mice and trees

[WPSteve]

Hi, as I get into this tree making a question pops up... I have a
mice problem, have done everything I can to control them but they
keep popping up. The question I have is, has anyone come up with a
spray for the trees that would discourage the little critters.
The trees featured on this site ( tree making at yahoo) should present no problem but I went
to the site for making trees using "Super Trees". Cool and helpful
site but I notice on the trees there are left overs from what may
have been seed pods. I pick these off, spray the tree with adheasive
and then sprinkle with ground foam. I am then spraying with hair
spray.
The hair spray smells great after the glue but I wonder about it
also..
My wife has never had problems with mice in her hair but I wonder
about all of the above.
Years ago I went out in the fields and cut some weeds, sprayed them
with paint( had pods ) and one day the mice came in and logged the
area !
So I am going to try to outrun them if I can this time.
No I am not going to get a cat, we have rattlesnakes that are suppose
to be taking care of this type of problem out there but I'm sure my
family won't let me open the doors and let them patrol the layout
room. Would make an exciting operation session. :thumb: The war game guys
might want to consider this possibility I know when I play paint
ball they are on my mind when I dive behind that log for
protection !!!

Anyway what do we think on this one ? I know that getting rid of the mice is the solution but until then ?

WP Steve http://members.bigvalley.net/norma

 

[kadidle]

Just a thought, but maybe one of those electronic pest eliminator doo-dads? I have cats, and they do a good job of eliminating the pests, however they regularly terrorize the LPB's...

 

[capt_turk]

The best thing for mice that I've found is the Combat Sticky traps. The mice I've had laugh at regular traps and posion. The sticky traps are the only thing that has worked for me.

 

[David Rosser]

Another Anti-mouse idea

We also had mice problems. They seemed to really like the inside of a short tunnel. I realized I had a problem when some locos slowed and stuttered as they went into the tunnel. It seems the mice were also using the seclusion of the tunnel as a latrine! Shy mice? I got one with the sticky trap, and several with conventional traps. The secret seemed to be to alternate the location and type of trap each night. I took a picture of one dead mouse, with bulging eyes, in the trap at the mouth of the tunnel. I then transfered it to sheet with warnings in four languages and bold print that told them that this is what happenes to mice that enter this layout, and posted copies at each corner. The combination of all of these steps fixed the problem. Or was it the fact that the nearby container of dog food was converted to a steel can?

 

[Relic]

I too have mice as well as the afore mentioned spiders (I also have cats , that have no interest whatsoever in the mice) anyway the only grief the rodents have caused thus far(three years) is to knock over a couple of ho motorcycles an stuff buildings with seeds.I know this doesn't help you but I like that story

 

[TinGoat]

Overfed cats...

Hi Relic,

It's obvious that you are overfeeding your cats. If they were hungry, they'd go for the mice.

I too have mice as well as the afore mentioned spiders (I also have cats , that have no interest whatsoever in the mice) anyway the only grief the rodents have caused thus far(three years) is to knock over a couple of ho motorcycles an stuff buildings with seeds.I know this doesn't help you but I like that story

If mice are a problem for your trees, you might consider using wire armitures instead of tasty weeds.

Peppermint oil is supposed to repel mice too... And all your LPB's will have fresh breath. :thumb:

Lastly, stuff every crack, nook and cranny in the train room with aluminum scrubbing pads and caulk. They won't be able to get in, and they won't try to chew a new hole through the metal....

I used steel wool around the house, but you don't want any steel wool in the train room. It'll wreck your motors.

 

[pgandw]

The eastern North Carolina remedy for mice and rats was to allow black snakes to live in the crawl space under the house. Seriously! Those who had a snake or two in the crawl space had no problem with mice or rats. Those who didn't, did. However, coming across a snake in your kitchen isn't any more fun than dealing with mouse nests. Don't ask me how I know!

Here in California, I keep the cat hungry enough to mostly keep the mice at bay and put a serious dent in the gopher population in the lawn. The only drawback is the cat's way of letting me know he is on the job.

yours in animal husbandry

 

[steveNSimes]

The best thing I found was to use a regular trap or three or four baited with peanut butter and 1 or two oat flakes. I live in the country and when we boought our house we had alot of mice, but after a while they all died or left. By the way I even got three moles with this. and my old cats (both 14 when we moved in) didn't care about the mice and my daughters kitten/cat didn't know what to do and lost interest. Now my old cats are both gone and two outside cats have shown up, and so far this season I haven't had any mice or signs of them. I still bait the traps and rebait every couple of weeks.

 

[Relic]

Mothballs are also good for cleaning out a stove, when the window gets black,n, smokey chuck in a few balls ,cleans it right up (do not leave unattended0. They are also good octane boost, when I used to run stockcar we'ed put a few in the gas tank adds a few horsepuppys. Pgandw, What kind of cat do you have?!? I;ve seen cats that'v tackeled gophers, they didn't fair so well

 

[green_elite_cab]

You know, can'ts aren't bad for layouts. it just depends on the personality of your cat. My one cat is scared to death of everything, but she sits next to my layout all the time. she never goes on it, and she only rarely started stepping through locomtovies and rolling stock that i put on a near by box, but that was my fault. she would chase a mouse.

another (of 3) cats i have doesn't bother the trains either, but hes even worse for hunting things. he brings them home from the woods as presents. the 3third cat just sits there, and isn't afraid but won't go on the table.

if you luck out and get the right kind of cat, you should have no trouble.

 

[Relic]

Lester. I'll be honest I never tried it in a wood stove .Years ago (in my heavily medicated days) I had an old oil space heated that would smoke up 'cause it had waaaaay too much stovepipe and it would smoke up the little window so being adventurous I threw in a handfull of mothballs.The stove sounded like four jets and literally jumped off the floor.and about two feet of pipe turned red, but it cleaned the little window.So if your feeling adventureous,it'll clean your glass

 

[pgandw]

Luckily for the cat, California gophers are wimps compared to their Midwest counterparts. The kitty came from the Humane Society, no particular breed, grew up to be 20 lbs. Loves to hunt all night, pretty fearless except for our puppy. Has taken on blue jays and won, but runs from a dschund puppy. Hung a bell collar on him to reduce the number of presents being left, but he still gets enough to make the gophers and mice move on to greener pastures for the most part.

 

[green_elite_cab]

my cat one cat. is a snake hunter. and we saw him attack a deer once. hes tiny to, but he was a stray from Staten Island. that explains it. he's a street cat.

 

[TinGoat]

Here's how not to

deal with the mouse problem.

Fiery mouse burns the house down