I hate you meeces to peeces

[Grumpy John]

For over three months now we have been noticing mouse droppings around the house, mainly in the kitchen on the bench behind the toaster. I initially laid a couple of the traditional spring loaded traps and caught a few, but after a while the bait was being taken without the trap going off. I then started laying Ratsak around where I was seeing the droppings, I have been laying the Ratsak for ~ 8 weeks now and it keeps getting eaten (or so I assume), I'm not seeing any green poop around the place. Either we have hordes of mice hiding around the place, or the buggers have built up a tolerance to Ratsak.
Is there something stronger than Ratsak that is available at consumer level?

[Bohdan]

I used ratsak but found that the little buggers just ignored it. I replaced it with Talon and the mice and rats chewed their way thru the plastic bucket to get to it.

I nail a stack (4) bricks to a shelf (to prevent them taking it away and any unwanted kills) and when it disappears I replace it.

I find that the bait is then not disturbed for several months and then it suddenly disappears. I replace it and only a small quantity goes, then it is left for a few more months. The piles of black and blue poo around the bait tells you that they love it.

[Chief Tiff]

The most effective mouse trap I’ve ever seen was just a beer bottle taped to a tomato stake over a bucket of water. You tape the bottle with the end of the stake ending at the bottle shoulders and lean the whole assembly over a metal bucket half full of water; the other end of the stake gets put on the floor against a wall where they are expected to be running. Put a blob of peanut butter inside the bottle neck as bait. Mousey runs up the stake to get to the bait but finds that the bottle neck is too slippery to hold onto as he leans over to get his head in the neck. He falls into the water and eventually drowns. The bottle neck needs to be free of any labels and polished, you can also give it a wipe with veg oil to make it even more slippery. The bucket or drum needs to be metal as a mouse’s claws can dig into soft plastics.

Back in 2011 we had an absolute plague of mice at work, our H&S reps put out poison baits and installed some very expensive automatically resetting mousetraps that used to catch a couple every day. One of my coworkers showed us this method and it caught over 20 on the first night alone, there were so many dead mice that the last few were able to stand on their bodies and avoid drowning! We put loads of them around the place and after a couple of weeks we’d seen them all off.

Regarding poisons; I’m not a fan because firstly they can build up immunity, secondly it can poison any predators further up the food chain, and lastly the little buggers will die somewhere inconvenient and stink the house out for weeks before the maggots finish them off.

[China]

I have used these with great success https://www.bunnings.com.au/ratsak-fast-action-wax-block-6-pack_p2961398

[Beardy]

Just be mindful if you live in an area with a lot of wildlife that the poison kills a lot of birds and animals that eat the mice that have ingested the poison

[Grumpy John]

Thanks guys for all your ideas and suggestions. I put out two traditional spring loaded traps last night, one behind the fridge and one on the benchtop next to the toaster. I can't tell if the one behind the fridge was touched, but the one next to the toaster had half the cheese/bacon mix missing from it. Either these traps are not sensitive enough, or the mice in my house have an extremely light touch.

[Tonyz]

quietness and a hammer and patience :oo:

[Grumpy John]

quietness and a hammer and patience :oo:

Or this :minigun:

[A Duke]

Hi,
Invent a new type of trap and have the world beat a path to your door.
Best of luck

[Grumpy John]

Had another look this morning, both traps missing both cheese and mice.:angfire::upset:

[ARealBoy]

Try using a little dab of peanut butter as the bait instead of cheese. When they come for the last little bit... bang!

Good luck.

Mick.

[AlexS]

Tie the bait on with a bit of cotton. The traps these days arent as sensitive as the old ones made in Australia were.

[Grumpy John]

Gotcha. New trap, instant result. Bought a pair of new traps from Coles yesterday arvo, slightly different design to the traditional traps you see. The trap near the toaster had a mouse in it this morning. The one at the back of the fridge had not been touched from what I could tell.

[wheelinround]

Make sure the toaster is clean as possible before putting it away. Or relocate it youll be surprised at the droppings inside it.

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

[Bob38S]

Best bait for mice (for me) has always been a peanut or macadamia nut. Soft enough to force onto the
bait pins or plastic hole on some traps but too hard to steal by the mice. At a pinch if you don’t have any nuts a pumpkin seed works in a similar way but doesn’t appear to be as attractive.

[Grumpy John]

It has been over 2 weeks since I caught the mouse in the new trap. I put 4 pellets of mouse bait behind the toaster and they haven't been touched. No mouse droppings on benchtops or around the fridge. Looks like I caught the culprit, he was a fat little bugger.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

[wood spirit]

They definetly grow immune to poisons . We gave up on ratsak after we felt like we shoud name them (kept eating it - no bodies -Went to talon was good they appear to be avaoiding it now (no bite marks -but lots of poo) also the best traps seem to be the plastic ones that work like pegs (squeese the end to set the trap) The more elaborate traps that others mention do certanly work -but in say the kitchen etc. are bulky.
We got them now - will keep watching this post.:~

[wood spirit]

Have had the horrific toaster event happen - Bread in - push down hear horrible squeeks - yes did catch one of the MFs doing what they do -our appliances go into cupboards now. (by the way left the toaster do its thing before I shook it out) Can't see a way to keep them out -1920s house (rental) essentually waiting untill they can't possibly rent the house again -demolish - break up sell $$$$$$$$ Keeping the mice out is pretty much impossibile (too many possible access points) Though did stop the RATS in the roof -appeared to be the one access hole -bit of tin can. seemed to have cured that one. But the mice - many rooms many traps avoided, many poisons on offer ignored. the HUGE problem with them is that if the skull fits the rest can follow - makes it hard with a house with many many issues, THAT you only rent. IE large gaps all over the place -stumps are ORIGINAL and timber -well 100 years -well...
If you know of a 3rd poison would love to hear of it. when we changed from ratsak to the other one the effect was dramatic. They seem to have gotten used to the new one now. Bugger
NUCLEAR waste -know a wesite? Probably wouldn't do them anyway.

[wood spirit]

While bulky have seen this work in the backyard. Plastic water bucket - floating rat -obviously fell in and couldn't get out.

[wood spirit]

Have had that with full blown RAT kNOW THE DESIGNand it doe's work however bulky and inconvenient.

[Bob38S]

Possibly as a last resort (from a dog lover), borrow a cat.

[wood spirit]

We have a Lab - he HATES cats And he is @$&@ useless when it comes to such matterers - keep telling him mice -made of meat. :doh: he don't get it.