# Mice in the cabin eviction ideas needed.



## Copper116 (Sep 3, 2007)

I've got a mobile home on my hunting property in Lake County. I thought I had it pretty well sealed up but mice keep getting in. I've tried traps inside, both spring traps and glue traps. I've put poison around the exterior perimeter and sealed everything I can think of. Now that it's getting colder, it's natural they'll search out warmer areas for the winter... so they're back.

Any ideas from you other members as how to keep them at bay?


----------



## riverman (Jan 9, 2002)

With a cabin in the woods and a 130 year old farm house I am a expert on mice control!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best way that I have found is to lay out posion blocks. Since I have started doing this my mice problem has been eliminated. Pellets are worthless as the mice just move them to cache's instead of eating them. Mothballs also work great in certain situations.


----------



## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

Hillbilly mouse trap.......5 gallon pail with R.V. anti freeze on the bottom......get a plastic bottle with the lid and drill a hole in the center of the top and bottom and thread a straightened clothes hanger through it. Smear peanut butter evenly on the bottle so the bottle spins evenly and place it between two small holes drilled on either side of the 5 gallon pail. Place a small wood ramp up to the top of the pail, when the mice run up the ramp and get on the bottle, it pivots and the mice drown in the RV fluid.

It's the gift that keeps giving.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## JDSwan87 (Aug 15, 2010)

If you don't regularly live in the cabin then try this... leave a radio on you favorite station when your gone... loud enough that you can hear it clear as day in any part of the house... the louder the better... 2 or 3 radios would be even better... mice don't like noise and the reason they are going into your cabin is its warm and quiet, what's not to like about that!? Hope this helps...

Sent from never-neverland


----------



## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

Jimbos said:


> Hillbilly mouse trap.......5 gallon pail with R.V. anti freeze on the bottom......get a plastic bottle with the lid and drill a hole in the center of the top and bottom and thread a straightened clothes hanger through it. Smear peanut butter evenly on the bottle so the bottle spins evenly and place it between two small holes drilled on either side of the 5 gallon pail. Place a small wood ramp up to the top of the pail, when the mice run up the ramp and get on the bottle, it pivots and the mice drown in the RV fluid.
> 
> It's the gift that keeps giving.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


Yeap, these do the job for me.


----------



## DGuw85 (Jan 26, 2011)

Jimbos said:


> Hillbilly mouse trap.......5 gallon pail with R.V. anti freeze on the bottom......get a plastic bottle with the lid and drill a hole in the center of the top and bottom and thread a straightened clothes hanger through it. Smear peanut butter evenly on the bottle so the bottle spins evenly and place it between two small holes drilled on either side of the 5 gallon pail. Place a small wood ramp up to the top of the pail, when the mice run up the ramp and get on the bottle, it pivots and the mice drown in the RV fluid.
> 
> It's the gift that keeps giving.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


I do the same thing! Works great!

Sent from my SPH-D710VMUB using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## starky (Jun 19, 2006)

I've used the pail thing and it does work. We have no power so I'm curious what the poison stuff is. They have been worse this year than in years past.


----------



## Boardman Brookies (Dec 20, 2007)

Jimbos said:


> Hillbilly mouse trap.......5 gallon pail with R.V. anti freeze on the bottom......get a plastic bottle with the lid and drill a hole in the center of the top and bottom and thread a straightened clothes hanger through it. Smear peanut butter evenly on the bottle so the bottle spins evenly and place it between two small holes drilled on either side of the 5 gallon pail. Place a small wood ramp up to the top of the pail, when the mice run up the ramp and get on the bottle, it pivots and the mice drown in the RV fluid.
> 
> It's the gift that keeps giving.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


This works for larger creatures like chipmunks too. The 6 of the little bastards got in this summer, none got out!!!!


----------



## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

Boardman Brookies said:


> This works for larger creatures like chipmunks too. The 6 of the little bastards got in this summer, none got out!!!!


Yup, I get the little bastards outside with this method when they start on the old ladies flowers.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## Fred Bear (Jan 20, 2000)

my wife is trying peppermint oil on cotton balls. Not sure if it is gunna work. In the barn my mice were going in my bucket trap but now they have stopped.


----------



## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

Fred Bear said:


> my wife is trying peppermint oil on cotton balls. Not sure if it is gunna work. In the barn my mice were going in my bucket trap but now they have stopped.


Peppermint oil does nothing, the same with dryer sheets.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## Elkidmino (Dec 19, 2011)

When I worked in a warehouse that did food packaging we would get waves of mice. A couple things I learned was eliminate the food and bedding sources and set both snap and glue traps along walls and corridors. Mice like to hug these and putting a trap in their trails will almost guarantee they'll check it out. 

-If I couldn't eliminate the food source, I'd put out traps with cottonballs, felt, and clothes pieces glued to the triggers.
-If there's plenty of bedding material then I'd bait them with pulled pork; the stinkier the better. I don't know what it was, but they loved it and I'd nail them on a daily basis. 

Once you get the parents, the younger ones will wander into the glue traps and dehydrate quickly. 

The above is for containing the problem, but prevention should be practiced with the suggestions of others in poisons, sealing the unit and moth balls.


----------



## Luv2hunteup (Mar 22, 2003)

Go to youtube and search building a bucket mouse trap.


----------



## Ron Matthews (Aug 10, 2006)

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj72/hawgemall/DSCN3840_zpsc3c30686.jpg


comes with food, bowls, litter box, plat toy's, her favorite blanky, plus all the other stuff!


----------



## Ron Matthews (Aug 10, 2006)

How low of miles on this mouser! 
I'll throw in her nicest laundry basket Also!-you supply warm clothes....


----------



## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

I found that moth balls and dryer sheets were totally ineffective. Plugging all the holes and "the wheel of death", as I call it, ended my problems.


----------



## Fred Bear (Jan 20, 2000)

how often do you "re- bait" the wheel of death? I was catching mice but now it stopped. I know there are still mice in the barn


----------



## Huffy (Jan 19, 2009)

Years ago I was reading this book about tips for country living (can't remember the name, unfortunately). I think the book was written back in the 40's. Anyway, the author's tip for dealing with rats and/or mice was to hang a baited treble hook from the ceiling, leaving it just high enough off the floor that the rodent would have to jump up to bite the bait. It said that when the rodent got hung up on the treble hook, it would freak out so much that it would scare the bejezus out of all the other rats or mice, which would leave and never come back. 

I never tried it, but I do wish I still had that book so that I could post a pic of the article here. It had hand drawn pics of a mouse hanging from a treble hook and a bunch more scurrying away. You guys woulda loved it.


----------



## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

Fred Bear said:


> how often do you "re- bait" the wheel of death? I was catching mice but now it stopped. I know there are still mice in the barn


When it needs a highly technical wheel rebalancing, or when the body count starts to pile up down below.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## JimP (Feb 8, 2002)

Huffy said:


> Years ago I was reading this book about tips for country living (can't remember the name, unfortunately). I think the book was written back in the 40's. Anyway, the author's tip for dealing with rats and/or mice was to hang a baited treble hook from the ceiling, leaving it just high enough off the floor that the rodent would have to jump up to bite the bait. It said that when the rodent got hung up on the treble hook, it would freak out so much that it would scare the bejezus out of all the other rats or mice, which would leave and never come back.
> 
> I never tried it, but I do wish I still had that book so that I could post a pic of the article here. It had hand drawn pics of a mouse hanging from a treble hook and a bunch more scurrying away. You guys woulda loved it.


:evil:Watch out for the cruelty to animals brigade.:evil:
They tried to get the mouse sticky pad tunnels banned...(man can the mice screech in those sometimes, like a megaphone:lol.

I recall some Ahole many years ago going to jail for setting those in the forest. It was on a larger hook scale for critters like Coyotes and Foxes...
I think it was in the UP and he caught someone's bear dog...
I cringe just thinking about that happening to a larger animal.
It's a common trap down south for game, even for frogs. Then of course there's the Gator hunters.


----------



## jimbo (Dec 29, 2007)

i've always just used regular car antifreeze in my hillbilly mouse trap.
it'll sort of pickle 'em & keep them from stinking.

i set one in a shed it the local softball feild one winter & got 17 of them lillte bastards


----------



## bluekona (Oct 28, 2011)

Jimbos said:


> Hillbilly mouse trap.......5 gallon pail with R.V. anti freeze on the bottom......get a plastic bottle with the lid and drill a hole in the center of the top and bottom and thread a straightened clothes hanger through it. Smear peanut butter evenly on the bottle so the bottle spins evenly and place it between two small holes drilled on either side of the 5 gallon pail. Place a small wood ramp up to the top of the pail, when the mice run up the ramp and get on the bottle, it pivots and the mice drown in the RV fluid.
> 
> It's the gift that keeps giving.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


 best trap ever. never have to reset.


----------



## SUPER X (Apr 7, 2013)

Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


----------



## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

jimbo said:


> i've always just used regular car antifreeze in my hillbilly mouse trap.
> it'll sort of pickle 'em & keep them from stinking.
> 
> i set one in a shed it the local softball feild one winter & got 17 of them lillte bastards


I had a dog poisoned by hydraulic fluid earlier this year so I'll never leave anything like regular anti-freeze out and open.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

SUPER X said:


> View attachment 48185
> 
> 
> 
> Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


Exactly

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## Luckymike (Dec 1, 2010)

my neighbor up north uses the hillbilly trap in his mobil home and gets 20-30 mice sometimes.built my cabin very tight and haven't seen one yet.flies are my problem.


----------



## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

The best trap ever in action:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jezQKOl5q-w"]Bucket Mouse Trap - In Action - YouTube[/ame]

For the flies I have mounted a bug zapper inside and turn it on while I am there. The best investment I ever made.


----------



## Shoeman (Aug 26, 2000)

Jimbos said:


> I had a dog poisoned by hydraulic fluid earlier this year so I'll never leave anything like regular anti-freeze out and open.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


Corn and water also works. The corn floats and they drown.


----------



## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

Shoeman said:


> Corn and water also works. The corn floats and they drown.



I've been using that method down here only with sunflower seeds on the chipmunks, and have racked up an impressive body count...lol
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

Jimbos said:


> I've been using that method down here only with sunflower seeds on the chipmunks, and have racked up an impressive body count...lol
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


 Last winter something kept getting into my wifes sunflower seed. I took a large trash can where they had chewed a hole in the lid. I put a strip of paper with seeds on it so when they went in the paper folded down and they feel in the can. I caught 9 flying squirles. Took them 1/2 mle back in the woods and let them go


----------



## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

I take no prisoners when it comes to mice and chipmonks.


----------



## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

Steve said:


> I take no prisoners when it comes to mice and chipmonks.


I don't do the bucket any longer. When I did, I placed it in the crawlspace and slowly sealed any avenue into the main level of the house. 

The problem was the cabinets in the kitchen and vanity in the bathroom. They could get up under the drawers from down below and work their way up and through the doors. I never seen them but would see some evidence over each winter. I now have the poison boxes down in the crawl space and have knocked them down but good.

The chipmunks love Asian lilly flowers, and I've whacked them real good both north and downstate.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## Lumberman (Sep 27, 2010)

Those bucket traps are a piece of quality hillbilly ingenuity. They work great. The other thing I had to do was clean up around the outside of the cabin. A few feet of short cut grass or gravel can really detour them. They hating crossing open areas.


----------



## Copper116 (Sep 3, 2007)

I've tried the green mouse poison blocks... and they've seemed to work during the warmer months... but now, the invasion has restarted. I paid a guy to check the underbelly skin to make sure it was sealed properly.. I have a sneaky suspicion he missed something or didn't do what he was paid to do. I'll try the bucket idea. I do not like the idea of having to crawl under that place to ck the underbelly. I'm not getting any younger.


----------



## Copper116 (Sep 3, 2007)

Did you try sealing the gaps with spray foam insulation? They even make it with pest deterrent in it... a bitter smell critters are said not to like. Good luck.


----------



## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

Bumping this one because I expect a steady battle with the Mice this winter. 2nd year in a row the Oaks around my shop have set a decent crop. A good crop of acorns raises a local Mouse population. This year I have already found acorns stashed in odd places.

Have been slowly cleaning out this building to reduce bedding materials and nesting sites. What I can't do is totally seal it (sliding vehicle door), nor eliminate all food sources, as I am working directly with one - conifer cones and seeds. 

So I have always maintained a pair of "Wheel of Fortune" traps, one in the vehicle bay/shop area and one in some interior office type rooms. Each catches Mice steadily ... but new Mice droppings continue to appear.

I think I will be just adding a few more bucket traps, but want to figure out a way to dial in the fine details. I do suspect the mice are sometimes able to just crawl around on them and just eat the peanut butter bait.

It seems to me the easiest way to make one is to pop the metal loop handle from a 5 gallon bucket and use those 2 holes it was in. I have used both a straight piece of wire from a coat hanger, and a bit of wire off a roll of what I call "baling wire" that I keep in a truck toolbox. Then either an empty pill bottle or just a pop can with a hole punched in the bottom for the wire.

A problem is these don't always spin freely enough to drop the mouse, I believe. So just looking for ideas on improving the wire + can set-up. A little lubricant on the wire, perhaps?

Also wondering how effective just pouring some corn kernels into a bucket of water + setting a ramp will be, as compared to peanut butter on a can?

When I am around this building daily I will probably set up new buckets with straight water in the bottom and feed the drowned mice to the local Ravens. But when I am out of town for weeks at a time I have used Anti-Freeze so the drowned mice get pickled, basically, and don't stink. I have accidentally caught Mice in straight empty buckets with no bait in them, when the bucket was touching other objects they could climb. Since they die of dehydration the smell isn't too bad, but not zero, either.

One other question is - does burying the resulting half gallon of Anti-Freeze + half-dozen dead Mice cause any ground-water problems? I wouldn't leave those carcasses out for wildlife to get at and have buried a few bucket loads so far. But don't know if there is some hidden down-side to that I am not seeing.


(My landlord had one of these set up with several gallons of Anti-Freeze, which turned black over time. When I emptied it for him, it proved to have nearly 2 dozen mice and a pair of squirrels in it.) I will probably run a live trap to catch any squirrels wandering in (vehicle sliding door has large gap). I did spread a little animal repellent around where critters would traverse to use the gap, but I think I might regret that (blood meal based, it seems).


----------



## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

B.Jarvinen said:


> Bumping this one because I expect a steady battle with the Mice this winter. 2nd year in a row the Oaks around my shop have set a decent crop. A good crop of acorns raises a local Mouse population. This year I have already found acorns stashed in odd places.
> 
> Have been slowly cleaning out this building to reduce bedding materials and nesting sites. What I can't do is totally seal it (sliding vehicle door), nor eliminate all food sources, as I am working directly with one - conifer cones and seeds.
> 
> ...


I know some who have glued kernels of corn on to the "wheel" to provide an everlasting bait. I have no scientific studies to compare the effectiveness of that compared to peanut butter. The gold standard for getting rid of mice though is to plug all the holes by which they are entering the dwelling.


----------



## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

I will maybe be able to do that with the interior, office portion of the building I hope. Though it has a sheet metal exterior and I am not optimistic of finding the weak point behind where the sheet metal meets the concrete footing. I will probably re-do the termite treatment spray along the exterior next year and hopefully discover any problem points there along the way.

There is still an attached garage, separate from the shop and office portions, which has no floor, just dirt, that has to be cleaned out. Cleaning up the shop was a > 40 hour project already with some disposal runs still to go.

But the sliding vehicle door will make sealing impossible for the shop portion anyway.


----------



## cointoss (Apr 9, 2001)

I use RV antifreeze in the Wheel of Death, safer around pets and kids. Also' I smear peanut butter on can and then stick sunflower seeds on. I had 11 in one bucket a week or so ago in my barn.


----------



## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

My mom used put canned pet milk in her coffee. We use to make these traps in the cabins up north. Our only problem is that when the pail gets full they jump back out.


----------



## StevenJ (Feb 11, 2009)

I have a 1200 sq. ft. club house cabin on a slab. At the farm.

I have seen a tremendous decrease in mice activity with the green poison mice blocks. Covered or uncovered. I just set them around corners. 

I use baited mice traps too. 

Instead of loud music, I also use electronic pest repellers. They emit a sound humans can't hear, but the rodents can.

Peppermint essential oil actually does work. But not for the whole place. Just isolated areas like drawers or on bedding areas. I put drops of essential oil peppermint on pieces of paper towel around beds to keep mice off them or out of drawers. 

I don't have perfect control, but one of the ways to tell they are not getting in certain areas is the lack of mouse droppings. 

Nothing worse than a drawer full of mouse droppings...

And I keep forgetting to put the peppermint essential oil in the accessory lawnmower out in the shed. 

Never used the hillbilly trap. Don't want mice carcasses sitting in 5 gallon buckets.


----------



## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

We have some of the ultrasonic pest repellers at our cabin. We used to get mice every fall. But after putting these in, we never have mice, and we have very few spiders. We've been using them for years. 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bell-Ho...CmyTWXQtyoN68X9knyxoC6aUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds


----------



## fishdip (Dec 29, 2010)

I drill 2 holes in folgers plastic containers,put green decon blocks in them and put them under the cabin so they get it before they get in and nothing else eats it.


----------



## 22 Chuck (Feb 2, 2006)

Jimbos said:


> Hillbilly mouse trap.......5 gallon pail with R.V. anti freeze on the bottom......get a plastic bottle with the lid and drill a hole in the center of the top and bottom and thread a straightened clothes hanger through it. Smear peanut butter evenly on the bottle so the bottle spins evenly and place it between two small holes drilled on either side of the 5 gallon pail. Place a small wood ramp up to the top of the pail, when the mice run up the ramp and get on the bottle, it pivots and the mice drown in the RV fluid.
> 
> It's the gift that keeps giving.
> 
> Just use water but I guess you dont live there so the anti works best.


----------



## Nostromo (Feb 14, 2012)

I use those black plastic rat/mouse bait stations with contrac poison. Also simple traps with peanut butter works well for mice.


----------



## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

I live here now that was an old post. We just go the conventional way now with bait boxes.
I was hoping by having the crawl space encapsulated that it would help and it has to some extent but they're still there.
I do the bucket walk way now to keep the chipmunks under control outside.
I 1/2 fill a 5 gallon bucket with water and spread sunflower seeds which float on top. The chipmunks see that layer of seeds and think they're Olympic divers. 
I catch so many that way it's not even funny.


----------



## deepwoods (Nov 18, 2002)

I use the green blocks all year but recently put out Havoc. It is supposed to be a little more potent. This is only in my crawl. Knock on wood we have never seen any sign of mice in the house. Like mentioned I keep the yard mowed and free of debris also. Also a Gamo works well on Chipmunks. I need a 12 year old and a bounty. Worked when I was young.


----------



## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

The most fun I have had with chipmunks was up at the cabins when I ran the place for part of the summer. Oz and I would set on the office porch and he watched the drive down to the lake. When he saw a chippy or a red squirrel he would tree them and I would go shoot them. I'll bet we got a hundred of them and they still kept coming. The neighborhood fox took care of the leftovers.


----------



## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

Nip the problem In the bud. Locate where they get in and seal it up.


----------



## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

If/when they get in my house (usually when the snow starts) I go outside and look for tracks to where they found a new hole. I plug the and end of problem.


----------



## jjlrrw (May 1, 2006)

I feel like I have found the last hole they are getting in 3 or 4 times the past few years at the cabin, found two this fall. Started setting traps outside hoping to cut them off before they get inside. There are some live traps with spring doors have not tried them yet wonder what happens after a few get in and can't get out I think you end up with one bad a$$ mouse.


----------



## nitetime (May 11, 2006)

I read this post and finally got around to make me a bucket trap. Been averaging about one a day for about 3 weeks now.


----------



## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

The nice thing is that they will work for weeks. They work until they are full which is when they are not drowning anymore mice.


----------



## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

I like the idea of using fresh powder snow to look for tracks. Next spring I plan to completely clean up the footing of the whole building to re-apply a fresh round of termite insecticide and get a good look at the whole thing then.

For now I added a few black sunflower kernels to the peanut butter on the wheel of doom, and that added one mouse to each bucket's total, instantly. 

I also bought a 3 pack of those ultra-sonic dissuaders and keep one pointed at the sliding garage door that can never be sealed, at ground level, and another one in the door-frame of the interior room that stores a few items I don't want filling up with mouse turds, such as spare sleeping bags.

And I am going to add one more bucket trap to the inside rooms to try and capture any taking refuge from that sound they hopefully hate. But I have been thinking about trying the "Attractant Gel" that is sold with pest control supplies, as Peanut Butter is one of the more manipulated human 'foods' and I could see some brands of it not quite being the Mice Kryptonite it is always thought to be, once it gets loaded up with emulsifiers and preservatives and who knows what all. As in the way no animal will ever touch a slice of that processed "Cheese Food" that comes on sandwiches at the gas station, whatever that stuff is - some things for Humans even animals are smart enough to keep clear of. I have no idea what is in Mouse Attractant Gel though. Could be Snake Oil for that six bucks.

Around the outside of the building clean-up has been occasionally underway for a couple years now; a few more trips here and there and a bon fire this winter should help get rid of all the random mice breeding cover habitat that had been sitting around and should help out the bigger four legged critters in keeping up with the natural controls, too.


----------



## Waif (Oct 27, 2013)

B.Jarvinen said:


> I like the idea of using fresh powder snow to look for tracks. Next spring I plan to completely clean up the footing of the whole building to re-apply a fresh round of termite insecticide and get a good look at the whole thing then.
> 
> For now I added a few black sunflower kernels to the peanut butter on the wheel of doom, and that added one mouse to each bucket's total, instantly.
> 
> ...



Multiple baits helps. And some fade in appeal after some mice die..
Tomcat gel has produced when others lagged behind. But in time something else appeals...
Keeping a variety out , or at least a rotation seems to keep kills up for me.

No acorns again this year here means mice will be down again.
But soon they'll start testing the shacks defenses.
Once they scale the siding they get in the attic.
A few traps there await.

Outside plastic coffee tubs with about a one inch hole in the lids edge on the ground side keep traps working in all weather. Various things can keep the round style from rolling. But keep them from rolling . l.o.l.. A scrap of wood inside can give a trap a firm bed to rest on vs rounded. Of course there are square tubs too...

Even a piece of dried dogfood wired to the trap trigger/lever with a bread tie has produced.

Voles take patience.
Exposed traps right on the edge of their holes in the earth along the warmer in winter foundation catch the most. But voles don't bother much of the house.


----------

