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| Looked just like this little guy |
Startled at first, of course, this is my first sighting of the little guy. I had seen his little brown rice grains (read: poop) in the cabinets under the sink. I've been here three full weeks and hadn't seen him yet and had already written him off.
Last Christmas, when we came to visit family, a visit to the farm barn revealed sounds of a mouse party in the tack room of the barn. A closer look showed that the room was so crammed full of peoples belongings that there was no WAY anyone was getting in there. This had become a nice refuge for a gang of field mice. It was just half cleaned out a week ago and a dried up, no longer occupied, skunk pelt was found in there.
Anyway, I didn't hear any noise in there upon moving to the farm and Aunt D informed me that the field mice mostly come inside during the cold winter months. Well, I thought, that spares me from that critter at least through the summer. WRONG! Perhaps he came inside because it has been raining all day? Or he's uber stealthy. Either way, game on!
Once I got my britches zippered up, I gave chase. He darted under my bed and I haven't been able to flush him out. So, as soon as my last load of Wonderwash laundry is done, I'll be heading off to Walmart for some mouse traps...and I DON'T mean the old board game.
~OJD
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Quick Back Home Report
I reported that the AC belt snapped yesterday on the family Suburban. Well, upon further inspection, the AC compressor is bad too. I'm looking at $800+ in repairs right during a time when we desperately need to be saving up for the big move (which is in 17 days!).
On top of that, Wifey is now stuck with a vehicle that has no air in the hot desert summer month of July. The girls are NONE to happy about it either. My neighbor can fix it but he can't evacuate the freon. I know of no other alternative than to send Wifey to a shop and pay to have it evacuated. Then our neighbor can do the repair.
Can't help you with the A/C problem but mice .... hey I should have bought stock in Victor Sticky Traps years ago. I buy the large black rat traps, harder for the mice to move if they don't get all their legs stuck on there. Mice come in all times of the year looking for food. One of the spaces I find I have a problem with is the toe space under cabinets. They can hop in under there and then climb up into drawers. Matter of fact I found a tube of Neosporin today in bathroom drawer all chewed up. I also had to put some under the seat in my truck after seeing one run across the bag of dog food on the seat after I got home from the store. Welcome to country living. And I don't believe in relocation programs for them ... they carry diseases. You probably don't have one mouse either, they are very prolific and multiply very fast.
ReplyDeleteI got caught in a thunderstorm on the way home from a friends house last night and completely forgot to stop and get the mouse traps. I guess I'll be picking them up today. along with a can of spray foam
DeleteIt's best to start identifying the good snakes that eat mice now. Yes...I still think only a dead snake is a good one but some do help with the mouse problem. Also. This is a good time to start thinking about that barn cat. A good mouser is worth her weight in feed. Just don't make her a pet. Remember the part in Patriot when Todd had to lay down the law about their dog. Idaho Bill
ReplyDeleteHaving never been been a cat lover, where does one acquire a barn cat?
DeleteOJD,
ReplyDeleteOh' Oh rats!!!!
Can you say "Blubonic Plague"
OJD, I would check the foundation of your house to find the holes that the rodents use to invade your house.
Where I am from originally "Hanta Virus" was a problem during wet years, that's why I freak out on rats.
Get some of the expanding orange yellow foam stuff from a hardware store that comes in a spray can, locate holes in and around your house and fill them up with foam. Keep the bugs and rats out. Also its time to adopt a cat to use as the "barnyard ratter" Get a good flea and tick collar for the cat and get it some food, not much because you want a hungry cat that will kill rats.
yeah' the cat will be your first farm animal. Trust me, in week or so, them rats will disappear. Keep water available for cat too in the heat.
You will wind up with a few dead rats on your bed, but that means your cat likes you and is grateful.
By the way, I'm a dog person myself, but cats have their uses, and ratting is top of the list.
Tex Texan
I think Wifey may be allergic to cats. I presume barn cats stay outside?
DeleteIf you're interested in chickens - they'll eat mice. When I was growing up on a small farm in AZ, we used the live box traps for mice - baited with chicken scratch and/or peanut butter. Not for any humane reason, but because we could crack open the trap and toss it in the middle of the chicken pen - as it darted out it'd draw the chickens like a flock of locusts, and they wound up with some extra protein in their diet. You also don't have injured mice dragging traps back behind benches to die and start to rot. That one we learned the hard way.
ReplyDeletegrowing up in OKC, our house was near open fields. We had our share of mice. I know that rat carcass smell very well. Getting some traps tonight.
DeleteMy wife patched holes and cracks in our block foundation with expanding foam and copper mesh, which seems to have done wonders. Either that or the couple weeks of -15F winter weather just killed 'em all off.
ReplyDeleteWhen I buy the traps tonight, I'll get some foam expander too.
DeleteOJD with only having 17 more days till you guys move out to OK i would just have her drive with her windows down thats what i have to do right now. yeah its hot but its still air moving. also chickens will eat the mice find the holes in the house where they are coming in at and close them up
ReplyDeleteIf i didn't have toddlers in the car and the two back windows rolled down, I would consider it. The left rear window regulator locked up and the right rear window control lever got pushed down OUTSIDE the door panel. It just gets TOO HOT in Phx in July/Aug to not have AC when the windows are stuck shut.
DeleteAs far as freon evacuation goes the law concerning freon release states to the effect "best effort to minimize the release of freon to the atmosphere" and it discusses low leak fittings. I'm as green as the next guy but when it comes to that amount of cash if your wife is investigating the issue and as a new mechanic loosens the wrong fitting and the freon all leaks out it would be an accident. Then your neighbor could swap out the components and refill with new freon. Just saying, accidents happen.
ReplyDeleteChris in NC
Understood
Deletelast night as I got up to change the thermostat, something scurried across my feet. after turning the lights on, I found a toad the size of a softball. Of course, he took off and hopped under the trundle in the family room. so there I was in the middle of the night movubg all the furniture, trying to get this monster out of my house before the dog caught him and got poisoned.
ReplyDeleteHow on earth did a toad that big get in your house?
DeleteHe probably read your (gopher post) comment about not liking cats and decided to exploit the vulnerability.
ReplyDelete--doc
Yeah, those literate rodents are smart asses like that 0_o
DeleteForget mousetraps, you need a BB gun. Consider this a perfect opportunity to get some real-life, real-time target practice.
ReplyDeleteI was just think that last night! There's a Daisy parked right next to the front door.
DeleteOnly time I ever had a problem with Mice is when I didn't have a couple of cats.
ReplyDeleteKILL THEM!!!!! KILL THEM!!! For the love of all that is holy, KILL THEM!!! I've been waging all out war against the filthy vermin for several months now. I find nests of them in my house and take out the whole nest, I have sticky traps and snap traps all over, and the new kitten is surprisingly and thankfully, quite a good mouser. But alas, the war continues. If you don't have a cat yet, try putting down some poison(I can't use this because I already have cats) first to destroy the ones you have now, and then get rid of the poison and get the cat to keep them under control. I've always preferred to use a live trap and relocate, but they have made me bitter. I want them dead!
ReplyDeleteGet a female they are better hunters.
ReplyDeleteGet a ferret. With one of them in the house mice won't come around. You can probably get one for free from a ferret rescue around your place. People buy them and then find out they are too much trouble, so they dump them off. But they are no more work than a cat.
ReplyDeleteI have six!
I've seen the pictures on your blog! Will they bite children?
DeleteI'd go to pick a part to get the compressor. Probably about 80-$100 bucks or less and have the neighbor put it in. Hell, for a couple of Bucks, he may go get it for you. I notice a couple in the Phoenix area on goog.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/search?q=pick+a+part+phoenix+az&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Get your kitty from someone who has a proven mouser mama kitty. Then get it squared away in the barn. We have always kept our cats fed, supplied water, shots and love and they pile up little furry critters on our door mats and kill spiders, too.
ReplyDeleteUnless you are wishing for your little girls to beg you to keep a litter of kitten (who will also reproduce), tame your kitty and get her spayed. If one cat is not enough, you can get another kitty from the same ranch you got the first one from. We found on our previous place that we had to have four to keep the rodent population down. When you get those under control, the snakes will pretty much leave you alone, also. I like snakes, but hate rodents and spiders.
Hanta virus is carried by the tri-colored deer mouse here in Wyoming. We have no mice, anymore, and the voles and chipmunks are cleared out for about three properties away, thanks to the furgirls.
As a small child, I just loved the barn cats and searched for the new litters of kittens every spring. My only childhood cat came from my grandparents farm and she lived to the age of 21 and hunted for pleasure almost her entire time. I say pleasure, because she was always fed. No food = no cat, they will leave and go to a better location.
sidetracksusie