up something somewhere, but for that one dead mouse, 5 more are dead somewhere else.

 

[FAB454]

Had a customer call her insurance company to "total out" her Acura. Complete mouse house. Her solution was peppermint oil. No problems after that.

Keep any bait outside(don't draw them in anymore you have to.)

 

[diesel4me]

I have at least 3 "outdoor" feral cats that hang around,I haven't seen a live mouse in about 5 years...see lots of mouse corpses left on my steps as a present and other places in the yard though..

I still find dead ones roasted in the blower housing of my lawn tractor engines that sat awhile before being used however..bastids love small engines for mouse condos,and they always eat the friggin spark plug wire insulation off..one engine with a no longer available solid state ignition setup,I was lucky that re-insulating the bare plug wire with some romex cable covering and RTV worked to salvage it..
The tractor was parked in a shed the cats like to shelter in too,they are pretty brave..

I blasted a mouse with carb cleaner in my garage one night,and it ran behind some lockers and must have died--I moved everything away from the wall,not an easy chore either,cant find any trace of remains,but every damp day it reeks of death in that area..poured gas on the area and it still stinks..its forever in the concrete I guess..

 

[76zimmer]

I guess this is a popular problem
Great ideas that I'll have to try if my peppermint oil falls short in the future.
Eric I had a drop off cat this fall that the kids begged to bring inside for the winter, the. My granddaughter fell short of her responsibilities a d my daughter got rid of it to a friend who wanted to get one for his daughter for Christmas so it went to a good home.
Rene def try the peppermint oil let
Me know how it works in your environment!

 

[Chevy305]

Last fall I had mice eat the firewall insulation on my '12 Camaro. I was PISSED. Set out poison under the hood and those peppermint packets you can buy. They never did return to the Camaro and luckily didn't chew up any wires or anything else but they did start coming into the house. They chewed through the A/C line insulation to get in. My indoor cat caught one of them. I then set out poison and they at the whole damn thing. One died under the stairs and rotted. The maggots matured into those big ass flies and infested the basement for a while until I could find the carcass. I siliconed the hole and any other possible entry point and used expanding foam to fill from the inside. I check back a month later and the ****ers ate through the silicone! I said **** this and emptied a whole can of tripple expanding foam into that void they created there. No more place for them to go, haven't had a problem since.