I am very afraid my garden “Toad Abode” has become a “Mouse House”. Last time we had mice in the hostas and ivy, they grew to monstrous size from the copious amounts of bird seed put out for the fur covered birds. I wound up dislocating three fingers from “interactions” with them. What do I do now???
Turn Ed D. into a cat?
Betty,
Buy several of those plastic mouse traps, the single use type. They have small holes that should keep the birds out but let the mice in. Set them right by the nesting area.
Larry —sagefisher—
Oh! I get it, that’s funny!
Get some Cats and Snakes, they work!..EdD would just play with the mice
I use “Victor” snappers and hard chedder.
Whap !
Show them your Moorish mouse hooks and give them the stink eye!!!
I’ve got an exceedingly healthy garter snake population going in our flower beds and around the woodpile in the backyard. Not many mice around at all. Occasionally I’ll reach down to pick up a fallen branch and it will slither away, scaring the dickens out of me, but it’s worth it. Now if they’d just get big enough to start eating the tree rats…
I’m with hairwing, but don’t waste good cheese. The peanut butter I have left after making fudge works very well & they can’t steal it.
Mikey
Does Betty really want me tom-cattin’ around her place? Would the neighbors put up with it? I think not.
Besides, what good is replacing mice with a rat?
Betty, get somebody else to set the traps.
I know a woodsman from Nunica, MI…
And to make this a hijack, (and speaking of toads and such) I hear that Newt Gingrich entered the presidential race today.
Popperfly, I don’t exactly play with mice, but do you know how hard it is to comb dubbing off the little darlings?
Ed
Got it! Newt . thats a good one!
I am learning a bunch here!
Newt . thats a good one!
I am learning a bunch here!
Shoot 'em! Use the hair to tie flies, and bring the rest for the fish-in pot luck!
Betty,
From time to time I have mice in my yard due to the 14 or so bird feeders we have out. When I spot them I take down the feeders for a week. A week seems to work as the mice need a few days to figure out their new found food supply is gone. Don’t worry, the birds will come back soon enough after you place the feeder back out.
bolt action .22 and CCI shotshells, if the neighbors aren’t too close.
Since it’s a reoccurring problem, removing the mice will only be temporary. Best bet, remove the habitat and the food source and they’ll move on, just as they did before setting up house at your place.
One thing that has worked so-so ( In our case squirrels ) was to hang one and only only feeder out in the middle of open ground that has no obstructions to flight or sight for long distances. Doing that lures the little rats out into the open where Owls and Hawks can set up on them.
The downside, if you’ve got Dove’s ( as we did - past tense ) hanging around the base of your feeder, you’ll have piles of Dove down floating around your yard after a few days.
Around here most of our little critter problems are kept in check by the Coyote, Fox, Bobcat, Hawk, Owl, Rattlesnake and King snake populations. But then the larger of those predators account for a lot of missing cats and small dogs too.
Best, Dave
Ed, are you suggesting turning Newt into a cat? That would be at least one politician who was good for something!
And mousing is the only legitimate reason to have a cat around.
The little buggers have tunneled under the patio. The dog is no help … she sits by the entrance to the burrow, and waits to play! When one emerges, she (all 85 pounds of her) launches herself in a huge pounce. It’s great comedy to watch, though totally ineffective.
Have you watched “Caddyshack” lately? May be time to rent a movie.