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Post by Ken on Jul 20, 2020 16:27:04 GMT -6
Last week there was a mouse in a trap in the middle of the garage. I assumed he had lived long enough to carry the trap to that spot. When I went to pick it up, he was still alive. Hooray. This has happened before I and have no desire to feck with a still-live mouse in a trap. I put a box over it and waited a day. I could smell that he expired and then I cleaned it up. Today I go out there and I smell something similar but all the traps are empty. I look and look and basically just followed the flies. And there it was... in a bucket where a bit of grain dust had fallen in from my mill. Holy Guacamole did this thing wreak in the heat. He climbed in and couldn't get back out. What's weird though is that I generally don't see mouse activity in the basement, garage or shed in the summer. My conclusion is that they only come inside to warm up in the winter. Two mice inside of one week is weird for July. That said, I re-deployed *ALL* of my traps just now. Four in the garage, 4 in the one shed where there has been activity and eight more outside where I have caught many, many mice.
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Post by chils on Jul 20, 2020 17:56:01 GMT -6
It's amazing how bad those things can stink. We've had exactly one mouse in this house in 20 years and it ended up getting in the stove insulation and dying. I tore that thing apart and couldn't find it. Wife got the smooth glass top stove she always wanted.
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Post by Ken on Jul 20, 2020 18:04:14 GMT -6
It's amazing you haven't seen mice or evidence of mice. They have been in every place I have lived and pretty much every house that anyone I have spoken to has lived. They are everywhere. Supposedly they love to live near humans because humans are pigs and will leave things behind for them. Out in the corner of the yard where I have a bunch of traps set, I also set up the trail camera to see if I can tell what's up out there.
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Post by chils on Jul 20, 2020 18:13:19 GMT -6
It's amazing you haven't seen mice or evidence of mice. They have been in every place I have lived and pretty much every house that anyone I have spoken to has lived. They are everywhere. Supposedly they love to live near humans because humans are pigs and will leave things behind for them. Out in the corner of the yard where I have a bunch of traps set, I also set up the trail camera to see if I can tell what's up out there. I had problems with them in the past in my garage but never in my house. I killed dozens and got sick of it. Found and sealed where they were getting in and no more problems. My wellhouse was rotten and mouse infested. Had it torn down and rebuilt in steel and no problems since.
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Post by Ken on Jul 20, 2020 18:33:42 GMT -6
It's amazing you haven't seen mice or evidence of mice. They have been in every place I have lived and pretty much every house that anyone I have spoken to has lived. They are everywhere. Supposedly they love to live near humans because humans are pigs and will leave things behind for them. Out in the corner of the yard where I have a bunch of traps set, I also set up the trail camera to see if I can tell what's up out there. I had problems with them in the past in my garage but never in my house. I killed dozens and got sick of it. Found and sealed where they were getting in and no more problems. My wellhouse was rotten and mouse infested. Had it torn down and rebuilt in steel and no problems since. They can definitely get into small openings and there is NO WAY for me to check my whole foundation for pencil-sized gaps. I had the camera up a few times and I have videos of them squeezing through some very tight gaps. Their skeletons must be made of rubber.
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Post by chils on Jul 20, 2020 18:46:44 GMT -6
I had problems with them in the past in my garage but never in my house. I killed dozens and got sick of it. Found and sealed where they were getting in and no more problems. My wellhouse was rotten and mouse infested. Had it torn down and rebuilt in steel and no problems since. They can definitely get into small openings and there is NO WAY for me to check my whole foundation for pencil-sized gaps. I had the camera up a few times and I have videos of them squeezing through some very tight gaps. Their skeletons must be made of rubber. They chewed the seal corners of my garage door and were getting in there. I used some 3/4" rubber stall mat to make new corners for the seal and stopped that nonsense. The old wellhouse was impossible to seal up and was falling apart. I went all steel on my wellhouse and new house siding so I wouldnt have rot/mouse/insect intrusion problems in the future.
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Post by zymot on Jul 22, 2020 6:49:49 GMT -6
The only time I saw a mouse or a rat where I lived was my cheap ass apartment in New York city.
Maybe a couple outside when there was thick cover and bushes. I know they are everywhere. I assume because they are nocturnal, I just do not see them. And I have found tell tale evidence.
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Post by Ken on Jul 22, 2020 8:07:36 GMT -6
The night before last I caught one in the area where I set traps outside (a small patio in the corner of my yard where there has been a lot of activity). Other traps had snapped but there was no mouse in it. That could also be other guys (skunks, possum, raccoons, even cats) who played with the trap and set it off. Last night, no activity.
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Post by Ken on Sept 17, 2020 16:33:04 GMT -6
We've had some nice weather here and on Tuesday evening I decided to watch the Cubs game out in the greenhouse on my tablet. I had my beer and my pretzels and my tablet and BT speaker. It started getting dark and as I looked behind the greenhouse I saw a giant skunk. It was kind of like being at a zoo except that *I* was in the zoo. So he (or she) walked back to my grill area and sniffed around and then came back along the fence towards the greenhouse. He stopped at a spot and then I can't believe what I saw next. The fence back there is in this style: Shadowbox style. I have fastened cedar planks along the bottom of it to keep things from digging but sure as shit this thing squeezed between the vertical pieces and went into the neighbors yard and I had a great view of the entire thing. If a big skunk can squeeze through there, my yard is far more porous than I thought.
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Post by chils on Sept 17, 2020 17:20:52 GMT -6
We've had some nice weather here and on Tuesday evening I decided to watch the Cubs game out in the greenhouse on my tablet. I had my beer and my pretzels and my tablet and BT speaker. It started getting dark and as I looked behind the greenhouse I saw a giant skunk. It was kind of like being at a zoo except that *I* was in the zoo. So he (or she) walked back to my grill area and sniffed around and then came back along the fence towards the greenhouse. He stopped at a spot and then I can't believe what I saw next. The fence back there is in this style: Shadowbox style. I have fastened cedar planks along the bottom of it to keep things from digging but sure as shit this thing squeezed between the vertical pieces and went into the neighbors yard and I had a great view of the entire thing. If a big skunk can squeeze through there, my yard is far more porous than I thought. Skunks are weasels and can get into very tight spots. They are like Pomeraian's. Fluffly hair on a pencil frame.
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Post by Ken on Oct 12, 2020 19:04:18 GMT -6
I have a door in the back of my garage that goes out to the backyard and there is a small gap on the bottom near the frame where mice can get in. I should really replace that door. So I have mousetraps near the entryway and I have caught the occasional mouse there. But for the last month or so, every one of the four traps near the door (baited with peanut butter) has been picked clean. The peanut butter is gone on all four traps and the trap has not sprung. Every day. Who in the hell is doing this? I remembered a trick I read about where someone suggested super-gluing a piece of cereal into the trap. This makes it harder for them to get and they may put more weight on the trigger to get the cereal and... the trap springs. Hopefully. This afternoon I found some kind of sweetened Cheerios in our pantry and glued one piece into each trap. I just went out there and BOOYA... I have my culprit. Or at least one of them.
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Post by Ken on Oct 26, 2020 12:17:56 GMT -6
Hello and welcome back to another installment of PEST TALK. With winter on the way (it snowed here today) I am looking at some of the spots where mice might be able to get into my basement. I have some traps set up and also put my camera out a number of nights in a row with no activity. But in the front of my house I notice that along the first row of bricks there are gaps where there is no mortar: Along this area, there are SEVEN such spots and they're all along the bottom row of bricks. Would there be an intentional reason for this? The gap is clearly larger enough to allow a mouse through but my guess is that they would encounter Tyvek or insulation or some kind of barrier before they would actually get into the house. Should I fill these or are they here for a reason? Mmm, some additional searching brought me to THIS.
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Post by bklmt2000 on Oct 26, 2020 12:54:43 GMT -6
Those look like weepholes for the brickwork (I have many on my house) that allow any water that gets behind the brick to drain out, rather than work its way into the home.
And yes, if the brick/Tyvek, etc. are installed correctly, pests shouldn't be able, at least not easily, to get into the house.
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Post by Ken on Oct 26, 2020 13:37:48 GMT -6
Those look like weepholes for the brickwork (I have many on my house) that allow any water that gets behind the brick to drain out, rather than work its way into the home. And yes, if the brick/Tyvek, etc. are installed correctly, pests shouldn't be able, at least not easily, to get into the house. Thanks B. Never heard of weepholes before. I got in there with a flashlight and there does not appear to be any entry into the house. It looks like it hits more concrete or something that would prevent an intruder from accessing the house. But... there is a spot somewhere because I have traps around the house and I have traps in the garage and occasionally I catch a mouse in the basement. So the search continues.
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Post by bklmt2000 on Oct 26, 2020 13:58:44 GMT -6
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