Minks in my C Dory!
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I had a problem with stray cats getting into my boat and spraying it. My solution may work for you as well. In sportings goods stores that sell hunting supplies, they sell coyote urine in small amounts. I put a tin can in the back of my boat with some shredded paper towel in it and a few drops of the coyote urine in it. It seems to keep them out. You can't smell it unless you hold the can very close but I'm sure cats can smell it easily as would a mink.
So if you can't put a coyote in your boat you can make the minks think a coyote lives there!
Al
So if you can't put a coyote in your boat you can make the minks think a coyote lives there!
Al
richnkay
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I've used the steel wool wad stuffed into holes around the house to good affect in the past but if you use it on the boat, I wouldn't recommend steel wool, it will rust and break up into fine pieces that will fall, scatter and rust where the pieces land. Instead find the courser stainless steel cleaning pads and use them. My 2 cents worth.
Rich
Rich
colbysmith
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Bringing this thread back to life. I ended up with a pretty good mouse nest in the starboard port lazerette (battery compartment) over the past month. We live next to a corn field, and Midnight Flyer is parked right beside it. Corn was taken down late, but I know I've had mice get aboard in the past. They can no longer get in the cabin, but I have been unable to keep them out of the cockpit. The boat has a full cover and is outside. I had been putting Bounce fabric sheets all over in the boat, but think the aroma has pretty much worn off. Just wondering if folks are still finding the moth balls to be effective? Unfortunately, while in the past the worse damage has been the little monsters nesting in a pail, (I don't store it in the cockpit over winter anymore) this time I did find some of my wiring chewed in to. Was able to temporarily tape it all until next summer when I can do permanent repairs, so more concerned about that kind of damage than anything else. I did see one little bugger and hopefully scared him off the boat, but if not I placed one trap in the bilge. Tomorrow plan to remove the trap and just place a bunch of moth balls in the bilge, lazerettes and side compartments. Any other suggestions? I've also heard Irish Spring soap. Colby
hardee
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Colby, if you are ok with poison you can use, not the green granules, but the same stuff comes in a 3 inch or so green bar. The mice like the flavor and the bar, if you wire it down so it can't be carried away, (the little buggers like to take the stuff off site and hide it to eat later), they will chew the bar, and get the required lethal dose, get thirsty and go looking for water, drink and keel over somewhere besides in the deep dark corners of Midnight Flyer.
Harvey
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Harvey
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thataway
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I put the "standard answer" of Bounce Dryer sheets (found that mice will use them to make nests after the smell is gone), moth balls (to be toxic to the mouse must also be toxic to human--but have worked for us in the past). I read a few articles by exterminators and in the RV forums.
There is one product which seems fairly good--a botanical called" Fresh Cab Rodent repellant". Another which seems to work is the peppermint oil or the large tablets put in commercial urinals. Also some swear by Irish Spring soap.
We have used poisons in our RV's since it has been an issue. Not on our C Dorys, in FL, but when I kept one in Las Vegas, it was. That seemed to be "solved" by the moth balls.
Keeping the critters out of the cabin can be an issue--and if they get inside---watch out! We have used stainless steel scrub pads, in the anchor rode pipe, in the places where wires come into the cabin under the gunnels--(some boats may have voids on each side, even though there may not be any wire.).
There is one product which seems fairly good--a botanical called" Fresh Cab Rodent repellant". Another which seems to work is the peppermint oil or the large tablets put in commercial urinals. Also some swear by Irish Spring soap.
We have used poisons in our RV's since it has been an issue. Not on our C Dorys, in FL, but when I kept one in Las Vegas, it was. That seemed to be "solved" by the moth balls.
Keeping the critters out of the cabin can be an issue--and if they get inside---watch out! We have used stainless steel scrub pads, in the anchor rode pipe, in the places where wires come into the cabin under the gunnels--(some boats may have voids on each side, even though there may not be any wire.).
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This thread reminded me of the mouse trap I built before retiring at the paper mill. They guys in the shop wanted me to leave it as a legacy when I left and they tell me it is still working flawlessly. It has a laser photo eye that trips a solenoid and drops a door when the critter gets half way into the box. Works with a DeWalt battery.
It catches rats, mice and a surprising number of squirrels. I would suggest you make one for yourself but once you figure in all the parts and labor we estimated it cost Georgia Pacific right around $3000. It was also costly to use because every time it caught a critter then two or three of us in the cat shop had to get in the truck and run up to the woods to let it go. That usually took most of the morning. And you wonder why toilet paper is so expensive!
The first rat it caught almost made it out so we did a little rewiring and repositioning of limit switches and it was never empty when sprung.
I am still waiting for the world to beat a path to my door.
It catches rats, mice and a surprising number of squirrels. I would suggest you make one for yourself but once you figure in all the parts and labor we estimated it cost Georgia Pacific right around $3000. It was also costly to use because every time it caught a critter then two or three of us in the cat shop had to get in the truck and run up to the woods to let it go. That usually took most of the morning. And you wonder why toilet paper is so expensive!
The first rat it caught almost made it out so we did a little rewiring and repositioning of limit switches and it was never empty when sprung.
I am still waiting for the world to beat a path to my door.
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tsturm
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TyBoo":3uemupni said:This thread reminded me of the mouse trap I built before retiring at the paper mill. They guys in the shop wanted me to leave it as a legacy when I left and they tell me it is still working flawlessly. It has a laser photo eye that trips a solenoid and drops a door when the critter gets half way into the box. Works with a DeWalt battery.
It catches rats, mice and a surprising number of squirrels. I would suggest you make one for yourself but once you figure in all the parts and labor we estimated it cost Georgia Pacific right around $3000. It was also costly to use because every time it caught a critter then two or three of us in the cat shop had to get in the truck and run up to the woods to let it go. That usually took most of the morning. And you wonder why toilet paper is so expensive!
The first rat it caught almost made it out so we did a little rewiring and repositioning of limit switches and it was never empty when sprung.
I am still waiting for the world to beat a path to my door.
Now that is a government project!! :thup
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Marco Flamingo
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I second the bronze wool if they are coming through little crannies.
Listerine works as good as mothballs. I wouldn't use poison. It's the gift that keeps on giving. Mouse eats the poison and stumbles out. Owl (or house cat) gets it. Owl drops out of sky. Bob cat gets it. Bob cat dies. Raven gets it. . . . . Use poison only if you and your neighbors don't want any animals around (including pets).
If you have freezing weather, this won't work in the winter. I bought some "walk the plank" automatic reset traps when the mice were chewing my Muck boots and rain gear on the porch. Check the prices on these because the vary widely.
You hang them on a 5 gallon bucket with a few inches of soapy water in it. Bait the end of the plank with peanut butter. The plank is lightly held out with a magnet. When the mouse walks out, plank drops mouse into soapy water and resets for the next mouse. 5 in one night was my record. Only bad thing was once a young weasel must have smelled the mice and it also drowned. Good for my neighbor's chickens but I could use the weasel's help on the mice.
Mark
Listerine works as good as mothballs. I wouldn't use poison. It's the gift that keeps on giving. Mouse eats the poison and stumbles out. Owl (or house cat) gets it. Owl drops out of sky. Bob cat gets it. Bob cat dies. Raven gets it. . . . . Use poison only if you and your neighbors don't want any animals around (including pets).
If you have freezing weather, this won't work in the winter. I bought some "walk the plank" automatic reset traps when the mice were chewing my Muck boots and rain gear on the porch. Check the prices on these because the vary widely.
You hang them on a 5 gallon bucket with a few inches of soapy water in it. Bait the end of the plank with peanut butter. The plank is lightly held out with a magnet. When the mouse walks out, plank drops mouse into soapy water and resets for the next mouse. 5 in one night was my record. Only bad thing was once a young weasel must have smelled the mice and it also drowned. Good for my neighbor's chickens but I could use the weasel's help on the mice.
Mark
RobLL
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When we lived in the country my Kubota and beater Ford 250 neither of which I used all that much needed bait stations for mice. I couldn't figure out a less lethal system. Both had so many vulnerable locations there was no chance of sealing them out. My fond hope was that the Mus died in situ. LOL
colbysmith
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Back out on the boat today, before the big blizzard they are predicting gets here.... Cleaned up the wiring that was chewed into, which fortunately wasn't much and accessible. Found the little bugger in the mouse trap. Hope he was the only one, as I only pull up the cover about once a month to check on stuff, so didn't want to leave the trap out there. Picked up the old dryer sheets, which had pretty much lost their smell, and went the moth ball route. Hopefully those will keep their smell a little longer. Placed small sachels of them in various strategic locations. As for the cabin, I have corks in all the thru-hulls, and heavy sponge and dryer sheets in hawsehole. The area in the aft cabin bulkhead where wiring comes thru is filled pretty well with expanding foam, and even if mice chewed into it, the wires are so tight in the hole I don't think they'd get thru. Anyway, the cabin has been mouseless over the past few years. So keeping my fingers crossed the moth balls do a better job, and I'll be sure to replace them when the aroma is gone. As for Irish Spring soap.... I had a bar in our full sized home grill. Haven't used the grill for a little over a month, but opened it up to check today. Yep, a nest in there, but no critter. And the soap had been chewed on...
localboy
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tsturm":34vcgwiq said:Now that is a government project!! :thup
Funny, cause I was thinking the exact same thing! Build a $3K trap and have a gobment worker drive it out to the woods to release it. Or just buy a $2 snap trap and scrape the remains off into the trash, rinse, repeat...
To me the only good rat/mouse is a DEAD rat/mouse.
colbysmith
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You can't. I forget the reason, but perhaps Tyboo or DaNag can refresh our memories. Colby
hardee
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Not to differ with my friend Colby because he is right in that you cannot go back hours or days later, but . . .
Ahhhhh, but you can edit, BUT you only have 30 minutes to do that.
OR
You can look at what the post is going to look like by clicking on the "Preview" button, just to the left of the "Submit" button, and look (and correct if needed), before you press the "Submit" button.
Harvey
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Ahhhhh, but you can edit, BUT you only have 30 minutes to do that.
OR
You can look at what the post is going to look like by clicking on the "Preview" button, just to the left of the "Submit" button, and look (and correct if needed), before you press the "Submit" button.
Harvey
SleepyC