Mouse (mice?) invasion!

[hartcjhart]

get the 'rentokill' traps,they do them for mice or rats.when we had mice the 'strike' rate was 100%

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuZ1LlITEIo

 

[Sailingsaves]

get the 'rentokill' traps,they do them for mice or rats.when we had mice the 'strike' rate was 100%

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuZ1LlITEIo

Those are the best traps I have ever used.

Great design.

Mouse CANNOT get to bait without stepping upon pressure plate.

No good for rat.

If rat, I would want him out now, so as others have said, poison. I like the idea of in food and in corners (rats love corners, mice just go everywhere).

Moving on to crazy ideas:

Flood the bilges a bit? Rat and sinking ship.

Fill boat with some odourless gas that damages nothing but leaves no oxygen for rat to breath - again leaves problem of finding body. If in very hot, dry climate you may be lucky and it dessicates before smelling.

Don't know what gas. Not hydrogen, methane or butane ref: the fire thread - helium way too expensive (and the world should stop wasting it upon ballons - reserves are finite). I though of smoke, but would leave smell upon upholstery.

Best gas would be one that made the critter run out alive.

 

[zzyyxx]

Don't know what gas. Not hydrogen, methane or butane ref: the fire thread - helium way too expensive (and the world should stop wasting it upon ballons - reserves are finite). I though of smoke, but would leave smell upon upholstery.

CO2 would be easiest not sure if it would work though.

Couldn't you just remove all the food from the boat and starve him off?

 

[onesea]

Big block of dry Ice???

 

[Lakesailor]

Never heard about that, interesting. I would suggest that a trap at the hole where the poop is will do the job, repeat over subsequent nights.

I cleared an old farmhouse with traps and bits of Mars Bars. We would set the traps and put the lights out and within 15 minutes we had about 20 crushed mice. Over time we kept repeating until it was just small mice, and hardly any traps going off. We then used poison at the underfloor vents to deter/prevent.

One trouble with poison, which is very effective, is that it tends to take a long time (e.g. Warfarin-based products take several days) and the mice tend to bleed all over the place before decomposing in some inaccessible corner.

Strangely Warfarin kills rats very quickly but as Tim says mice are tougher.

The best bait are Haribos. Sticky sweets don't come off the trap easily so the mouse has to give a proper tug, and "Bang".
It also means that the head is will inside the target area and the neck is broken cleanly.


We cleared the Scout Activity Centre using Haribos, which the guests helpfully left all over the place.....

 

[Hypocacculus]

Those are the best traps I have ever used.

Great design.

Mouse CANNOT get to bait without stepping upon pressure plate.

No good for rat.

If rat, I would want him out now, so as others have said, poison. I like the idea of in food and in corners (rats love corners, mice just go everywhere).

Moving on to crazy ideas:

Flood the bilges a bit? Rat and sinking ship.

Fill boat with some odourless gas that damages nothing but leaves no oxygen for rat to breath - again leaves problem of finding body. If in very hot, dry climate you may be lucky and it dessicates before smelling.

Don't know what gas. Not hydrogen, methane or butane ref: the fire thread - helium way too expensive (and the world should stop wasting it upon ballons - reserves are finite). I though of smoke, but would leave smell upon upholstery.

Best gas would be one that made the critter run out alive.

Helium would probably vanish upwards faster than you could fill the boat. Nitrogen is a very humane way to kill - the victim won't notice the lack of oxygen and will go to sleep and in fact it has been proposed as a form of euthanasia. In contrast, mammals are sensitive to CO2 levels so usually will notice asphyxiation with attendant distress. But you'll still end up with a corpse decomposing somewhere unwelcome. The danger is suffocating yourself in the process of course.

Not that I really think it's the way to go of course... I used to have a pet rat. They are lovely when they are invited guests. Watch out for chewed wiring - mine use to love stripping the insulation off electrical flex.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

What a good picture, quite artistic in a punk sort of way, good T Shirt logo and a good advert for the "Little Nipper", no popped eyes or haemorrhaging noses.

 

[TeamSpirit]

Don't just use one solution spread your efforts over different traps, Rats are smart and will be exceptionally cautious so - spring traps baited as previously mentioned with Peanut butter, Harribos and bacon which all work well, if you can get hold of the sticky rat pads also which Mickey will simply stick to it - put them against bulkheads or where you might think Mickey travels. Humane traps work too, more costly but worth it if you get the blighter. Would not suggest you remove food as it will resort to munching electric wiring and any else it can get hold of ! and finally would do no harm to bait also a wholewheat based block or perhaps if your boat has high moisture levels a wax based block.

 

[hartcjhart]

some interesting stuff here

http://www.rentokil.co.uk/rats/diy-products/

 

[Cardo]

It looks like we may have lucked out. We left some food out last night to see if our guest(s) were still about, and it was untouched this morning. No new poops, either.

Seems like our guest had his fill and then went home the other night.

 

[sarabande]

could be that he's gone to get re-inforcements...

 

[Cardo]

could be that he's gone to get re-inforcements...

True...
But they'll be SOL when they find the boat's gone

 

[AntarcticPilot]

As an aside, I had some dealings with the team that is working on rat eradication on South Georgia. One remark that stays with me is that they would regard themselves as having failed if a single pregnant female was left; rats breed incredibly quickly, and the progeny of a single female can restore a population very fast.

 

[BrianH]

This was a timely tale for me. Having just read this thread in my marina berth I settled down and was watching TV quite late at night and was amazed to see a mouse scuttling around the galley with the light fully on in the area. I leapt up and tried to clobber it but of course, totally unsuccessfully. But as it jumped to the cabin sole and under the companionway steps I lifted them away to try to see where it had gone and, in doing so rather violently, dislodged my lost glasses from between the step frame and a fire extinguisher mounted on it.

I had returned to my marina after being in rough seas two days before and couldn't find my glasses which I normally leave below after having an earlier pair blow away in a strong wind - yes, I know I should have a lanyard round my neck but my sight is good enough to not need them at the helm. Realising that the logical reason for their loss was due to the extreme motion at sea that had induced a few flying objects below, I had searched just about everywhere, to no avail. Having given up and relegated my glasses to another of the sea's mysteries, I had visited an optician that very day to have my eyes checked and order new glasses. A pity the mouse hadn't visited a day earlier.

Last night a baited trap still sat on the galley top untouched ... could Mickey still be aboard or has he had enough of being chased around the cabin? He could have exited into the engine compartment and out the air inlets to the deck. My neighbour boat is something of an unvisited derelict and, I suspect, the possible home to him and his family, which short of closing all entry points, difficult to protect from. We moor stern-to the fixed pier so our fendered gunwales almost touch and an easy jump for a mouse as athletic as the one I tried to catch.

 

[sailaboutvic]

We been lucky , we never had rodents , but then we do have cat , I have to laugh ( no not at your problem ) but last winter in Licata we had a polish couple who asked to more from our pontoon because three boats has cats on board , so there moved over the other side , one week on and their where on the morning net to announce to every one they had a rat on board , no end of people replied ,we fine we have cats to Guard us .
putting that to one side we did once find a snake in the heads , do a search you find a picture on the forum some where . Lucky I managed to pick it up and throw it over board , it was a long time before any one sit on the loo before looking in side first .
I not sure bottles and disk on mooring line work , maybe one of them very big wide funnels .
good luck with getting rid of it ,
www.bluewatersailorcroatia.webs.com

 

[Cardo]

Another night and the chocolate chip cookie remains untouched (I'm amazed the Mrs has resisted) and no droppings. I'm pretty confident we are in the clear.

 

[Lakesailor]

Another night and the chocolate chip cookie remains untouched (I'm amazed the Mrs has resisted) and no droppings. I'm pretty confident we are in the clear.

Does "the Mrs" usually leave droppings?

 

[sarabande]

I'd be worried about Cardo's Mrs resisting....

 

[Cardo]

I'd be worried about Cardo's Mrs resisting....

Worries me, too. I keep telling her she's breaching our marriage vows.

 

[zzyyxx]

Shame, I was looking forward to seeing how well flooding with CO2 works...