How to deal with mice in the country: useful tips

Animals tolerate the onset of cold weather and a long period of low temperatures: some prefer to pre-equip a warm dwelling for the winter, where they can spend a few months in hibernation, others use the maximum of the benefits created by humans, thus solving the wintering problem and the problem with food. The last group includes mice - rodents, which are not much different in behavior and appearance from rats (the latter animals have somewhat larger sizes).

The arrival of these pests in cottages in the fall is due to the fact that even in the harshest winter, the temperature in the room is unlikely to drop below -10-15 ° C, and for rodents these are almost ideal conditions (especially when compared with a cold mink in the snow and take into account the full lack of wind). Numerous stocks of cereals, seeds and other stale products, accidentally discovered by rodents, can become an additional incentive to find a way to get inside the cottages in order to create shelters for the winter.

Important: mice are very fond of equipping their temporary homes in old things (mainly silk), blankets and even soft toys. It is possible to understand that rodents spent the winter indoors by the presence of droppings, small characteristic claw marks and a rather specific smell.

The main danger of a mouse invasion is not at all the spoilage of products, things and other similar troubles. These rodents carry with them a huge number of various diseases that can be transmitted to humans by elementary contact with the thing on which the mouse simply sat or lay. This “peculiarity” of these animals comes from the fact that they feed on everything that catches their eye, because often in search of food they stumble on garbage dumps and sewage. Here the mouse can become an involuntary carrier of any infection.

It is for this reason that it is important to protect your summer cottage from the possible arrival of rodents and take all necessary measures to get rid of them if there are signs of their long stay.

Measures to prevent the appearance of mice in the country

As you know, the best way to prevent the appearance of any animal on the site is to exert maximum effort to make its presence uncomfortable in the physical sense, literally intolerable. In order for the mice not to appear in the country, it is enough:

1. When constructing a house and other adjacent buildings, use such insulating materials that rodents cannot use as a building element of their own shelter (glass wool stands apart here).
2. All voids, cracks and other voids that during a detailed autumn inspection were found, firstly, to lay with broken glass or other cutting objects, and secondly, to seal with foam. Thus, two levels of protection of the premises from unwanted entry of animals are provided at once.
3. All pipelines (both plastic and metal) must be closed for the winter with the help of a special fine mesh, which mice will definitely not be able to bite through.
4. Track the cleanliness of the garden. Particular attention should be paid to the presence of various seeds, grains, and some open grain crops. If you need to plant a lawn in winter, it is better to do this in August and early September.
5. Pour food products in packages into sealed containers, for example, plastic containers.

If you adhere to the measures described, then the likelihood of rodents arranging their home indoors will be significantly less for two reasons: firstly, due to the lack of potential loopholes in a warm place, and secondly due to a complete lack of food. The mouse will never “populate” where there is no food at all.

Ways to kill rodents

If the above measures have not had any effect, and there are definitely traces of mice, then you can use various methods to eliminate them. They are classified depending on the nature of the manifestation, duration of exposure, effectiveness, etc. It is possible to put into practice this or that method both in the summer season and in transitional stages.

Classic method

The classic or "ancient folk" method of the complete extermination of rodents is the institution of a cat. In many villages, villages and small towns, where the risk of mouse invasion of private houses is high enough, many families have several cats at once, each of which monitors its territory. In the summer cottage, one representative of the four-legged is enough, however, a couple of reservations should be made here:

1. Firstly, not all cats will want to catch mice: former hunters are already accustomed to a person to directly depend on him in terms of food.
2. Secondly, any cat gets used to this or that territory, and since summer cottages are actively used on average 5 months a year, it is more likely that in the summer the cat will look a bit like a host, lazily warming itself in the sun.
3. Thirdly, even if the city cat adjusts to keep up with rodents, it is very likely that he will need serious support in the fall: it is during this period that the mice try to find a mate for breeding, and their number will rapidly increase when a suitable house is found.

Based on this, a more reasonable solution would be to bait cats living in the immediate vicinity of the summer cottage. Making contact with a wild animal is, of course, somewhat more difficult, but you can definitely be sure that the cat will pay back delicious pieces of sausage or, at all, dry food for the received pieces.

Methods for the destruction of rodents without the use of chemicals

This set of methods has quite ancient roots: the founder of all modern devices is the classical mousetrap, which entices a rodent by establishing, on the one hand, either an edible bait or a special tool that emits a pleasant aroma. The mouse, driven solely by its instincts, just touch the surface with one paw, so that a special exciting device works.
However, at present, another method of killing these pests is rapidly gaining popularity: it is based on the use of a special adhesive composition that tightly holds the mouse’s foot, thus depriving it of the ability to move. You can make a trap based on the use of such a composition as follows:

1. A two-liter plastic bottle is taken, its upper part (the one with a smaller radius) is removed with scissors.
2. At the bottom of a future trap using a double-sided tape, a bait is attached (a piece of cheese, a handful of seeds, etc.).
3. All space from the goodies is filled with adhesive.

As soon as he gets into a bottle of food, the mouse will sign a death sentence: wishing to get out of a strange space and at the same time take at least some food with her, she will unconsciously use her paws to achieve any goal, thus rotating a cylindrical vessel. As a result, it will stick to the glue not only with its paws, but with the whole carcass.

Less popular are container traps, the use of which is actively debating on the Runet forums. This type of home-made traps is practically no different from the one described above: bait is also used, and the surface is also filled with adhesive. However, the appearance of the trap is completely different: it is an ordinary cage, which can fit up to 7 mice at a time.

Usually in this design several entrances for rodents are provided so that they, seeing the opportunity to profit from the bait and a relative who is in trouble, try to get into the trap as soon as possible. Both the mentioned products and others that are not so expensive can act as bait (even a regular piece of bread soaked in oil or sweet juice is suitable).

The disadvantages of this design include:

1. Bad value for money. Many gardeners do not recommend using the same cage to catch mice more than 5 times. This is again due to the number of diseases transferred by rodents and harmful to humans, domestic animals and livestock microorganisms.
2. Obvious inconvenience of use. Firstly, removing rodent carcasses from such a cage is a rather unpleasant task, and secondly, after each cleaning of the trap, it should be disinfected. In addition, the design, which hit more than two mice, will emit a fairly loud squeak.

Finally, you can use an ordinary metal bucket to catch a rodent who is used to stealing food. To catch a mouse, you should build a small bridge from the side, from the improvised light materials, in the center of which there will be a bait. The idea is that barely the mouse with all its weight will be on the platform - it will immediately collapse down, and the pest simply can not get out of such a tall cylindrical vessel, devoid of bumps, which can not be caught with claws.

Important: using a plastic bucket is not recommended. Particularly thirsty for a mouse to survive in a relatively short period of time, it can unconsciously make itself several ledges for clawing. If no other bucket is available, grease the bottom of the walls with plenty of oil.

The platform should be a figure of uneven shape of different thickness; according to the plan, the mouse should first climb to a larger area and see the bait on the opposite side of the stand. After she notices a treat, she will immediately run to a place where the slightest pressure will provoke a collapse of the whole structure.

Use of chemicals

It is recommended to resort to the use of chemical reagents only if, for some reason, the previous measures did not have the desired effect or simply can not cope with the number of rodents. The essence of the method is quite simple: pre-made baits are left in the room, which inside themselves contain poison, from which the internal organs of the mouse become paralyzed, and as a result, it dies almost immediately.

Tip: the bait can be made in the form of small cakes, in the center of which a small amount of poison is placed.

In most cases, the basis of poisons is brodifacum, which is the most popular means of bullying rodents today. Especially many gardeners distinguish two drugs: “Rat death” and “Cyclone”. There are several requirements for their use:

1. Traps with dissolved poisons should be laid out only in places where access for children and animals is closed (for example, pipes).
2. It is recommended to set traps with a uniform grid, which is able to “cause” the appearance of the entire colony of rodents living on the site.
3. Traps should be set for a week and a half. If for some reason the rodents have not eaten the bait, it should be replaced and the mass content of the natural component should be changed.

Rodent repellent

Scientific progress has not spared the problem of the emergence of mice in summer cottages. One of the most advanced methods for their elimination is the use of ultrasound, which plunges absolutely all rodents into a panic state and literally makes them hurry to leave the territory.

Sound propagation is carried out using a special device (the most popular are Chiston and Grad), and its effect extends exclusively to pests, for pets, livestock and people, it is harmless. The only drawback is that if a large number of toys are installed on the site, several large trees with powerful crowns grow or other physical obstacles exist, then the area of ​​action is significantly reduced. However, to ensure that rodents do not fall exclusively indoors using the device is very simple.

You can also scare off mice from the site using folk remedies. To do this, you need to collect some especially fragrant leaves of mint, chamomile, wormwood and elderberry, pour boiling water over them, then add water and let the solution brew. After it should be poured into a spray bottle and evenly distributed over the room inside which the presence of mice is assumed. Smelling the smells that they cannot get along with, the colonies will immediately leave and are unlikely to return within a few months.

Tip: it is recommended to carry out such prophylaxis once a month, especially intensively - before closing the summer cottage for the winter.

Protecting a planted lawn can be even easier: just tightly lay the leaves of the plants and flowers mentioned above on its surface, so that a kind of layer forms, which mice will not be able to overcome.

Video: how to protect the garden from mice