Even though I am sealing my cabinets with steel wool, the mice are still finding holes around my kitchen cabinets and darting across my kitchen counter to avoid the cat. Since my computer is in my bedroom and I have a line of sight to the counter area, I padded the wall with sheet metal and cardboard and now have a mouse shooting gallery. I have nailed 6 in the last 2 weeks with my Crosman 760 at a range of 25 feet. If I only wing em, they usually drop to the floor and become a cat toy. So be "veeeeeeeewy quiet, I'm hunting widdle wats hehehehe.. :>)

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2003

Answers

Has this "mouse hunt" become a new hobby for you, Jay :-)?? Or do you need some helpful suggestions as to how to get rid of them?

Either you'll have to acquire more cats...after all, who can stop at one cat?!! Or try this "all natural" method of eradication. Fill a bucket 2/3 full with water and sprinkle cracked corn, bird seed or some type of grain that will float on the surface. COVER the surface so it looks solid to the mouse. Give him a easy way to get to the top of the bucket. He'll jump in expecting an easy meal and then drown!! Worked for us when we had some mice in our cellar.

Happy Hunting!!!

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2003

It has become a hobby for me, but Meow and I do have to get the mice out so I can present the knoll to her in a better form. Mind you, I have never read that book "Men from outer space, women got the death ray" or whatever it is, but I don't think BB gun house mouse hunts go over real well with most women, even the homestead flavor of girls :>)

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2003

You are one scary dude.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2003

Another way to make holes a little less inviting for mice is to pack holes with coursely ground glass. They won't be able to dig through that. For that matter, neither will you, without some protection.

Mice can go through some incredibly small spaces. My brother and I once watched a mouse 'squeeze' his way through 1/4" sq

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2003

Another way to make holes a little less inviting for mice is to pack holes with coursely ground glass. They won't be able to dig through that. For that matter, neither will you, without some protection.

Mice can go through some incredibly small spaces. My brother and I once watched a mouse 'squeeze' his way through 1/4" sq. hardware cloth - incredible.

Tallyho Jay. :^)

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2003

I dunno, jr, somethin tells me Jay might be able to go through ground glass with ease.......:)

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2003

If I only had the argon lasers we had at school , but I guess I'll just have to make do with the crosman or maybe a 10 foot length of 2 in diameter pipe,some rubber insulation, a switch and 120 vac... MOUSE -E- QUE :>)

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2003

I've gotta say, Jay; that life would never be boring with you around!

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2003

A little mouse fell into the horse's grain bin. I gently scooped it out...then called the cat. He played with it for a little while, then ate it.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2003

Our cat, who mainly lives in Lotus' basement apartment (cuz the Pug chews up his ears) has taken lately to catching mice during the night, eating the heads off and leaving the remainder in front of my daughter's door so that when she steps out to use the bathroom she steps on half a rodent body in her bare feet. She wants the cat to go play on the freeway.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2003

She could "cat-e-que" with a piece of stovepipe :>)

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2003

We set up concertina wire in front of our fireplace inlets (old heatolator model), put a few antipersonnel mines behind the throw pillows on the floor, arranged some 20-ton weights to fall from the ceiling (cartoon-style) if triggered by a trip wire, and waited to catch mice. It didn't work. What did we do wrong?

Jay, do you rent or own your home????

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2003

It sounds like fun to me. One of my fondest childhood memories was goin to the city dump with my buddies, pulling some stuffed chairs outta the piles and shooting rats with pellet guns, slingshots and 22s with cb caps.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2003

Sheepish,

I own it and am stripping it of all the changes my ex wife initiated and returning it to the original move in pictures I have of it. This way, it will be a "fresh canvas" of eggshell white ready for a womans touch again. All I will have to do is burn all the furniture before she moves in.

-- Anonymous, April 12, 2003

Hey Jay,

So...are you going to burn the furniture in the house, too? Or outside? Just curious!!

And btw, anyone have any ideas for ridding ourselves of an opposum that has taken up residency under our chicken house????!!!! My thought was M80s after we move the chickens to the ewe barn temporarily! The haveaniceday trap is not working....

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2003

We had rats living under our coop several years ago. This coop was elevated about a foot or so off the ground, but we'd allowed debris to accumulate around it. Rat Heaven!! All we did was clear away the trash lumber piles around it and made it accessible for our dog. We had a rough-coated collie at the time...good-sized dog, but she squeezed under there and rats were running helter skelter in every direction!! She even managed to kill a couple. We should have had Jay and John here for target practise :-)!!!

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2003

sheepish, what are ya using for bait in your have-a-nice-day trap? (funny!)

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2003

Mr. S. just said chicken food! I wonder if he's using real chickens? I think peanut butter would be better. Or a nice t-bone, with baked potato, salad, and a nice Cabernet...that would get my attention anyway. Maybe a little too sophisticated for ol' Pogo...

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2003

I think they love fruit best of all (fresh, not fermented!).

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2003

Maybe "shaken, not stirred"? I'll hafta try fruit! Or maybe I'll just stumble on the stupid beast on my way out to do barn checks in the middle of the wee...

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2003

We'd bait our trap with either a dead chicken (if we happened to have one handy) or an open can of cat food. Did the dead chicken thing one night and caught a possum by morning, took her out and disposed of her and then put the trap in the shed in preps for resetting it that night - only to come home and find three little possums in - guess they'd been hiding inside the old dead chicken - eeewww! The ex took them a couple miles away and left them - even he couldn't shoot itty bitty possums.

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2003

Hmmm. Well, we DO have a chicken carcass soon to be tossed (dinner the last couple of nights!). I wonder if the mole' sauce would be appropriate? LOL.

Hope there's no babies. Yikes. Got my hands full just thinking about lambs....so far...

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2003

Jay me boy, go with a .22 and rat shot. I know it's in the house but it'll make interesting patterns in the walls. Modern, impressionist art work. Besides, if you miss the mouse, maybe the loud bang will wake the cat!

Wildman, (artistic), Yes, I spelt it right! The "r" belongs there.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2003

Sheepish, the only way to get rid of a possum is to throw the bait across the road. They never make it!

Wildman, (being helpful)

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2003

AH, what *would* I do without these helpful suggestions?!!!

At the 3:30 a.m. barn check last night (morning!), I DID happen upon the beast! I chased him with a flashlight! He ambled about 800 feet off our property. I hope he makes a new home somewhere else. *#@)&@)!

Sheesh. Between ewes that need to go to the vet (I'll tell you the "Jed Clampett" story about transporting the ewe back home in the Ranger truck bed sometime), ducks getting anihilated by bald eagles, possums being scared by flashlights (although it is a big Mag-light model), and husbands with carpet cutting fetishes, I'm ready to jump into a Kafka novel at any time....who needs mice?

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2003

Sheep, this might not pertain to Mr.S but I was talking to my doctor last Monday and he said that he's seen many patients come in after heart surgery and even stents that have personality changes, depression and a number of other changes in their lives. Also if he's taking Plavix, there are a multitude of side effects. For a while, I would fixate on something like a screw I dropped and it became the most important thing in the world for me to find that screw. If things weren't where I thought they were suppose to be, I'd almost panic because they weren't there and a lot of the time, I had to be busy or moving. Couldn't sit still. Lost a lot of weight but I think it was in my feet because everything else is still tight. Some of my anxiety and lack of appetite come from the medication. It's really weird. Also the doctors don't seem to tell you everything after surgery. They told me not to drive for three days and to not lift anything over 5 pounds for a week and left me with the impression that after that, I could go back to a regular life. Wrong! Recovery takes a long time even though you feel fine. I received more information from other people who have been through this than I did from the doctor.

Hey, just my thoughts. Like you said, he's probably just doing enough so as to not strain or overwork himself.

Wildman, (thread drift, never heard of it)

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2003

Sheepish, My plan is to pile all the furniture that my ex and I accumulated together out in the field and that will leave me with my antique bed, dresser and steamer chest that I inherited from my grandfather in the bedroom, my roll top desk, bar table and leather lazyboy. First night she moves in, we'll have a Texas style bofire and field party to welcome her in. Next day, I'll take her, my moving van and a few thousand dollars and let her pick out what we need to make the nest right.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2003

Wildman, I think you must be on to it! Yes, Mr. S. thinks he is all normal by now, but he's not exactly yet. Hmmm. Hmmm.... He's off all the meds, but I think that he is expecting things to return to status quo, and they won't for a while, and truth be told, probably never will. They will somehow be different (better, worse, or?).

Something for me to think about, too. Thanks for the insight.

Jay, Sheesh! Talk about movin' on!!! Sounds like you are ready!

-- Anonymous, April 20, 2003

Sheepish,

My ex showed me how some women think. When we got married I bought all new bedding and mattress/ boxspring for my antique bedframe just so she wasnt laying on a second hand bed, but she still made me replace all the furniture I still had after my first wifes death that she saw in any of the pictures in my albums that were in the closet. She even tried to get me to get rid of MY antique bedframe and burn the picture albums, mass proclamations and funeral home registry. Since I got a good house and farm here, when I offer it to my new love , I want it fresh here as it was when I found it and I already gave all the photos and funeral stuff to my mother to keep. I am shooting for a fresh start with what I hope to be my third and final relationship and I want no connection whatsoever to the past. Its gonna be today and tomorrow only.

-- Anonymous, April 21, 2003