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Go to the local farm or feed store, ask them for a product called Bar Bait. I use it in all my barns and sheds, don't ever see a mouse. They eat it and then when they drink it activates it and kills their azz.
We've got some barn cats, but I've got some sheds that are tight, fully enclosed and they can't get in them to get the mice/rats.
I've used the bar bait for years and it sure has kept the place rodent free. I just throw it behind stuff where a dog can't get to it, I could care less if one of the old cats eat it. I suspect it has killed a possum or two I have found in the barn with no signs of being attacked by the dogs, also one skunk that was found dead had no signs of being attacked or shot. I like it!
 
I don't have much faith in the mothballs. I don't have much storage space so I have to tarp some of my equipment for the winter. One year I tarped the riding mower. Drove it onto the tarp, spread mothballs all over the tarp under the mower (a whole box!) and pulled the ends of the tarp up together over the mower. I didn't put any ON the machine because I heard they cause corrosion.Threw another tarp over the top of everything. Next spring those bastids had the whole engine cowl stuffed with nest and chewed off the starter, magneto, and sparkplug wires. :msp_mad:
 
We used to have a major rat and mice problem in our barn where we keep trucks and combines. They wouldn't eat the bait/poison cause of so much grain in the barn. We just got a bunch of 5 gallon buckets, filled em about 1/2 full of water and sprinkled some oats and grass on top of the water. Mice and rats would jump in there to get the oats and drown. Sometimes find 5 or 6 in a bucket overnight.
 
My mom came up with a novel idea to catch mice, and I just remembered it.
She got one of those kitchen garbage cans that have the swing in lid on top.you know, the kind where you push one side of the door down with the garbage and it falls on through to the can.

She added a few fishing weights to the side where you push down to make it swing real easy, then she super glued a few pieces of dog food on the lid, then layed a 2x4 as a ramp up the side of the can for the mice.

The mice would run up the board, step on the lid, and fall on down into the trash can.The lid would the swing back up and be ready for the next mouse.

The next day it would be my job to drag the trash can out to the burn barrel, drop em in with a tomato can's worth of gasoline, and finish em off. The first night we caught half a dozen of the little varmints.
 
Also, for a little fun you can get a mini-maglite, tape it to the barrel of a pellet gun and stalk the little devils. I shot about 30 of them this way in a rent house I lived in during my last year of college. Last straw was 1 ran across my face while I was asleep and woke me up. GAME ON!
 
We used to have a major rat and mice problem in our barn where we keep trucks and combines. They wouldn't eat the bait/poison cause of so much grain in the barn. We just got a bunch of 5 gallon buckets, filled em about 1/2 full of water and sprinkled some oats and grass on top of the water. Mice and rats would jump in there to get the oats and drown. Sometimes find 5 or 6 in a bucket overnight.

That works with chipmunks too...lol...

Last year I was getting rabbits ready to go to a show, reached into the pine shaving bag and relized there was some critters in there...(Baby's)...

Thought they were rats...so I tossed them in a 5 gal bucket of water...and left...went to do chores the next morning and looked into the pail...Momma chipmunk was in there...dead as can be...:clap:
 
Also, for a little fun you can get a mini-maglite, tape it to the barrel of a pellet gun and stalk the little devils. I shot about 30 of them this way in a rent house I lived in during my last year of college. Last straw was 1 ran across my face while I was asleep and woke me up. GAME ON!

must have been a real nice place.....lol:msp_biggrin::msp_scared:
 
must have been a real nice place.....lol:msp_biggrin::msp_scared:

Yeah, I lived there with 2 other cowboys at the time and they hardly ever stayed on the weekend. One would go home to help on ranch and the other would go compete in ropings. So I had run of the place without fear of friendly fire. Little buggers would run into living room while watching a movie, turn on flashlight to blind them and pop, another bit the dust.
 
I fight them darn mice all the time in our cabin. They got to the point where they hid the DeCon and Bar Bait for a later snack.

My son uses dryer sheets in his camper, in his boat and under the cover of his motor. That seems to work for him.

I also tried those things that make a sound or a sonic type sound. They don’t seem to help either. A friend told me to take a 5 gal pail - half full of water and anti-freeze mix. Then string a clothes hanger type rod through a pop can (end to end) place that on to pail with some peanut butter on the can. Make sure the can will spin.. Put a stick type lath up the side of the pail so the mouse can get close to the can. When the mice jump from the stick to the can, the can turns and the mice go swimming.
I used the dryer sheets in the rooms along with the pail idea. It helps but I’ll still got a few mice in my traps. It could be that the dryer sheets are not enough for larger spaces.

Years ago when we would insulate pole barns we would add a bag of barn lime and blow around the outer ends of the barns first. Some old duffer told us that the barn lime will keep away mice. I now pour a little barn lime around the cabin several times a year. This seems to keep the woodchucks away and maybe the mice…. What ever is doing it, it works for me.
 
I have a couple big old black snakes that live in the old chicken coupe I use to store equipment, and never have mice problems. Only thing is sometime you find things laying on the ground and bench from them crawling around knocking things down. Small price to pay for providing the snakes with a good meal......
 
You don't need to use solid nose .22 ammo.
Get a box of .22 cal Birdshot. Does not hurt a thing inside the barn, but is deadly on rats, snakes, birds, and mice. I'd show a pic, but don't know how from this iPhone .

22_LR_SS_0039.jpg
22-wmr-shotshell.jpg


Talking about this CCI shotshell and Maxi Mag ammo, are we? :)

If you are gonna get a cat, get a manx. Those things are relentless hunters. You will no longer have rats, mice, birds, moles gophers or stray dogs. They would rather catch and eat something than eat cat food. They are the only cat I like.

http://www.fanciers.com/breed-faqs/manx-faq.html

Whole litter of them was born under our deck a few years ago. Rarely see any mice and voles around here anymore.
 
If you are gonna get a cat, get a manx. Those things are relentless hunters. You will no longer have rats, mice, birds, moles gophers or stray dogs. They would rather catch and eat something than eat cat food. They are the only cat I like.

http://www.fanciers.com/breed-faqs/manx-faq.html

I have had many Manx cats. They are not very social and not much of a lap cat. Very business minded. I had one that caught momma and poppa weasel and all three kids. He caught crows too.
 
One last post here about cats from me. Never had a Manx but did raise a couple of bobcat cubs and they kept the mice and rats cleaned out of the area. Also, no rabbits eating the garden, no possums in tree row and no stray dogs showing up at the house either. Biggest difference they made was that we used to have people steal seed-wheat from us but after Cletus and Billy got big enough, no one would go into the barn to turn on the power to the augers, including my dad. We fed them by picking up roadkill and fish we caught, once they hit breeding age you just drive to the barn, rolled down the window and three the food out and left. The last time my dad fed them, he rolled down the window without having the fish ready to throw and had to sacrifice his pickup while they (2 male bobcats) fought over the fish in the cab and ate. They eventually left in search of mates and more food.
 
we have cats here ( wife loves them) but i tolerate them she knows my dogs will kill them so she keeps them shut in the barns..heres a beer time idea for some of ya, take an electric fence tie two cats (tales together) and drop them over the fence when they hit the ground getting shocked they come up fighting...saw a guy do this to get rid of strays.. it works, when you cut them loose they dont come back..:hmm3grin2orange:
 
One last post here about cats from me. Never had a Manx but did raise a couple of bobcat cubs and they kept the mice and rats cleaned out of the area. Also, no rabbits eating the garden, no possums in tree row and no stray dogs showing up at the house either. Biggest difference they made was that we used to have people steal seed-wheat from us but after Cletus and Billy got big enough, no one would go into the barn to turn on the power to the augers, including my dad. We fed them by picking up roadkill and fish we caught, once they hit breeding age you just drive to the barn, rolled down the window and three the food out and left. The last time my dad fed them, he rolled down the window without having the fish ready to throw and had to sacrifice his pickup while they (2 male bobcats) fought over the fish in the cab and ate. They eventually left in search of mates and more food.

Bob Cats around here are not wanted. Too big for catching mice. They like to catch deer, sheep, and stuff like that. This'n weighed 30#
mybobtaken11071_600x364.jpg
 
Since a picture is worth a thousand words. This fella was so pretty, it was decided to keep him around for awhile.
4b2007cat1_1.jpg
 
Got a few cats there Sage. Pretty cool.

Never seen one lurking around here on the property.

Have seen many feral/barn cats roaming around, deer, minks, chuckwoods, squirrels, chipmunks, voles, mice, a bear, turkeys, pheasants, vultures, and bumble bees the size of a kaiser roll and sound like a B-29 when they fly past your ear...
 
The best mouser I had on my place was a fox. It kept them under control. Haven't seen the fox for a while now and the mice are back.
I do not know why people hate foxes so much I have a chicken coop and it didn't seem to care about them or the wild birds in my area. But, give a cat a chance and it will distroy anything it can get its claws on.
 

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