Dang mices!!!!

I planted up some of the courgette seeds the seed fairy donated along with some climbing french, pumpkins and gourds , not having any space left on the staging I popped them on the floor to germinate.
This morning I do my usual preamble around the polytunnel with a cup of tea, and there are neat little holes where there should have been seeds !!!!

I think it's time to buy some mouse traps, cos the cats ain't doing their job!
Mrs Chopper

 

Nightmare. I had the same with the peas last year, a row of little holes with nothing in them. Got the peas & beans in a hanging basket in the greenhouse this year. Mind you, I did see a mouse strapping a little hang glider to his back.

 

there's only 2 good traps out there, the spring traps are useless, you need a sticky trap, or an electric trap, the electric ones are good, no blood and guts, it will give about 20 kills on one set of battery's, funnily enough I have rigged up a DIY mouse trap today and put it in the poly, you need to fill a bucket of water, a bamboo cake and a water bottle (a round one) take the top off the bottle, drill a hole in the bottom of it and push the bamboo through it, (make sure the bottle spins freely on the Cain) lay the cain up against the bucket, so the mouse can get to the edge of the Cain and climb on to the bottle (with peanut butter bait on it) the mouse slides off the bottle and into the water, and drowns

 

...Still prefer Michael Bentines Acme Mousetrap from many years ago...

Mouse uses escalator to reach bait on the first floor...crosses bridge over small moat and enters drawbridge...falls through concealed trapdoor into bucket of whisky....climbs out of bucket and sees itself in convex mirror.

Then goes out and picks a fight with the nearest cat..

 

Ahh, Michael Bentine's Potty Time, there's a blast from the past.

He was with The Goons for a time I recall.

 

Find little nipper baited with butter does the trick. I had the same problem with the blighters stealing seeds, and later they climbed up and robbed the pods. This year I'm keeping several traps baited and set.
Might have to go to an old fashioned hardware store to find them, the ones they have in Wilco have a plastic slice of cheese for a trigger and is useless.

 

I have got to say that you've got some ingenious methods of dispatching mice, the trouble with spring traps is that the cats will probably trip them, might try the bucket of water jobby, I like the Heath Robinson approach. Alas it is too late for that batch of seds which will need to be replaced now , it's my own fault for thinking that four cats would be enough of a deterent and any life respecting mouse would avoid my polytunnel like the plague!
Best get some replacement seeds and get mouse trap building.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-449648/Mouse-runs-rings-round-worlds-useless-moggy.html

Mrs Chopper

 

I don't like mice / rats, but I don't believe in a slow death like drowning, or glue traps. I use the ones they have in "Tom and Gerry" provided you put them down with a suitable bait (I found a slice of mars bar works very well) that said they do have to be positioned right. Obviously a mouse can not read, so its not going to follow a note that says "This way to food" so you have to put them where mice will go, which is usually the edge / perimeter. I found they should be placed with the baited part nearest the wall or edge, that way no matter which way the mouse comes (left or right) it will pass the trap, and ...............
I would also point out don't rely on just one, you are better off with several.
You can get them from any good diy store, I got mine from Here

I also found that to stop the local wildlife setting them off, if you get a large plastic flowerpot and cut a "mouse hole" in it (two is even better) then put it over the traps it works wonders. I used this method so I could have the traps outside, sealed the drainage holes, brick on top to stop wind blowing it away, worked well.

 

Learnt that lesson many years, ago - 1 mouse in the trap, seeds eaten by another. Bought a second trap - 2 mice in traps, seeds eaten by another. I now use 4 traps at each location - greenhouse, polytunnel, or coldframe. But I find the new design of wooden based 'Little Nippers' doesn't seem to work as well as those from many years ago, so it's plastic ones these days.

 

Hmm instead of a slow death by poison!! just because you cant see it happen, doesn't make it less cruel

 

Well I bought some traps, strange clothes peg like contraptions, not at all the same as that wooden ones I used to buy. I set them loaded with peanut butter and low and behold, the peanut butter was all eaten but the traps had not sprung, three nights I have fed the mice now and not one has sprung the traps ... useless as my cats !!!!

Mrs Chopper

 

Reminds me of mafioso mouse

 

Told you, mice are skin and bone, they weigh nothing, so dont set spring traps off, sticky pad, or better still electric one, stop feeding them and start killing them!!