Seen a bunch of them in the meadow the last couple months. Now they're digging/tunneling around my front steps. Anybody seeing more of them this year than usual. What are good ways to rid the place of them? I've got 10 rural acres and had never seen any real evidence of them until recently. They're not in my shop or house yet, but they're damn sure trying to take over my yard and I don't want them getting a foothold under my foundations.
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Friggin field mice
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Last: 6 hrs ago by Gunny456
True story from 2003 when I moved to San Antonio three months ahead of my family. I lived in an apartment during the week. I went downs to the office to pay rent and the KCEN Trouble Shooters news team was there. There had been complaints about rodents in apartments and they were sleuthing it out. As I walked in I heard the reporter chick ask the manager about the rodents and what was being done.
Reporter chick: Your tenants are saying they're being invaded by rodents and you aren't doing anything about it.
Manager: We've put out over 200 pounds of poison since this started. It's not even our problem. An adjacent lot was cleared and the city told us they would insure pest mitigation steps were taken by that developer but we're paying for this poison and the damage from our budget.
LOYAL AG: What's the problem?
Reporter chick: Sir, do you live here?
Manager (knowing LOYAL AG has a very long smart ass streak): Oh, this is gonna be fun.
LOYAL AG: Yes ma'am.
Reporter chick: We've had complaints about rodents in peoples homes in this complex. Have you seen that?
LOYAL AG: No but I live on the second floor. Maybe they haven't gotten that high yet.
Camera Man smirks.
LOYAL AG: This is an easy problem to solve.
Reporter chick: How so? What is the "easy" solution?
LOYAL AG: Get some snakes. Mice don't like snakes. Once a few get eaten the rest will leave.
Reporter chick: Then you'll have a snake problem.
LOYAL AG: That's easy, too. Get a few cats. Snakes don't like cats. Once a few get eaten the rest will leave.
Reporter chick: then you'll have a cat problem.
LOYAL AG: Get a gun.
Reporter chick: Audible gasp.
LOYAL AG: Am I gonna be on the news?
Camera man laughs and shakes his head, "no".
Manager: Told you this would be fun.
I say all that to say this. Get a cat. Female so she stays close to the house. Get her fixed. Feed her daily. She'll take care of this for you.
Reporter chick: Your tenants are saying they're being invaded by rodents and you aren't doing anything about it.
Manager: We've put out over 200 pounds of poison since this started. It's not even our problem. An adjacent lot was cleared and the city told us they would insure pest mitigation steps were taken by that developer but we're paying for this poison and the damage from our budget.
LOYAL AG: What's the problem?
Reporter chick: Sir, do you live here?
Manager (knowing LOYAL AG has a very long smart ass streak): Oh, this is gonna be fun.
LOYAL AG: Yes ma'am.
Reporter chick: We've had complaints about rodents in peoples homes in this complex. Have you seen that?
LOYAL AG: No but I live on the second floor. Maybe they haven't gotten that high yet.
Camera Man smirks.
LOYAL AG: This is an easy problem to solve.
Reporter chick: How so? What is the "easy" solution?
LOYAL AG: Get some snakes. Mice don't like snakes. Once a few get eaten the rest will leave.
Reporter chick: Then you'll have a snake problem.
LOYAL AG: That's easy, too. Get a few cats. Snakes don't like cats. Once a few get eaten the rest will leave.
Reporter chick: then you'll have a cat problem.
LOYAL AG: Get a gun.
Reporter chick: Audible gasp.
LOYAL AG: Am I gonna be on the news?
Camera man laughs and shakes his head, "no".
Manager: Told you this would be fun.
I say all that to say this. Get a cat. Female so she stays close to the house. Get her fixed. Feed her daily. She'll take care of this for you.
A fearful society is a compliant society. That's why Democrats and criminals prefer their victims to be unarmed. Gun Control is not about guns, it's about control.
We have seen the same over the last couple of years. Neighbor of mine who has 900 acres says they are everywhere around his barns and house.
The state biologist told him that the increase of vermin is due to eradication and decline of predator numbers… both birds and animal.
Tend to agree. I rarely get a predator on my game cameras and it's become rare to see one in our pastures.
But when I bush hog or bale hay field mice are all over.
The state biologist told him that the increase of vermin is due to eradication and decline of predator numbers… both birds and animal.
Tend to agree. I rarely get a predator on my game cameras and it's become rare to see one in our pastures.
But when I bush hog or bale hay field mice are all over.
Pick up a stray cat and let it become your friend.
Become a falconer.
Try calling an owl?
Become a falconer.
Try calling an owl?
jejdag said:
Seen a bunch of them in the meadow the last couple months. Now they're digging/tunneling around my front steps. Anybody seeing more of them this year than usual. What are good ways to rid the place of them? I've got 10 rural acres and had never seen any real evidence of them until recently. They're not in my shop or house yet, but they're damn sure trying to take over my yard and I don't want them getting a foothold under my foundations.
Call in some Tumbuka kids.
Oh hell know, can't do that. They might get his neighbors yard birds. 
Gunny456
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I have a problem with field mice every winter. This year I have a couple of cats roaming around my house and I've had zero problems with mice. I'm not sure who' the cats belong to but they are welcome to hang around
I've found that just boppin' 'em on the head seems effective.
My barn cat was walking around with a " On Strike" sign.
He said I wasn't giving him enough cat nip for killing the number of field mice running around.
He said I wasn't giving him enough cat nip for killing the number of field mice running around.
Cats are cool. Outdoor cats are at least.
Several years ago I had this deer head hanging from my back fence and a squirrel was chewing on the antlers. This was a sentimental deer head as it was the last deer a hunting buddy of mine shot.
Anyway I throw a rock at it and cuss it and it kind of takes off. This neighborhood Tom cat named Merle was laying there on my back porch and saw me do this. He was just laying there watching this all go down and I was talking to him a little and he was clearly listening because two hours later he showed up in the same spot with a dead squirrel in his mouth. Layed back down in the exact same spot with this 'your welcome' look in his face. I gave him a big can of wet cat food which he appreciated.
I like that cat a lot. He is older now but still comes by a few days a week to say hi.
Several years ago I had this deer head hanging from my back fence and a squirrel was chewing on the antlers. This was a sentimental deer head as it was the last deer a hunting buddy of mine shot.
Anyway I throw a rock at it and cuss it and it kind of takes off. This neighborhood Tom cat named Merle was laying there on my back porch and saw me do this. He was just laying there watching this all go down and I was talking to him a little and he was clearly listening because two hours later he showed up in the same spot with a dead squirrel in his mouth. Layed back down in the exact same spot with this 'your welcome' look in his face. I gave him a big can of wet cat food which he appreciated.
I like that cat a lot. He is older now but still comes by a few days a week to say hi.
I hear the method of "picking up the field mice and bopping them on the head" is extremely effective! Aka foo foo technique
We have a few cats. They get fed regularly by us but they also eat the hell out of anything they can catch. Mice, birds, lizards, baby rabbits, you name it. The more timid ones live out in the barns and one resides much of the time in the hay barn. The mice love the hay barn. When I pull round bales down or out, sometimes the damn things fall out from between bails along with their babies. It's gnarly. At any rate the cats are constantly hunting. We still have a mouse or two in the house but it's an antique home and finding every hole they can get into is about impossible.
I supplement with mouse bait stations as well. Otherwise they are just kind of part of the charm of where you live.
I supplement with mouse bait stations as well. Otherwise they are just kind of part of the charm of where you live.
Infinity Roofing - https://linqapp.com/jason_duke --- JasonDuke@InfinityRoofer.com --- https://infinityrooferjason.blogspot.com/
I thought he was talking about the cats. Mine is so lazy I have to bop him on the head to make him chase the mice. He is a gen-z cat though.
I had one crawl up under my truck and chew about $2000 worth of wires last summer. Now I keep bait stations around the driveway, and any time a stray cat wanders up we put some cat food out and encourage it to stay around.
Coyotes keep getting our cats. What's the next step up the food chain to get rid of coyotes? Alligators?
This… these new gen-z cats just want to sleep and eat the cat food, if I had a basement they would probably want to sleep in the basementGunny456 said:
I thought he was talking about the cats. Mine is so lazy I have to bop him on the head to make him chase the mice. He is a gen-z cat though.
I don't know. Maybe teach your cats to climb trees.
Our cats do that and the coyotes find it easier to catch the field rats than the cats that way.
Our cats do that and the coyotes find it easier to catch the field rats than the cats that way.
jejdag said:
Coyotes keep getting our cats. What's the next step up the food chain to get rid of coyotes? Alligators?
Donkeys or Great Pyrenees dogs.
I've thought about getting a Cougar for around the house…. but the wife says no.
Gunny456
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thisChetos said:
I hear the method of "picking up the field mice and bopping them on the head" is extremely effective! Aka foo foo technique
SunrayAg said:
I had one crawl up under my truck and chew about $2000 worth of wires last summer. Now I keep bait stations around the driveway, and any time a stray cat wanders up we put some cat food out and encourage it to stay around.
They did that to my Tundra, Toyota wanted $2200, paid a Hispanic Mechanic $500 to solder it back together then sold it. Thank you Covid
A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.
-George S Patton
-George S Patton
Yeah yeah cats are great blah blah blah until they start eating your bobwhites and horned lizards and cardinals.
We have 2 fixed cats that are our barn cats. We have zero issues with rodents at our Barn.
Notice them worse this year also. They always nest under the firewood, but this year, have the schnauzers in that part of the yard. My woodstack may fall down soon, though, from them digging them out. Back when my grandson was 8-10 years old, had a particularly bad year, there were trails everywhere. bought a box of ratshot, told him to get after it. He had ghillie suit, and he would post up where the trails were. Young man shot a lot of field mice that year.
SanAntoneAg said:
Yeah yeah cats are great blah blah blah until they start eating your bobwhites and horned lizards and cardinals.
Sounds like an even trade to me if there aren't any rats around. We had ranch cats for over a decade before we sold our place. Ate/killed snakes, rats, mice, frogs, and gophers. My gopher hunter was hysterical to watch. He'd just post up by a gopher hole in the middle of the field. He'd bring back a fat gopher almost as if he was showing off in front of the other cats. Rarely ever saw bird feathers.
The chickens killed the scorpions and I think they also killed a lot of small snakes. Often found them in pieces.
These days I've got some inside cats. Fun pets but quite sheltered compared to those ranch cats lol. They don't know how good they've got it.
My draht has been tracking them down and catching them in the field by our house.
My girls were proud of her.
My girls were proud of her.
Texags poster: I am seeing a lot of coyotes.
Texags response: Shoot them all
Texags poster: I have a hawk trying to eat my chickens.
Texags response: Shoot the hawk
Texags poster: I have a cat crapping in my flower beds.
Texags response: SSS
Also Texags poster: Why am I having this explosion of field mice digging up my yard and chewing up my truck's wiring?
Texags response: Shoot them all
Texags poster: I have a hawk trying to eat my chickens.
Texags response: Shoot the hawk
Texags poster: I have a cat crapping in my flower beds.
Texags response: SSS
Also Texags poster: Why am I having this explosion of field mice digging up my yard and chewing up my truck's wiring?
Must be in the same union as our outdoor cat. I watched a field mouse run across his paw and he jumped about 3 feet in the air.
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