OT: question for JLeus

[jackinok]

I saw on another post where you do pest control work on your job,My tractor barns all set in middle of pastures pretty much away from all other buildings.so of course i allways have problems with feild mice and packrats in barns.Other than keeping them clean(which I freely admit they need badly)any tips on keeping them out?.I use bait of course,and those automatic traps which help,but would baiting around the outside help?maybe a few pieces of 3"or so pvc with bait in them around outside walls be worth a try?not really any feed to speak of in these barns,mainly tractors and equipment,I think their mostly nesting there.

 

[Bob Purinton]

Ever hear of a ball bearing mousetrap (Otherwise known as a Tom cat). I guess you"d have to get "em removed or you"d soon be overrun by cats. Seriously, a couple "barn cats" might help your problem.
Also, Granddad gave me heck one time for wanting to kill a good sized black snake in one of his barns. He said that if you had a blacksnake in your barn you"d not have any mice.

 

[JLeus]

The cats and snakes are viable options. As you said earlier, housekeeping is the best control, inside and outside. How far away from the barn is being kept mowed short? Baiting on the outside can help and your PVC pipe station is a good idea. The parifinized baits are OK, I prefer a product called Contrac by Bell, not sure if its available to the general public. If you can get a "seed" bait, thats more effective on the mice, looks like bird seed with toxins added. Its actually one of the products targeted by the re-labeling effort. If your using a product with Warfarin as the AI, not so good, resistance in rodents to Warfarin is well esatblished. Try to get the freshest bait you can and try different ones, they do develop bait aversion after seeing the same thing for a long time. Exclusion helps, no more than a 1/4 gap to exclude mice, tough to do at doors. Trapping can remove some, the "repeating" traps will get mice, large snap traps are the best for rats. Try attaching some nesting material to the trigger on a big snap trap, small enough piece that they have to get up in the trap to get it, you would be amazed, shreds of the Walmart like bags are good for this. Glueboards are effective as well and come in mouse and rat sizes. I have had some luck with glue boards half rolled up and slid into about a 2 foot piece of 4 inch PVC, thin wall is the cheapest. Place it with the glue board on the "floor".

I want to emphasize the house keeping issue, if there is a bunch of stuff on the floor, or shelves of boxes or the like, your fighting an uphill battle, but thats why we build barns, to store stuff. Not having side walls will make it a less hospitable place for them.

To put it in perspective, I have one employee that spends about 3/4 of his time doing rodent control. It is a large, older facility and we have our oppurtunities, thats what it takes in my setting. Also remember that the pressure is constant, suckers are always checking your structures out.

My grandfather did something that I never could prove or dis-prove, I wasn't going to argue with the man. He had a common yard that he brought the cattle into every evening, about 3 acres. Had the water trough and many out buildings around it, pig pen and shelter near the back, big barn with the corn crib and other storage, small pen to isolate critters needing doctoring, large chicken house, big loafing shed, and three smaller sided sheds for equipement that had sidewalls and gates at the opening to exclude the cows. All the structures kinda ringed each side and the back was fenced and gated into the larger pasture. He buried a thick wall steel pipe in the ground , vertical, with about an 8 foot rough cut 2x4 making a T at the top, about as dead in the middle of the yard as possible. He always said he had seen as many as 4 owls perched up there at night waiting on a meal, never saw the birds but the pellets were plentiful. They had plenty of cats also.

 

[jackinok]

thanks guys ,I do need to do some serious house cleaning.Dont think cats would work ,were talking barns in the middle of 500 acres with no houses for three miles,and i'm not in there often enough (or even at those farms since its 117 miles one way from home)to keep them fed and watered.guess i just need to let go of some of those treasures that ive kept over the years.Such as old might be needed wire,boards ,sheetrock,couple of used up lawn mowers,bed frames,someday projects,worn out parts you could use in a pinch but cant remember what they go to,you know,all those guy treasures its so hard to part with because you may need it someday(or that your just plain too lazy to haul off)LOL.actually this is one of the old home places,and i ve had it leased out for most of the last 10 years,not much left there but a couple of barns ,and the old line shack.lease expires end of june,and i'm going to start putting the place back up in shape.barns have been used more or less as equipment sheds and catch alls for so long,i honestly dont know whats in all of them.other than keeping tractors running,and using the line shack for a hunting fishing cabin,ive not done much.

 

[JMOR]

(quoted from post at 10:29:31 05/11/11) thanks guys ,I do need to do some serious house cleaning.Dont think cats would work ,were talking barns in the middle of 500 acres with no houses for three miles,and i'm not in there often enough (or even at those farms since its 117 miles one way from home)to keep them fed and watered.guess i just need to let go of some of those treasures that ive kept over the years.Such as old might be needed wire,boards ,sheetrock,couple of used up lawn mowers,bed frames,someday projects,worn out parts you could use in a pinch but cant remember what they go to,you know,all those guy treasures its so hard to part with because you may need it someday(or that your just plain too lazy to haul off)LOL.actually this is one of the old home places,and i ve had it leased out for most of the last 10 years,not much left there but a couple of barns ,and the old line shack.lease expires end of june,and i'm going to start putting the place back up in shape.barns have been used more or less as equipment sheds and catch alls for so long,i honestly dont know whats in all of them.other than keeping tractors running,and using the line shack for a hunting fishing cabin,ive not done much.

ever much luck with cats at my country place either even though I'm there at least one or 3 days a week. Can't feed them 'ratters' or they won't do their job. Took nearly a dozen wild (feral?) crazy cats to the barns once & in about a year, just about all gone even though they did take squirrels, snakes, rats, etc. back to feed their kittens. Tough on kittens, too many predators. Think the adults eventually find easier meals at neighboring farms. I do leave the non poisonous snakes alone such as rat/chicken snakes, blue racers, coach whips, etc. I was having trouble with rats eating up the vehicle wiring (need to work their ever growing teeth they say), so I started baiting around the trucks & tractors..eventually decided I was baiting too close. Seems to be better to place in area, not on vehicle. Think that keeps them too close to the wires.

 

[jackinok]

we have bull snakes around here,had one in our old milk barn that if it was the same snake must have been at least twenty years old.probably two and a half inches around and six foot long.Trouble with it was it would get agrresive at certain times of the year,I think it had to do with the pigeons nesting,it would crawl up and wrap around the rafters, i assume trying to get the birds or eggs,and when you walked under him he would strike at you.That stinking thing caused me to have a run away at least fifty times!before your head could tell your feet what was going on they were already in high gear!In most old barns the dirt would get packed down hard as concrete,not that one ,I kept it pretty well plowed up digging my toenails in trying to get traction.I hated that snake with a passion.but I knew if I killed it i would get beat.I thought my grandad was the toughest guy living if he could milk those old cows with that snake crawling around,he'd always tell me "its only a bull snake it wont hurt you"..until one day he started out the door with a bucket of milk and that snake was laying on top the door frame and struck at him that is.after he circled enough to stop his feet from stampeding ,and finally coasted around to the horse tank to wash off from the milk bath, he just grinned and said "but they will make you hurt yourself"!!!

 

[JMOR]

I've been startled a few times! I don't like it. Around here. I'm always tuned for copperheads & water moccasins, so any kind of sighting is a big alert!

 

[fuzzyswede]

jackinok,
Try using a open top 5 gal pail with a little grain in the bottom for bait, provide a ramp to the top with a ~4' pipe or tube of some sort with the one end near the middle of the pail and the other on the floor. Flip the bail over the pipe to keep it from rolling off. Works great for capturing mice, might also work for rats if pipe large enough. The rodents jump into the pail for the bait and can not get out.