Resident Rodent Control

Linda Bittle
Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

My cat, Eliza Jane, caught another mouse in the bathroom this evening. She's getting better about killing them quickly. Sometimes she's let them get away so that she can have the fun of catching them again. I gave her tons of praise, swept the mouse into a dustpan and tossed it over the fence for the crows.

I hate mice in the house! I won't put out poison since it's deadly to many other critters, especially the hawks and owls that feed on rodents, too. I much prefer my mouser cat, and now that she's the single feline resident, she's really stepping up! This is 3 in a couple of weeks, and I think she's earning her soft bed and cat food!

Comments

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Here's a picture of Eliza Jane enjoying the couch. She doesn't look so deadly here!

  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I commend you for not using poison and Eliza Jane helping you with the problem.

    I think, however, that you would be wise to find out how the mice are entering the house. You do not want them to leave waste or chew things for nesting.

  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    One of my cats alerted me to a fungus gnat on the windowsill today!

  • I use the old fashioned wooden traps with the metal and bait it with peanut butter. This works best for me. I make sure to put it where the pets cannot get to it.

  • merlin44
    merlin44 Posts: 426 ✭✭✭✭

    @Mary Linda Bittle Miss Eliza is a beauty! Chances are if it has been 3 in the last couple of weeks, the mice might be scouting out a winter home. They'll probably decide to look elsewhere with Eliza on patrol.

  • greyfurball
    greyfurball Posts: 591 ✭✭✭✭

    Since I have so many outdoor cats, when they moved in, to them even now, they know they are guaranteed a meal every day but they still LOVE to chase mice/rats. It's just inbred into a cat's nature. They are a hunter/gatherer.

    But around me there is one farmer who grows corn every year. His fields directly wrap around the rear end of mine and the neighbors property. So once he cuts down his corn the neighborhood is overrun with mice trying to find a new home.

    So I am an animal lover just cats happen to be my favorite. But I sure do pity all those mice when they have a half dozen or more cats all considering them fair game. Every day I would come out in the morning and I'd find little mouse carcasses at my back door. It wasn't unusual to find a half dozen or more on the day directly after the corn was harvested. One week a few years ago though the mouse count was up. The first day after harvest I had 17 little mice "surprises" left for me. The next day was 11. Then each day the count would keep going down.

    I was joking with the family that year we were all going to be sick and tired of "mouse stew" for dinner every day before that season was over.