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Old 10-16-2002, 06:08 PM   #1
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Rat Poison

Ok, it's really rat/mouse poison .. but it's something you need to think about ... particularly this time of year.

Let me explain.

They are forecasting rain mixed with snow here tomorrow ... which will cause everyone, including every field mouse to start seeking indoor shelter for the winter.

Which is why I leave a little bar of rat/mouse poison out on the floor of the trailer ... to greet the little rodents and welcome them to my trailer, should they choose to enter.

Over the years, I've heard of people using (and tried many myself) dryer sheets, moth balls, steel wool, grandular mouse baits, mouse traps ... you name it, folks have tried it.

But I've found what works best for me is a three inch long, 1 inch X 1 inch bar of rat/mouse poison, available at most home improvement centers or feed stores. Really work well in the basement and crawl spaces of our house, too.

The poison is clean because I keep the poison bar inside a plastic gas station refill cup ... and just snap off the lid and lay the cup on the floor. This makes it easy to pick up and store, and keep away from the dog ... just pick up the cup and snap on the lid.

Now, in all the years, I've only found an occasional mouse dropping inside the trailer ... kind of like the little critter entered, took a look around, and then decided to go next door to the 40 foot Class A motorhome.

And in the trailer, I've never found evidence of a mouse chewing on the poison bar (unlike the shed in our backyard, where they eat the entire bar as soon as I throw one inside in the fall.)

But, even if we're parking the trailer for a couple of weeks, I put out the poison bar ... as a little welcome gift for furry little visitors.

But, mouse control is something y'all want to consider ... particularly this time of year, when they're forecasting rain mixed with snow.

(And you desert types have to maintain a year-round watch for the hunta virus critters.)



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Old 10-16-2002, 07:38 PM   #2
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prevention

I have used moth balls. worked the first couple of years, smell bad.
Can't use the poison, I have a cat that would eat the mouse who ate the posion and get sick. :sick
Something I heard the other day, but haven't tried, is iriish spring soap. I know mice eat regular soap, but this Irish Spring soap is suppose to run them off because of the smell. Just bought some, haven't tried it yet. Sure would smell better then mothballs. I was hoping that my trailer wouldn't have a hole big enough for a mouse. :omy



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Old 10-16-2002, 08:33 PM   #3
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Alert!

Charles, I know you mentioned exercising caution in using such rat bait, but I gotta emphasize it! My father lost one dog because of it, and came very close, years later, to losing another. If you must use rat bait, be CERTAIN you put it where no dog can reach it! It's apparently very tempting stuff for a dog!

And since you got me onto the subject of poison and dogs, automotive antifreeze is another killer. After flushing your car's cooling system, which many people do this time of year, to prep for the winter season, please capture and dispose of the old antifreeze in a closed container.

(Off of soapbox now.)



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Old 10-16-2002, 09:02 PM   #4
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Moth Balls

I tried moth balls to keep rats out from under furniture where I couldn't easily retrieve them when exercise time was over (this was in a former life when I lived in an anchored home), but they would just pick them up and carry them around until the novelty wore off. :party Maybe they work on mice, but not on Norway Rats.

When I picked up a few hitchhiking Cape Breton Jumping Mice:cblob , I built a live trap out of a couple of tin cans, with peanut butter for bait, and relocated the POWs.

Pete and RatLadies who are pretty sure they don't like the concept of poison:sick :sick :sick



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Old 10-16-2002, 09:07 PM   #5
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Oops

Pete, I goofed. :u I meant to add somewhere in my post, “with apologies to Pete's ladies.”

I should've known you'd chime right in and stick up for them, though!
:yep



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Old 10-16-2002, 09:20 PM   #6
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Irish Spring?

" Manly yes - but mice like them too!" :laugh


In a fiberglass trailer? I guess rats can get in anywhere.:o



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Old 10-16-2002, 10:00 PM   #7
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couch

I put poisoned feed in a sack (bought that way) under the floor of a house we were working on and when we went to move the couch back into the living area there was poisoned feed stored behind the cushions. Saving it for when I ran out of sacked 'food' I guess. Smart little suckers aren't they? :L



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Old 10-17-2002, 05:19 AM   #8
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Poison

A few years ago a friend of ours decided to put poison in his tent trailer thinking it would control any mice that got into it. It was the first and only year he used the poison and it was the first and only year the mice came in. He figured they were attracted by the poison. They ate huge holes in the canvas.:weep Our tent trailer and now the Trillium sit in our field, (full of mice) and none have ever came in even though they are in our shed 6' away. Having said that I expect they'll get in this year.:u

A much safer route is to buy one of those electronic mouse deterants. They sell them at Walmart for $13.98 Canadian.

My husband used to make his own beer and stored the bottles in our cellar. One day he went down to get some bottles and found a couple of the bottles half full of mouse pellats. Now how did the mice ever think they'd get those pellats back out???:laugh :laugh
Nancy



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Old 10-17-2002, 07:20 AM   #9
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Hi Nancy

>>bottles half full

Boy, that's funny! I really can't figure out mice. But like you, in the winter, since we live out in the country (well, ok, a small unincorporated subdivision, in the country, around a lake), field mice, particularly during the winter-relocation period can be a problem.

Mary>>careful with poison and dogs

Which is why I don't use the little dispensers of poison pellets. I've seen mice scatter them too much. And which is why I keep the bar in one of these hard plastic, gas station refill cups. Pop the lid, and lay the cup on its side when we store it ... pick it up, pop on the lid and leave it at home in the garage when we're on the road.

Another thing that bothers me about rat/mouse poison and pets ... I've often seen folks allow their dogs to run around the storage yard while they are hooking up their trailers or totes ... at the same time, I've seen other guys broadcast spread mouse poison under their trailers ... so if someone's dog happens to wander over to a neighbors trailer ... well, you get the picture.

Also chuckle this time of year, because at least one person always puts down about a 1,000 moth balls, on the ground, under their trailer, when they store it for the winter ... looks like a hail storm happened, just under the trailer.



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Old 10-17-2002, 10:46 AM   #10
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hunta virus

We don't have mice here but we can get voles, which are like pointy-nosed little mice. I live in town and the voles would rather not, so there is no problem here. Anyway, it seems the dog or cat should control pests like that.

There is a new anti-freeze out that is safe around pets. Of course, if you use it, you still have to dispose of the old stuff properly. I heard you are supposed to dispose of it in the sewer. This doesn't sound right. Does anyone know for sure?

I don't know what the hunta virus is but there are huntas all over the place here this week. They have guns too! I am staying out of the hills! I didn't know they spread a virus. Maybe the snow snakes will get them anyway.

Augie



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Old 10-20-2002, 06:49 AM   #11
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rat/mouse poison

(Be forewarned: This message may not be terrifically tasteful.) If you leave rat/mouse poison in the trailer, doesn't the little critter who eats it die in the trailer? And then come spring when you open the trailer up...well you know. Phew! And that's a smell that's hard to get rid of.



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Old 10-20-2002, 07:32 AM   #12
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snow snakes

Augie,
I've done a search on snow snakes and can't find any. Is this a Co. thing like snipe? :)



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Old 10-20-2002, 11:34 AM   #13
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Snow snakes

Snow snakes are for real! Usually, they just bother skiers as they are attracted to sitz marks, but they may be found anytime snow is on the ground.

They have a bite that is kinda poisonous but, if a person can keep warm after a bite, they may be saved. Most people that go into the high country, when there is snow on the ground, will carry an electric blanket in their back pack. If you are bitten, the procedure is to wrap yourself in the blanket to keep warm. You can plug it into any nearby current bush.

Snow snakes are white and are hard to see in the snow.

Augie



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Old 10-20-2002, 01:10 PM   #14
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Augie

Augie also sells full sized replicas of both the Brooklyn and London bridges ... delivered and set up on your site.



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Old 10-20-2002, 04:28 PM   #15
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dead critters

Many of the poisons are designed to make the critter very thirsty before it dies, therefore it leaves to find something to drink (if it finds something to drink in the john, disposal is easy).

Pete and not very thirsty Rats



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Old 05-28-2003, 01:58 PM   #16
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Rodents, Disposing of poisons

A mouse once chewed through the 110 wiring on our Airstream during the winter. When we hooked it up in the spring to prepare for a trip, the wiring caught fire. (Family bonding through TT use, I gotta million stories!) Whatever method you choose to prevent or dipsose of them, rodents are best prevented from keeping house in your TT. The only method I've found that works well is trying to seal them out. They will chew through many materials, of course, but I have found that they don't like to chew metal strips. At home I use steel wool and caulk around pipes to keep them out.

Someone asked about disposing of antifreeze, etc. A general rule of thumb is that if it is toxic it doesn't belong in the sewer. Most sewers empty directly into streams and rivers. Those that don't must be treated before reaching streams and sewers. That stuff is hard to get out of the water! Best to dispose of it through your local hazardous waste disposal program (call the county).



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Old 05-28-2003, 03:44 PM   #17
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Quote:
Orginally posted by Jean Kerr

(Be forewarned: This message may not be terrifically tasteful.) If you leave rat/mouse poison in the trailer, doesn't the little critter who eats it die in the trailer? And then come spring when you open the trailer up...well you know. Phew! And that's a smell that's hard to get rid of.
I think the premis is that they get real, real thirsty and go off looking for water which causes them to explode internally.
Gruesome yes, effective yes.

In respect of Pete and the ladies I think we should hereafter refer to these critters as "unwanted guests".



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Old 05-28-2003, 09:36 PM   #18
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Jana

Quote:
Orginally posted by Thomas and Janifer

Augie,
I've done a search on snow snakes and can't find any. Is this a Co. thing like snipe? :)
:ola
I KNOW! IKNOW!
I don't know about Augie's Colorado Snow Snakes - I hate/am terrified of all snakes of the reptile variety. But around here snow snakes are not to be feared but marvellled at. They are used in native Indian winter competitions. The snow snake is a long wooden stake or a smooth spear.It is flung down into a long prepared trough in the snow. If the temperature is right and the snow is the right type the snake can go a good part of a mile.- I don't know the record. Maybe you can find some info from The Six Nations Ontario web-site.
Most years lately the weather is so unpredictable just when they get the track done, we get a warm spell.
I most sincerely hope THIS was what Augie meant or at least he was yanking your chain.
Jean



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Old 05-28-2003, 10:00 PM   #19
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Oh he was for real yanking my chain. but if there really are snow snake things, then you just yanked him back. :lol



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Old 05-29-2003, 01:46 AM   #20
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Snow Snake

Snow Snake Drink

1 oz Kahlua
1 oz Tequila
1 oz Yukon jack (Canadian Whiskey & Honey Liquor 100% proof)
4 oz Halk and Half Cream
Fill with ice.
Bet you can see snow snakes after a few of these

Willlma



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