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HELP!! MICE IN MY TRACTOR


Vinnie_A

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Is there any kind of repellent I can use to discourage these rodents from building nests in my tractors snowblowers and ATV.Tired of these surprises after these machines sit in my shed for a few months.It gets expensive replacing wires,coils and filters. Thanks Vinnie
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Well for starts there is always the 'ole' Victor mouse trap/s and some peanut butter. Best bet is to check with your local hardware store to see what they have. I trapped about a half dozen this fall trying to get into my garage for the winter.
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Vinnie,Hey ! Happy New Year to you and yours. As I recall your storage is away from your house a distance.How about some Decon,with a heating pad under an old wheel cover filled with water,nearby. It worked for me. say hello to Kathy for me. Pete.
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At my fishing resort I have 7 cabins, garage/shop, bathhouse for campground and several out buildings for storage. I also have a mouse problem. - - I have tried decon and mouse traps. Surprise surprise, the traps worked the best!! In the fall, when they are looking for winter quarters, I set traps everywhere I think they will be coming in and then I "run my trap line" daily. In about 10 days, I stop getting mice. We also have two house cats that bring us their catch each day. But, it is the traps that really work. Mice only go about 20 to 25 feet in any direction (read that somewhere) so once you trap them out it takes another year to repopulate that area. Good Luck - Dan
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The moth balls will keep them out. Some spread around the out side and some with the tractors. They don't like the smell. Come to think about it I don't much like it either.
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Don't have mice here but I have a lot of Vols, about the same thing, little rodents with a longer nose. By accident, I left a little in a drain pan years ago in the shed, I found out they get thirsty in the winter and just love antifreeze. Just put it in a safe place so only small critters can get to it..MPH
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I have seasonal campers on my campground. They leave their camping trailers over the winter and have all tried the moth ball thing as well as the dryer sheets. They do not work either in combination or by themselves. You can try it but I would not waste my time or money. Traps work the best. Don't like poison because the other critters up the food chain will eat the mice and then they are poisoned. Saw this happen with fox in my area. Some would say so what as far as the fox go but there are also bald eagles and other raptors that eat what ever they can find in the winter. Also domestic cats etc etc. Just keep those traps ready with fresh penut butter and Good Luck!! Dan
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Every fall when the weather turns, we have a "mouse eradication week" just like Dan described. A dozen strategically placed traps baited w/ PB that we check every day. After a few days, no more mice. Works great. Also, as Terry says, we fire up the equipment frequently so they can't get comfortable in the air housings just in case we missed trapping them. As much as I don't mind replacing customer coils, I try to educate them about starting the machines frequently to keep the nests out. (overheating, etc).. Happy New Year..
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Cats and traps are the best. In the fall before freezing, a pail half full of water works well, especially in a dry year. I have drowned 10 in a night that way. They slide down the inside of the pail for a drink and can't make it back out. For anyone cleaning out mouse droppings, a warning about HANTAVISUS. Be very cautious if you have deer mice (brown on the top and white on the bottom). They carry hantavirus and release it in their droppings. This virus can be deadly to humans. It is usually transmitted to people from the dust stirred up when sweeping up mouse droppings, so it is usually a good idea to wet the area before cleaning up the droppings. We have several cases of it in our area every year, often a grain farmer cleaning out bins in the late summer or fall. Pat
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I'd go with the moth balls myself. I've had the same problem with my Powermaxes, but they usually get blown out the muffler or thru the cooling fins after the tractor runs a while. Traps might put a little dent in the problem. Be very careful of poison. I had a dog that almost died from eating poisoned rodents.
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They have an electronic device that chases them out,,, either that or get a hundred CATS!lol,,moth balls do work,happy new year!
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Reason I like anti-freeze instead of decon is I always pick them outta the bowel, then burn them, thus saving the little rodents natural killers. I use it inside a semi-van I have for storage..MPH
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I've never had any luck with moth balls or dryer sheets. each fall I set many trap and empty each day. the standard wooded victor mouse traps and tomcat sticky traps work the bset for me.
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Be careful with the decon with other animals around-can also kill whatever eats the dead or dying mice.mothballs only work if they have alternatives nearby-and deer mice,field mice,voles and rats are all different concerning repellents.setting lots of traps with peanut butter(crunchy is better)beats everything else,hands down-including a cat(good combination,though).you have to keep trapping until you wipe 'em all out,and start over at the first sign-plus do all the obvious things like eliminate food sources,nesting material etc.,.you can cover a bucket 1'2 full of water with brown butcher paper and tie tight with some twine(like a drum)-then cut an "X" in the center,making the cuts maybe 4-6" long.Then suspend some bait on a string over that X just a little taller than a mouse on his hind legs,(4-6"}.Now take a piece of scrap wood or something and give them a "ladder" to get up to the edge of the bucket.You can catch a bunch of mice this way,but they can swim a long time,so it's pretty cruel-so check the bucket and kill 'em.I have caught so many like this that if you didn't check the bucket they could survive on top of the bodies.(Also won't work if the bucket freezes!).Anyway,trapping is best however you do it,and you can get a kicktrap from havahart or other manf.that will catch a bunch alive,which you can freeze and feed to your pet owl,like me!(the corn snake eats 'em too-dead or alive).CJdogman(PS;someone mentioned Hantavirus-that ain't nothin to mess with-use gloves,dust mask,and soak your traps in mild bleach solution occasionally,especially if you are handling frequently-WASH YOUR HANDS!!)
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I guess the "mouse" subject was pretty much exhausted here already,but you guys might be interested in a little experiment I just did.I have an old travel trailer back in the woodlot that I rarely use for anything,but is home to numerous deer mice and occasionaly field mice.I took 2 cardboard beer can flats(have lots of them)and put some sweet feed(mule and goat grain)in pie pans in the middle of each one.I put moth balls all around the perimeter of one of the flats.(I made sure there was enough grain in each one to feed all the mice that could possibly be in the trailer).Morning after first night,grain was all but gone in the flat w/no mothballs,and the grain in the mothball flat virtually untouched-(looked like a couple ran through it).Left flats as they were,and next morning grain all gone in the flat with mothballs also,and they started chewing on both flats.Next night,grain in both flats plus 8 victors with pb.Next morning- maybe half the grain gone from the flat with no mothballs,flat with untouched,6 dead mice in the traps,one sprung,and one still set.Just re-set the traps this morning and left the flats the way they were-will let you know tomorrow how many I get if anybody is interested.Although not real scientific,I think these results are pretty conclusive.I don't think I could put enough mothballs in there to keep them out entirely,and if there is something to eat,they don't care-hunger overules everything.I won't use de-con for reasons stated previously,and as a trainer & dog lover,anti-freeze is the bigger enemy than any number of mice! Traps rule! CJdogman
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I have been using the ultra-sonic pest control device for many years and it works, BUT its range is only about 5 to 6 ft. anything outside of that is open territory. I use this device plus metal trip traps (Kwik-trap, Catch-all) that can hold 10+ mice each without bait. Never found anything in the trap within 5ft of the ultrasonic device, find mice continually in the traps 6ft away or more. Also for you old cast iron B&S riders, I have found using course steel wool (allows air to pass through) and loosly fill in the area below the exhaust and the other major openings in your engine, will keep the mice out (they hate steel wool). Just remember to remove in summer. The slight restriction will not cause any overheating in the winter. One other note, if you don't like to deal with Peanut Butter or cheese, mice are always looking for nesting materials, tie a small piece of yarn to your Victor trap will catch mice everytime.
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Morning CJ! Great idea to test the mothball theory on mouse control. Thanks for the extra effort and the fine and timely report. Looking forward to the follow up report tomorrow. My approach is to keep after them year round but I go the extra mile in the Fall as they are looking for winter quarters. You really can't beat them only control them. So defense by keeping things neat and tidy and offense with well placed and tended traps is the way to go. Thanks again for the great test and report. Dan
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Dan-glad you appreciate my little test.I used to raise mice for sale to pet stores,and to feed to my snakes and wild animals I was re-habilitating-(used to have a permit).This forum reminded me that it was about time to knock down the mice in that trailer,so I figured I may as well do a little "experiment" at the same time.I like live traps,but you have to kill them anyway-(unless you release way out someplace for the other predators)-and it's hard to beat good old victor for a fast kill.I really encourage the natural predators around the place,and wouldn't do anything that could possibly hurt them.CJ (PS;our barn cat(Opie)got a rat a while ago-he may not get all the mice,but the rats don't stand a chance with Opie in the barn! Ginny the Jack muscle terror will kill them too,but I rather she left them alone-we handle her to much...remember hantavirus!).
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OKAY----FINAL mouse eradication report!! 8 traps set last night-(got 6 the night before)-4 mice caught,4 traps still set,flats with grain apparently undisturbed....that's 10 mice whacked in 2 nights with PB for bait.Conclusions;Mothballs will keep them away from a small area as long as there are no temptations nearby-definitely won't keep them out of a building(unless you used so many that YOU couldn't go in there?).Maynard's suggestion about putting them around outside or where they come in probably a good idea as a preventative measure-now that I have knocked them down I will clean up and leave some mothballs in there,(esp.the drawers!),and leave the 4 traps that are still set.So....remove all sources of food and bedding and use mothballs judiciously,but use the traps to knock 'em down.IMHO poisons are just too dangerous and cause needless suffering-I like a quick kill and no chance of killing critters that I don't want to harm.Ultra-sonic is not an option for me because of the discomfort to my dogs,cats,and other animals that can also detect that sound range.Now,aren't you guys glad to have a rocket scientist like me to beat this dead horse and basically arrive at the same conclusions already exhausted on this forum?! CJdogman
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