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Mouse sized hole

BuchBuch Posts: 40
edited November 2022 in Problem solving
I have a question concerning mice/rats.

Is it possible to make a hole of such a size on a trap box that a mouse could get through but not a rat? What diameter hole would allow only mice to squeeze through?
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  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Hi @Buch - mice can get through holes the size of a Biro, so 1cm or similar would be plenty big enough.
    How effective it would be, I don't know though.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    What are you wanting to achieve?
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • BuchBuch Posts: 40
    Fairygirl said:
    Hi @Buch - mice can get through holes the size of a Biro, so 1cm or similar would be plenty big enough.
    How effective it would be, I don't know though.  :)
    That small? Wow. I may try one this size then. That's such a tiny hole!
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Yes - they can squeeze through very, very tiny holes, which is why it can be difficult to eradicate them if they're in your house! Been there....
    I'm not bothered by them at all when they're in the garden though. They don't cause many problems apart from eating some seeds, or at least, they don't do much apart from that here. 'Mine' can access the bird feeders so they have some of that instead of the plant seeds.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • BuchBuch Posts: 40
    Fairygirl said:
    Yes - they can squeeze through very, very tiny holes, which is why it can be difficult to eradicate them if they're in your house! Been there....
    I'm not bothered by them at all when they're in the garden though. They don't cause many problems apart from eating some seeds, or at least, they don't do much apart from that here. 'Mine' can access the bird feeders so they have some of that instead of the plant seeds.  :)
    That was my attitude too until I caught them trying to invade house/shed and now interfering with rat traps by eating the bait without triggering the trap. Unfortunately my cat died a few months ago and there seems to be an invasion.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    At my last house - old Victorian, rambling property, there was a modern extension and of course, there were hundreds of access points. You could hear them all night scrambling through the spaces between the old and new bits of the property, because the bedroom was in the new bit, and right next to the gaps.  :D
    Trying to block holes and get on top of it was a long term job, but eventually, we managed it. 
    I wish you good luck. I remember blocking bits in the cupboard, containing the leccy meter, with wire wool and expanding foam, which seemed to work. Not pretty though!
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited November 2022
    Buch said:
    trying to invade house/shed and now interfering with rat traps by eating the bait without triggering the trap.
    Ah.  So the question is: How does one stop mice getting at rat bait?

    1.  Get a new cat.

    2.  Set mice traps.

    3.  Use a non-poison "humane" rat trap.  One can buy them via Amazon.  They work, but disposal then becomes the problem.

    4. Continue to pursue the small-hole approach.  At least that would stop the rats reaching the mouse poison.

    4.  There is a sizeable cohort on this forum who believe in living peacefully alongside nature.  Join them.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    Unfortunately, nature isn't always benign and some of the things that enter our lives are better elsewhere. You won't hear many defenders of fleas or bed- bugs, for example. Rats and mice make undesirable living companions, too, unless you have them as pets. In old buildings there will always be holes that give access and my preference is for a cat, but humane traps will often do the trick, too.
    If, like in my house, rats and mice can climb up to your roof-space inside the walls without exposing  themselves to the cat, traps or poison may be the only answer. At this time of year the colder weather brings them indoors and they can do a lot of damage.
  • BuchBuch Posts: 40
    I set two mouse traps in a small box with a tiny hole for entry and this morning the mouse was dead in the trap. Luckily the rat didn't interfere with this box. I've already killed four rats in the Fenn Traps, one of which was in a box inside the shed.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited November 2022
    Humane rat, squirrel and mouse traps are only humane at the moment of entrapment.  Any delay is after that is not humane.  

    The law is strict on what you can do legally.  The law is logical, though I am not up-to-date.  Any release from the trap might also be illegal.  Killing must be done humanely, though I am not clear about the definition of humane.

    I once set a standard spring mouse trap in my kitchen when I was away for a prolonged time.  I caught a blue tit!  Mice in cold weather especially dig up bulbs in my greenhouse.  I still set spring traps, but now  cover these with a PET supermarket tray. I was catching mice humanely, but found the dispatch problematic.

     
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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