[Noisebridge-discuss] Better Mouse Solution

[Johny Radio]

a couple hours of research...

Mice are often infested with fleas, ticks, and/or mites. Mouse droppings 
can be hazardous to your health. We have mouse droppings inside kitchen 
cabinets and drawers (along with the cockroaches).

BUT, poison, ultrasonic repellents, cats, dryer softener sheets, and 
kill-traps all have significant drawbacks.

     -Poison: They go die someplace you cannot get to, and stink up the 
whole place. Can take days. Mice can be resistant to anti-coagulant 
poisons (eg. warfarin) or arsenic. Mouse poison can be toxic to humans 
and other animals.
     -Ultrasonic: Very mixed reviews.
     -Cats: Not reliable, too much upkeep.
     -Kill-traps: Disgusting cleanup, and inhumane. If an infested mouse 
is killed via trap or poison, its parasites will eventually leave the 
body in search of a new host. Some mice are capable of recognizing and 
avoiding conventional mousetraps.
     -Softener sheets: mixed reviews.

----
Better Mouse Solution =
     no-kill traps + repellent + no accessible food + no holes + no 
nesting material + sealed trash + people

----
No-Kill Traps:

no-kill trap #1:
A stick or paper towel tube containing bait, over a bucket.
http://www.wikihow.com/Image:Catch-a-Mouse-Step-11.jpg

no-kill trap #2:
Deep box with an open top, containing bait. They can get in, but not out.
http://voices.yahoo.com/how-catch-mouse-without-deadly-traps-poison-or-2724060.html

Trap tips:
     -Bait: peanut butter, chocolate.
     -Cheese spoils too fast.
     -Release mice at least 1 mile away.
     -To find mouse routes, use baby powder + bait to get mouse pawprints.
     -Put water in the bucket to drown the mouse. Cleanest, quickest, 
and least painful way to kill a mouse.
     -Try putting the traps outside the space, before the mice enter.

--------
mouse repellents:

Oils:
Spearmint or peppermint oil. Balsam fir oil, Clove oil, Tabasco Sauce, 
Cinnamon, Citronella and Eucalyptus may also work. Can be sprayed, 
and/or put some drops on a cottonball. Grow peppermint plants, too. 
STASH Black Chai Tea contains cinnamon, ginger root, cinnamon oil, clove 
oil, all spice, nutmeg, and cardamom oil.

hot pepper:
1 gallon of water, 1 tbsp. hot sauce and ¼ cup dish soap. Spray.

fox urine:
powdered fox urine product can be found at most home and garden centers. 
It is non-toxic and natural. Sprinkle the perimeter of the exterior of 
the house with the powder. Apply a liberal coating, twice weekly for the 
first two weeks, once a month thereafter.

Ammonia:
Fill caps from plastic bottles with ammonia and leave them out.

Dried snake poo, crushed bay leaves, mothballs, so it is said.

Repellents do not work INDEFINITELY due to habituation and/or losing 
their potency. ROTATE different repellents.

------
nesting material:
Make sure mice won't find nesting material by storing all soft, fluffy 
material like fabric, rugs and blankets in heavy plastic or metal boxes. 
Mice will even chew up cardboard, paper and lightweight plastics to make 
nests, though, so be sure you don't leave any lying around.

Hello sewing area?

----
Trash:
Put the large trash barrels far away from the kitchen, and they should 
be inside a sealed chamber.

---
No Food:
     -If we remove a bunch of mice without removing the food that 
attracts them, that will increase the food supply for the remaining 
mice, who will have MORE babies in response.
     -Dog owners at NB have recently been leaving exposed dog food on 
the floor, such as Chase.

---
Tips:
     -Spray any droppings with bleach or other disinfectants before 
cleaning, and don't let them touch your skin or clothing.
     -Do not handle dead mice with bare hands.
     -If mankind didn't take away all the wilderness, mice would have 
their own place to live.

---
People:
     -If we don't teach and train NB peeps to clean up, nothing else 
will work. I think kitchen cleanup should be part of new-user orientation.

------
sources:
http://www.squidoo.com/best-mouse-repellent
http://voices.yahoo.com/cheap-easy-ways-repel-mice-naturally-623594.html
http://voices.yahoo.com/the-best-ways-rid-house-mice-4058551.html?cat=7
http://www.ehow.com/how_6102858_homemade-natural-repellent-mice-rats.html#ixzz2ZLEAaPzk
and others


Johny Radio

Stick It In Your Ear!

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.noisebridge.net/pipermail/noisebridge-discuss/attachments/20130717/75716010/attachment-0002.html>