# Killing mice



## yankeesouth (Feb 17, 2012)

Has anyone ever heard of soaking corn in anti-freeze to kill mice?  I was surfing for ways to kill mice and came across the corn soaking method.  I know is breaches ethical boundariesâ€¦..but does it work?


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## mfglickman (Feb 17, 2012)

yankeesouth said:
			
		

> Has anyone ever heard of soaking corn in anti-freeze to kill mice?  I was surfing for ways to kill mice and came across the corn soaking method.  I know is breaches ethical boundariesâ€¦..but does it work?



No but anti freeze is sweet so you may be risking your (or neighbors') cats and dogs...just a thought.


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## Adios Pantalones (Feb 17, 2012)

I'm not sure, but do a search here for "mice"- there have been threads on eradication and the pros/cons of poisoning them (including lingering smell)


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## basod (Feb 17, 2012)

yankeesouth said:
			
		

> Has anyone ever heard of soaking corn in anti-freeze to kill mice?  I was surfing for ways to kill mice and came across the corn soaking method.  I know is breaches ethical boundariesâ€¦..but does it work?


If you're going to use it, has to be ethelyne gylcol(green/yellow stuff).  Propylene is used in all kinds of stuff - cosmetics and sweeteners that is fit for human consumption.
From what I understand the baits that are used commercially do the same thing, destroy kidneys so they die from dehydration.


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## ironpony (Feb 17, 2012)

bucket trap works well


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## Weird tolkienish figure (Feb 17, 2012)

yankeesouth said:
			
		

> Has anyone ever heard of soaking corn in anti-freeze to kill mice?  I was surfing for ways to kill mice and came across the corn soaking method.  I know is breaches ethical boundariesâ€¦..but does it work?



It's the same problem as poisoning them, they'll run off and die and stink for a while. Plus if pets eat them... 

Just go to Home Depot and buy $10 worth of traps. We just had a little mini "species cleansing" at the WTF household. Many many dead mice. 

I remember as a kid something big got in between the wall studs and died and we had the smell of death lingering for weeks. Not fun.


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## Thistle (Feb 17, 2012)

I still think traps are the best method.Bit of peanut butter on that lever thing & BOOM! its done. 4 traps in garage,2 on front porch -Results are 1 vole & 7 mice in garage,11 mice on north side of enclosed front porch in past 3 weeks.

Plus no poisons that could endanger other animals & no smell from dead mice trapped in walls,ceiling or furnace ducts.

And you can see they're dead & not wonder if any are taking those baits elsewhere.


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## Lumber-Jack (Feb 17, 2012)

mfglickman said:
			
		

> yankeesouth said:
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I think that is something the"neighbors" should be worrying about, not me. I have enough to worry about with all the neighbor's cats and dogs crapping and spaying in my yard.
Sorry, but I firmly believe there are too many uncontrolled and uncared for pets out there. If you are not responsible enough to keep your dog or cat in your own yard, don't expect your neighbor to assume responsibility for it.

The breach of ethics starts when someone allows their pets to deficate in someone elses property.

Rant over... carry on


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## Drifthopper (Feb 17, 2012)

X 2 .   on the bucket trap.  They work great.  Use window wash/anti-freeze during the winter. Google it up for directions how to make one. 

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## btuser (Feb 17, 2012)

Drifthopper said:
			
		

> X 2 .   on the bucket trap.  They work great.  Use window wash/anti-freeze during the winter. Google it up for directions how to make one.
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x3 on the bucket.  I'll never do poision again after my own experience, as well as the smells in other's houses.


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## yankeesouth (Feb 17, 2012)

I did the bucket thing and it does work.  Iâ€™m not planning on putting the stuff outside so no risk to pets.   I am away from my cabin for sometimes a month or more at a time and I have put out bait from Agway and they eat it like a party snack.  I am looking for something with a bit more killing power.  They used to sell a corn laced with strychnine but they took it off the market.


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## semipro (Feb 17, 2012)

Carbon_Liberator said:
			
		

> mfglickman said:
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Use of poison is inhumane.  Its one thing to kill an animal, quite another to torture it to death.  
You can't keep every animal out of it (say birds) and you can't control which predators you kill because they've eaten a poisoned carcass.


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## Lumber-Jack (Feb 17, 2012)

> Use of poison is inhumane. Its one thing to kill an animal, quite another to torture it to death.
> You canâ€™t keep every animal out of it (say birds) and you canâ€™t control which predators you kill because theyâ€™ve eaten a poisoned carcass


I personally agree with you in principle on both those points, and yet I still firmly believe that pet owner are" solely" responsible for anything bad that happens to their pets when they trespass on another persons property, and that was my point. I believe the "ethics" of the mater starts and ends with the owners.
But as for poisoning being inhumane, there's an entire (legal) industry out there selling poisons that would not agree with you on the part of poisoning being "inhumane".
Some people keep rodents as pets. If somebody"s pet rodent gets loose and becomes a nuisance in somebody else's property, I think that person has every legal (and moral) right to take care of that problem in any way they see fit. 

With age I have become a wimp when it comes to un-unnecessary killing of things, gave up hunting long ago because I didn't have the stomach for it anymore. If I am forced to kill something now I try to kill it as swiftly and "humanely" as possible, but sometimes the things you are trying to kill don't want to cooperate and you are forced to take other measures. 
Regarding these "other measures" and ethics, these bucket traps aren't particularly "humane", the prey basically swims around until it gets so tired that it drowns. If the creature is a good swimmer that could take a long time. Some poisons might be quicker. The point of the bucket trap is* not *to spare the creature any suffering, but to insure you are easily able to retrieve the carcass and not have it wander off and die somewhere you don't want it to.
Even mouse traps can trap the mouse without killing it, and the death could be longer and more drawn out than poisoning.

Anyway, I think I got too much time on my hands, I better go do something more useful.  ;-)


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## semipro (Feb 17, 2012)

Carbon_Liberator said:
			
		

> > Use of poison is inhumane. Its one thing to kill an animal, quite another to torture it to death.
> > You canâ€™t keep every animal out of it (say birds) and you canâ€™t control which predators you kill because theyâ€™ve eaten a poisoned carcass
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> ...



Its not always easy to control things.  I've found that out with kids. 

I guess I just think of one of my dogs getting killed by antifreeze. I've seen it happen on other animals.  Its a terrible way to go.  We have some acreage and an underground fence that we use.  Despite our best efforts, it goes down when hit by lightning and collar transmitters get broken and fall off the collar.  We fix things as soon as we know there's a problem.  I can only imagine the grief and ill will that would be created should one of my neighbors decide to poison my dogs. 

I agree on the bucket method.  The traps I'm using now, and advocated earlier in this post (D-Con UltraSet), always kill cleanly, are reusable, etc.  I've got 3 traps now in our shed and I'll bet I've killed almost 20 mice with one baiting of peanut butter among the three.  

I tried live traps and soon forgot about them and basically inadvertently killed mice (tortured them basically) through dehydration.  I gave up on those.


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## Lumber-Jack (Feb 17, 2012)

> I guess I just think of one of my dogs getting killed by antifreeze. Iâ€™ve seen it happen on other animals. Its a terrible way to go. We have some acreage and an underground fence that we use. Despite our best efforts, it goes down when hit by lightning and collar transmitters get broken and fall off the collar. We fix things as soon as we know thereâ€™s a problem. I can only imagine the grief and ill will that would be created should one of my neighbors decide to poison my dogs.


Pet ownership can be a great responsibility, one that many people take for granted.
I can understand, and have experienced, the grief of loosing a pet, but by a wide margin loose dogs do far more harm then they ever receive. Think of the grief you would feel if your loose dog ran out on the road and attacked somebody, or caused a car accident where someone was hurt or killed. Not to mention the grief of the victims family and friends. Those are much more likely scenarios than your dog getting poisoned. 
Sound like you make some effort to keep your dogs at home, but it doesn't sound foolproof. I'm sure there are more things you could do like fences, leash, pens, better training, ???  
So far the easiest way I have found to avoid all that responsibility is simply not have pets, not the kind that can be a nusiance anyway. 

Sorry for going off topic.  :red:


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## Retired Guy (Feb 18, 2012)

Final Blox came recommended by our exterminator. Supposedly a bit more flavor than the the green blocks that you get at the hardware store.


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## Branson4720 (Feb 18, 2012)

I have used the ortho plastic traps since June in my shed......so far I have 43 kills under my belt! ;-) These things work like magic. Set them with a little drop of PB and mice show up like it's a Mc'ds drive-thru! The only way to control vermin is to be completely in-humane! :cheese if you consider snapping mouse necks in-humane! :coolgrin: )


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