As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

On Dec 21, 4:50*pm, trader-of-some-jacks
wrote:
As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. *But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? *By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. *I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

I use "the bucket method." Just get a 5 gallon plastic pail. Drill
two 3/8" holes near the top of the bucket (about 1/2" down from the
top edge). Make sure the holes are directly across the bucket from
each other so you can stick a 1/4" dowl rod straight through. the
dowl rod should be about an inch or so longer than the diameter of the
bucket. Then get an empty plastic peanut butter jar with lid and
drill 5/16" holes at the center of the bottom of the jar and through
the center of the lid. Slide dowl through one of the holes in the
side of the bucket, then through the empty peanut butter jar and then
through the other hole in the side of the bucket. You should be able
to spin the jar around the rod. Put about 4 inches of water in the
bucket. Smear cheap peanut butter over the surfaces of the jar.
Place the bucket near a wall where you suspect mice might be
traveling. Get a narrow (2" wide x 1 " thick) board about 2 or 3 feet
long. Lay flatways one end on the floor and the other resting on the
top edge of the bucket near where one end of the rod is sticking out
of the side of the bucket. By next morning you should have a mouse,
or even several mice floating dead in the bucket. Get a small minnow
net and scoop the dead mice out of the bucket and dispose of in manner
of your choice. There probably should still be enough smeard peanut
butter still left on the jar for several more nights depending on how
many mice you might have living with you. No need to refresh the
peanut butter, old moldy stuff works just as good. Once a week or so
or maybe longer you might have to change water in the bucket. If you
aren't going to be checking the bucket each day, no problem. Just
change the water more often. Good luck!
Steve

On Sun, 21 Dec 2008 17:50:22 -0500, trader-of-some-jacks
wrote:

As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.


You are fighting a losing battle.
See jpg link
http://i7.tinypic.com/2ex6kah.jpg

On Sun, 21 Dec 2008 17:50:22 -0500, trader-of-some-jacks
wrote:

-snip-
What's a "better" mouse trap? By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.
-snip-

I like the bucket for multiple catches.

But I have to plug victor's new electric traps. 4 aa batteries & it
electrocutes the little buggers. Flip open the top & dump in toilet.
No mess, no touching anything the dead mouse touched. I got 10 on
the first set of AA's over a 2 week period.

The signal light was supposed to glow red when the battery was weak--
but when my peanut butter disappeared without a mouse I changed
batteries and got a few more the next week.

A little pricey at $20, but I'm glad it was marked wrong at my local
Lowes.

Jim

On Dec 21, 5:12*pm, Van Chocstraw
wrote:
trader-of-some-jacks wrote:
As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. *But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? *By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. *I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

Feed them Decon rat poison. Makes them go out and seek water while they
hemorrhage to death.

--
//--------------------\\
* * * * Van Chocstraw
*\\--------------------//- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It kills them but I found 3 dead inside in the middle of the dining
and living room, so they dont all go out, maybe they all stayed in.

trader-of-some-jacks wrote:
As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

These two are better than the Looney Tune ones, that I never got very
good at setting, let alone then sitting them down without tripping them,
however they don't meet all of your requirements.

http://www.victorpest.com/store/rodent-control/M130
They are very easy to set, and do the job. Unfortunately, you do need to
reset and rebait them, but I just use something like a tongue depressor
or wooden coffee stirrer (and a jar of peanut butter devoted to that
purpose only!). And they are very easy to empty, but you do have to do
it manually.

Same with this one - http://www.d-conproducts.com/traps/ultra-set.html.
It's even easier to empty, and it's covered so you don't even have to
see the mouse. (I actually got pretty good at emptying it into a plastic
bag without actually looking, LOL).

OTOH, if I had another mouse invasion (like I had a few years ago from
some nearby construction), I'd definitely try the battery op one someone
else mentioned.

poision they may not leave die and stink up your home, that happened
to a buddy of mine.........

smell lasted 2 weeks

you must prevent entry, seal every little crack and crevice, leave NO
FOOD SOURCE AROUND.

We were over run once when I was feeding birds sunflower seeds.
evicted near 40 mice.

used a live trap released them away from home, no they didnt re
enter.........

why kill anything un necessarily?

the sticky pads work good. put them around the edges where they run. you
don't have to fold them into a tube.

s


"trader-of-some-jacks" wrote in message
...
As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

Steve wrote:


I use "the bucket method."

For a long time, that was the only method. I haven't tried it but think
may still be the best.

In 1880, Luchs, a German company, began selling the Capito Original
mouse trap. It was in production until 1920. Many were sold in Britain
and America. That seemed to usher in the Age of Mousetraps.

It seems to be consumer appeal more than efficacy that sells mouse
traps. The appeal to the Capito was that it was a Rube Goldberg
contraption. In the vestibule, a seesaw would trip a latch, letting the
door fall. Then the mouse would clime in a vertical tube and go out on
another seesaw, which would drop him into a drowning tank while raising
the door to admit the next mouse. The design was so popular that
several American knockoffs were patented. The latest was in 1990.

The snap trap, invented in 1894, took over the trap market. What it
lacks in efficacy it makes up for in consumer appeal.

The electrocuting mouse trap was invented in 1909.

At one time I had a Victor Tin Cat. It's about the size of a cigar box
and holds mice for disposal. It could trap several at once. One
disadvantage was that even if I picked it up to look through the vents,
a mouse inside could be invisible. Nowadays I think they have
transparent covers. Eaton makes one for a much lower price.

I also had Kness Tip Traps. It's a rectangular plastic tube big enough
to hold a hot dog. You could see from across the room if there was a
mouse in it.

trader-of-some-jacks wrote:
As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.
Hi,
Out in my back yard there are mice colony. But I don't have any one
inside the house. Peppermint oil smell is good mouse chaser.
Since weather got so cold, we have birds, peasants, wild bunnies, deer
in my back yard for food.

trader-of-some-jacks wrote:
As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

Let's see... you want:

1. No or minimal baiting.
2. Automatic resetting.
3. Deals with multiple rodents.
4. Easy to reuse.
5. Self cleaning.

Think cat.

You can even borrow one.

On Sun, 21 Dec 2008 17:50:22 -0500, trader-of-some-jacks
wrote:

As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

A 5 gallon steel pail 1/2 full of water, with aramp up to the top
and a stich across the top - with the bait on a metal wheel off the
side. When the mouse goes for the bait, the slick wheel turns and
dumps him into the water. He might swim for a while but he won't last
long.

trader-of-some-jacks wrote:

As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

Use the Victor quick-set plastic traps. Easy to bait, set and empty, and
not so gross since they don't snap hard enough to cause "shrapnel".

On Dec 21, 8:12*pm, Van Chocstraw
wrote:
trader-of-some-jacks wrote:
As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. *But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? *By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. *I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

Feed them Decon rat poison. Makes them go out and seek water while they
hemorrhage to death.

--
//--------------------\\
* * * * Van Chocstraw
*\\--------------------//- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thats a myth. They don't seek water. Instead they get sick, they crawl
off to a quiet, secluded spot. They die, they decompose and stink the
place out for a month or so. I know. I've used it and after mutiple
kills ended up ripping down the ceiling drywall in the rec room. This
year we have 2 cats. We made a pact. I feed them and they keep the
mice out - and it works better than any trap or bait.

clipped

peanut butter, old moldy stuff works just as good. Once a week or so
or maybe longer you might have to change water in the bucket. If you
aren't going to be checking the bucket each day, no problem. Just
change the water more often. Good luck!
Steve


Mouse traps are cheap and disposable for very good reasons - so folks
don't contact the
disease-carrying rodents. Good grief!

Clean up the place, put all cereal, grain, pet food in hard containers.
Put a dab of peanut
butter on a mouse trap, put trap in path of meese, check often. I used
plastic bag to pick
up the mouse and trap so's I would not touch it; dispose of the whole
thing. Only mice I
have had indoors were seasonal, late fall, and the always showed first
signs by droppings
and chewing into food packages, esp. flour sack in lower cupboard. I
tried Decon once,
but the mouse died beneath kitchen sink - retrieveable, fortunately, as
the smell was
pretty bad.

If you go the cat route, you need to get a hunter. Not all cats will
hunt and kill (chase and play with, yes, but actually slay, not
necessarily) prey as they have to be taught by their mothers. Kittens
rescued from the outdoors with their mothers are probably the best
bet.

wrote:

poision they may not leave die and stink up your home, that happened
to a buddy of mine.........

smell lasted 2 weeks

you must prevent entry, seal every little crack and crevice, leave NO
FOOD SOURCE AROUND.

We were over run once when I was feeding birds sunflower seeds.
evicted near 40 mice.

used a live trap released them away from home, no they didnt re
enter.........

why kill anything un necessarily?


Outdoors, they are wild life. Indoors they are vermin.

HeyBub wrote:
trader-of-some-jacks wrote:
As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings
starting to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

Let's see... you want:

1. No or minimal baiting.
2. Automatic resetting.
3. Deals with multiple rodents.
4. Easy to reuse.
5. Self cleaning.

Think cat.

You can even borrow one.

Look up "Towser," a cat who, for 23 years, was the "Mouser-In-Chief" at the
Glennturrent Distillery in Scotland. During her career she dispatched 23,898
mice (plus a few rats and an occasional rabbit).

Enshrined in the Guiness Book of Records, Towser averaged about three mice
per day during her service.

As an aside, if I were Towser's supervisor, and she was brining me three
mice a day, I'd have hired a mouser-trainee to assist in the project.

the only cat that wont mouse is one who is either a: over fed. or b: fed
canned food.

cats who you expect to mouse should only be fed dry food sparingly.


s

"KLS" wrote in message
news
If you go the cat route, you need to get a hunter. Not all cats will
hunt and kill (chase and play with, yes, but actually slay, not
necessarily) prey as they have to be taught by their mothers. Kittens
rescued from the outdoors with their mothers are probably the best
bet.

We were over run once when I was feeding birds sunflower seeds.
evicted near 40 mice.

used a live trap released them away from home, no they didnt re
enter.........

why kill anything un necessarily?

Outdoors, they are wild life. �Indoors they are vermin.-

like I said close all openings and DONT leave a food source around
espically in the basement.......

I live trap, if i can move the mice baCK OUTSIDE WHERE THEY BELONG,
THEY ARE AGAIN WILDLIFE

I can attest to how convenient these traps are. They pose no danger to
the user, as the older "spring-snap" type did.
http://www.victorpest.com/store/rodent-control/M130
They are easy to bait and catch a lot of mice. If you put peanut butter
on the trigger you can catch several mice before you have to re-bait the
trap. You can cleanly open the trap (without touching the mouse)and drop
the little bugger in the toilet for flushing.

Occasionally the trap will only grab the mouse and not kill it. This is
awkward. I solve it by dropping the trap and mouse into a bucket of
water. When you pick the (trap/live mouse) up you have to be sure you
don't open the trap and let the little bugger get away. The whole thing
sinks and drowns the mouse. Not the best scenario, but it works.

HTH,
EJ in NJ

Lee B wrote:

trader-of-some-jacks wrote:
As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

These two are better than the Looney Tune ones, that I never got very
good at setting, let alone then sitting them down without tripping them,
however they don't meet all of your requirements.

http://www.victorpest.com/store/rodent-control/M130
They are very easy to set, and do the job. Unfortunately, you do need to
reset and rebait them, but I just use something like a tongue depressor
or wooden coffee stirrer (and a jar of peanut butter devoted to that
purpose only!). And they are very easy to empty, but you do have to do
it manually.

Same with this one - http://www.d-conproducts.com/traps/ultra-set.html.
It's even easier to empty, and it's covered so you don't even have to
see the mouse. (I actually got pretty good at emptying it into a plastic
bag without actually looking, LOL).

OTOH, if I had another mouse invasion (like I had a few years ago from
some nearby construction), I'd definitely try the battery op one someone
else mentioned.

On Dec 21, 6:13*pm, Steve wrote:


I use "the bucket method." *Just get a 5 gallon plastic pail. Drill
two 3/8" holes near the top of the bucket (about 1/2" down from the
top edge). *Make sure the holes are directly across the bucket from
each other so you can stick a 1/4" dowl rod straight through. *the
dowl rod should be about an inch or so longer than the diameter of the
bucket. *Then get an empty plastic peanut butter jar with lid and
drill 5/16" holes at the center of the bottom of the jar and through
the center of the lid. *Slide dowl through one of the holes in the
side of the bucket, then through the empty peanut butter jar and then
through the other hole in the side of the bucket. *You should be able
to spin the jar around the rod. *Put about 4 inches of water in the
bucket. *Smear cheap peanut butter over the surfaces of the jar.
Place the bucket near a wall where you suspect mice might be
traveling. *Get a narrow (2" wide x 1 " thick) board about 2 or 3 feet
long. *Lay flatways one end on the floor and the other resting on the
top edge of the bucket near where one end of the rod is sticking out
of the side of the bucket. *By next morning you should have a mouse,
or even several mice floating dead in the bucket. *Get a small minnow
net and scoop the dead mice out of the bucket and dispose of in manner
of your choice. *There probably should still be enough smeard peanut
butter still left on the jar for several more nights depending on how
many mice you might have living with you. *No need to refresh the
peanut butter, old moldy stuff works just as good. *Once a week or so
or maybe longer you might have to change water in the bucket. *If you
aren't going to be checking the bucket each day, no problem. *Just
change the water more often. *Good luck!
Steve

Agree wholeheartedly!! I love it when I get double headers. Triples
even!!

On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:05:00 -0500, KLS wrote:

If you go the cat route, you need to get a hunter. Not all cats will
hunt and kill (chase and play with, yes, but actually slay, not
necessarily) prey as they have to be taught by their mothers. Kittens
rescued from the outdoors with their mothers are probably the best
bet.

We once had a cat that was a great hunter *outside*. She caught
tons of mice, chipmunks, rabbits, and even brought home a mink one
day. But 'inside mice' were beneath her. I've seen one run over
her paw. She let them stuff her favorite chair with cat food.

Jim

wrote:

We were over run once when I was feeding birds sunflower seeds.
evicted near 40 mice.


used a live trap released them away from home, no they didnt re
enter.........


why kill anything un necessarily?


Outdoors, they are wild life. �Indoors they are vermin.-



like I said close all openings and DONT leave a food source around
espically in the basement.......

I live trap, if i can move the mice baCK OUTSIDE WHERE THEY BELONG,
THEY ARE AGAIN WILDLIFE


No......they are vermin who know a good food source inside your home. I
don't know what
kind of bacteria you might brew in your bucket while you compost
rodents, but it seems
really disgusting )

Van Chocstraw wrote:

Let's see... you want:

1. No or minimal baiting.
2. Automatic resetting.
3. Deals with multiple rodents.
4. Easy to reuse.
5. Self cleaning.

Think cat.

You can even borrow one.


Trouble with cats is the also go after the birds. If you hate birds
then it's ok.


Yes, they do. Leaving aside the fact that most birds are really rats with
feathers and the observation that the only birds cats manage to get are
those walking around on the ground (dumb birds), the state of Illinois (yes,
that Illinois) once tried to prevent bird slaughter by passing a bill
requiring outdoor cats to be leashed!

The governor of Illinois (no, not the current governor) sent the bill back
to the legislature with the following message:

---
To the Honorable, the Members of the Senate of the Sixth-sixth General
Assembly:

I herewith return, without my approval, Senate Bill No. 93, entitled, "An
Act to Provide Protection to Insectivorous Birds by Restraining Cats." This
is the so-called "Cat Bill." I veto and withhold my approval from this Bill
for the following reasons:

It would impose fines on owners or keepers who permitted their cats to run
at large off their premises. It would permit any person to capture or call
upon the police to pick up and imprison cats at large. It would permit the
use of traps. The bill would have statewide application -- on farms, in
villages, and in metropolitan centers.

This legislation has been introduced in the past several sessions of the
Legislature, and it has, over the years, been the source of much comment --
not all of which has been in a serious vein. It may be that the General
Assembly has now seen fit to refer it to one who can view it with a fresh
outlook. Whatever the reasons for passage at this session, I cannot believe
there is a widespread public demand for this law or that it could, as a
practical matter, be enforced.

Furthermore, I cannot agree that it should be the declared public policy of
Illinois that a cat visiting a neighbor's yard or crossing the highway is a
public nuisance. It is in the nature of cats to do a certain amount of
unescorted roaming. Many live with their owners in apartments or other
restricted premises, and I doubt if we want to make their every brief foray
an opportunity for a small game hunt by zealous citizens -- with traps or
otherwise. I am afraid this Bill could only create discord, recrimination
and enmity. Also consider the owner's dilemma: To escort a cat abroad on a
leash is against the nature of the cat, and to permit it to venture forth
for exercise unattended into a night of new dangers is against the nature of
the owner.

Moreover, cats perform useful service, particularly in rural areas, in
combating rodents -- work they necessarily perform alone and without regard
for property lines.

We are all interested in protecting certain varieties of birds. That cats
destroy some birds, I well know, but I believe this legislation would
further but little the worthy cause to with its proponents give such
unselfish effort. The problem of cat versus bird is as old as time. If we
attempt to resolve it by legislation why knows but what we may be called
upon to take sides as well in the age old problems of dog versus cat, bird
versus bird, or even bird versus worm. In my opinion, the State of Illinois
and its local governing bodies already have enough to do without trying to
control feline delinquency.

For these reasons, and not because I love birds the less or cats the more, I
veto and withhold my approval from Senate Bill No. 93.

Respectfully,
STATE OF ILLINOIS
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
SPRINGFIELD, April 23, 1949

ADLAI E. STEVENSON, Governor

---

In a similar vein, a legislator in Minnesota introduced a bill a couple of
years ago for an "open season" on feral cats! About that time, the NRA held
its annual meeting in my town. Appearing at the attached trade show was R.
Lee Emery (Full Metal Jacket, Mail Call, etc.) signing autographs at the
Glock booth.

I approached Lee and told him about the proposed Minnesota law then asked:
"So, Lee, I'm putting together a 'Celebrity Cat-Call' tape. Would you be
willing to say "Here, kitty-kitty' for the project?"

He stopped signing photographs, turned his head to me and said: "That is the
most ****ed-up idea I have EVER heard !"

Oh well...

On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:52:18 -0600, HeyBub wrote:
Van Chocstraw wrote:
Trouble with cats is the also go after the birds. If you hate birds
then it's ok.


Yes, they do. Leaving aside the fact that most birds are really rats
with feathers and the observation that the only birds cats manage to get
are those walking around on the ground (dumb birds), the state of
Illinois (yes, that Illinois) once tried to prevent bird slaughter by
passing a bill requiring outdoor cats to be leashed!

A few years back the BBC aired a program where cat owners retrieved and
kept (frozen) all of the birds that they could from their free-roaming
cats. Every owner was astonished at the number and variety. Keeping in
mind that the cats likely captured many others that the owners never
found out about.

The majority were song-birds and they showed footage of cats capturing
many of these both from branches and actually plucking them from the
air. You grossly underestimate cat's skills if you think they can only
capture slow birds on the ground.

Jim Elbrecht wrote:
On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:05:00 -0500, KLS wrote:

If you go the cat route, you need to get a hunter. Not all cats will
hunt and kill (chase and play with, yes, but actually slay, not
necessarily) prey as they have to be taught by their mothers. Kittens
rescued from the outdoors with their mothers are probably the best
bet.

We once had a cat that was a great hunter *outside*. She caught
tons of mice, chipmunks, rabbits, and even brought home a mink one
day. But 'inside mice' were beneath her. I've seen one run over
her paw. She let them stuff her favorite chair with cat food.

Jim

My BIL had outdoor cats and an indoor cat and still had mouse episodes.
He didn't understand why one invasion ceased. Several months later he
pulled out the refrigerator and found a five-foot snake skin.

On Dec 22, 2:16*pm, Van Chocstraw
wrote:
HeyBub wrote:
trader-of-some-jacks wrote:
As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. *But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? *By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. *I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

Let's see... you want:

1. No or minimal baiting.
2. Automatic resetting.
3. Deals with multiple rodents.
4. Easy to reuse.
5. Self cleaning.

Think cat.

You can even borrow one.

Trouble with cats is the also go after the birds. If you hate birds then
it's ok.

--
//--------------------\\
* * * * Van Chocstraw
*\\--------------------//- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

__________________________________________________ ___________________

Somebody here suggested 'peppermint oil'.

That leads one to ask; "What about those strong smelling camphorated
'moth balls'.

They any good to deter mice????

Cheers. Greetings of the Season and New year.

On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:45:28 -0800 (PST), jim
wrote:

On Dec 21, 8:12Â*pm, Van Chocstraw
wrote:
trader-of-some-jacks wrote:
As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. Â*But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? Â*By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. Â*I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

Feed them Decon rat poison. Makes them go out and seek water while they
hemorrhage to death.

--
//--------------------\\
Â* Â* Â* Â* Van Chocstraw
Â*\\--------------------//- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thats a myth. They don't seek water. Instead they get sick, they crawl
off to a quiet, secluded spot. They die, they decompose and stink the
place out for a month or so. I know. I've used it and after mutiple
kills ended up ripping down the ceiling drywall in the rec room. This
year we have 2 cats. We made a pact. I feed them and they keep the
mice out - and it works better than any trap or bait.

Wrong. They get thirsty as all getout - at least with certain of the
poisons.

On Sun, 21 Dec 2008 15:13:31 -0800 (PST), Steve
wrote:

I use "the bucket method." Just get a 5 gallon plastic pail. Drill
two 3/8" holes near the top of the bucket (about 1/2" down from the
top edge). Make sure the holes are directly across the bucket from
each other so you can stick a 1/4" dowl rod straight through. the
dowl rod should be about an inch or so longer than the diameter of the
bucket. Then get an empty plastic peanut butter jar with lid and
drill 5/16" holes at the center of the bottom of the jar and through
the center of the lid. Slide dowl through one of the holes in the
side of the bucket, then through the empty peanut butter jar and then
through the other hole in the side of the bucket. You should be able
to spin the jar around the rod. Put about 4 inches of water in the
bucket. Smear cheap peanut butter over the surfaces of the jar.
Place the bucket near a wall where you suspect mice might be
traveling. Get a narrow (2" wide x 1 " thick) board about 2 or 3 feet
long. Lay flatways one end on the floor and the other resting on the
top edge of the bucket near where one end of the rod is sticking out
of the side of the bucket. By next morning you should have a mouse,
or even several mice floating dead in the bucket. Get a small minnow
net and scoop the dead mice out of the bucket and dispose of in manner
of your choice. There probably should still be enough smeard peanut
butter still left on the jar for several more nights depending on how
many mice you might have living with you. No need to refresh the
peanut butter, old moldy stuff works just as good. Once a week or so
or maybe longer you might have to change water in the bucket. If you
aren't going to be checking the bucket each day, no problem. Just
change the water more often. Good luck!
Steve

I've adapted this. I have a string running from the points that the
handle attaches to the bucket, and I have an empty orange juice
concentrate can slathered in peanut butter on the middle of the
string.

Four hours into this experiment, no mice, but maybe they're waiting
for the house to be quiet.

My only concern is the board; the one I have is probably at a 30
degree angle and I hope that's not too steep.

Sounds like it will work. Fingers crossed.

Although not sure if I want there to be mice (proving the thing works,
but confirming I have mice), or no mice (possibly indicating poor
execution on my part, but maybe indicating no mice left in basement),
when I next check it.

On Dec 22, 9:48�pm, wrote:
On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:45:28 -0800 (PST), jim
wrote:





On Dec 21, 8:12�pm, Van Chocstraw
wrote:
trader-of-some-jacks wrote:
As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. �But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? �By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. �I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

Feed them Decon rat poison. Makes them go out and seek water while they
hemorrhage to death.

--
//--------------------\\
� � � � Van Chocstraw
�\\--------------------//- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thats a myth. They don't seek water. Instead they get sick, they crawl
off to a quiet, secluded spot. They die, they decompose and stink the
place out for a month or so. I know. I've used it and after mutiple
kills ended up ripping down the ceiling drywall in the rec room. This
year we have 2 cats. We made a pact. I feed them and they keep the
mice out - and it works better than any trap or bait.

Wrong. They get thirsty as all getout - at least with certain �of the
poisons.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

most mice never drink liquid water, they get moisture from their food.
my best friend used poison, they crawled away and stank up his home

On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:11:44 GMT, Rick Brandt
wrote:

On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:52:18 -0600, HeyBub wrote:
Van Chocstraw wrote:
Trouble with cats is the also go after the birds. If you hate birds
then it's ok.


Yes, they do. Leaving aside the fact that most birds are really rats
with feathers and the observation that the only birds cats manage to get
are those walking around on the ground (dumb birds), the state of
Illinois (yes, that Illinois) once tried to prevent bird slaughter by
passing a bill requiring outdoor cats to be leashed!

A few years back the BBC aired a program where cat owners retrieved and
kept (frozen) all of the birds that they could from their free-roaming
cats. Every owner was astonished at the number and variety. Keeping in
mind that the cats likely captured many others that the owners never
found out about.

The majority were song-birds and they showed footage of cats capturing
many of these both from branches and actually plucking them from the
air. You grossly underestimate cat's skills if you think they can only
capture slow birds on the ground.

Red squirrels kill more birds than do cats in our area by a factor of
more than ten to one. They will clean out a nest faster than you can
blink - and NOTHING is out of reach to them.

Too bad the little buggers are so viscous that not many cats will take
THEM on.

Rick Brandt wrote:
On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:52:18 -0600, HeyBub wrote:
Van Chocstraw wrote:
Trouble with cats is the also go after the birds. If you hate birds
then it's ok.


Yes, they do. Leaving aside the fact that most birds are really rats
with feathers and the observation that the only birds cats manage to
get are those walking around on the ground (dumb birds), the state of
Illinois (yes, that Illinois) once tried to prevent bird slaughter by
passing a bill requiring outdoor cats to be leashed!

A few years back the BBC aired a program where cat owners retrieved
and kept (frozen) all of the birds that they could from their
free-roaming cats. Every owner was astonished at the number and
variety. Keeping in mind that the cats likely captured many others
that the owners never found out about.

The majority were song-birds and they showed footage of cats capturing
many of these both from branches and actually plucking them from the
air. You grossly underestimate cat's skills if you think they can
only capture slow birds on the ground.

You're probably right. I've seen my cats interact with Mocking birds. After
a few desultory lunges, the cats try really, really hard to ignore the pest.
It seemed to me that going after a bird was calculated as almost futile.

There was an Animal Planet show a bit back ranking the top ten feline
predators based on what they hunted. As I recall, number ten was some
obscure Indonesian cat that had only two prey: mud turtles and fungus. The
list went up through lions, cheetas, bobcats, and so on to number one. The
most ecumenical hunter of all the cats was ... wait for it ... the domestic
house cat! Yes, your ordinary kitty has over 10,000 enumerated species on
its menu, including small birds, rodents, insects, worms, snakes, small
mammals, amphibians, larger birds (like chickens), moles, spiders, and
toilet tissue.

On Tue, 23 Dec 2008 07:08:39 -0600, HeyBub wrote:
You're probably right. I've seen my cats interact with Mocking birds.
After a few desultory lunges, the cats try really, really hard to ignore
the pest. It seemed to me that going after a bird was calculated as
almost futile.

There was an Animal Planet show a bit back ranking the top ten feline
predators based on what they hunted. As I recall, number ten was some
obscure Indonesian cat that had only two prey: mud turtles and fungus.
The list went up through lions, cheetas, bobcats, and so on to number
one. The most ecumenical hunter of all the cats was ... wait for it ...
the domestic house cat! Yes, your ordinary kitty has over 10,000
enumerated species on its menu, including small birds, rodents, insects,
worms, snakes, small mammals, amphibians, larger birds (like chickens),
moles, spiders, and toilet tissue.

Don't forget the odd set of toes that happen to make the covers move. I
swear when we had cats I was tempted to wear my slippers to bed.

On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:54:28 -0500, trader-of-some-jacks
wrote:

I've adapted this. I have a string running from the points that the
handle attaches to the bucket, and I have an empty orange juice
concentrate can slathered in peanut butter on the middle of the
string.

Four hours into this experiment, no mice, but maybe they're waiting
for the house to be quiet.

My only concern is the board; the one I have is probably at a 30
degree angle and I hope that's not too steep.

Sounds like it will work. Fingers crossed.

Although not sure if I want there to be mice (proving the thing works,
but confirming I have mice), or no mice (possibly indicating poor
execution on my part, but maybe indicating no mice left in basement),
when I next check it.

It worked - caught my first mouse last night. I still probably need a
longer (less steep) approach to the bucket.

Van Chocstraw wrote:
trader-of-some-jacks wrote:
As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings starting
to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

Feed them Decon rat poison. Makes them go out and seek water while they
hemorrhage to death.


I've been told to put out a pan of
water for them and that's where you
will find the bodies after the poison
takes effect.

TDD

On Dec 22, 9:26*am, Ernie Willson wrote:
I can attest to how convenient these traps are. They pose no danger to
the user, as the older "spring-snap" type did.http://www.victorpest.com/store/rodent-control/M130
They are easy to bait and catch a lot of mice. If you put peanut butter
on the trigger you can catch several mice before you have to re-bait the
trap. You can cleanly open the trap (without touching the mouse)and drop
the little bugger in the toilet for flushing.

I use this kind of trap, but rather than baiting with peanut butter, I
superglue a couple pieces of mouse bait to the trigger. I can get
12-20 mice in a year this way without having to rebait the trap. The
bait I use is greenish, comes in a little cellophane bag, and consists
of little cylindrical pieces about 1/2" long and maybe 1/8" in
diameter.

On Dec 24, 2:22*pm, trader-of-some-jacks
wrote:
On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:54:28 -0500, trader-of-some-jacks





wrote:
I've adapted this. *I have a string running from the points that the
handle attaches to the bucket, and I have an empty orange juice
concentrate can slathered in peanut butter on the middle of the
string.

Four hours into this experiment, no mice, but maybe they're waiting
for the house to be quiet.

My only concern is the board; the one I have is probably at a 30
degree angle and I hope that's not too steep.

Sounds like it will work. *Fingers crossed.

Although not sure if I want there to be mice (proving the thing works,
but confirming I have mice), or no mice (possibly indicating poor
execution on my part, but maybe indicating no mice left in basement),
when I next check it.

It worked - caught my first mouse last night. *I still probably need a
longer (less steep) approach to the bucket.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Good for you! I even keep a bucket out in my garage and during the
winter I will use RV antifreeze in place of water. Works great! I
have far fewer mice around than I ever used to BB (Before Bucket).
The fewer there are mice outside, the fewer that will be trying to get
inside!

Steve

ps Once and awhile I will get a squirrel in the bucket. So if you're
after squirrels, it will work great for them too!

Norminn wrote in
m:

clipped

peanut butter, old moldy stuff works just as good. Once a week or so
or maybe longer you might have to change water in the bucket. If you
aren't going to be checking the bucket each day, no problem. Just
change the water more often. Good luck!
Steve


Mouse traps are cheap and disposable for very good reasons - so folks
don't contact the
disease-carrying rodents. Good grief!

Hmmm... Since they live in your house it must be where they get the
alleged diseases from. ???? :-)


Clean up the place, put all cereal, grain, pet food in hard containers.
Put a dab of peanut
butter on a mouse trap, put trap in path of meese, check often. I used
plastic bag to pick
up the mouse and trap so's I would not touch it;

Once you've pulled a toilet and scraped off the old wax gasket, getting
rid of a dead mouse in a trap barehanded ain't squat. Soap & water hand
washing works for both.

dispose of the whole
thing. Only mice I
have had indoors were seasonal, late fall, and the always showed first
signs by droppings
and chewing into food packages, esp. flour sack in lower cupboard. I
tried Decon once,
but the mouse died beneath kitchen sink - retrieveable, fortunately, as
the smell was
pretty bad.

Van Chocstraw wrote in
:

HeyBub wrote:
trader-of-some-jacks wrote:
As seems to be the case most winters, we have mouse droppings
starting to pop up (or is it plop down?) in our basement.

Some judicious mouse trap use always stops the problem. But I'm
getting old and tired of the "standard" traps - baiting them, making
sure to not set them off myself, emptying the gross dead mice from
them, repeating...

(By "standard" I'm talking about the kind seen in Looney Tunes and
other cartoons - bait with cheese or peanut butter, and a piece of
metal snaps onto the mouse and kills it.)

What's a "better" mouse trap? By that I mean one that might kill
multiple mice without rebaiting, and that's easy to clean and reuse.

Not so fond of the bait traps that feed them poisoned food, as they
force me to figure out where the dead critters are. I'd rather
confine my looking for carcass hunting to where the trap(s) are.

Let's see... you want:

1. No or minimal baiting.
2. Automatic resetting.
3. Deals with multiple rodents.
4. Easy to reuse.
5. Self cleaning.

Think cat.

You can even borrow one.


Trouble with cats is the also go after the birds. If you hate birds
then it's ok.


Well, sometimes cats and birds have the same thought. As in this pic,
both are thinking "dinner".

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=16iegsw&s=5