Mouse attack.

[bil]

Originally Posted by wintergirl

Nice to get a greenhouse. You may want to put some mouse/rat bait in your woodshed. I put that bait that has blood thinner in corn in my barns every year to keep the population under control. They sell it everywhere here, even in grocery stores here. My dogs do not have access to these areas and I put it in places where just the mice can get it. Traps are good but for control in a place like a woodshed I would use bait too.

My fear is that a dying mouse will get into the dog area.

[wintergirl]

Originally Posted by Vanda lover

I have had to use bait at times but I really hate the cruel, painful way they die. We had to kill a rat in the attic last year and it was the only practical way to do it in the awkward space. We had to listen to it a long time before it died.

I didn't know it was a cruel way to kill them but if they are in your house they are "fair game" and you must do what you have to do. I have to place bait in the barns or they will just take it over.

Originally Posted by bil

My fear is that a dying mouse will get into the dog area.

I worry about that but I was thinking the body size of a dog and the dose inside a rat or mouse may not really be lethal for the dog. Most of those are blood thinners not really a poison, but then again I am not expert on any of that.

Also an exterminator once told me baits will make the rats/mice thirsty so they will leave to seek water and die outside. (that way they don't die inside and smell the place up) So they could be found by other animals....

[Vanda lover]

I agree with you. Even if it is cruel, you just can't allow rodents to live with you. Sometimes traps aren't practical. It is true that if the rodent can get outside to look for water it will. Unfortunately the one in our attic couldn't. So we had to put up with the smell for quite a while after it died.

[wintergirl]

Originally Posted by Vanda lover

I agree with you. Even if it is cruel, you just can't allow rodents to live with you. Sometimes traps aren't practical. It is true that if the rodent can get outside to look for water it will. Unfortunately the one in our attic couldn't. So we had to put up with the smell for quite a while after it died.

Ugh, that must have been fun. When we remodeled our old farm house we found a dried out piney squirrel under the floor space of the sink/cupboards. I only could imagine the odor the previous owners experienced and they would not know where it was coming from.

[Ferns Daddy]

I don't have a problem with mice I just have chipmunks living in my basement all winter its a pain but they are cute and haven't damaged any thing yet, when they do I'll get a cat to run them off I hope.

[wintergirl]

Originally Posted by Ferns Daddy

I don't have a problem with mice I just have chipmunks living in my basement all winter its a pain but they are cute and haven't damaged any thing yet, when they do I'll get a cat to run them off I hope.

We use those live traps for chipmunks and piney squirrels, set with peanut butter on crackers. Then we take them far out and let them go. My insurance agent said if you don't get rid of pests like this and they cause a fire from chewing wires, it would not be covered. Cats may not take care of the problem. Live traps are available at most farm stores.

You need to get rid of the entrances for them by plugging any holes with steel wool. We got rid of the piney problem by trimming the trees back. They were jumping from branches onto roof and getting in the attic. The previous owner had such a piney problem that when we made a hole in the wall during construction, a bunch of walnuts rolled out like a slot machine payout.

[Ferns Daddy]

After 11 years of trying to plug every hole in the basement I've just about given up,so far they haven't chewed on any wires, they seem to live in just one area of the basement where there is on wires for them to chew on.

[Ordphien]

Get a main coon.
They are very adept mousers, and their hunting instincts are almost entirely ground based.
They pretty much ignore birds and fish.
Or try cornmeal.
Not sure about the chipmunks lol..
But if you fill a very tall bucket with a little cornmeal rats and mice jump to get it and usually can't get back out.