(All together Ahhhh ) being detached from the house I don't have a problem with them. but I need to reclaim the drawer. Question how long should I leave them before becoming the landlord and evicting the little critters 
lodgers in the garage
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ferrit worrier
- Posts: 5503
- Joined: 27 Jun 2008, 7:58pm
- Location: south Manchester
lodgers in the garage
About a week ago i was in the garage talking to Rachel our eldest when this little mouse scuttled in under the side door nipped past the closed front door and disapeared behind the lathe! Then I remembed the drawer under the bench, with shredded paper in it. and wondering what had done it, 2 + 2 = 4 and yes I was right, I carfully opened the drawer and there were 3 tiny baby mouses (All together Ahhhh ) being detached from the house I don't have a problem with them. but I need to reclaim the drawer. Question how long should I leave them before becoming the landlord and evicting the little critters
(All together Ahhhh ) being detached from the house I don't have a problem with them. but I need to reclaim the drawer. Question how long should I leave them before becoming the landlord and evicting the little critters Percussive maintainance, if it don't fit, hit it with the hammer.
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MrsWildduck
- Posts: 92
- Joined: 18 May 2008, 8:29pm
Can your Jack Russel eat hornets?
We were infested with the monsters all summer and into the early winter in our loft. The nest is still there, and I'll be pulling it off from the inside of the gable end in the next few days.
The queen will have flown off and be hibernating, the female "baby queens" will have done the same, but the workers have all died. We have dozens of them littering the loft floor!
Hornets are just the same as wasps, except they're not as annoyingly buzzy. The thing is, they're HUGE - about 2" long and very frightening to look at, but luckily not actually aggressive - in fact, quite timid.
We were infested with the monsters all summer and into the early winter in our loft. The nest is still there, and I'll be pulling it off from the inside of the gable end in the next few days.
The queen will have flown off and be hibernating, the female "baby queens" will have done the same, but the workers have all died. We have dozens of them littering the loft floor!
Hornets are just the same as wasps, except they're not as annoyingly buzzy. The thing is, they're HUGE - about 2" long and very frightening to look at, but luckily not actually aggressive - in fact, quite timid.
Mick F. Cornwall
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Peter Rowell
- Posts: 134
- Joined: 13 Feb 2007, 10:22pm
- Location: Near Cambridge
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Sorry Ferrit, but I dont say Ahhhh, when I see rodents. 
Keeping livestock has hardend by heart to these furry pests, but their big brothers are much worse, and if you have mice, you dont have their cousins at least!
ALbert, BB, Stumps, Frank and now Dhoona all could help you out, if you were not so far away that is!
Sorry, its the only to deal with them. My MIL is housebound and we are inandated with micies. The old cottage has lots of places for them to hide and I have had to throw out mountains of food over the past 3 months trying to sort the problem out.
Traps work well, so long as you remember where you put them.
Dont like bait myself so we tend to avoid that, as it is not species selective.
Sadly if you dont like the idea of 'dispatching them' your self, take them to the vet to deal with if you are worried about welfare and dealing with the 'job'. But, it might cost you.
Make a hotel for them, and they will invite all their mates I can assure you of that.
Lady micies have a gestation period of 3 weeks, give birth to an average of 6-8 young, the young reach sexual maturaty by 6 weeks of age. Its unusal to find young mice in winter as they rarely breed in cold weather, so your garage/shed must be a wonderful hotel for them!
Mary.
Keeping livestock has hardend by heart to these furry pests, but their big brothers are much worse, and if you have mice, you dont have their cousins at least!
ALbert, BB, Stumps, Frank and now Dhoona all could help you out, if you were not so far away that is!
Sorry, its the only to deal with them. My MIL is housebound and we are inandated with micies. The old cottage has lots of places for them to hide and I have had to throw out mountains of food over the past 3 months trying to sort the problem out.
Traps work well, so long as you remember where you put them.
Dont like bait myself so we tend to avoid that, as it is not species selective.
Sadly if you dont like the idea of 'dispatching them' your self, take them to the vet to deal with if you are worried about welfare and dealing with the 'job'. But, it might cost you.
Make a hotel for them, and they will invite all their mates I can assure you of that.
Lady micies have a gestation period of 3 weeks, give birth to an average of 6-8 young, the young reach sexual maturaty by 6 weeks of age. Its unusal to find young mice in winter as they rarely breed in cold weather, so your garage/shed must be a wonderful hotel for them!
Mary.
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workhard
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York Commuter
- Posts: 233
- Joined: 21 Oct 2008, 8:20pm
- Location: York
Posh mice!
I'm inclined to go with the "little vermin" school of thinking towards mice, but here's a true tale to amuse.
My wife and I married nearly five years ago, after the wedding there were a fair few bottles of bubbly lurking around which we locked up in the old coal hole cupboard that is now accessable only though the garage.
Come Christmas, looking for a bottle of bubbly we opened the cupboard, to find shredded crisp packs and "mustards" on the floor, examining the bottles we found that some of the metal foil caps had been gnawed by our furry friends, BUT, only the champagne foils not those on the bottles of cava.
is this a case of very sophisticated mice?
Before you think me terribly soft the probelm was soon solved by a few strategically placed "little nippers" - my favourite bait is yoghurt coated raisans.
regards
Stephen
My wife and I married nearly five years ago, after the wedding there were a fair few bottles of bubbly lurking around which we locked up in the old coal hole cupboard that is now accessable only though the garage.
Come Christmas, looking for a bottle of bubbly we opened the cupboard, to find shredded crisp packs and "mustards" on the floor, examining the bottles we found that some of the metal foil caps had been gnawed by our furry friends, BUT, only the champagne foils not those on the bottles of cava.
is this a case of very sophisticated mice?
Before you think me terribly soft the probelm was soon solved by a few strategically placed "little nippers" - my favourite bait is yoghurt coated raisans.
regards
Stephen
A commuter since 1991 when I moved to York.
A tourer since 1992
Now a married man who spends longer in the garage repairing and building than riding!
A tourer since 1992
Now a married man who spends longer in the garage repairing and building than riding!
We have had a few mice come in, normally brought in by one of our cats! They loose them under the fridge or washing machine, then loose interest!
We bought a couple of humane traps. They're a little plastic device like a cave with an open mouth. You put something sticky like jam in there. If you use something that the mouse can take away, they're in and out in a jiffy and you fail to trap them.
When they go in, and tarry awhile, the trap tilts as it's on a fine ballance, then as it moves, the door slams shut. There's a clever device on the door that locks it shut.
Mousey can then eat his jam in piece, waiting for one of us humans to transport him down the garden for release .........
..... so the cats can get him again!
We bought a couple of humane traps. They're a little plastic device like a cave with an open mouth. You put something sticky like jam in there. If you use something that the mouse can take away, they're in and out in a jiffy and you fail to trap them.
When they go in, and tarry awhile, the trap tilts as it's on a fine ballance, then as it moves, the door slams shut. There's a clever device on the door that locks it shut.
Mousey can then eat his jam in piece, waiting for one of us humans to transport him down the garden for release .........
..... so the cats can get him again!
Mick F. Cornwall
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Peter Rowell
- Posts: 134
- Joined: 13 Feb 2007, 10:22pm
- Location: Near Cambridge
- Contact:
The mouse and rat traps were perfected around 50 years ago with the "self-set" trap. Easy to set, worked on the principle that rodents gnaw upwards with their bottom teeth. Never known them to fail.
So where are they now, modern traps are difficult to set and very unreliable. I have four traps that I've modified and they again are very reliable. I use a cycle spoke as the "trigger", it goes in a loop round the bait and the mouse has to push against it to get to the bait. That move is fatal for the mouse.
So where are they now, modern traps are difficult to set and very unreliable. I have four traps that I've modified and they again are very reliable. I use a cycle spoke as the "trigger", it goes in a loop round the bait and the mouse has to push against it to get to the bait. That move is fatal for the mouse.
Leader - Tuesday Senior Cyclists' Group, Cambridge Cyclists' Touring Club
Organiser - Mid Anglia Computer Users.
Organiser - Mid Anglia Computer Users.
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NewHorizon
- Posts: 460
- Joined: 14 Mar 2007, 10:10am
- Location: The Marches
I don't know if anyone out there in CTC Forum Land knows about the escaped beaver in the River Tamar?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7840711.stm
Three escaped a few weeks ago - a male and a couple of females. The females were captured quite quickly, but the male got away. We now have trees being gnawed down and sightseers/spotters walking the banks with cameras and binoculars at the ready. Quite exciting really, and I feel it's a shame that the females were caught, but it's only a matter of time before the male is caught too.
If they all had got away, we'd have beaver lodges springing up in the river. They've been extinct in Britain some 400 years or so, so it would be quite nice for them to come back. I believe they were being bred for possible release in Scotland.
I wonder how fast beavers reproduce?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7840711.stm
Three escaped a few weeks ago - a male and a couple of females. The females were captured quite quickly, but the male got away. We now have trees being gnawed down and sightseers/spotters walking the banks with cameras and binoculars at the ready. Quite exciting really, and I feel it's a shame that the females were caught, but it's only a matter of time before the male is caught too.
If they all had got away, we'd have beaver lodges springing up in the river. They've been extinct in Britain some 400 years or so, so it would be quite nice for them to come back. I believe they were being bred for possible release in Scotland.
I wonder how fast beavers reproduce?
Mick F. Cornwall
This thread is a bit split between those of us who "ahhh" (because mice are a rarity) and those who see them as pests.
We occasionally get mice in our shed where our rabbits have their overnight hutch. Lots of hay and food, some of which we drop on the floor of course. On the coldest night of the recent cold snap, I noticed some wool on the floor of the hutch. I realised it came from an old blanket which is kept in the chest of drawers on which the hutch stands. We used to use it to cover the smaller guinea pig hutch we had in the days when the girls were little and we had guinea pigs. We don't use it now as the rabbits cope without it.
I gently pulled the drawer open, and there was a plump little mouse burrowed into the blanket. I quickly shut the drawer and let him be - he'd clearly gnawed his way through the back (it was an MFI unit!).
I just felt sorry for the little fella in the extreme cold as well as applauding his ingenuity in finding a first class hotel. Although we do get mice, I think the local cat population keeps them from getting out of hand as in 14 years we've never had a problem.
Jan
We occasionally get mice in our shed where our rabbits have their overnight hutch. Lots of hay and food, some of which we drop on the floor of course. On the coldest night of the recent cold snap, I noticed some wool on the floor of the hutch. I realised it came from an old blanket which is kept in the chest of drawers on which the hutch stands. We used to use it to cover the smaller guinea pig hutch we had in the days when the girls were little and we had guinea pigs. We don't use it now as the rabbits cope without it.
I gently pulled the drawer open, and there was a plump little mouse burrowed into the blanket. I quickly shut the drawer and let him be - he'd clearly gnawed his way through the back (it was an MFI unit!).
I just felt sorry for the little fella in the extreme cold as well as applauding his ingenuity in finding a first class hotel. Although we do get mice, I think the local cat population keeps them from getting out of hand as in 14 years we've never had a problem.
Jan
