[hgiv]

Cats are hit or miss. Most are a pain and barn cats are mean and they tend to make more. Plus they get fleas and ticks. Whatever. I've see a few nice ones but it just never works out like you plan.

Simple endless mousetrap.

Get a bucket and fill it 1/3 way with water. Put a piece of wood up it to make a ramp. Run a piece of study fishing line or wire through a beer can and across the top so it spins on the line. Now put some peanut butter on the can. The mice climb up and jump on the can to eat the peanut butter. They fall in the pail and drown. Super cheap and simple. Never fails. In winter water freezes. Put something in it to keep from freezing (be careful of pets) or use a new 5 gal bucket. Sides a slippery.

[Jonsie]

Simple endless mousetrap.

Get a bucket and fill it 1/3 way with water. Put a piece of wood up it to make a ramp. Run a piece of study fishing line or wire through a beer can and across the top so it spins on the line. Now put some peanut butter on the can. The mice climb up and jump on the can to eat the peanut butter. They fall in the pail and drown. Super cheap and simple. Never fails. In winter water freezes. Put something in it to keep from freezing (be careful of pets) or use a new 5 gal bucket. Sides a slippery.[/QUOTE]

I saw a video of this method a while back, they used an empty plastic coke bottle. Drilled 2 holes in top of plastic bucket an inch from top, and bottom end of bottle, put clothes hanger wire thru bottle and both pail holes, a little peanut butter on bottle. Video showed mouse set one foot on bottle, spun right off into the liquid! Ingenious indeed!!

[i82much]

I don't mind taking care of a cat. I'd get a spayed young adult female from the pound and let her do her job. But the comment about songbirds reminds me that one of our house cats killed a juvenile robin last year in the garden. It was pretty sad.

I ordered some more mouse traps. Going to get a tractor here soon and clean up some brush piles, cut our acreage, and maybe put some more gravel around the sides of the shop. That should help quite a bit. I'll give the owls and hawks first crack at these guys before I get a cat.

That said, I've been working from home and converted one of the rooms in the shop to an office. It would be kind of cool to have my own cat out here. I like cats.

I can't see doing one of those water traps. I feel bad enough when they don't go quickly in the mouse traps. I want them dead, because they carry disease, but I want to do it as humanely as possible.

[RocktimusPryme]

I recently adopted a cat from the animal shelter to be indoor outdoor. I have a dog door so there was no way I would be able to keep an outside cat out or an inside cat in. Hes about 5 months old and just killed his first vole this week. Brought it in to show me. I would prefer he kill mice or moles, but hes just getting his murderous legs under him.

He comes and goes as he pleases, stays pretty close so far, and poops outside. So I don't have to clean a litter box. Im told because he got fixed young he is less likely to be a wanderer as many male cats are.

Only problem with him is hes a rapist. He humps my leg like a dog would. Only with more teeth involved. No amount of kicking him seems to dissuade him. Its like he prefers his victim to struggle. Never heard of anything like it, hopefully he grows out of it. Its irritating.

I do worry about him killing the birds, but so far so good on that.

[hgiv]

Cats are serious killing machines!! I appreciate that. I even had one once. If you get a nice one they are reasonably pleasant critters. But if you don't... yikes.

I guy figures it like this... I like other people's nice cats. I don't like other people's snobby mean cats. But either way... they're other people's cats.

To each his own. Mouse traps are easy. Been using the "endless mouse trap" at our hunting camp for 50 years! Set it and forget it.

[Gator67]

We adopted a cat from a rescue about 15 years ago. Great animal--very clean and social--loves people and dogs, and hunts and kills scorpions. He spends most of his time indoors, but when he's outdoors, our timid but trusty shepherd mix won't leave his side and will herd him back into the yard if he starts to stray into the desert. Between the coyotes, mountain lions, bobcats, rattle snakes and hawks, he wouldn't last too long if he were left on his own. Unfortunately, the cat has bladder cancer, and the way things are looking, we'll be lucky if he's with us another week. Since the dog becomes extremely depressed when the cat's away, we adopted a couple more rescue dogs this past week--another timid shepherd mix and an outgoing border collie mix. We wanted one but couldn't decide, so we got them both. It's pandemonium sometimes, but they all get along great. At some point, we'll get another cat, but not right away.

[Region Warrior]

Before you go cats...

My garage buddies where all feral rescue kittens.
2 where from an old barn.
Another 2 appeared outside of garage on their own during consecutive winters.
All males.

After getting neutered and vaccinated, not long after every one wanted attention and/or be held when coming into garage.
Each one knows and responds by their name.
They rub on legs, jump on work benches and stools wanting attention.
If I doze off in chase lounge, 1-2 will sleep on my lap and legs and take turns when they get to warm from the wood stove.

Yes they like heights.
Have old comforters collected over the years on cars and up in rafters with 4x8 plywood.
Usually sleep on both during winters.
Floor and under cars during summer heat.

Hunters? You bet!
Always had mouse problems. Even though the 5g bucket/peanut butter trap worked great, still got nests in parts boxes everywhere. Turds on work benches, etc.
Nothing since these guys been here.
They can hear them while in asleep in rafters. And when out there working with tv or stereo on.
Its cool to watch them zero in. They have a team system. Average kill time is 5-10 minutes. If the one that gets it not hungry, another one is. Sometimes they share.

Course theres food and litter duty twice a day, but for me its worth it.

[Region Warrior]

"Prefers his victim to struggle" LMAO!

[i82much]

Originally Posted by RocktimusPryme

He humps my leg like a dog would. Only with more teeth involved. No amount of kicking him seems to dissuade him. Its like he prefers his victim to struggle. Never heard of anything like it, hopefully he grows out of it. Its irritating.

.

Honey, is that you?

[salem1912]

I have posted before "Patches" on duty.

[daduck]

Originally Posted by gtokid1968

Sticky traps!!!!!!!
I will say it again Sticky traps! They catch ANYTHING that moves!
Keep them then by every door! Sometime they are just full of bugs, spiders
geckos anything that moves!

gtokid1968 is the winner!!!!!!

I have 6 of the large Glue Traps in my 1,200 Sq. Ft. detached garage and I am constantly "glueing" mice. Much cheaper and less effort than a cat. Glue traps never need to go to the Vet.

[z man]

Don’t forget the TICKS. Lyme disease Bad business. Ticks go on cats too. Use the traps

[65sport]

Get a cat. Keep all the windows rolled up on the cars though and make sure the cat door is only big enough for the cat and not big enough for a larger predator. You would be shocked just how small a door they can go through comfortably. Don't leave anything upholstered where the cat can scratch, and consider getting it a scratch pole. Don't let it mingle with the house cats. You probably know anti-freeze tastes sweet to them and is poison for them. You probably know everything I just said but there you go.

[android 211]

I lived in an old wooden apartment building at one time and it had a mouse problem. I had two cats and I never saw a mouse or found evidence of them.
Neighbors without cats did have droppings and things chewed. Cats ruined my GTO car cover. They persisted in sharpening their claws on the corners stretched over the front bumper. They love to sit on the roof. I do believe a cat kept inside the garage would keep the garage mouse free. A litter box would be used by the cat rather than a car interior. It would have to be a neutered cat. A tom would mark his territory.

[71GP76TA]

Get a couple cats..

[Old Goat Racer]

Black snakes like mice .

[dataway]

I love cats, had them for years but the problem with bird killing and the fact that they prey on the small mammals that feed birds of prey, fox, ermine etc. has turned me against outdoor cats. Cats, as great as they are as pets are an invasive species in North America, they were brought over on ships with the colonists.

I've watched the song bird population on my 12 acres almost disappear in the last 20 years. Not saying that is all due to cats, much of it is also due to bird feeders which disrupt the birds desire to migrate. But even the conservative estimates say that outdoor cats kill 30-60 million song birds a year in the US alone. Not to mention the small mammals that would otherwise feed native predators.

I've also seen cats that were tremendous barn mousers, that would literally fill up a five gallon bucket in the course of a week ( That was Casey, a 20+ lb male ). But they required considerable care to keep them healthy and doing their job.

[poncho-mike]

Several years back, I had some mice getting into the basement of my rental house. I don't have a picture, but I built a trap that looks very similar to the one in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiL5NvXfxZA

I started with a 5 gallon bucket but I kept the lid. Instead of using clear plastic bottles, I used pieces of PVC secured to the lid. I smeared peanut butter around the bottom of the PVC.

It worked pretty well, came back a few weeks later and found five or six mice dead in the bottom of the bucket. I dumped the mice and applied fresh peanut butter and caught a few more.

[Jonsie]

I started with a 5 gallon bucket but I kept the lid. Instead of using clear plastic bottles, I used pieces of PVC secured to the lid. I smeared peanut butter around the bottom of the PVC.

It worked pretty well, came back a few weeks later and found five or six mice dead in the bottom of the bucket. I dumped the mice and applied fresh peanut butter and caught a few more.[/QUOTE]

Video was pretty good, still prefer the plastic coke bottle that spins on a wooden dowel

[Region Warrior]

Any update?

Had 2 stray kittens come by 2-3 days apart crying outside house but a raccoon got both.
BIG one by the piles of scat around house and garage.
Setting up a live trap this weekend.
Would use my old leg traps when sold muskrat pelts 30-40 yrs ago, but don't want to catch an innocent cat or dog.