We don’t use the R-word. It’s a super-mouse. Or now super-mice. And it’s all my fault. Three guesses what’s in those well-sealed buckets and coolers.
Something that was in a paper bag that I wondered how all the grains were ‘jumping’ out into the scrap wood stack! (Has to be the kids…)
Remember this post? Yep, twenty pounds of field corn in the tummies of fat, surprisingly hard-to-get-rid-of, super-mice.
BLECH!!! EW EW EW!!!
Can’t I just burn the house down and start over?
Ivory
Can you believe we once had pet r….super-mice. I never would have thought that they would be so personable and trainable. My boys brought them home as pets. They would give a high five for a treat, come when called and give little kisses. I would still dispose of the wild counterparts in a moment if ever I needed to. I work like crazy to keep their little cousins out of the house. While the pets were interesting, I would never again.
well…..at least you are “feeding the hungry”…hehe
I recommend supermouse traps. NOt the ones where the animal gets “stuck”, but the ones where you put the bait inside,they come, eat, take some for their family back home…and they all DIE of an awful indigestion, out of your property, which is where they probably are…
Good luck
😎
I found a mouse in my basement the other day, disturbingly near my pantry door. Luckily it was dead (my feline companion received extra love that day.) I know that everything is sealed up like fort knox in there (40lbs of red wheat berries for example) but yikes! It does make one double check every seal.
Still, super-mouse traps might be a good idea. I am personally against poisoned bait simply because I once had a cat who ate a mouse who had eaten poisoned bait and she died painfully, but that is just me. You don’t want any of your family getting sick from super-mice ickiness either. I think the best defense is a good offense, the tightest sealing containers money can buy, or baring allergies maybe a feline companion from the pound?
On a slightly seperate note, I love that you post your flops, very few people do and it is really comforting to know I am not the only one who encounters problems ranging from the mundane to the strange!
Super mouse…that is hysterical. I hope you are able to get rid of them QUICKLY.
Oh man! You just reminded me I have some 6-grain cereal and germade that need to be put in buckets. I have been putting it off and you have given me a new purpose. Also, I was told that a store like IFA has big traps that they can get in but not out. No poison, not that I am above that CAUSE I AM NOT! The thing I don’t like about poison is I don’t want a mouse–or super mouse– dead or alive in my house. They eat the poison then go hide in a wall and die. YUCK. NASTY smell! Those other traps you can take and you have to actually do something with them (I was told to take the metal trap and soak it in water then dump ’em out in the trash. Make someone else do that part). Good luck!
The big problem with poison is that the dead super-mice become poison from eating the poison. If you have animals (that you like) in your house with a predator instinct, they’ll eat the dead super-mice and then Snuffy Bunny the Cat dies too. Not nice at all…
Fun. not. When we lived in Baltimore we discovered we had super mice in our basement. Even though we were in a residential neighborhood far from city center. I guess they are everywhere. I have to agree with Heather, they get smelly when they die (our exterminators tried traps and poison. Ugh. Good luck!
I guess a couple of super cats are out our the question with the menagerie you already have going on there.
ok
“out of”
not “out our”
yes, I am a dork.
My understanding is that super-mice are more common, or at least as common in the suburbs as in the city.
I had them in my bird feeders — jumping feet from the feeder into the shrubs. I have no idea what I will be doing about that come fall.
You wrote: Can’t I just burn the house down and start over?
I can imagine the super mice all standing around roasting hotdogs and marshmallows…
We always had trouble with them in both the barnyard and the garage (where I stored my ton of chicken feed every month). Since we had all those chickens, ducks and geese (not to mention any number of cats) that *loved* to gobble up the young super mice when they could catch them, (and not to mention toddlers!) we didn’t dare try any poisons, glue traps or “snap traps” that could catch a bird’s neck as easily as its intended victim. We did use (with mixed success) a repeating live trap from here http://www.tomahawklivetrap.com/products/37.html I’m pretty sure we had the M40 based on the size I remember. I didn’t like disposing of the super mice afterwards. I see there are electric traps that kill them for you http://www.thepestdepot.com/elrattrbyvi.html
Best wishes for a super mouse free future!
Awww I love ra…..er….. super mice. Used to have 5 for pets. They are actually really cool animals, but I know a lot of people cant get beyond the scaly tails.
I do know they can be destructive so I hope you can find a new home for them, far away from your grains!
Oh Ivory, I know how you feel, we have had chipmunks, bears and weasel problems with our grain. The fish and wildlife people recommend mothballs to scare off the critters. The bears not only tore apart my grain grain bin, they killed most (and ate some) of my chickens, now the weasels are attacking the replacement chicks. So we are down to the rooster and 4 hens, and out of 26 we have only 8 baby chickens. It has been a bad year for chickens on Moose Hollow Farm. We keep our grain in metal trash cans inside a grain bin. My sweetie rebuilt the grain bin after the bear destroyed it now it’s not only bear proof, it’s Pinky proof, I can’t lift the lid he made it so heavy…oh well I guess he has to feed the pig not me!
You poor thing… I HATE mice. My parents moved into a new house in the country this summer, and you should have seen the look on my mother’s face when I told her I found mouse poo in the pantry.
Go to the pound and adopt the meanest cat they have. It’s the surest and most natural way to take care of the problem. I also think it is the safest (no worries about pets or children getting into the poison) and most humane way to deal with it. Death by poison is a horrible way to go and I don’t wish it even on mice. Every farm, no matter how small, needs at least one cat to deal with the mice that will surely find your grain if given the chance.
Good luck!
Get an electricution trap from Victor. They work great. You just have to check them a few times a day. I had a pregnant mouse come in when we were remodeling and didn’t know until she had several litters. They started avoiding the glue and snap traps. Got the zap trap and caught 18 in three weeks.
It’s best to put your munchies in a small or big METAL trash can. I had a squirrel chew right through the plastic like it was butter. He knowed a huge hole and helped himself to yummy chicken corn. Lesson learned.
I know from first hand experience that squirrels can smell grain in even the best sealing buckets like that, and they will eventually start chewing into them. I have to assume that rats can and will, too. Mice, not so much in my experience.
I am happy to report that the super mice problem appears to be solved. My soul, however, remains permanently scarred.
Better super-mice than Ninja mice. My daughter has mice in her new house. (there is no such thing as having A mouse. There are no bachelor mice–all mice are married with large families to support.) Her mice are Ninja mice. She covered the entire counter with mice traps, then put a nice big blob of peanut butter in the middle. All traps were also baited with peanut butter. All the mice bait was gone; no traps triggered. This is going to get difficult.
madamedefarge–Oh. My. Gosh!!! NINJA MICE???? I’m going to have nightmares.
Years ago, I discovered I had a mouse sneaking into my clothes hamper and chewing holes in my underwear. (Yes, the underwear–only the underwear, and in only one area.) The solution to that one ended up being a trip to the laundromat. I unknowingly dumped a load straight from my pre-sorted hamper to washing machine, and when I took it out to put in the dryer, I found a tiny little wet, dead mouse at the bottom. Trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, I picked it up with a dryer sheet and nonchalantly dropped the little bundle in the trash.
No more mice after that, through several years, and a few moves, until the summer before last, when I went camping and ended up with one inside my brand new car! It even came home with me (new “evidence” found after my return), but apparently left of its own accord shortly after. What really drove me nuts was when I camped the following summer in a nearby area, and another one decided to sneak in! Ugh! This year, someone else will have to drive–apparently, my car is a mouse-magnet!
Just a bit of information. WE too have super mice…lol. That have decided to take up residence under our hen house. we have lost two hens to a large momma super mouse and 8 baby duckies…UGH time for them to go. We had some reg mice in our house which is normal in the fall early winter due to weather and a friend of mine recommended using Peppermint oil, not extract, but the oil. I placed it on cottonballs and put them where i had been seeing the mice. sure enough no mice problem in house. However i dont know if the smell of the peppermint would bother the chickens but is supposed to work on Super mice too. We had industrial traps and the one momma super mouse set off the trap, broke it from the support beam in our barn and now has “bling”. We unfortunately had to use poison but it is in an area that none of our animals can get to and we are praying there wont be any issues…