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[BKF Admin]

Rats and Mice = smooth peanut butter.

 

[Dishmop]

Rats and Mice = smooth peanut butter.

Grilled or deep fried?

 

[Luminos]

Bait them with chocolate and set them "tickle"

That's a terrible waste of chocolate

 

[Hachi]

Not the miniscule amount you need taken from a 1Kg bar its not

 

[Amari]

Why bovver with mouse traps? I use standard mouse/rat bait which is warfarin based i.e. interferes with blood coagulation rather than being a 'poison' in the sense of arsenic et al. Place a heap in a saucer and they carry it off to their nest

 

[VEG]

Other animals will eat it as well if used like that. they die a slow painfull death as well.

Have a look at this thread as well http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=391391#post391391

 

[oliver90owner]

Yeah, have a look at this thread as well!

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=27797

 

[irishguy]

can you not just store them in the house somewhere

 

[Amari]

Yeah, have a look at this thread as well!

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=27797

Difficult one. Warfarin-family rodenticides may have been found in Barn Owls but I wonder if the said owls showed signs of haemorrhage? I'm sure many animals, including H. sapiens harbour all sorts of poisons in small doses e.g.. neonicotinoids, dioxins etc.
Warfarin is not a cumulative poison.

 

[beeno]

H. sapiens harbour all sorts of poisons in small doses e.g.. neonicotinoids, dioxins etc.

Yes, I hope the NHS is putting to good use all the blubber cut off obese people.

 

[oliver90owner]

One juicy warfarin-loaded rat fed to a clutch of hungry hatchlings? I think you need to find a better excuse, maybe?

Indians killed off their scavengers by giving their cattle drugs which devastated the vulture population, so led to a problem of rotting carcasses. Poachers poison vultures in Africa to avoid the park rangers tracking them after killing the elephants etc. Now rotting carcasses are a big problem. Remember the vultures pinpoint the carcasses from the sky, but umpteen other scavengers are soon on the scene by following the vultures, so the problem is exacerbated.

Interference by man in eco-systems has far reaching rammifications. There are so many examples, the main ones for beekeepers worldwide being varroa and insecticides; the most documented over the years being DDT and mercury being concentated further up the food chain.

Our barn owl populations are under more than enough threat from human activity. Any help they can get would be very much welcome.

 

[Itchy]

Warfarin isn't the nasty one - it goes from the body in a short while, its the second generation (no most common) that accumulate

 

[Amari]

Yeah, have a look at this thread as well!

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=27797

One juicy warfarin-loaded rat fed to a clutch of hungry hatchlings? I think you need to find a better excuse, maybe?

I find myself in a difficult position. We live in a thatched cottage and three years ago had to re-thatch @ £30k because of numerous rat holes in the thatch.
We hear pitter-patter of tiny feet as we lie in bed (mercifully not bipeds - been there, done that). Ergo, I regularly put rodenticides in the loft. My bee shed is in the garden and despite efforts is not mouse proof so I have a saucer of poison on the floor - actually (unlike the loft) hardly any has been taken. Our cat regularly catches mice and the occasional rat and I have never worried that it might be poisoned.
However I am saddened by the vulture story.

 

[pargyle]

I have a field mouse in the greenhouse ... cheekly little beggar with absolutely no fear .. I put the hen food in the greenhouse overnight to deter rodents from the hen run and there's always water in there and it's warm ... I figure it has found mouse heaven ! Just sits and watches me pottering around sometimes - haven't the heart to dispatch it !

I did have mice in the garage last year (which is a bit too close to the house for comfort) and I caught three of them in one of these humane traps baited with cheese and chocolate.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Procter-P..._Control_CV&hash=item5af7640f44#ht_256wt_1161

They went off on holiday to the fields when I took the dog for a walk, miles away from any humans ... just a big softie really !!

 

[SteveJ]

Always try and avoid poison. Tried it once, mice loved the stuff but then decided to die under my wooden floors. Had an interesting smell percolating through the house for a few weeks much to SWMBO's disgust. It was her idea to use poison in the first place.

Personally I never ever bait traps waste of good peanuts, raisins chocolate etc. You have to get into the psychology of the mouse. Mice are agoraphobic i.e. don't like open spaces. So they will always travel along the bottom of a wall. So if you just put place your armed traps against a wall with the pressure plate against the wall they will just run over it and hay presto dead mouse.

This was a tip given to me by a pest control officer back when I worked in the food industry and I've never had it fail. If you think when you see the commercial bait boxes they are always against a wall.

So go on give it a try.

On the ratty side of thing. When I worked in the food industry we had a dry store but we never seemed to have much of a problem with rats. We had all the bait boxes out and we occasionally got a nibble but no more. Then one day we had a large cloud burst in the general area which caused a lot of flooding. This forced all the rats out of the sewer, who then proceeded to find our store. We where then removing three or four black bin liners full of dead rats a day for a couple of weeks. We must of decimated the local rat population. After that it was back to the normal infestation levels

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I did have mice in the garage last year (which is a bit too close to the house for comfort) and I caught three of them in one of these humane traps baited with cheese and chocolate.

Excellent idea! once a day you can go around shaking al the captives into a cosy hesian sack...........
Then club the beggars to a pulp with a handy piece of 4x4" !!!!!!!!

 

[Luminos]

Excellent idea! once a day you can go around shaking al the captives into a cosy hesian sack...........
Then club the beggars to a pulp with a handy piece of 4x4" !!!!!!!!

using a 4 x 4 is a bit excessive, IMO

 

[Gilberdyke John]

using a 4 x 4 is a bit excessive, IMO

I agree - the back of a shovel is perfectly adequate.

 

[Tomo]

Nothing a couple of baited mouse traps wouldn't sort out.
They like to move in to my garage when the temperature drops.

 

[peteinwilts]

Caught my first mouse of the season in the loft last night (I live in a bungalow)
Mice do not tend to bother my stored supers, which are sealed top and bottom on stands stored in a stable.
peanut butter is great in traps. It is sticky so is more less likely to be robbed by mice on tip-toes.

Question on the original post:- At this time of year, why do you believe a DLQ was at fault?
... were they dwindling in Autumn?

Due to me having some cracking looking queens late in the season (they are enormous!), I wanted to avoid a few combines and am running the risk of a number of smaller colony's in PolyNucs....so far so good!