My suggestion is along the same lines... get a gun, but make sure that you are a good shot.

Kind of funny/gruesome story that goes along with this. My good friend is a cop. He was redoing his lawn in the back yard. Once he pulled up the old sod, he found many "holes". Then he saw a tiny head and body peek out from the hole. He set up traps and waited for a few days... nothing. One weekend, he then decided to wait for the critter with his personal gun in hand. He finally picked off the critter. Now, the lawn is nice and pretty.

Ilya

 

I tried Irish Spring Soap - They Ate It.

I tried Bounce Frabic Sheets - They Used Them As Blankets.

I tried Moth ***** (Old Style) - They Made A Bowling Ally.

Now I sit at the bathroom window with my .22 and powderless ammo - I'm Happy

 

Here I thought I would learn a secret on how to keep the pack rats out of my 64 tbird (they don't bother the 54 F250 because it isn't as nice) and my experience has been similar to 4tl8fords. I guess I'll have to get some birdshot for the 22. The sticky traps have caught a few of the critters, but the supply of relatives seems to be endless.

 

Slivers of Irish Spring bar soap in an old pantyhose, or drops of oil of peppermint (Book-1001 Ways to a Pest Free Property). Supposedly you can also use the IS soap chips to get rid of deer, coons and skunks by sprinkling it around your property, trash cans, etc.

Or do like my Uncle Martin used to do---take a pint of Jim Beam and a 25 caliber to the rascals. Don't know his kill ratio but he was always pleased with his results (night after night after night)....but everyone always said Grandma put him outside before the glue was dry.

 

Ewwwwwwwwwwww! Did you ever smell moth *****?





and if you did, how do you get the little legs apart?



Seriously, this works.

 

Hey Dick, you forgot the peanut butter

 

Now that you bring up peanut butter, Bob, I've had more trouble with ground squirrels, those cute little destructive chipmuck basxxxds, than I've had with mice this year. I've caught I think 18 or so in rat traps this year using peanut butter. Works great, but you've got to keep it fresh. Stu

 

get a cat!

 

Just a heads up on the cat thing. Apparantly chipmunks don't taste too good, but make great toys. Most of the mice that the cats bring in to the shop (It is their home, I have a cat door in the one window) are dropped in their food dish dead. I chuck the mouse and reward them with cat food or a treat. All of the chipmunks that I have seen in the shop are alive!!!! They bring the dang things in and torture them until their dead. I have to pick up about 1 dead rodent every day. I asked my neigbor (hill-billyish type) how I can get the cats to mouse. His answer was to not feed them. I replied "how do I get them to stick around the house". His answer: Thats why you get free cats. Funny guy, but I feed them anyway. On a side note, If you go the cat route, get two. Cats love company, and if you don't have a second cat, you are their company and they will annoy the crap out of you. The second reason for two cats is the enjoyment of watching them beat the snot out of each other (it seems they put on a show for me every night).

 

Thanks guys, but no cats. The wife's a Labrador Retriever breeder/AKC judge/trainer/rescuer and I've got about all the animals I can handle. And besides, Sophia, the real truckdog would have her nose out of joint. At least the wife doesn't care when a rescued truck follows me home. And peanut butter is awful cheap. Stu

 

Bob, I was just commenting on the methods used, not the technical aspects.

I have a very large **** Bark Maple tree about 25 feet from my bathroom window (behind the tree about 1000ft of nothing). I spread peanut butter on the side of the tree facing the house, sit back and wait for the hungry buggers to appear. Mr Winchester takes care of the rest.

 

That's what's good about the Decon bait pans it doesn't kill immediately (contains a blood thinner that makes them hemophylic) so they take the poisoned grain home to the family. The females will also pass it on to the babies in her milk, so you get the whole family. That's why it's important to keep replacing emptied pans the "breadwinner" is taking it home. I make a little feeding shed out of three bricks, one on each side of the pan and one for a roof. That keeps the bait dry and pets or birds from eating it as well as making the little bast***s think they're safe inside.

When I was a teen we had a mongrel dog that was a great "ratter" The rats would come from the field behind the house and try to eat her food. the dog would stalk it then would grab them by the body, shake them violently then throw it hard against the back of the garage. She'd paw at them to see if they were dead, if not she'd do it again until they were. It never took her more than 30 sec to dispach one. Once she was satisfied it was dead she would just walk away, and have nothing more to do with it. Once we saw a rat in the yard when we were outside that ran through the fence back into the field. We put a long lead on Shieba and took her out back into the field on the outside of the fence. She got one whiff of the fresh scent and in a flash found the entrance to the burrow and started digging. She was so intent on getting that bugger that when the ground was too hard to dig fast enough, she actually tore the top off the tunnel with her mouth! She worked herself into such a frenzy that we made her stop after she dug up about 4 ft of tunnel about a foot deep!

 

Thankfully I've not had rats. With Decon and mothballs in the shop, barn, and garage and peanut butter when I see the little ground squirrel jerks, things are under control. Now the big squirrels is different. They taunt the heck out the dogs, and are smart enough to not get too close. We call them tree rats. If I could just keep them out of the bird feeders. Stu

 

Bushy tailed tree rats and rabbits seems to be the worse we have, although lately there has been a small breed rooster and two hens wandering around the neighborhood (we live in the city!) and the rooster crows every few minutes from morning till dark. We have a number of dogs and large cats around us as well, I'm surprised one of them hasn't had chicken dinner yet.

 

DeCon works great on mice and squirrels. There is a newer version out if they are resistant to the older formula. I place INSIDE my vehicles and on a small plate on the floor and trunk. Mice especially are not initially heading for the food but for warmth and nesting material. I also have a jar lid filled with a 50/50 mix of antifreeze next to the bait. After going that route Ive never had mice in a vehicle again, dead or alive. Just a few signs of turds.

Poison doesnt work on chipmunks, the little sh**s will regurgitate (puke for you rednecks) and are the only rodent that can. However after a few weeks of this and they stay away. What does work is a trail of peanuts on a balance plank over a 30 gallon trash barrel with a foot or so of water, or a mix of antifreeze for cold climates.

I pretty much have rodent proofed my vehicles, house, shop, outbuildings, trailers, etc. It took awhile of useless steps (some listed above) before I got the procedure down.
Since I have cats and dogs I make sure they cant get to the poison.

BTW, Im in the rural woods of NH and critters galore around here. Including fisher cats, moose, coyotes, fox, turkeys, deer, bear, etc. I sometimes nail chipmunks in the summer with a 22 and Ive also been known to splatter one against a rock wall with my S&W 44 Magnum. The wife didnt think that was funny so I did it again...