Operation kill Mickey | Mickey 1 - Exyle 0
Ever since the Brazilians discovered mice in my home we have been on Red Alert.
Mice is unacceptable for them and war has been declared.
And here I was hoping to take it a little slower now that my IT business is almost wrapped up.
From computers bugs to real life pests.....what a load of shit.
Anyway, yesterday was the starting day of operation Kill Mickey.
The first thing that needed to be done was to lock up all the food.
I went to the shop with Bianca and bought around 10 smaller and bigger plastic (food approved) containers.
Of course, it wasn't possible to just dump the food in the containers and close them.
No such a moment is a perfect moment to clean the kitchen from top to bottom too! Mark!
O man...
4 hours later we were done.
I had no idea how much junk could come from 1 room in the house. Bags and bags of it.
But admittedly our kitchen and especially 'pantry' hasn't looked this good in years.
Then I could do my bit and place the traps.
I had bought several different types.
From the old school traps to boxes with poison in it.
That night we made dinner in the cleanest kitchen in the world and I spend the rest of my night trying to make Dlive work and stream some games and then I went to sleep.
In the morning I wondered if we caught anything.
I found this...
The peanut butter was gone but no dead mouse in sight.
Darn...
I checked the boxes with poison but they did not eat any of it...
I knew immediacy what this meant.
We are under attack by highly gifted mice.
I must admit I was concerned and impressed at the same time.
They must have another food source...
But where?
Bianca smiled at me with the biggest of smiles.
I also already knew what that ment...a full on investigation and more cleaning.
Spring cleaning...
I have no interest in driving to the dump 9 million times with a car full of junk so I ordered a container to be delivered to my house.
All the junk can go in there.
It will arrive tomorrow.
But no lazy week for me it seems...
I'm mouse hunting....
I'm sort of starting to miss my old job already...
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You might have squirrels instead of mice. One of those traps can rap a squirrel right in the head and it will only daze them. Then they'll just take the food. I had both problems actually when I moved into my current house. Squirrels and real mice both.
The mice I took care of with the old school Victor traps. I oiled the springs and any metal-to-metal contact surfaces with vegetable oil. This made them extra powerful and fast. Then I proceeded to bend the metal tabs on the triggers so that they would barely hold the spring-loaded arm in place. In other words I made a hair trigger. I oiled that part too when I was finished. Careful handling a loaded trap like this, they are very touchy. Finally, I used processed american cheese slices as the bait. They absolutely love the stuff, and it has just the right consistency that they can't lick it off (like peanut butter), but it's still squishy enough to cram it under the crevices of the trigger so it can't simply be lifted off without triggering. I think I only had one fail after I did all this and I think it may have been a lucky one that had kicked some debris onto the trigger. Also, change your baits frequently. They like fresh food.
After I figured out how to trap them out, I went around the house and found all points of potential ingress and sealed them up. There were several soffit vents and baseboard vents with screens in them that the screens had rusted out and been destroyed. I replaced all of those, and plugged up a couple holes that had been cut or drilled in the siding over the years, along with a crawl space entry door that was damaged and had a huge gap in it. A few days after finishing this I stopped finding mice in my traps. I do occasionally still trap mice in the garage, but it's because they come in and out while I'm working in there or outside, so I can't really stop that. I just keep traps in place for when they do so they don't make it deeper into the house.
The squirrels were relatively easy to trap if you have those getting in the house. I bought a live trap called the Squirrelinator at the advice of my neighbor. You need to put this on a flat hard surface outside that they can't dig under like a wooden deck or a concrete slab, and put a piece of plywood on the top with rocks or concrete blocks to hold it down. Otherwise they'll dig under or reach in from the top and take your bait. They love the pre-packaged bird feed found at pet stores that consists mostly of ground feed corn. They also like cheap white bread with refined flour in it, not the fancy whole grain stuff. I would just put it on a little paper plate away from the edges and the entry door so they had to go all the way in to get it. I trapped one every day for weeks with that setup. We were overrun with them.
Thanks for all the advice about the traps. I'm 100% sure it's mice because I saw them. Squirrels I have never seen in my town.
Time to move, problem solve !!
sorry if I interrupt your comfort
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What happen to having a cat for deterrent ?
Cat do not eat mouse anymore?
It is 2018 and the mice did upgrade their arsenal and they have seen trap.
At least good spring cleaning.
Keep on steemin'
@exyle,
I don't think he will eat poison directly! Better you keep it or mix it with the peanut butters! I think he is coming from your ceiling! A small hole can be enough to let him enter to your house!
Anyway I had few battles against them before and almost won all battles :D But after all I feel shame and I feel guilty! I had to kill them, I had to poison them :/ It's a very guilty feeling for me :/
Cheers~
Have you heard of the bucket technique? Its where you have a bucket that has a stick that rolls so that's where you slather the peanut butter. When the mouse tries to get on the roller, they will lose their footing and drop into the bottom of the bucket - which you can fill with water for maximum efficiency.
Something like this is fine so you could even make this a DIY project for the week. I got this picture from this site: http://gentlemanhomestead.com/diy-five-gallon-bucket-mouse-trap/ and their situation seems to mirror yours, hope this helps!
"which you can fill with water for maximum efficiency"
I wouldn't fill it with water. Just keep them alive and release them in a forest or something, 5 km+.
This is cool! I think my friend @fabrews also mentioned this trap. It looks easy to make. Considering I did not catch anything this morning I'll think about it.
@exyle I just wanted to mention that it feels good to do a serious cleaning and the Kitchen from head to toe and every knook and Cranny should allow you to feel good and Bianca @bkdbkd probably loves it too...................
Hahahahaha gifted and talented mice you got there. That spells trouble for you. I know the hassle we go through trying to kill mice when they get into our house. Those animals are blessed with extra ordinary smartness so you have to be smart as well to deal with them
And why is this happening ?
Maybe mickey is watching Tom and Jerry too much.
hahahahahaha @gvincentjosephm That's a good theory. You know a lot about good cartoons!! hahaha
lol
Evolution is coming faster in those rats than in us humans!! hahaha @sistem
lol, I have to say I’m starting to like this mouse. You should call her Steemie. I hope we get chance to meet her “alive”. Let’s give her some Steem reward for being so smart. Lesson number one: never underestimate mouse. lol
time to get a .22 rifle for the house man ;)
Haha! Nice profile pic 😂
I thought all the cowboys lived over here in the west! I think you might have better luck catching the buggers with your hands or a sling shot than a .22!! Oh my goodness 😁🤣
'buggers' thou. they so are! haha!
Oh yeah, the hunt is announced and I hope that the trophies will be successful, ha ha. The main thing is of course to catch mice, otherwise they can complicate life! Thank you Mark and good hunting.
Be happy it's just mice and not rats
We just moved (thank god) this past week,
used to live next door to a Chinese restaurant,
my Lord! Makes you wonder if all those stories about what Babi pangang is truely made of are true.. anyway, nothing wrong with a good spring cleaning 💪😊