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Post by Ken on Oct 26, 2020 14:29:47 GMT -6
I was just looking at something similar. I found "weep hole covers" on Amazon but they were quite pricey and the packages were for 50-60 coverings. Only the front of my house is brick and I only see weep holes in this one spot... 7 of them. An article I just read said not to fill in the weep holes and it also said that they shouldn't allow pests into the house. But there was a caveat that said that the space from the front of the brick to the outside wall of the house could be 4-5/8" long and that there is typically a 1" space between the brick and wall and that insects, mice or snakes could get in there and potentially find gaps or even make their own. One suggestion was to fill the weep holes with steel wool. Mice in particular hate steel wool. So I just went and picked some up. I plan to stuff some steel wool into those spots just to fill the gaps but still allow airflow and water drainage.
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Post by bklmt2000 on Oct 26, 2020 14:44:58 GMT -6
Agreed on not plugging the weepholes closed. Could easily lead to interior moisture/rotting problems down the road. Sidebar: I had a chimney repair outfit out to my house earlier this spring to give an estimate for replacing my chimney crowns. The moron they sent out told me, with a straight face, that he didn't know what "those gaps in your brick" (meaning the weepholes he was pointing at as we spoke) were, and that I needed to close them soon or risk water/pests getting in the house.
Safe to say, they didn't get the job. Plugging the weepholes w/ something like SS mesh or the like is the way to go to ensure pests stay out but water doesn't get trapped where it should otherwise drain away.
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Post by Ken on Oct 26, 2020 14:55:51 GMT -6
Agreed on not plugging the weepholes closed. Could easily lead to interior moisture/rotting problems down the road. Sidebar: I had a chimney repair outfit out to my house earlier this spring to give an estimate for replacing my chimney crowns. The moron they sent out told me, with a straight face, that he didn't know what "those gaps in your brick" (meaning the weepholes he was pointing at as we spoke) were, and that I needed to close them soon or risk water/pests getting in the house.
Safe to say, they didn't get the job. Plugging the weepholes w/ something like SS mesh or the like is the way to go to ensure pests stay out but water doesn't get trapped where it should otherwise drain away. Okay, just did this. Armed with the steel wool, a common wood shim and a hammer so I could lightly tap it into place. Also, there were not 7 weep holes... there were 13. Some were on the other side of the front door and hidden by shrubs. The steel wool I got was "coarse". I have one trap in the basement that's on a relatively well-worn path. I had found evidence there years ago and thought it was a good spot for a trap. It would be really cool if I didn't see a mouse in that trap this winter but that seems to be too easy. More to come. Cheers and thanks B.
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Post by chils on Oct 26, 2020 18:03:21 GMT -6
They are coming in for sure. I saw one a couple weeks ago in my garage. Set traps and never got anything but lost the bait. Set 2 more and 2 sticky traps 2 days ago. Yesterday--nothing. This morning I had 1 mouse in a snap trap and one BIG mouse stuck on the sticky trap. Both within 2ft of each other.
Hoping they got in when the garage door was up and not some other way. Don't want to fight this battle again.
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Post by Ken on Oct 26, 2020 18:12:03 GMT -6
They are coming in for sure. I saw one a couple weeks ago in my garage. Set traps and never got anything but lost the bait. Set 2 more and 2 sticky traps 2 days ago. Yesterday--nothing. This morning I had 1 mouse in a snap trap and one BIG mouse stuck on the sticky trap. Both within 2ft of each other. Hoping they got in when the garage door was up and not some other way. Don't want to fight this battle again. Not sure if I mentioned this but I found something where a guy suggested using cereal in the trap. He suggested Froot Loops or Trix or Cocoa Puffs and you super glue the cereal into the trap. I am using plastic JAWZ traps like this: The bait tray is perfect for this. The idea is that the mouse wants to take the bait somewhere more secure but they can't move it because it's glued down. They exert a little extra effort and BOOM! Adios muchacho. I had four traps in the garage that were cleaned every single night... no bait left and no dead mouse. I used the cereal trick and the next day I had my culprit. A small mouse that was probably too light to trip the trap.
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Post by chils on Oct 26, 2020 18:40:04 GMT -6
They are coming in for sure. I saw one a couple weeks ago in my garage. Set traps and never got anything but lost the bait. Set 2 more and 2 sticky traps 2 days ago. Yesterday--nothing. This morning I had 1 mouse in a snap trap and one BIG mouse stuck on the sticky trap. Both within 2ft of each other. Hoping they got in when the garage door was up and not some other way. Don't want to fight this battle again. Not sure if I mentioned this but I found something where a guy suggested using cereal in the trap. He suggested Froot Loops or Trix or Cocoa Puffs and you super glue the cereal into the trap. I am using plastic JAWZ traps like this: The bait tray is perfect for this. The idea is that the mouse wants to take the bait somewhere more secure but they can't move it because it's glued down. They exert a little extra effort and BOOM! Adios muchacho. I had four traps in the garage that were cleaned every single night... no bait left and no dead mouse. I used the cereal trick and the next day I had my culprit. A small mouse that was probably too light to trip the trap. Mine are tomcat traps similar to that but w/o the bait tray--they have a tab. The last tomcats I bought had the bait tray just like that. If I keep getting robbed I'll glue some bait down. I've done that in the past with birdseed but I've been pretty successful with peanut butter plus I haven't had a mouse problem in awhile. This is the first year with the new garage expansion. I hope there isn't a way in. Glue traps usually get those little suckers you can't get with a snap trap.
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Post by chils on Oct 28, 2020 18:07:34 GMT -6
So I caught 2 mice and my snap traps got cleaned out the next night. Superglued cheerios to the trap tabs last night. Had a mouse this morning snapped. No cheerios were lost. Thanks for the reminder Ken.
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Post by Ken on Oct 28, 2020 18:34:58 GMT -6
So I caught 2 mice and my snap traps got cleaned out the next night. Superglued cheerios to the trap tabs last night. Had a mouse this morning snapped. No cheerios were lost. Thanks for the reminder Ken. NICE! My guess is that mice are creatures of habit and when they know there is food in a certain place they return to it. Once I had my little bandit caught, I have not seen another mouse in the garage. My guess is that there are no mice in the area that specifically know there is "food" in the garage and so I just wait for some mouse doing surveillance to find the traps. I once found that a mouse got into chocolate kisses that my wife hid in my brew bunker to put into the kids' stockings for Xmas. I found where he stashed the kisses (under the stand that my draft fridges are sitting on) and I cleaned those up and put a trap there with peanut butter. The next morning I caught that guy in the trap because that mouse knew specifically that there had been food there.
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Post by chils on Oct 28, 2020 18:44:35 GMT -6
So I caught 2 mice and my snap traps got cleaned out the next night. Superglued cheerios to the trap tabs last night. Had a mouse this morning snapped. No cheerios were lost. Thanks for the reminder Ken. NICE! My guess is that mice are creatures of habit and when they know there is food in a certain place they return to it. Once I had my little bandit caught, I have not seen another mouse in the garage. My guess is that there are no mice in the area that specifically know there is "food" in the garage and so I just wait for some mouse doing surveillance to find the traps. I once found that a mouse got into chocolate kisses that my wife hid in my brew bunker to put into the kids' stockings for Xmas. I found where he stashed the kisses (under the stand that my draft fridges are sitting on) and I cleaned those up and put a trap there with peanut butter. The next morning I caught that guy in the trap because that mouse knew specifically that there had been food there. It is strange that he didn't get on the sticky trap I had. I have crumbled cashew in the center of it. I talked to dad a few years ago and told him I wasn't catching mice but my bait wasn't being taken either. He said to switch types of traps. I did and started catching them. I think these suckers can learn what to avoid.
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Post by Ken on Oct 28, 2020 18:51:27 GMT -6
I occasionally get a snapped trap with no mouse. I also get a snapped trap and the mouse just has one of its legs in the trap so it's still alive. I really don't want to deal with that so I just leave them there and they eventually croak from exposure or no water or whatever. I like these JAWZ traps. I haven't tried the sticky traps but since I dislike dealing with live mice I probably won't go there.
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Post by chils on Oct 28, 2020 19:05:58 GMT -6
I occasionally get a snapped trap with no mouse. I also get a snapped trap and the mouse just has one of its legs in the trap so it's still alive. I really don't want to deal with that so I just leave them there and they eventually croak from exposure or no water or whatever. I like these JAWZ traps. I haven't tried the sticky traps but since I dislike dealing with live mice I probably won't go there. I'm OK with killing them. Shovel to the neck is very quick and effective. I don't like killing but I accept it as a necessity to eliminate them. I haven't had any leg catches since I started setting up to make them approach head on.
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Post by Ken on Oct 28, 2020 19:10:31 GMT -6
I have one in a spot in my basement where I found evidence. It's in a spot above a doorway and I have caught numerous mice in this trap. When it snaps, it usually falls to the floor and I find the evidence the next day. Sometimes it stays up above the doorway which means I smell it a couple days later and I have to go get it. One day I was watching TV in the basement and I heard the trap snap. I opened the door and I saw that the trap had snapped with a mouse in it and fell onto a support beam about 6" under the top of the door and the mouse was still alive. Okay. So I just left it there to die. 2 minutes later I hear the trap hit the floor so I open the door again and there's the trap but no mouse. So when it hit the floor the mouse was able to spring free and now there is a mouse running around the basement somewhere. Meh. He'll get out the same way he came in.
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Post by chils on Oct 29, 2020 5:20:22 GMT -6
No mice this morning in the traps or glue board. I'm hoping I don't have a way in and that these found their way in when I had the door up. I spend a lot of time out there with the door up working.
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Post by Ken on Oct 29, 2020 8:30:58 GMT -6
No mice this morning in the traps or glue board. I'm hoping I don't have a way in and that these found their way in when I had the door up. I spend a lot of time out there with the door up working. Nothing here today which is good. I take no joy in finding these things although when I do find a dead one, something like "SUCK IT!" comes out of my mouth. I generally assume that I am always one step behind these guys. This action I took earlier in the week with the steel wool and weep holes... it would be really cool if I never found a mouse in the basement again but I'm pretty sure that won't happen. As soon as I see one it will be back to the grindstone looking for an obvious way in. The trap I have setup is halfway across the house between the front and back of the house. In the back I have some traps set up (6) and the front is where the weep holes are. Nothing in the six traps for the past week. The weep holes are all filled in with steel wool. Obviously the mice could be getting in anywhere so the fight continues.
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Post by Ken on Nov 5, 2020 15:14:01 GMT -6
I have a plastic trunk out in the corner of my yard with firewood in it. No signs of mice, etc. but there was a good amount of sawdust in there. Some Googling tells me that it's called FRASS. Dust from beetles/borers that like to hang out in the wood. Anyone else experience this? Is it problematic having the wood on the property? Having it in a firewood "ring" on the front porch or in a small container in the family room? I generally don't have firewood INSIDE the house... I bring it in as I need it.
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