Varmints & other "outside" critters
Jan. 29th, 2005 03:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
revchrisI bought bird seed today so I could refill the feeder.
The whole process:
1) Remove the screen from the kitchen window (right next to the feeder) so that the squirrels can't hang on that and empty the feeder;
2) Clean all of the muck from the birds out of the window tracks so that the window closes completely (i.e. - no more draft);
3) Scrub out the feeder & remove all the caked-up muck;
4) Fill the feeder & hang it back outside.
Then I went downstairs for part B:
1) Toss the two traps with mice in them (I use the ones from Victor with the plastic cheese because they seem to be more sensitive, and replace them every 3-4 hits);
2) Set two of the D-Con rotating traps baited with peanut butter near the garage door (since the cats occasionally are in the garage, these are safer because the snappy parts are enclosed);
3) Set four of the Victor traps around the ceiling in the back of the garage (where I usually catch the mice);
4) Empty and reset one of the Victor traps because it caught a mouse while I was still setting traps;
5) Check for new mouse entry holes into the garage (as I find holes, I pack them full of steel wool and then seal the whole area with Great Stuff - this stops them from reusing the hole because mice don't like to chew threw steel wool and the foam seals and reinsulates the area, and also makes it easy to spot the new hole if they do come back in the same area).
I didn't find any new holes, which doesn't mean there isn't one; but it does mean that last time I sealed holes I may have sealed a few mice inside the garage. We hope that if there's more, Marley doesn't find them, as she usually brings her catches upstairs to the bedroom and wakes up Mom or Dad to show what a good kitty she is.
The whole process:
1) Remove the screen from the kitchen window (right next to the feeder) so that the squirrels can't hang on that and empty the feeder;
2) Clean all of the muck from the birds out of the window tracks so that the window closes completely (i.e. - no more draft);
3) Scrub out the feeder & remove all the caked-up muck;
4) Fill the feeder & hang it back outside.
Then I went downstairs for part B:
1) Toss the two traps with mice in them (I use the ones from Victor with the plastic cheese because they seem to be more sensitive, and replace them every 3-4 hits);
2) Set two of the D-Con rotating traps baited with peanut butter near the garage door (since the cats occasionally are in the garage, these are safer because the snappy parts are enclosed);
3) Set four of the Victor traps around the ceiling in the back of the garage (where I usually catch the mice);
4) Empty and reset one of the Victor traps because it caught a mouse while I was still setting traps;
5) Check for new mouse entry holes into the garage (as I find holes, I pack them full of steel wool and then seal the whole area with Great Stuff - this stops them from reusing the hole because mice don't like to chew threw steel wool and the foam seals and reinsulates the area, and also makes it easy to spot the new hole if they do come back in the same area).
I didn't find any new holes, which doesn't mean there isn't one; but it does mean that last time I sealed holes I may have sealed a few mice inside the garage. We hope that if there's more, Marley doesn't find them, as she usually brings her catches upstairs to the bedroom and wakes up Mom or Dad to show what a good kitty she is.
