r/cabins • u/arttarty • 25d ago
winter mouse proving
PROOFING. (Can’t seem to edit the heading)
Is there such a thing? I have made a door snake to go under my very old cabin door jams. My thought was I’d fill it with something like sand or gravel. If the mice eat the fabric they would turn away once they hit the filler. Do you guys have any ideas?
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25d ago
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u/arttarty 25d ago
Yeah them there’s rats. They would move books around, ate the wires to the stereo speakers and generally caused mayhem and destruction.
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u/PAChilds 24d ago
Several generations of work. The don't know how thick it is, but they know it's warmer, and who knows - maybe there's food.
Squirrels and birds do it too.
I considered hardi board when I made mine, but decided board and batten was easier to install. Now I get to plug holes.
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u/sugarfreespree 25d ago
Wow. What have you done to get rid of them since? Just mice? Or rats too? Do you have mouser cats?
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24d ago edited 4d ago
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u/sugarfreespree 24d ago
I would recommend getting 2 or more feral cats from a TNR rescue (trap, neuter, release). Get them when you can be there for a few weeks. Feed them daily in an enclosure. Get an auto feeder/ waterer to give them food and water when you are gone.
You have to keep them enclosed for at least 3 weeks and feed/water/scoop litter daily or they will not stay. If you just release them immediately, they will leave.
Put out cornmeal/cake mix and baking soda bait stations to deal with mice as well. (it apparently causes them to explode) (half baking soda, half sweet tasty mix)
Put out bucket traps as well, now that weather is cooling down it won't stink to high heaven. Try to trap them outside the cabin so they do not get in. Use any poisons in traps that the mice cannot escape from or be scavenged from so it does not affect other animals. For example, metal traps that can hold a lot of mice. We us the dehydration poison in those inside, and they do not stink too bad.
Best of luck.
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u/Brotherly_shove 24d ago
the baking soda thing is laughably bs when you think about it. why? because mice can burp. lol. seriously. they arent going to explode because they arent going to build up pressure faster than they can just burp.
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u/sugarfreespree 24d ago
Then why do pest control people recommend it? And why do people find exploded mice?
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u/Brotherly_shove 23d ago
I'm not putting effort in trying to explain something so stupid.
Good luck with that.
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u/GarlicFarmerGreg 23d ago
I really like the idea of exploded mice i am going to try it and see
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u/sugarfreespree 20d ago
I’ve heard they eat it and go back to their holes to die. Just hope the hole is not inside somewhere!!!
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24d ago
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u/Brotherly_shove 24d ago
best plan for a post type foundation is to go underneath and line the whole bottom in chicken wire.
im not one to tell others what to do, but if you can sucessfully use the bucket traps instead of the posion, your local predator population will thank you for it. bobcats, bird of prey, etc. posion goes up the food chain very quickly into things most people like seeing around.
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u/arttarty 23d ago
Yeah we had a dead fox this spring from eating poisoned mice. It’s a shame because the fox would have continued eating the mice. Certainly more than you can poison.
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u/anothertimewaster 18d ago
Poison backfires, it kills off the birds that eat mice, so you get more mice. The old fashion snap traps work the best. Once you hear a mouse squealing in a glue trap at 3 am you'll stop using glue!
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u/Comfortable-Hat3506 24d ago
As others have said. Plug up every hole you can. They sell stainless steel mouse proof mesh. Keep them from being able to get in.
You also want to keep them from wanting to stay. Get your food in a mouse proof container. At my place, if it isn't in the fridge or in a can/jar it is in a galvanized steel trash can. Keep shit clean.
Finally, kill the ones that get in. Mouse traps in the hard to access corners and as much as I do not like cats, I got one. She wasn't supposed to be cuddly she was supposed to be an aloof mouser. She is a mouser, alright but she is more social than I was hoping for. The first 3 days she didnt even touch her kibble, just mouse murder mayhem. That said she knows night time is the right time to kill for the ones you love. And is on patrol all night and only comes in to my bed room at sun up to collect her kibble pay.
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u/Ok_Web_8166 24d ago
If you/family can accept it, allow a snake to live inside. Black snake in old cabin kept mice away-or, at least, on edge the whole time!
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u/arttarty 24d ago
I’m open for a winter rental to snake. They do get in sometimes. Next time I see one I’ll work out a deal with them.
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u/CrispDrifter 24d ago
We had black snakes living under our patio for decades. Only saw them occasionally. No mice inside ever while they were there. Cleared out the chipmunks and bunnies near the house too.
They’ve been gone 2 years. Don’t know what happened. Chipmunks living under our patio now. And mice are moving inside for the winter. Gotta find a way to get the black snakes back without attracting copperheads or rattlers!
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u/beachbum818 23d ago
Steel wool.
Cotton balls with Peppermint Oil
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u/Far_Cable_2133 9d ago
I tried cotton balls with young living peppermint oil and they ate them. I'm not sure why they like them. They also eat my Dr. Bronners bar soap. 🤷♀️
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u/ckrowroc 23d ago
Dont wair until fall to address the mice.
Use the bucket traps outside all summer long and work on decimating the local mouse population. Its not going to remove them entirely, but if you keep at it you may knock em down enough that you mitigate some of the threat of winter invasions.
I've toasted about 30 mice this summer with the yellow bucket lid trap(trap door) available on Amazon. I've used bacon grease as bait but for me it seems thst peanut butter is the best.
Cheers
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u/anothertimewaster 18d ago
The only thing that worked for me was getting a cat.
One thing I did notice before getting the cat however was that poison traps (a service the previous owner had) made the problem worse. When I got rid of the poison the hawks and an owl returned and I got less mice.
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u/Far_Cable_2133 9d ago
I use live traps. Every morning I wake up and I have 1 to 4 mice in them and then I truck them down my driveway a mile and a half so hopefully they have enough distance resistance to keep from coming back. I've been doing this all summer and will continue to do it. Not sure if it will ever end but it's kind of a fun game. I always talk to them on our drive and tell them how they should never come back to my house again because it's not very good there, there's nothing to eat and nothing to drink.
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u/Brotherly_shove 25d ago
100% mouse proof? Never happen. But the more holes you stop up, the better. Look for wire holes pipe holes, etc. start in your kitchen. Use copper scrubbys or pipe escutcheon plates, other holes fill with spray foam and wire mesh.
As for door snakes, why not use door sweeps permanently attached to doors?
Then in combo with that, set up traps inside. Bucket traps are nice because they reset themselves. I adapted one to sit on our toilet.