Insulating a barn but afraid of mice...

[EatenByLimestone]

When considering poison baits:
"Suffering bobcats, coyotes, owls spur Thousand Oaks neighborhood to rethink war on rats"
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-0206-rats-20160208-story.html

A related quote:
"The insanity of it all is that in trying to wipe out rats they are killing the very animals that keep rat populations under control."

The problem with this story lies in how the anticoagulants work. The animal needs to ingest about 10% of their weight. Birds are extremely !eight, so its possible they could eat enough rodents to vet a lethal dose. But I have a hard time believing this could happen with a bobcat or coyote. You are looking at pounds of it being needed when bait stations hold between 22 and 200 grams each.

 

[mwhitnee]

Not using poison baits anymore, have been using these. I bought 14 of them, most in the cellar and attic in my house. They are extremely easy to use and appear to be very deadly. I wish I knew who recommended them to me on here!!

Eaten by Limestone has been a great help. Thanks buddy!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PE1OUOM/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1455130177&sr=1&keywords=mouse+trap

I haven't had any mice in my barn for about a month using these. I haven't checked the attic recently but the cellar has not had a mouse in about 2 weeks. I might still have a little hole somewhere in the foundation of the house that I missed, or it's possible that I just had more mice than I thought. I'm just hoping this problem is solved....

I have a question, does mouse urine stink forever or eventually go away??

 

[semipro]

The problem with this story lies in how the anticoagulants work. The animal needs to ingest about 10% of their weight. Birds are extremely !eight, so its possible they could eat enough rodents to vet a lethal dose. But I have a hard time believing this could happen with a bobcat or coyote. You are looking at pounds of it being needed when bait stations hold between 22 and 200 grams each.

I believe the issue with secondary intake is bio-accumulation where small doses received from eating multiple contaminated animals build up in predator/scavenger tissues until they become toxic. This seems to be a good reference. http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/registration/reevaluation/chemicals/brodifacoum_final_assess.pdf

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Not using poison baits anymore, have been using these. I bought 14 of them, most in the cellar and attic in my house. They are extremely easy to use and appear to be very deadly. I wish I knew who recommended them to me on here!!

Eaten by Limestone has been a great help. Thanks buddy!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PE1OUOM/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1455130177&sr=1&keywords=mouse+trap

I haven't had any mice in my barn for about a month using these. I haven't checked the attic recently but the cellar has not had a mouse in about 2 weeks. I might still have a little hole somewhere in the foundation of the house that I missed, or it's possible that I just had more mice than I thought. I'm just hoping this problem is solved....

I have a question, does mouse urine stink forever or eventually go away??

Awesome! I imagine that it would eventually go away, but I have no idea of a time table. Pet stores sell sprays that seem to eat the smell, not just cover it up. I got the nicotine smell out if a truck with it. They claim enzymes, but I have no idea if that's what does it.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I believe the issue with secondary intake is bio-accumulation where small doses received from eating multiple contaminated animals build up in predator/scavenger tissues until they become toxic. This seems to be a good reference. http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/registration/reevaluation/chemicals/brodifacoum_final_assess.pdf

It certainly is a risk, but the volume us once again an issue. The average mouse is 10-15g. 1 to 1.5g of anti coagulant is the LD 50. There are 453 grams in a pound. A bobcat weighs 20lbs. You are looking at 900 mice! Not all the mice they eat would have consumed the anticoagulant. The article says many of the animals had some of the drug in them, but only 3% had a lethal dose. I'm betting those were the birds.

As I said earlier, birds are unique. Given their bones can be hollow and their feathers weigh more than their bodies I can see an issue for smaller birds. Some owls are quite small. All birds that fly are put together with a high importance put on weight.

That said, I prefer to seal up a house so they can't get in and then trap the unlucky onesthat were inside at sealup time. I think it is better to solve the issue without poisons than to try to control the issue with them.

For those who wish to just control the problem, going with a bait block vs a bait pellet is more effective since the mouse has to eat at the fixed location and can not hoard the bait. I know people who have found warfarin pellets in their pillow cases.

 

[FTG-05]

Subcontract it out to a professional:




Really, the choice is between cats or rats, literally. And if you're decision is "rats" because your allergic to cats, then get ready for snakes. Becasue that's the only reason snakes will be around.

I have four shop cats. They roam all over the place around my +35 acre farm. They interact with me only because I like them and they like me. If that wasn't true, I doubt I'd even see them.

So go get a couple barn/shop cats, make sure they're fixed and they'll not only take care of your rats (and snake) problem, they'll keep other wild cats away.

Good luck!

 

[mwhitnee]

Nope!! Sticking to my traps. My barn is small, just a 2 car garage with a second floor. I've maybe caught three since I ripped the ceiling down this summer, and not a mouse in a month or two.

There are woods to the right of my barn, nothing on the other three sides. Probably 100 feet of woods before the next house. When I moved in last November I once noticed a mouse go bouncing through the snow from my barn into a dilapidated shed in those woods. I was planning on cleaning it up anyway (I mean who would leave that in plain view??). Don't even get me started on the last owner of my house...

Last spring I filled up a 10 yarder with that shed and everything else that was inorganic that I saw in the woods. That shed was a perfect breeding ground for mice!!

 

[rkusek]

That works for my inlaws. They maintain 4-8 outside (1/2 wild) cats on a regular basis with a couple litters born every year. The males usually roam off and I believe raccoons probably get a few too. They have an insulated cat house (dog house with small door) which works great especially when they have babies. The tame ones will spend a night in the barn as they will come in to hunt while my FIL is working. He let's them stay in every so often just to make sure no mice have moved in. They feed them cheap cat food twice a day but they are still great mousers killing moles and ground squirrels too. I think even if you never let them in the barn they would take care of your problem by thinning out the population near your home.

 

[jeanw]

yeah bought some Roxul at Lowes..for insulating the basement ceiling for noise and warmth....
prev bought the denim UNFORTUNATELY.. last year or so...
.now Hubby says he found a mouse on the glue trap with the denim insulation in its mouth!!
House was bought with aoutical tile.... they loved it.. full of mouse poo... so we took all thart down
Plus the DA original owners. were smokers
Plus mice were getting in the little gaps around basemnt wall hung kitchen cabinets
Hate them CRITTERS....
only good thing about our feral cat is he is outside only..... He sleeps in a nice "house" made from a nice LR enclosed end table cabinet and insulated ...
and put in a heated animal pad.... He is on front deck that has an aluminum patio cover....
I keep telling him he has to work and keep away mice...
we do have less mice.. but CAT wont go for the blankey moles that are destroying the areas.....