I hate meses to pieces (How do I keep the mice out?)

[armandh]

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...use+traps+diy+

[Frank DeWitt]

I have added a couple of steps to my original post. "When I put my Kohler light plant away fro the winter I tape over every opening (intake exhaust, vents ETC.) remove the controls cover, put in mothballs, Remove the generator end bell cover and put in mothballs Spread around another couple boxes of mothballs, wrap the whole trailer in plastic and taped is shut."

Since then I found very small dead mice in the trailer. My trailer has a diamond plate deck and I have added and removed things and moved them around leaving a lot of 1/4 in to 1/2 in holes. A couple years ago I started plugging every single hole in the bed of the trailer by dropping bolts through them. (I started putting nuts on the bolts but decided the mice aren't that clever.) I also added a couple of boxes of dryer sheets. Last two spring openings, no mice or sign of them. I just wondered if a small box fan in the trailer or in the shed would help. The shed gets snowed in for a few months so anything that needs weekly attention wont work.

thanks for all the feedback.

Frank

[DMeed]

If you have lots of time to waste you can watch someone's experiments with how small a hole:

http://woodgears.ca/farm/mouse_hole.html

He also did a lego mindstorms to try it with a slot.

http://woodgears.ca/farm/mouse_gap.html

I think his mice are fatter than yours.

[Andrew Mackey]

A mouse will fit thru any hole it can get its head thru! Animals are attracted to antifreeze. It smells sweet and tastes good to them. The 5 gallon bucket trick works well with them. Some antifreeze, peanut butter or dog food make for excellent baits. Yes, Hanta Virus is a danger, especially if you handle mouse or rat nests, or use air to blow off debris left by these pesky critters. If you need to clean out their mess, use copious amounts of water to prevent dust. A little Clorox bleach in the water won't hurt either

Have a look on the internet for mouse traps. You would be surprised on how many entries there are!

[miro]

I use the 5 gal bucket idea and it works OK.
But prevention works better.

To prevent them getting inside my machines, I sprinkle cayenne pepper powder over the machine insides. I found this to be effective inside tool drawers, etc and other places that I don't get to over the winter.

To get the powder into hard to reach places, I mix 4 heaping table spoons of pepper into a gallon of water with 3 or 4 drops of detergent to break the surface tension . I then use a garden sprayer to coat the hard to reach places, the water evaporates, leaving the pepper.

M