Just moved in to the new house and while prepping for company I started noticing mice droppings all over. On my new shelves tops of my cooler I imagine probably my boat.
How do I effectively kill these monkeybutts. Last thing I want is a nice fancy garage full of mice or them to make homes in my boats, wheelers, or vehicles. Our 2 newer cats are indoors probably for the winter until they get used to the house. But I wont let them run until spring.
Any suggestions? I’m wide open for listening
Not sure if you have a dog or not but be careful about using the poison/bait traps because a dog might find and eat them. My Grandpa had a similar problem and one of his dogs ate some and it was fatal.
Close all the doors and windows and let the vehicle run for a few hours, that should get quite a few
I do have 2 German shepherds, I should have said that. So im very leary about the old coolant in 5 gallon bucket trick. They normally are not in the garage, but I dont want a accident to happen. These dogs are always curious
You could use a refillable mouse bait station. They’re a box that the poison blocks go inside of and that way pets and kids aren’t exposed to the poison. They also make disposable ones that collect about a dozen or so dead mice then you just toss the whole thing out. That way the poisoned mice don’t die elsewhere (if any pets are prone to eating dead rodents).
How cold is the garage?If it’s attached the house or heated use water in the bucket.
Wheel of death. A soda bottle drilled full of holes and packed with peanut butter mounted into a 5 gallon bucket on a freely rotating axle. Build a ramp so the mice need to jump on the bottle and kerplunk they go into their inescapable swimming pool. Use rv antifreeze in an unheated area during winter. Good luck.
The old fashioned way mouse traps and peanut butter. Put the traps where cats and dogs can’t reach them.
Do you feed the birds. Some sunflower seeds in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket. Make sure the mice have easy access.
And as Sharon said those refillable bait stations.
I usually use peanut butter on the old fashioned traps. Sometimes they eat the peanut butter without tripping the trap. Putting it on the bottom of the bait pan helps. Saw a youtube video where the guy took a tootsie roll, softened it up in warm water, cut it in half and formed the tootsie roll around the bait pan. He said he has the most success with that. It hardens and the mice need to work hard to get anything and the bait lasts a long time.
Get some poison stations the dogs can’t get into and do a couple five gallon buckets with the baited wheel.
No need for water or anti-freeze. Just check it daily and “give them a hug” with your boot.
First thing you need to do is find where they are getting in and plug that. Go to Menards and get a bunch of the glue boards they stick to. They are cheap. slide them under stuff the dogs can’t get to.
My dad leaves his radio on 24 hrs a day and has never had a mouse. He even has open bags of bird seed sitting on the floor and corn, etc and nothing. Might be worth trying.
Wheel of death. A soda bottle drilled full of holes and packed with peanut butter mounted into a 5 gallon bucket on a freely rotating axle. Build a ramp so the mice need to jump on the bottle and kerplunk they go into their inescapable swimming pool. Use rv antifreeze in an unheated area during winter. Good luck.
This. With pets, water is just fine. If you leave for an extended time, use antifreeze so they don’t stink.
If it’s detached like an outbuilding, Get a dedicated mouser cat to live in the garage. Amazing how many mice they will kill.
Why go through all that hassle? You’re holding your cats back from the time of their lives. Let em work!
Why go through all that hassle? You’re holding your cats back from the time of their lives. Let em work!
House cats are to lazy to even get off the couch. I place the same value and expectations on cats as I do Mosquitos. Don’t see much value in either. 
Or you can get a third dog,those terriers can be damn good mousers.
The wheel of death or the “walk the plank” work well and are always loaded.
I just use the old fashioned traps also and agree with finding and plugging holes. Or you can dog sit for us. Our little rat terrier is a pain in the butt, but she’s frickin hard on mice. She’ll tear the drywall down trying to get at them.
Yep the bucket trick works well.
This is our indoor / outdoor cat having breakfast the other day. He’s probably killed 30-40 mice this fall.
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Why go through all that hassle? You’re holding your cats back from the time of their lives. Let em work!
This.
Also it isn’t just what the cats kill. The scent of the cats will drive the mice away. Mice are very sensitive to this.
When we had cats there was never a mouse problem. in the periods between cats I constantly caught mice in the garage. It’s the scent of the cat that does it.
Grouse
It’s the scent of the cat that does it.
I thought it was the part where the cat bit the head off the mouse that did it?
My cat killed so many mice. We rarely saw him with out a mouse.
Before we got the cat… we’d trap 30+ mice per fall. After the cat I have not had a trap set off in two years.
How do y’all dispose of the antifreeze in the buckets?
It appears that Grandpa Gus’s mouse repellent works. I have a shed that I’ve trapped a bunch out of and put a couple of those bags in the corners and then set a few traps and haven’t got a mouse yet.
Dryer sheets are simply a nice smelling bed material. Moth balls are as worthless. Make the space impervious to, or use traps everywhere with PB.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tbro16 wrote:</div>
Why go through all that hassle? You’re holding your cats back from the time of their lives. Let em work!This.
Also it isn’t just what the cats kill. The scent of the cats will drive the mice away. Mice are very sensitive to this.
When we had cats there was never a mouse problem. in the periods between cats I constantly caught mice in the garage. It’s the scent of the cat that does it.
Grouse
If you do end up going the cats route just make sure you’ve got each of the cats accounted for before you start your vehicle and back it out of the garage. You don’t want your wife or the kids seeing that result.
My dad took in two older kittens/younger outdoor cats for a similar issue last year. Neither of them made it more than a few months. One crawled under the hood while it was warm on a cold morning and the other hid under my truck as I was about to back it up out of the drive way.
0 for 2. 
Use RV anti freeze. It’s non toxic and can be flushed down the toilet or just dump outside.
We bought a bucket of the Tom Cat green mouse baits you set around for the mice to chew on. Supposedly they dine then go back to the nest and die. In theory I think they may work, but where I put them around the outside of the garage and pinned them down they’d be gone in a couple nights. I think coon or possum or feral cats ate them. Either way they didn’t exactly make for a very cost effective mouse control measure so now I have them only inside the garage in corners and under things that mice like to investigate.
no kids, no pets here., just 2 crotchety old people.
We use the Ketch All Mouse trap. We have probably 6 of these with some around the house and sheds. Mice like to run along the buildings. We bait them with poison blocks and wind them up. Catch mice, chipmunks and even red squirrels. Just check them every few days. Pets won’t get the poison and the mice wont get away for something else to eat.
I think they are about 15 bucks at fleet farm. Ours are at least 10 years old and still working fine.
Bucket mouse trap. Made two for the camper up at the hunting property this year and they are working well. Antifreeze because I leave them there over winter and it embalms them- no stink. You can set the buckets up on something like a shelf or bench where dogs can’t get at them.
Cats are great for mouse control, but in all reality SHOULD NOT be allowed outdoors. Ever. It is well documented how much havoc they wreak on the native environment/wildlife. Can’t believe no one has mentioned this yet. KEEP CATS INDOORS!!!! This has been a PSA.
Good luck with the mice.
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