James
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 11:29 AM |
|
|
My garage- now a home to wildlife!
When I was offered the use of the garage by my girlfriend's Mum it was full of old carpets and underlay, broken Kitchen units, cardboard, old
bikes and general crap. Oh, and when it rained it was 2" full of water!
With a single 40w bulb, a garage door painted black on the inside and dark brick walls and a small window at one end, it was also somewhat reminiscent
of the black hole of Calcutta. It did, however appear to be relatively pest free.
I've cleared it, painted the walls and floor, fitted 2 strip lights, a work bench, shelving and units and started to upgrade the power and
sorted the water problem.
Locost ensconced and all seemed jubbly. However! I obviously made it too hospitable as now, instead of old wet carpets and rotting kitchen units it
has mice, massive wasps, mosquitoes that appear from nowhere, woodlice and spiders galore.
Concious of the wiring of my car (and garage wiring!) I decided it was time for Mousepocalypse 2012, 5 of these blighters so far:
(Not safe for the sensitive or young children)
http://locostbuilders.co.uk/upload/Image099.jpg
Met his destiny on top of a kitchen wall cabinet.
I'm going to clear out the roof space this weekend and look for the wasp source (should be fun!).
Cheers,
James
P.S. I am an animal lover and go out of my way to save creatures normally (buy ethically sourced food, save spiders etc.) but I only go to the garage
once a week so humane traps would be cruel as mice would starve to death in the box!
[Edited on 18/5/12 by James]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
|
|
|
|
|
Daddylonglegs
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 11:43 AM |
|
|
Lucky you ain't got rats chap! They are buggers to get rid of.
Are you sure that you have wasps and not Hornets? Hornets are pretty huge, but they eat wasps and don't normally bother people at all. If they
are wasps then be careful about how you get rid, I had a monster nest in the loft at our last place and thinking I would get the better of them I got
some of that foam that you spray from 10' away, got the nest OK, but didn't realise that the crafty sods have 'guards' that
hang around a long way from the nest and attack at the first opportuinty! One of the feckers got me 5 times in the cheek before I could climb/fall out
of the loft!
It looks like the Midget is winning at the moment......
|
|
|
Peteff
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 11:48 AM |
|
|
There must be food nearby for the mice to be coming in, get rid of the food source and they will go away. We get them under the bird table when their
natural supply runs low, don't worry about killing them they might look cute but they are dirty disgusting things that wee and poo everywhere.
We found a nest in a bike airbox when it came to my friends shop for a service and they'd filled it with rice for emergency supplies as well.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
|
|
|
whitestu
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 11:55 AM |
|
|
I got rid of a wasps nest from the roof of our old house - I just climbed up the ladder and squirted some wasp killer powder in there and a few hours
later they were all dead.
Appropriate attire is important though. Shorts and a T shirt in my case as it was a lovely summers day.
A few wasps buzzed around but didn't dare to sting me.
Stu
|
|
|
FuryRebuild
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 12:00 PM |
|
|
Heh - that reminds me of a wasps nest under our living room floor - the buggers got in through an air-brick that the nest was attached to. We
discovered the nest because we had loads of wasps in the living room and they were getting in where the radiator pipe comes through the floor (no
carpets, just polished floors).
So plan one was to spray 'wasp death in a can' at the air-brick which was difficult because it was behind some very thorny bushes. That
only killed the ones that were busy there and then and I struggled to get in close enough - we had a resurgence 3 days later when the next bunch of
bastards hatched out.
so, second plan was better - my 3year old daughter and I got the dyson, attached the long tube to the end and put it at the air-brick where they came
in and out. Hah - I vacuumed every live wasp into the dyson. You could see them fly towards the air-brick and then get diverted 90 degrees round into
the tube (with a thunk). You could also see them stand on the edge of the airbrick and desperately try to back away towards the nest before ... thunk
- into the tube they went. When I had them all, I sprayed insecticide into the dyson and they all croaked.
we did this in the morning when the nest is most active. Once they were all in the dyson it meant i could coat the air-brick in "wasp-apocalypse
the powder" so the final batch of hatchlings would carry the powder around and into their ever increasingly empty and lonely nest. There were no
more.
Or .. .you could just throw a brick at it and run.
When all you have is a hammer, everything around you is a nail.
www.furyrebuild.co.uk
|
|
|
scootz
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 12:01 PM |
|
|
Looks like a rat to me!
It's Evolution Baby!
|
|
|
adithorp
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 12:24 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by scootz
Looks like a rat to me!
I'd agree with that. Mice are usualy smaller than the traps. That looks more like a young rat.
"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire
http://jpsc.org.uk/forum/
|
|
|
RK
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 12:31 PM |
|
|
Loving all creatures great and small is all very well, but it's the great big ones I have problems with.
|
|
|
blakep82
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 12:40 PM |
|
|
if i remember the story right, then all you need is an old woman, and the rest sorts itself out...
erm, yes, thats a rat!
________________________
IVA manual link http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCES&itemId=1081997083
don't write OT on a new thread title, you're creating the topic, everything you write is very much ON topic!
|
|
|
hughpinder
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 12:43 PM |
|
|
I have to agree that thats the biggest mouse I've ever seen, probably a small rat.
Traps tend to work best at 90 degrees to the wall and pushed against it as the mice or whatever run next to the wall for preference.
Regards
Hugh
|
|
|
Daddylonglegs
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 12:52 PM |
|
|
After another look, I tend to agree, it's a young rat! We have ducks and chickens and that always comes with the bonus of loads of rats. Costing
me a fortune in pellets and poison 
[Edited on 18/5/12 by Daddylonglegs]
It looks like the Midget is winning at the moment......
|
|
|
James
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 01:01 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Peteff
There must be food nearby for the mice to be coming in, get rid of the food source and they will go away. We get them under the bird table when their
natural supply runs low, don't worry about killing them they might look cute but they are dirty disgusting things that wee and poo everywhere.
We found a nest in a bike airbox when it came to my friends shop for a service and they'd filled it with rice for emergency supplies as well.
The compost bin is just outside the garage window.  On a mission to convince it's better moved! Would 20' further away be enough?
MiL's garden is massive but it's gotta still be in a postion easily accessible to her.
Agreed... my spotless garage is covered in mouse turds everywhere now. Even on high up shelves with not food or anything. I only got really scared
when I found turds inside the car and holes in a dust sheet on the drivers seat... that's a bit close to the wiring for my liking! There's
now a baited trap sitting on the prop tunnel!
Pretty sure it's a mouse. My cat brings rats into the house (well half of them, sometimes with an accompanying pile of sick!) so I've seen
a few of them up close and rat's noses are more pointy!
Cheers,
James
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
|
|
|
James
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 01:04 PM |
|
|
Right, hadn't seen all the 'that's a rat' posts as I took too long responding.
Hmmmm! That's a game changer!
If/when I catch another one I'll take clearer photos and share for your opinions! 
James
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
|
|
|
whitestu
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 01:15 PM |
|
|
quote:
Right, hadn't seen all the 'that's a rat' posts as I took too long responding.
We had mice in our house a couple of years ago. They were tiny compared to the monster in your trap so could well be a rat.
They were still big enough to make my wife scream when she met one as it was coming down stairs though!
I could hardly kill it for laughing.
Stu
|
|
|
twybrow
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 01:30 PM |
|
|
Get yourself a cat! My cat kindly left me a massive rat in the front room this morning - just glad I found it rather than my mrs finding it - it was a
beast!
Your photo looks like a large mouse, rather than a small rat - the head shape and tail type isnt right for a rat.
|
|
|
bonzoronnie
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 01:45 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Daddylonglegs
We have ducks and chickens and that always comes with the bonus of loads of rats. Costing me a fortune in pellets and poison
[Edited on 18/5/12 by Daddylonglegs]
Know the feeling, full time job keeping the rodents at bay for us poultry keepers
We are plagued with crows at the moment, a sack of corn that used to last about 6 weeks is now gone in 2 weeks 
Nice to see that the threads starter is using Peanut butter in the traps, little devils just can't resist the taste of it
|
|
|
Minicooper
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 02:10 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by scootz
Looks like a rat to me!
No it's not a rat, it's a siberian hamster!
Sorry, I shall get my coat
Cheers
David
|
|
|
motorcycle_mayhem
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 02:36 PM |
|
|
Mice are extremely small, nimble creatures, that is a Siberian Hamster in your trap.
I have mice, they're in the kitchen, under the bath, all over the house. The traps seldom get them, the mice are just too small I guess. Bait
works, but it takes a long, long time and then you go in search of the dead nest. The 'pasta' type bait seems pretty effective, they drag
it back to their accomodation instead of eating out (saves a lot of mess).
I gave up trying to shot them with the air rifle, just way too fast.
|
|
|
Daddylonglegs
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 02:41 PM |
|
|
Easy way to tell if it's a rat is to look at the tail. If it's a mouse it'll be smooth, if it's a rat it'll be scaly.
@bonzo - I've had several crows/jackdaws in my sights too. The sods nick the duck and chicken eggs. Last year we had a clutch of 5 duck eggs
(all fertile) that got dessimated by jackdaws, still had a chick left in one of them
No rules in this game I'm afraid.....
It looks like the Midget is winning at the moment......
|
|
|
rodgling
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 03:10 PM |
|
|
Never caught it but a little mouse (or maybe squirrel?) had been stashing its supply of nuts in my engine mount :-)
http://i.imgur.com/bm65O.jpg
|
|
|
Proby
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 06:20 PM |
|
|
As others have said, if that's a mouse it's a bloody big 'un!!! I have trouble with mice in my loft space and I've caught a
few over the years, but never one that big! They are usually no bigger than the trap itself.
I've also attacked a few 'underground' wasp nests in the garden! They were great fun.
|
|
|
T66
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 07:40 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by scootz
Looks like a rat to me!
Without reading the other posts - that is definitely a rat
|
|
|
Strontium Dog
|
| posted on 18/5/12 at 08:19 PM |
|
|
It's a rat for sure. Don't touch it, use tongs to pick it up or at least wear gloves. Leptospirosis or Weil's disease. Look it up.
you definitely don't want to catch it!
http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x319/zephyr2000/General%20forum%20uploads/?action=view¤t=3DEngine.mp4
|
|
|
James
|
| posted on 21/5/12 at 03:49 PM |
|
|
Mouse or rat? Not safe for children or those of a delicate disposition! :D
Well, for those not sure if it's mousey or ratty...
Caught another one last night, pretty sure it's a mouse!
 
DM1
 
DM2
Sadly, the tail pic is really poor- bad light and worse camera(phone):
 
DM3
Cheers,
James
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
|
|
|
James
|
| posted on 21/5/12 at 03:50 PM |
|
|
Oh, and a couple more half asleep/stunned massive wasps! God knows there they're coming from- can't see/hear a nest!
James
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
|
|
|
