Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler What do mice eat ?

I wonder if 4 EP-600 played at maximum level could be used as a hint to them that it might be time to find some other lodging? This could be an entirely new line of Axiom products: "Joe Smith, Exterminator: Powered by Axiom".

I'm with you Wid.

We too live out in the country and are always fighting a mouse problem. I used live traps until I read an article where they had live trapped mice and then let them go at various distances from the house. It seems that unless you are willing to drive them into the next county, they will find their way back into your house - and they remember how they got in!!

And they really really love cat food. Our cat is useless!!!

Andrea

>>And they really really love cat food. Our cat is useless!!!

Thanks, Andrea. I learned two useful things last night :

1. The real benefit of live trapping seems to be that you can take them just outside the house, release them and watch how they get back in. Plug the hole and repeat.

2. Some people have great luck with cats, others have no luck at all. It seems to depend on whether or not you feed the cat

I find the EP600 idea intriguing.

>>yes the kind that smashes their darling little heads.

Darlings was not the first word I used. I'm trying to keep this family-friendly

I read this and had the following thought:

"OK, kids, let's gather round the computer and read the Axiom forums!"

Well, only a weirdo would read them alone

The baggies of desiccant (sp?) food for them always worked well when I was growing up... they get to rip open a bag (like it's good human food)... it's all nice and grainy on the inside - like a package of grape nuts... and... oh, crap... this stuff is drying me out from the inside... so even if I die inside a wall, I just turn into mouse powder...

I'm a big fan of terminating with extreme prejudice. Send those still-live mice over to live with Richard Gere... or worse (PETA'll be on me for this one)... make then watch a Dane Cook DVD.

Bren R.

When I was going to university five of us were renting a slummy row house just south of Maple Leaf Gardens. The previous owner had moved the kitchen down to the basement.

The house had rodent problems (at parties we would sing "We all live in a mouse infested house..." to the tune of "Yellow Submarine") and every morning we would sit around the kitchen table with an air pistol and take turns shooting the mice as they ran across the shelves at the end of the kitchen. Great fun.

I figure I'll switch to killing traps once it gets too cold for them to learn about burrowing and survival skills out in the wild. The mouse density is too low and I have too little time to shoot 'em.

((Damn preview! I look at it then forget to press [Send]. LOL retyping.....))

I was going to add that you should take care when you clean up the mouse droppings. Some, mostly Deer Mice, can get infected with hantavirus. A nasty respiratory illness that can be fatal to humans but doesn't bother the mice. Figures...

I couldn't remember how to spot a deer mouse from a regular mouse so I Googled and this article tells how to spot the White Bellied & Bug Eyed critters (I see a few scary old men looking like that at the beach in the summer.) Also good tips on how to clean up the droppings without breathing in the dangerous dust. Not sure how big a risk this is in your area but it's a good opportunity to wear a hepa filter, face mask and scare your wife.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/health/hantavirus.html

So no guilt in trapping and killing. Use poison, traps, a good cat, whatever. But you have to keep up the routine or more will move in when the others are gone.

On a lighter note, when I was shingling my old house a few years ago, our cat brought me a mouse every day when I was working outside. Dropped them right at my boots every day between 11:30 and 1:00, just in time for lunch.

Thanks for the link.

Dang, all the mice I'm catching have big ears and bulging eyes. If I have to turn each one over and see if it has a white belly before releasing it, killing them first is looking better and better.