Barn Rat & Mouse Control - Snake, Poison, Traps?

[FWTX]

I have a metal barn at our weekend place that is overrun with Mice and Rats and they are destroying all of my stuff. They chew through my toolbelts, 55gal plastic drums, welding mask, bottles of vegetable oil, wires on jeep, and EVERYTHING ELSE!

Whats the best control? I'm only out there twice a month so i figured traps wouldn't do much good unless I bought 100 and would probably stink up the place.

Is there a place I could get a free snake to let loose in the barn? Would it kill the mice or just leave after a few days and not do any good?

Is poison safe or would it kill any animals that ate the dead/dying mouse (i.e. Hawk, Bobcat, etc)?

Any help much appreciated.

[homegrown]

I've got some wild cats that frequent my place and seem to kill everything they come across. You are more than welcome to as many as you can catch.

HG

[lowinski1978]

I agree with homegrown, get some wildcats and they will take care of the problem.

[FWTX]

I considered cats but thought I would have to install a cat/dog door to give the cats access to the inside of the barn.

[kmitchl]

We have cats at our lease. The lanowner is at the ranch about every other week throughout the year. Since the cats arrived, no mice, no rats and no snakes!

[Patton]

I'd say get a cat or two

[yanta61]

I considered cats but thought I would have to install a cat/dog door to give the cats access to the inside of the barn.

i would think posin would be your best bet since your not there all the time. you will just have to read the lable on the posion to see if it will keep killing. if you put in a cat/dog door you would have a barn full of coons and skunks. i would think that cats outside would help with some of the mice/rats.


AY

[Wood Man]

If you can do cats that is the answer. If not buy a bunch of sticky plates. I have caught a bunch of little guys with these. Then make your area where no mice wants to be there. Put deer feed, food, etc into a container they can't get to. However if you can't get there to dispose of these guys it could be pretty rank.

[FWTX]

I'm headed out there this weekend. I'll give poison a shot first since its the easiest.I'll post some LDP's of any mice I kill.......

[fordsuper08]

de con works well with no stink

[cshall999]

Snakes -- No, they will help during the summer / warm months, but around this time they are about to start hibernating and this is when the mice / rats are looking for a place to keep warm...aka your barn.

Traps -- Like you already said, you need to be there often.

Sticky traps -- Work a little better than the mechanical traps, but they ware out too.

Poison -- Make sure it stops killing once consumed.

Cats -- They need some sort of water and maybe food if you want them to keep around. This may be your better option because you don't need to worry about it killing something you don't want it to kill (poison) if you get more than one it doesn't ware out (all traps) and it doesn't usually hibernate (snakes). I am not saying that this is the perfect option as there are faults with everything...you may need to feed and water it to keep the stupid thing around.

That is all I've got.

[jmac2410]

Take a 5 gallon bucket and fill it little less than 1/2 way with water. Take a small coffee can and run a rod through the bucket about 2 inches from the lip then through the coffee can so that the coffee can is above the water in the bucket and spins freely on the rod. Smother peanut butter or cheese on the coffee can. This is a self working trap that will keep working. The mice/rats jump on the can and it spins and they fall in the water and drown. Put two or three of these setups in the barn and catch all kinds of mice!

[huntnguide83]

Take some bowls and fill halfway with water and some smelll good woman soap. Place them throughout the barn. The rats will climb in and drown. We use to do it all the time at our old S. TX deer lease. Worked great!

[BehindTheSight]

I have/had a reptile and rodent problem. We got two cats that hunt non-stop! There were a couple months old when we got them. I fill a kid pool with water and have a big open tuperware bucket that I feed the dog out of. They occasionally eat some of the dog food but they are hunting machines. I'd go this route. Just find some free kittens in the newspaper and get 2 males.

[HEADHUNTER71]

Hire some neighborhood stray cats ...n problem solved