I keep noticing bits of stuff - fluff, threads etc - on the floor get moved - well mostly disappear. Usually in the night. I sniff around for mouse droppings but there aren't any. Yesterday I noticed what looked like a mouse dropping but decided to check it out later. When I did it had gone. SO have concluded I have mice who clear up their droppings to delude me into thinking they don't exist. :o
Thinking of getting one of those plug in repellers. There's no way I am going near a trap - I'd squeam and squeam. And poison ends up with stinking bodies.
Anyone know if they work?
I dunno if the repellers work. A cat is very effective, but pet ownership puts you to a lot of trouble and expense.
Are you sure it's not just the CIA agents under your sofa? They do make a mess sometimes. :mrgreen:
Quote from: Griffin NoName on April 17, 2010, 11:50:41 AM
Anyone know if they work?
I was interested in one several years ago, but declined to invest in one.
After reading the many and varied reviews, I concluded the odds of your getting one that actually worked as advertised was 1 in 5 against.
:)
It seems that since there is no objective standard governing these ultrasonic "screamers", that some brands appear to work part of the time, while others never appear to work at all.
I would guess, that since the sound emitted is too high for us to hear, there's literally no way for a casual purchaser to know if the device she/he purchased actually emits
anything.
Couple with, to be effective, it has to be
loud-- I'm talking about earth-moving loud-- of course, you can't hear it.... so how to tell?
Short of highly expensive test equipment (an oscilloscope would do) you simply cannot know if yours is a bust or not, without plunking down the cash and waiting to see...
... of the few successes reported (when I researched these), the majority claimed it took a minimum of 2 weeks to clear out the offending critters.... which made me ask.... WHAT?
2 weeks?
If the thing is
truly howling in such a way, that the mice/roaches/whatever are distressed.... why does it take them
two weeks to pack their bags and relocate? I'd think that within 24 hours they'd vacate to quieter pastures....if it actually was doing anything.
I strongly suspect these things are based on homeopathic science-y ......
:ROFL:
------------------------------
Edit: I was right: homeopathy. :)
(the bold line is my emphasis...)
http://walterreeves.com/insects_animals/article.phtml?cat=21&id=267 (http://walterreeves.com/insects_animals/article.phtml?cat=21&id=267)
Quote
Pouring out of my Web browser came dozens of university publications regarding the effectiveness of ultrasonic pest repellers:
"Ultrasonic pest repelling devices have repeatedly been shown to be completely useless." University of Florida
"Ultrasonic treatment devices (such as ultrasonic flea collars) claimed to rid homes of pests are completely ineffective." University of North Dakota
"Ultrasonic devices do not meet advertisers claims for their products." University of Maryland
"With proper use of rodenticide baits, there are few situations where the additional cost of ultrasonic devices is warranted." University of Saskatchewan
"Ultrasonic devices are frequently advertised as a non-toxic method of cockroach control. However, extensive research has shown that these devices neither kill nor repel cockroaches." University of Florida
Reading further, he explains why they are a bust:
QuoteThe reason ultrasonic devices don't repel animals, even though they can hear sounds we can't, is that ultrasound does not pack much energy. A sofa, a kitchen cabinet or a wall block almost all of the sound waves. Just as you might quickly roll up your car window when an ambulance howls past, a mouse or rat can duck behind a solid object to hide from loud noise. When food, water and shelter are present, a rodent can easily find different pathways that avoid the ultrasonic sound waves. Insects don't have ears but they can "feel" sound. Even so, ultrasonic sound dissipates rapidly. A bug crawling more than thirty feet away from a unit can't even detect ultrasonic noise.
So I was right: to work, they'd need to be super-, mind-numbingly loud. Loud enough, that they'd require many amps of electricity to work-- likely as much as a toaster-oven, in fact.
Running all the time.
It'd be cheaper to higher an exterminator....
:)
I read it takes up to a month because of nesting. If they're hatching a batch they stick around, then the young ones have to learn to walk.
The one I was looking at claims to clear a 4 bedroom house; I've only got a little place so if that was true it ought to work.
As you say, no way of testing the actual gadget.
By the way, the CIA are in the van parked across the road, not under the sofa.
;D
Cross-post... :)
I added more info to my previous post.
Yes, I saw.
Looks like I have to strike that off the list.
Not sure what to do. Last time we had mice it was the other half of our semi, the mice visited us but their nests were nextdoor, they poisoned them and the stench was so bad they had to move out. So I don't want to go that route. But there's no way I can briing myself to handle a trap with a mouse caught in it, dead or alive. I am terrified of them.
Catnip has a reputation for repelling mice (shares some similarities with cat urine), although I have my doubts about whether this would be enough to actually scare them off. Catnip essential oil, if available, should be semi-reasonably priced and is perhaps worth a shot?
To avoid traps or poison pretty much leaves you with predation. No hire-a-weasel services in the area? Maybe Patchy could lend you a badger. ;)
Honestly if it's a mouse or two a simple mousetrap is most effective, can you arrange for someone to come pick up the beastie if you catch one?
Quote from: Griffin NoName on April 18, 2010, 12:03:13 AM
Yes, I saw.
Looks like I have to strike that off the list.
Not sure what to do. Last time we had mice it was the other half of our semi, the mice visited us but their nests were nextdoor, they poisoned them and the stench was so bad they had to move out. So I don't want to go that route. But there's no way I can briing myself to handle a trap with a mouse caught in it, dead or alive. I am terrified of them.
I have had moderate success with actual mouse traps-- that is, thingys that actually enclose the whole mouse, tail and all. These are typically opaque so you cannot see inside, but have some sort of indicator letting you know the beastie is trapped.
Then, with gloves or tongs or someone else's hands, you fling the whole thing into the rubbish bin-- preferably outside. Just in case.
No, really-- there exists such things-- and I've used'em. They work as well as anything else.
Me? I'm a cheap bastard, so I clean'em out with boiling water (to kill the death-stench) and reuse'em.
If you're truly soft-hearted, there are even "humane" traps that catch the critters without any harm, and you can truck them somewhere "in the wild" and release'em unharmed..... no, seriously.
A sort of uber-vegan mousetrap I s'pose, but what is no doubt fully endorsed by those nutters over at the animals-before-people place, wot's'er'name.... PETA, yeah, that's it. People Eating Tasty Animals? Or some'thin like that... .... ::)
There is of course a way to test the noisemakers. Find someone with pet mice or borrow a portable generator and test the thing next to a pet shop. :mrgreen:
I wonder, whether sound recordings of cats would do the trick.
Btw traps do not usually work on rats (or at least more than one). They are too clever.
Since pets in pet shops are caged, presumably it would send them all mad ?
I just might go for the totally enclosed traps. But even those scare me. Not sure I could go anywhere near them if the indicator showed they had a catch.
Quote from: Griffin NoName on April 18, 2010, 03:49:41 PM
Since pets in pet shops are caged, presumably it would send them all mad ?
I just might go for the totally enclosed traps. But even those scare me. Not sure I could go anywhere near them if the indicator showed they had a catch.
Thus the utilization of a third pair of helpful hands. :)
You set'em, a friendly neighbor toss'em inna trash for you.
mace the mice :mrgreen:
Yeh, thanks Swato.
Just please do not use mousepaper! That stuff horrifies me... :-X
Quote from: Aggie on April 19, 2010, 05:01:48 AM
Just please do not use mousepaper! That stuff horrifies me... :-X
?? What's that? Never heard of 'mousepaper'....
That sticky paper trap stuff... think flypaper for rodents. Terrible way to die; the person who decided to market this should be staked out in the sun in some arid hellhole to die of dehydration, like the poor mice. :P
Something like this?
[youtube=425,350]mcpqTWHsCHU[/youtube]
What, no anthill around?
:devil2:
--
As a long term solution you should be to feed them hormones to prevent them from having babies, sooner or later the ones living around would die of natural causes.
I was thinking about something like that for mosquitoes too, something like a warm blood-like liquid placed at a distance from a home or small town, that attracts the females and either kills them or prevents them from egg laying. Setup in a perimeter and most of the bugs should be attracted to it. After a while not only the general population should be significantly lower but the traps would remain as a control/barrier for the bugs coming from the surrounding areas. Doing a refill might be a bit uncomfortable, though.
Zono, I could maipulate their genes so they die at one day old. But I'd still be left with the smell of rotting corpses.
Quote from: Aggie on April 20, 2010, 02:49:54 AM
That sticky paper trap stuff... think flypaper for rodents. Terrible way to die; the person who decided to market this should be staked out in the sun in some arid hellhole to die of dehydration, like the poor mice. :P
Aaah. I've seen that stuff around, typically in the form of a little box the mouse is supposed to crawl into to hide-- works, I suppose-- the mouse is hidden alright.
In truth, most traditional traps are just as inhumane: they typically do not kill the mouse immediately, but trap/hold him until he dies of dehydration-- mieseses be highly resilient in tight quarters after all...
The only humane way to deal with mieseses is to leave'em be-- they *do* eat the roaches after all, and if you feed'em in the low places things they like, they will leave your high-places foodies alone. Or so I've been told...
Then there is the poison, which I've used on occasion-- carefully, so the kitties don't get it. What the mousebait does, it create excessive diarrhea and peeing in the little mousie-- he literally pisses and sh!ts himself to a very dehydrated state and dies. This is deliberate on the part of the poison makers-- they want a dessicated carcass as it does not stink as long... lets the roaches get at'em quicker, o'course I don't think it does them any good, what with little mousie being full of toxic chemicals an'all....
*sigh*
What we need is robotic fleas-of-death: tiny little non-reproducing machines with a finite power supply. You release these things in batches anywhere you see the little black, seed-like mousie fewmets and the little robot is programmed to wait until a suitable mousie comes creeping along-- and **jumps**. The robot-flea injects a hormone into the mousie that makes him think: "RUN! RUN AWAY! RUN, FAR, FAR AWAY!" and the mousie will run and run until he is tuckered out-- blocks away even. Then the robot-flea has used up all his power-supply, and activates his biodegradable self-destruct. Poor mr mouse is so confused, he cannot get back to where he was. Meanwhile, the remaining robot-fleas are lying in wait, ultra-low power state for the next mousie.....
:)
QuoteIn truth, most traditional traps are just as inhumane: they typically do not kill the mouse immediately, but trap/hold him until he dies of dehydration-- mieseses be highly resilient in tight quarters after all...
I've always found the typical old snap-traps, in most cases, to be a quick and clean kill for a naive field mouse. The trick is to get 'em when they first move indoors. I suppose if you've got an established housemouse population with some knowledge of traps it may be less effective.
Regardless, traps should be checked daily and mercy kills made when necessary.
OMG mercy kills? I think I'll have to move and leave my home to the mice.
I'm still not sure I have them. Another strange thing moved on the floor today, but still no mouse droppings. Is it possible to have mice and no droppings?
Maybe you have Borrowers? ;)
You could check for mice by leaving some food out where you think they might be, and looking for nibble-marks after. Something like a piece of toast, perhaps?
Or putting flour on the floor, so pawsteps would become visible after a stealth mouse visit
What does Rentokil charge to come and have a look round?
OMG! I put flour on my floor last night. When I woke and looked there were Buffalo tracks on my floor! What do I do? ??? :o
What happened to your feet?!
:mrgreen: ;)
Quote from: MentalBlock996 on April 21, 2010, 03:38:23 PM
OMG! I put flour on my floor last night. When I woke and looked there were Buffalo tracks on my floor! What do I do? ??? :o
Same thing they did in Texas all those years ago: invest in a buffalo rifle (http://www.americaremembers.com/Products/ABTRI/AB.jpg).
A coon skin cap (http://crockettcoonskincaps.tripod.com/index.html) wouldn't hurt, neither...
Quote from: Griffin NoName on April 21, 2010, 06:54:25 AM
OMG mercy kills? I think I'll have to move and leave my home to the mice.
I'm still not sure I have them. Another strange thing moved on the floor today, but still no mouse droppings. Is it possible to have mice and no droppings?
Quote from: Aggie on April 21, 2010, 12:29:49 PM
Maybe you have Borrowers? ;)
Either that or Squidlings! :squid_blue:
;)
It was toast that got them last time, about 30 years ago. A piece got knocked down behind the bedside table unbeknownst to us, and they made such a racket trying to steal it that they gave themselves away.
I think I am too scared to do the toast or flour tricks. I can't quite believe how scared I am. It's ridiculous. I suppose it must be a phobia.
What exactly is it about mice that scares you?
Just curious, I don't like them about for reasons of hygiene, but I find them rather lovely in a Very Small Mammal type of way.
It's quite normal to have these fears, and mice are a common subject. Griffin's phobia is not as weird as some of mine!
Seriously, Griffin, wouldn't it be worthwhile getting an expert in? They could probably settle the question just by looking around.
Oh, not suggesting it's weird, just wondering if it's a straight phobia or if there's something in particular about mice.
Well, she could buy a cat. I have two.
But, I also had the irony of purchasing a brace of mousetraps, catfood and kitty litter all at the same time.
I commented as such to the cashier, but she was sympathetic: her cats weren't very good at de-mousing either.
The traps I got, were newfangled kind, that trap and hold the mousie without killing him. I found this out much to my dismay, by letting the bugger go accidentally. It took another week to coax him back into the infernal thing. (I thought it would've killed him)
So when I finally trapped the bugger, I turned on the hot water, turned on the disposal and opened it directly into the unit.... ga-woosh, and he was instantly dead and gone. No muss, no fuss.
But, alas I still had at least one more, and he wasn't haveing any with those traps...
... so back to the store, this time, a different trap--shaped kinda like a giant bow-tie. But it did not *clap* so very hard that if one of the kitties pawed the thing, it wouldn't break their paw-- I tested it on my own fingers to be certain. It was a "catch only" type trap, too.
I set it, and within an hour, I heard this scrambling behind the door I'd placed one. Actually, my black cat heard it-- she loves to play with the mice-ies, but she's a bit too fat to be a good catcher. My grey cat is too citified and is basically clueless when it comes to rodents.
Anyway, Samantha hears this mouse-like scrabbling, an' she's on point-- so I opened the cabinet to see-- before I knew what was what, she had the mousey lickety-split-- broke it's neck, between her grabbing his backside, and his head inna trap. Merciful, says I.
She pranced around with it for a bit, nibbled a bit, then grew tired and put it down-- I pounced, and garbage-disposaled this one too.
That was the last, thank the stars.
I've no idea why I am so scared of mice. There's something about their bodies that makes me feel all squeamish.
It's rather odd as I have no fear of spiders whatever and can pick them up etc,, whereas the rest of my family is terrified of them, so I am always called in for getting rid of spider duties.
The "experts" - rentokill - etc. put poison down resulting in death stinks. I don't want that.
I think I will try the flour trick to at least confirm I have the pests.
What about a snake? They like mice. :mrgreen:
Ayuh, ferrets too...
Wouldn't mind a snake they don't worry me assuming its not one of the lethal to human ones but nnot so keen on ferrets
Left lots of good nest building bits of stuff as markers on floor last night and none got moved
this topic is doing well, page 3 already, quite surprised !
Mice are as universal as weather. ;)
We had lots of mice running around in the walls of our summer house, and making their way into our cupboards as well, so we bought one of those ultrasonic repellers a few years ago and stuck it in the attic. Worked like a charm -no pitter-patter of little mice feet could be heard at night afterwards, and it hasn't bothered us a bit. Can't remember the brand name, but if you are interested, I could try to find out. Do note that this is a summer house right in the middle of deep woods, so results may vary in urban conditions.
The repeller was very easy to use, too, -a 15 by 15 cm grey plastic box into which you inserted a few batteries and flicked a switch, and that was it. No special requirements for installation, apart from the obvious (i e not submerged in running water, etc.).
Quote from: Lindorm on April 30, 2010, 01:20:23 PM
We had lots of mice running around in the walls of our summer house, and making their way into our cupboards as well, so we bought one of those ultrasonic repellers a few years ago and stuck it in the attic. Worked like a charm -no pitter-patter of little mice feet could be heard at night afterwards, and it hasn't bothered us a bit. Can't remember the brand name, but if you are interested, I could try to find out. Do note that this is a summer house right in the middle of deep woods, so results may vary in urban conditions.
The repeller was very easy to use, too, -a 15 by 15 cm grey plastic box into which you inserted a few batteries and flicked a switch, and that was it. No special requirements for installation, apart from the obvious (i e not submerged in running water, etc.).
I could see an attic install actually being somewhat effective.
The problem with the majority of these, is not that the ultrasonic 'screech' failed to annoy and drive away the pests, but that the 'screech' was simply not loud enough to penetrate all the home.
With a sometimes occupied, sometimes not place, I could see the subsequent quiet allowing the 'screech' to become the dominant sound, and drive them off.
Presuming the thing emits sound in the ultrasonic frequencies in the first place--
some brands don't actually emit anything...
That got me thinking that if you can place those things inside walls (most non structural walls are hollow) it could work to a degree if that is the route they use to get in and out. Not only the space is limited (maximizing the effect) but it should go farther (provided that the walls are interconnected).
My walls seem to be solid concrete !