Crap...look

[Maggie3fan]

well...in all fairness...what they are doing to my expensive shed isn't nice either...and thanks so much for that link...

Damn Meg...I sure wish I had known about these ideas when one mouse nested in the folded down back seat in my car...while her sister ate away the rubber in my drivers door and made a nest inside the door...so I'm drivin down the road when I see movement in my prifferal (sp) vision...a hairless baby mouse climbing up the back of my passenger seat...$350. later...new rubber and some wiring they used for a nest...

 

[Pistachio's Pamperer]

Maggie.. The instant mash thing is what we always did around my parents farm. The brillo pad thing dad used when storing certain things in the garage. I was just happy I could find a site with a bunch of those ideas on it.
-Meg

 

[Pointydog]

We've got to figure out how to kill the little devils without harming the tortoises.

Automatictrap.com
Should be able to use these, you can place them where tortoise can't reach. I don't think a tortoise with a head small enough to get in would have a neck long enough to set it off.

 

[Maggie3fan]

Maggie.. The instant mash thing is what we always did around my parents farm. The brillo pad thing dad used when storing certain things in the garage. I was just happy I could find a site with a bunch of those ideas on it.
-Meg

So I called the handyman friend that I use and first he says"take a tablespoon of peanut butter and mix in some instant potato flakes.." hahaha..and then he's going to replace the piece containing the hole and replace it. but he checked out the whole interior of the shed and he doesn't believe either mice or rats can get inside the shed...

 

[Pistachio's Pamperer]

Maggie:: LOL. There's a lot of old time stuff like that. I wish like heck I could remember the name of a plant my dad used. I can't find it growing out here at all, I might have to see if I can send the in laws looking for it. But it works great to hang in rafters in attics or basements to keep out spiders. And I --REALLY-- need that out here. Meg does --not-- like spiders; one of the few times I am really girly and will scream.

And for whatever reason something I just typed triggered my damaged brain. HEDGE APPLE!! Osage Orange. Apparently you can also plant it around your house and it helps-- but looks like it can be dangerous about animals.. So no planting for my yard... Hrm. ((on the quest to find some to dry and hang in the attic))

-Meg

 

[Pointydog]

I have Osage Oranges. I bring them in every fall, just to look at them. They dry out in the bowls and I usually toss them in the spring when I have nicer things to fill those bowls.
I can brush the cobwebs off the current season's dried hedge apples and send them to you. Fresh ones can't be had in the northern hemisphere until September.

For generations the thorny trees were used as fences. Cuttings can be stuck in the ground close together, and with regular shearing will make a thorny hedge that's impenetrable to livestock. We have them along our fencerows and in pastures. I've never heard of any animal choking on a fruit, but I have read it can happen, much like I've read that the fruits repel spiders. Apparently neither the cattle nor the spiders read those accounts!

 

[Pistachio's Pamperer]

Pointydog:: Thank you for the offer. But my in laws managed to find some. My dad hung like the entire branch. Apparently it’s quite common back in the Midwest? The old guy that runs like a road side stand had the whole dried branches for sale so they are gonna send me one. So I wonder if the leaves contain something that repels as well?
May apples are good for different things too.
And paw paws(spelling?) — yummy! My mom used to make like an apple butter with paw paws.

The Southwest grows stuff I am not familiar with yet. Well cactus!!!

-Meg

 

[Pointydog]

We have pawpaw here too. If you think Redfoots love banana, you should see them with a pawpaw!

I haven't found the Osage Orange fruits to repel anything, though fresh ones have a strong (medicinal but sweet) smell. I'd be curious to hear about whether the branches work for you.

 

[Billna the 2]

Crap!...... Moo?

 

[DesertGirl]

You have to be careful using DeCon in the shed because the mice poop out little poison turds, and their little dead bodies also might be poison. And sulcatas will sample everything.

I've got the same mouse thing going on in the walls and ceilings of my sheds, evidenced by all the little Styrofoam beads falling out of the seams.

We've got to figure out how to kill the little devils without harming the tortoises.

My mom used to shoot them with a BB gun. She did that until she shot my dad’s brand new pickup! BTW that shot still got the mouse before the truck! She was good.

 

[DesertGirl]

Damn Meg...I sure wish I had known about these ideas when one mouse nested in the folded down back seat in my car...while her sister ate away the rubber in my drivers door and made a nest inside the door...so I'm drivin down the road when I see movement in my prifferal (sp) vision...a hairless baby mouse climbing up the back of my passenger seat...$350. later...new rubber and some wiring they used for a nest...

$350 sounds like a deal to me!

 

[Maggie3fan]

$350 sounds like a deal to me!

Sorry...but I'm gonna disagree with you......picture driving at 80 mph on a 6 lane hiway in the hammer lane, when all the sudden there's that movement of pink against my black upholstery...ok don't freak out...it's a baby something and it can't hurt me...so I'm picturing the road ahead trying to remember where there's a pull off...when all the sudden...I catch a movement of brown and white...hereeeee's Mommie!!! Oh, Jesus Mary Joseph...and all the sudden I don't care if there's a pull off...put on my 4-ways and stepped on it and veered off the hiway onto a narrow shoulder...so while I come to the realization that I simply don't have what it takes to just throw them out the window...snowflake...so while my little Camaro is being buffered by big trucks...I found the nest and put both Mommie and baby back in it until I got home...sorta...lol

 

[Maggie3fan]

My mom used to shoot them with a BB gun. She did that until she shot my dad’s brand new pickup! BTW that shot still got the mouse before the truck! She was good.

Great story!!! lol

 

[DesertGirl]

Sorry...but I'm gonna disagree with you......picture driving at 80 mph on a 6 lane hiway in the hammer lane, when all the sudden there's that movement of pink against my black upholstery...ok don't freak out...it's a baby something and it can't hurt me...so I'm picturing the road ahead trying to remember where there's a pull off...when all the sudden...I catch a movement of brown and white...hereeeee's Mommie!!! Oh, Jesus Mary Joseph...and all the sudden I don't care if there's a pull off...put on my 4-ways and stepped on it and veered off the hiway onto a narrow shoulder...so while I come to the realization that I simply don't have what it takes to just throw them out the window...snowflake...so while my little Camaro is being buffered by big trucks...I found the nest and put both Mommie and baby back in it until I got home...sorta...lol

ROFLMAO! You sure can paint a picture!

 

[Tom]

If you poison them, it will poison all the local mouse predators that eat lots of mice. One owl eats 12 mice every single night. Kill one owl with mouse poison, and that will allow 12 mice that would have been eaten to survive and breed, every single night.

Snap traps properly bated and placed are my weapon of choice, but live traps work well too. My parents are not using those electric zapper traps, and they say it works.

Found this on line:

Attracting Owls to Reduce Rodent Populations

<p>Farmers and homeowners alike can benefit from attracting owls to their property. With over 19 species of owls in the United States, these predators inhabit a wide variety of environments and dine on many animals we consider pests. Voles, mice, rat

www.victorpest.com

 

[jUMPSu1t]

I wish I knew how much sulcatas like eating random things! A few years ago we had to watch my class pet sulcata Dribble for a couple weeks, and when we took her out to play with my other tortoises she decided to eat some rocks. We got very scared. Dribble's okay, though.

 

[DesertGirl]

I wish I knew how much sulcatas like eating random things! A few years ago we had to watch my class pet sulcata Dribble for a couple weeks, and when we took her out to play with my other tortoises she decided to eat some rocks. We got very scared. Dribble's okay, though.

You mean like this? Our DT snuffled up some pebbles. This X-ray was from Dec. She is fine now.

 

[queen koopa]

I have the same problem here in my shed. I bought the "walk the plank" mice killers/catchers. I use those and the snap traps. I have to say though, I dont think there is a way to beat them and still have any animals. I just learn to live with them and kill as many as I can. I set the traps off and on as they seem to catch on quick.

Well said

 

[queen koopa]

I’m in the Nevada desert, we have huge healthy rats. They walk right out of sticky traps. Large old school mouse/rat traps work with peanut butter but you can only set so many of them. Those home made bucket traps seem to get the most rodent collection. But you know what traps the most rats here? A 10 gallon bucket of water that includes a way for the rat to get in. Meaning the hose or pipe coral in my case. I was constantly finding dead frozen rats in just 1 of my horse troughs. It was because I left the hose in the bucket.

 

[William Lee Kohler]

I thought about those myself...but I wondered if the sound or whatever it is would affect the torts...

Also what about Cats and Dogs nearby?