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Mice, Somewhat OT

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Lyme Disease
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Posted 4/15/2014 7:52 PM (GMT 0)
We get mice in the house every spring and I often wonder what the chances are of contracting Lyme indoors. Has anyone else thought about it? We live on acreage, so there's no avoiding them. Ticks aren't a big problem here, so that helps. I don't want to put out poison for them since there's a risk of secondary poisoning if another animal eats them and we have various critters around, some of which are neighbors pets. There used to be one that didn't have the secondary poisoning problem. We do have traps out for them. I'd prefer something outside ate them, though.

Yesterday, I pulled up a piece of landscaping cloth I had put down last fall to kill off some weeds and I was surprised by a big snake, at least 1 1/2 ft. I'm used to seeing garter snakes all over, but this wasn't one. It was this kind,
weirdanimalreport.com/article/rubber-boa-pacific-northwests-native-boa-constrictor. I found a young one nearby too. It made me a little nervous since I didn't know what it was, so I looked it up. They eat mice! :) So I guess I need to try to keep them near the house. :) You think I'm crazy, right? LOL I'm an organic gardener, so I use what I can to help. It's good to know we have them since we have a lot of wooded area for them to reside in and plenty of mice there.

I also have a mason bee nest on our front porch and it's quite busy. Great for keep solicitors away! smilewinkgrin It all keeps my mind off my daughter and I having Lyme and I've always enjoyed nature and gardening.
Posted 4/15/2014 8:35 PM (GMT 0)
HI GP,

You can also get tick tubes. We had a safety meeting on this a few years back at my work and it really seems to help. Basically you put these tubes in spots where there are mice. The mice take the cotton from the tubes and use it in their nest. The cotton contains permethrin which kills ticks. Its kind of like frontline but for mice.

http://www.ticktubes.com/

I have no affiliation with this company.

~beth
Posted 4/15/2014 10:07 PM (GMT 0)
If you can, try to close up any gaps or holes where the mice might be getting into your house. Use wire mesh with 1/4" holes, overlapped so that the holes are even smaller (mice can squeeze through a hole the size of a dime).

Also, the essential oil blend called Purification can help repel mice and other rodents. Sprinkle a bunch of it around on the outside of your house where you think the mice are coming in through, and the mice may turn away and go somewhere else instead of coming into your house.

Purification ingredients:
Citronella (Cymbopogon nardus), lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), Melaleuca (Melaleuca alternifolia) lavandin (Lavandula x hybrida), and myrtle (Myrtus communis).
Posted 4/15/2014 10:07 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks. I'll look into those. I don't want to kill of the snakes, so I'd have to see what the risk is for other critters, if there is any. If I had any idea where they were getting in, that would help, but since they only need a hole the size of a pencil, it would be hard to find all the sport they could get in.

I just got on their site. It sounds better than poisons! I would like to have less mice around though. They get in our car engines and in the car itself and the mower engines, etc. If I could get herons to come in our yard, they'd get a lot of them. One tried landing on our shed roof one day, but was slipping around on it too much, so I'd need to put a perch up there. I don't think coyotes come in our yard, but they catch them in the fields around us.

Thanks again!
Posted 4/15/2014 11:06 PM (GMT 0)
We get thousands of dollars in damage in my cars each year from the chipmunk and mice that build nests up inside them in the winter. No lie, it's a huge problem for us. Someone recommended getting predators urine and putting it under the hood. They recommended Fox urine (not kidding) that you can buy online. I didn't try it but you could get some and spray it around the areas that you don't want the mice. You could put around the perimeter of the house and the might scare them away. eomeone else recommended putting a dryer sheet in the glove compartment of the car. For whatever reason it's supposed to keep the animals away. If you put bars of soap around the yard it's supposed to keep deer away. Good luck.
Posted 4/16/2014 7:14 AM (GMT 0)
I have a rodent repellant spray that I've used around the perimeter of the house and all the exterior doors. There are just so many ways they can get in. They often use insulation in their nests, so they might get in through the walls. We have moles that have probably gone under out house, leaving a big access hole for them to go under and find 1 of many ways to get into the house. It could be where the water pipes go into the house since they only need a pencil size opening.

Thanks Razzle. Which co. makes that oil mix? That would be good to put around the engine of our cars and yard equipment. We had them get into our washer once, which we found out from the repairman that came to see what was wrong with it. Right behind the control panel. I keep a couple of mouse traps by it now. I sprayed the area behind the panel when it was open and anywhere else I could see was a problem.

A former neighbor had her Jaguar (sp?) engine completely destroyed by them. She hadn't used it for a long time, so it was parked next to the wooded area along her driveway with easy access for the mice. They just don't give up.

I've hear of those urine sprays, but never got any. I use a product called "Deer Out" that works very well around the garden for keeping them from eating my plants. That same company makes the rodent repellent. I don't think the soap bar would keep the deer away here. I think it's Irish Springs they suggest. They're so used to humans and all their scents. Thanks for the suggestions, though. Deer Out has a minty scent, much easier to have around than the scented soap, which we couldn't use because of that.

The scent of the dryer sheets is too strong for us, so we can't use them for that, but thanks for suggesting it. With all the woods and fields around us, there are more mice than we can battle. I just hope we have more of those boa snakes around.

If we ever build a house again, I'll seal up any holes that would give them access as it's being built. Much easier to do that way.
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