It's whats for dinner.
I've found that cats mostly just keep the mice honest (no more runnin across the center of the room), or it could just be two lazy old ladies, now ~20years old and probably arthric...
Posted on 03/14/2007 1:31:40 PM PDT by Nachum
Here's a nasty thought: Your home may have mice. Or worse. And we're not talking about Mickey.
How would you know? Short of actually seeing the furry culprits, look for these telltale signs:
Rodent droppings (see examples here).
Evidence of gnawing on hard surfaces, such as chair legs.
Nests, possibly in drawers or inside upholstered furniture.
Food and food packages that have been nibbled.
If it's any consolation, you're hardly alone. In North America, the roof rat, Norway rat and house mouse are the big three, making their homes right beneath the feet and above the heads of millions of humans. They're trouble, and not only because of the food they ruin and the mess they make. Worldwide, rats and mice spread more than 35 diseases, including hantavirus, leptospirosis, salmonellosis and plague on this continent (read about some of them here). The rodents are formidable opponents, too: Rats have been known to chew through lead pipes to access water, and mice can squeeze through a hole the size of a dime.
What should you do if you've got a rodent problem and, like many of us, you're not a keen hunter -- if, in fact, you're rather squeamish about killing anything?
We've surveyed the most popular methods of rodent control and talked to the experts to suss out the pros and cons, all to find the most humane way of dealing with a problem that drives many humans nuts.
First, let's address what seems like the most obviously humane option:
(Excerpt) Read more at realestate.msn.com ...
It's Bush's fault!!!!
How would you know? Short of actually seeing the furry culprits, look for these telltale signs:
droppings (see examples here).
Evidence of gnawing on hard surfaces, such as chair legs.
Nests, possibly in drawers or inside upholstered furniture.
Food and food packages that have been nibbled.
If it's any consolation, you're hardly alone. In North America, the roof , Norway and house are the big three, making their homes right beneath the feet and above the heads of millions of humans. They're trouble, and not only because of the food they ruin and the mess they make. Worldwide, and spread more than 35 diseases, including hantavirus, leptospirosis, salmonellosis and plague on this government (read about some of them here). The rodents are formidable opponents, too: have been known to chew through lead pipes to access water, and mice can squeeze through a hole the size of a dime.
What should you do if you've got a problem and, like many of us, you're not a keen hunter -- if, in fact, you're rather squeamish about killing anything?
We've surveyed the most popular methods of control and talked to the experts to suss out the pros and cons, all to find the most humane way of dealing with a problem that drives many humans nuts.
First, let's address what seems like the most obviously humane option:
I have 4 cats. I know there are rats in the fruit trees, but they would NEVER come into my house. We do find dead ones outside. My cats have a amazing 6th sense about them. They'll catch them within minutes.
I had a farmer friend who gave me this one.
Mix plaster of paris with cocoa powder, and set it around. The mice will ingest it, dehydrate, and leave the house to die because they will look for water. It got rid of all my mom's mice, but it's not very humane. But it's about as easy and cheap as it gets.
I don't recommend poisons. If you have pets or kids, just too great a chance. My 8 week old puppies got into a pack of rat poison once, and it was a very expensive miracle to pull them through.
Nope. Six cats. No mice. Also, no rats, chipmunks, squirrels, moles, voles, woodchucks, skunks, or groundhogs. Parts, though. Lots of parts.
The blinking is fairly annoying. Nice touch though.
I've found that cats mostly just keep the mice honest (no more runnin across the center of the room), or it could just be two lazy old ladies, now ~20years old and probably arthric...
Never thought of that one. Pretty kewl idea.
Never thought of that one. Pretty kewl idea.
Buy? Most places you can get kittens for free. Or even full grown cats.
OMG, I am cracking up. The funniest thing is how well the word fits into almost every sentence.
Demorattus rattus.
Thanks for the tip. I also heard that peppermint oil will keep them away. That's what I'm trying now; we get lots of little mice in our NYC pads. Terrifying to see them scurry on by!
There is a certain perverse pleasure in hearing your standard spring loaded mouse trap snap.
The cat leaves me the back half of mice by the front door...(she only eats the front). In the house she is worthless, so we went high tech. Bought electric mouse traps that electrocute them. They work really well and a cute little light lets you know you got one.
Cats ping.... :)
From what I've been told, pet rats are even better about keeping your house free from mice, especially if they're given the run of the place for at least a little while now and then. House mice and field mice are more terrified of a norway rat than they are of dogs, cats, or humans. Nor should pet rats attract wild rats , as wild rats shun (or cannibalize) noncolony members.But most people who (understandably) loathe wild rodents aren't keen on keeping pet rodents around, even though pet rats are friendly and intelligent.
Many moons ago, when I was a soldier in the beloved 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army, we had a barracks tradition that the only difference between a "Fairy Tale" and a "War Story", is that the fairy tale begins with, "Once upon a time…", while the war story begins with, "You ain't gonna believe this…"
Well, you ain't gonna believe this.
My father sort of grew up in the woods. The deepest, darkest, most isolated woods of Upstate New York - about a hundred miles from sunlight, to hear him tell it.
Personally, I grew up in Virginia. I wore gray to my wedding, and still refer to Manassas and other significant landmarks by their proper names. But enough.
Dad was homesick for the North, for the Finger Lakes, for the cold, clear mornings up above the Mason-Dixon. Mom had kept him bottled up here for most of his adult life, and he had put up with it, for the sake of us kids. So we did something about it.
We bought a couple hundred acres of the most useless, desolate, ill-formed land on the planet - a farm in New York. My brothers, my father, and I pitched in - it would be the family "cabin."
Only it had no cabin. It had no barn. It had no outhouse, no fencing, no chickens, no cows, nothing but trees. And sand.
And mice.
Two-hundred thirty acres of sandy mice, with trees.
Well, we thought - clearly, we need a cabin! Let's build one!
So we did. Slowly at first, quick-Crete-bag by bag, the cabin foundation started to form. Then the floor. We put a wood stove in the basement, and an outhouse outside, for use when we got frozen in. We got frozen in - my 4WD pick-up had to be dug out about twelve times the first winter, but we worked on the cabin every weekend we had free that year.
By spring, the woodstove got stolen. That summer, the outhouse was stolen.
We built a shed, hoping to keep our tools from being stolen. A porcupine ate it.
I am not kidding - it seems they like the salts in the plywood. My brother was sleeping in the shed one weekend after the stove got stolen (the shed was warmer), and woke up to a porcupine sniffing his face - he moved. Quickly. To Alabama. A week later, all of our tools were stolen.
So, we thought, enough. We have got to get this done or forget it.
We planned it out. I twisted arms, flew my brother back from Alabama, enlisted my cousins and nephews, and ordered materials. We sent an advance party to get everything up on the mountain, for when the crew arrived. We arranged air tools, generators, everything.
And in one short weekend, we built a house. Complete with a new, cheap woodstove that the porcupines did not eat (it was in the shed), and was too heavy for anybody to steal. Our last project was to carry that stove into the basement and hook it up. It took six of us to carry it in from the now-very-drafty shed.
As a finale, we fired up the stove. This one, like the first, was in the basement - with pipes up through the house and roof. Heat the bottom, the next floor will be warm, too.
I wadded up some paper, tossed it in, a chucked a match. Slammed the door.
Stove got hot - so far, so good. We checked the chimney pipes - no leaks.
Now, picture this. The basement of this cabin, newly-built, is full of tar for the roof, extra shingles, left-over lumber, a chord of wood we have stacked up for the next snow, gas for the generator, and other flammables. Notice that I have not mentioned a well? We have yet to drill one - we have maybe 4 gallons of water on hand. The cabin above is made entirely of - you guessed it - very dry wood.
My brother says, "Let's fire this sucker up, and see what happens!" So he opens the stove to throw in some wood.
And three flaming mice jump out, running for cover.
Now, I feel for the mice - really, I felt sorry for them. But consider our situation - flammable house, years of effort, filled with explosives, no water in sight. Heck, no water within miles.
Ever seen six guys try to stamp out a flaming mouse?
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