Seeking advice...

[Smarten_up]

...to get rid of mice. My Farmall 40CVT tractor sits in the shed and now mice have decided to make it their home.
I've cleaned them out 3 times, they just come back. I've set traps and get a few every other day or so but they still go into the tractor cab.
I've placed coarse steel wool in various openings but they still come back.
What actually works to deter them? I don't have a cat anymore, thing got too lazy and wouldn't go outside in winter! Didn't do his job anyway.
Any old timers got advice as to how to get rid of mice. I'm afraid of the damage they could cause and hate the smell of them.

 

[Janicholson]

Peppermint oil based repellant works. Put it on the floor as well as where they can get in. I would also suggest using urethane door and window sealer (not silicon or acrylic based) using a caulking frame/tube to fill where the steel wool was placed, and other locations of potential entry. mice can get through a 3/8 inch gap. Jim

 

[300guy]

Definitely the peppermint works. I have also found out if you get some habanero powder and boil it it water for about 30 minutes. Strain it into a good spray bottle and spray it all over the outside of the tractor. They hate the burning on their feet and will leave it alone. Also if you sprinkle the powder around the inside perimeter of of the shed they will not enter as they hate the smell and burn in their noses. Just be sure to wear rubber gloves and a very good dust mask when you do this as it will cause a lot of sneezing and coughing if you don't. I know from experience as the first time I did this I just about fumigated myself. This also works for rats and what I first used it for was a wood chuck who wanted to live in my tractor shed. I get my powder from a company called My Spice Sage on the internet. They have all kinds of stuff!!!

 

[rustyfarmall]

"Havoc" rat and mouse food.

 

[DR. EVIL]

I've read several posts here that dryer softer sheets work good to keep mice out of tractor cabs. I'd use several and change them out occasionally.

 

[THolmer]

I have used Apple Cider Vinegar. Just soak some rags in the stuff and they move out. Also works good to keep chipmunks and red squirrels out.

 

[Smarten_up]

Thanks for the many replies. Dryer sheets don't work, I tried them. Pepermint is next on the list, but I don't have any yet.
Steel wool reduces their entrance but not 100% effective. I'm trying to give the mice the sense that only misery and death awaits them in the cab of my tractor. My son suggested that I leave some bodies...you know as a warning to others that might...nawh too stinky.
Anyhow the battle continues. Phenol...perhaps? 5G...

 

[Haywood]

New Cat

 

[Russ from MN]

We put mothballs in our boat, it works better than dryer sheets.

 

[Fritz Maurer]

10-4 on the dryer sheets.... started up an F2 one fall, promptly got a shower of anti-freeze. Inside the console was a chewed-up heater hose , and a nest made out of shredded dryer sheets.

 

[Russ from MN]

I use Tomcat bait chunks, but it's gotten really expensive, and then you have dead mice in places where you don't find them right away. I also have some bucket traps with used anti-freeze in them, they work, sort of. A bucket with a rotating pop can with some peanut butter on it. Google bucket traps.

 

[rustyfarmall]

(quoted from post at 05:58:49 10/06/22) I use Tomcat bait chunks, but it's gotten really expensive, and then you have dead mice in places where you don't find them right away. I also have some bucket traps with used anti-freeze in them, they work, sort of. A bucket with a rotating pop can with some peanut butter on it. Google bucket traps.

I put the "Havoc" in outdoor bait stations. I rarely find a dead mouse inside the shed, or in our house, and I never find any nests or damage inside the buildings. Dogs and cats cannot get into the bait stations. I don't know where the mice go to die, but I've never found one.

 

[redforlife]

Some people put moth balls in the cab. I don't like that. I don't want to sit in the cab myself, with moth balls in there.

Get some nail down poison. Nail it to boards. Put one in the cab. One under the tractor. And two or three in various places around your shop. It don't have to be nailed to a very big board. A 2x4 a foot or more long is good enough. A board that a rat can't carry off. Nail down poison is generally good for both rats and mice.

The only thing is, you need to stay on top of the poison replacing. When it's gone, more needs to be nailed down right away. If you stay on top of that, you won't have problems.

Bagged poison does not work well. They chew into the bag, then carry the pellets back to thier nest, and eat very little of it at that point.

 

[560Dennis]

Five gallon bucket trap

 

[Smarten_up]

What kind of nail down poison? warfarin? I like the idea, seems easy enough.
I'll try to find the poison at the hardware store.
I have some bucket traps and spring traps around but I only get 3 a night.
I know I'll be at this for a while (maybe forever), but would like to really get them out of my cab!

 

[rustyfarmall]

(quoted from post at 14:03:54 10/06/22) What kind of nail down poison? warfarin? I like the idea, seems easy enough.
I'll try to find the poison at the hardware store.
I have some bucket traps and spring traps around but I only get 3 a night.
I know I'll be at this for a while (maybe forever), but would like to really get them out of my cab!

"Havoc" bait chunks. Hole in the middle. Nail it down or string several on a wire. Just one feeding will get 'em.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

(quoted from post at 19:47:10 10/05/22) Thanks for the many replies. Dryer sheets don't work, I tried them. Pepermint is next on the list, but I don't have any yet.
Steel wool reduces their entrance but not 100% effective. I'm trying to give the mice the sense that only misery and death awaits them in the cab of my tractor. My son suggested that I leave some bodies...you know as a warning to others that might...nawh too stinky.
Anyhow the battle continues. Phenol...perhaps? 5G...

Don't let them get to the tractor in the first place. Mice are attracted to food. If you put anything they think is food in the tractor, guess where they'll go.

I set up a perimeter around the inside of the walls of the building with poison pellet packs. All you can eat buffet, and they drop dead before they can get anywhere near the equipment.

 

[redforlife]

I don't think brand or kind really makes much difference. It usually comes in a small plastic pal these days.

But a piece of advice on that, try to buy different every time you buy a replacement batch. I think they can build up a tolerance to it if you consistently use the same kind and brand. Use one batch till its gone, and then buy something different for the next batch. By the time you get through one batch, it's time to change poisons if your having any issues working or not. Just change anyways, even if what you had was working.

 

[GeneMO]

I have been fighting mice as long as I have been alive seems like. 67 years. I second the 5 gallon bucket 'O water traps. Of course in winter switch to washer fluid or put some antifreeze in your water. Those things kill more mice than anything I have ever used. Plus, you get to view, and count your catches. Then dispose of them where they do not die in the heater vents. Only 1 problem I have encountered, my German Shephard puppy has figured out how to lick the peanut butter off the roller, or drag the bucket off. Plus you can't throw the deceased mice where she will find them or she makes presents of them by carrying them to the door.

But dang, they kill the mice!!

Gene

 

[Tom in Mo.]

Gene can you put a picture of what you use on here? I have tried two different bucket traps and neither one caught a mouse. Haven't tried a roller style so I'd like to see what you have.