Autumn is the evening of the year. Mice that felt comfortable in the summer in nature ,where “under each… leaf was ready and the table, and the house”, instinctively sensing the approach of cold weather, seek to provide a dry, warm and safe shelter. Preferably-with a feed base. Country houses that are left by their owners until spring are ideal for wintering rodents. They settle there for a temporary residence during the cold season, simultaneously destroying or spoiling everything that comes across. And in addition, they also pollute the room with waste products.
Constantly operating skilled cats and mousetrap cats are the best way to keep pests at Bay. Methodically working all summer and autumn, the cat (or better — several) not only catches rodents in the area, but also daily updates the scaring marks that mark its territory. I must say that this method of dealing with mice is the most natural and humane.
But Pets leave with their owners. The house is defenseless, terrible label run out of steam, and the mouse I see no reason to ignore the cosy winter accommodation. The problem is familiar. We have collected proven ways to solve it and share them. Not all of them are humane — but in war as in war.
1. Chemical poisons
The industry offers many ready-made options for rodenticides in different packaging. And if during the summer season you could not use them, for fear of accidentally harming Pets or children, then before the onset of cold weather, when there is definitely no one in the house, you can safely decompose the poisons. Especially effective, according to the reviews of summer residents, are preparations based on zinc phosphide. They belong to the poisons of acute action, they work 100%. They have strict safety restrictions during preparation and use, so you need to be extremely careful with them.
Many ready-made poison baits have a mummifying effect. This means that the animal does not decompose when it dies, and therefore the stench can be avoided. If there are hidden places in the house that are difficult for a person to reach, and they are easily accessible for mice, then mummifying baits are a good option. In the spring, you will not have to open the floors, looking for the source of the stench, or wash the decomposition products of carcasses — just collect those that will be freely available.
2. Killing baits
A classic working way to poach mice without messing with poisons is to make a bait out of flour and alabaster (gypsum, putty, lime). Prepare the mixture in a ratio of 1: 1, pour it into a low container, leave water next to it. The animal, after eating the bait, gets thirsty, drinks and as a result gets fatal indigestion. A similar result can be achieved by finely slicing a natural wine cork and wetting it with unrefined vegetable oil. Swallowed small pieces, swollen in the intestines of the mouse, clog it. Minus — on arrival you will have to collect dead animals.
3. Vinegar
Our subscriber offered her own way to protect the country house, which was checked by her. She uses vinegar essence. Before the final departure from the dacha, without diluting, pours the caustic liquid into saucepans and puts them in the rooms. Vinegar fumes scare away the mouse brotherhood completely, but by spring everything has time to fade.
However, judging by the comments to her entry in her personal diary, where she describes this method of fighting, not everyone approves of it. Of the minuses-you have to work with a large volume of concentrated vinegar, which is harmful to the mucous membranes and, in principle, dangerous for humans. But there is a big plus — rodents will not enter your house at all.
4. Creolin
The tool has long been used in veterinary medicine. In its pure form, it can be purchased in veterinary pharmacies. In the gardening shops there are preparations from rodents, which is composed of creolin. It is produced by distillation from coal in a dry way, has a very sharp smell.
According to reviews, the tool is well repels mice. To protect the house, you need to moisten small pieces of rags (or, for example, use cotton pads for this purpose) and place them in the corners of rooms, next to upholstered furniture, in the kitchen, where odors that are attractive to rodents can be preserved. In the spring, however, the house will have to be washed and aired, but we always do it anyway. In addition to repelling mice in the house, creolin can be used for the same purpose in flower beds with bulbous plants, as well as for making a hunting belt in the spring.
5. Traps
Classic mousetraps in an empty country house in winter — it’s not serious. There will get 1 mouse, after that the device needs to be recharged — but there will be no one. Clever designs that work for a long time and collect large catches have been tested.
From a bucket
Everything is simple: an old bucket of water, a used aerosol can, an empty plastic bottle or a tall beer can, impaled on an axis of rigid wire (electrode). Seeds or other bait are glued to the rotating slippery cylinder. additionally, it can be lubricated with unrefined vegetable oil. A ladder is installed to the bucket. The trap works until severe frosts, when the water in the bucket turns to ice.
From plastic bottles
In order for the mousetrap to work in a strong negative, they do this. They bury plastic bottles of 5 liters of water near the house, pour smelly vegetable oil on their bottom, put a little seeds or nuts. The mice fall inside, but they can’t get out. Traps work as long as they are not covered with snow.
Sticky
Traps can also include special adhesives. This really works, but not everyone is ready to periodically clean up all this farm-and if you do not clean it, the efficiency will not be very high. How many of them will stick to the cartons?
6. Simulating the presence of a predator
A well-proven method of protection from mice, simulating the presence of a predator. It is known that for a mouse, “there is no animal scarier than a cat.” For some time, we collect the used cat litter from the tray in the bag or drain the urine from it into the jar. Before leaving the dacha, we lay out odorous marks in the rooms, as well as near the places of potential rodent penetration into the house. Mice, having smelled the smell known to them at the genetic level, will prefer not to take risks and find another place to winter.
7. Burdock
The leaves of this plant are not useful in any way, but dried flowers, as practice shows, can be used in the fight against rodents. Prickly balls need to plug the places where mice enter the room — no one can overcome such a barrier.
Of course, all ways to protect your home from rodents should be combined with basic rules for preserving the premises for the winter. You can’t leave anything to eat or even medicine in the kitchen, but if you decide to leave something, it should be hidden in metal containers. Plastic lids, plastic containers and, of course, bags and ordinary boxes and crates will not be an obstacle for mice. Before leaving, you need to go through all the rooms and try to seal them without leaving holes out, so there will be less chance of pests entering. If you have a water supply to the house that you are cleaning for the winter, do not forget to plug this hole.
We hope that this winter pests will bypass your house, and in the spring it will meet you as you left it in the fall. And if you have any proven effective ways to protect your country house from mice, then share them in the comments. Now that the season is nearing its end, any useful information on this topic will be very dear to all gardeners.