MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: cootha on May 08, 2011, 10:44:04 PM
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Has anyone been caught in the mouse plague in their CT? Going out to the centre in a few months and it's meant to be the worst plague in 20 years.
Some mates just came back through Cameron Corner on dirt bikes and the mice were everywhere, the fellas couldn't sleep in their swags as the mice were crawling and biting all over.
Is it worth going or should we avoid it like the, err, plague? Do they die out over winter?
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Mice are everywhere at the moment. Have caught 8 in the house in the last 2 weeks. It looks like they are coming up through the laundry floor drain.
the Nurse
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We just got back last Monday from a trip to the red centre. There were a few mice at Rainbow Valley that raced over the canvas, but didn't find their way in the camper. They were also at Owen Springs Reserve and Trephina Gorge - The Trephina Gorge mice were the smartest as they were the ones to find their way in the camper, the little buggers >:D
So we have invested in a press stud kit to bung up the gaps we found between the canvas and the frame. In the field, we had to make do with balled up bits of gaffer tape, so there are now 1002 uses for the stuff :cup:
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At Easter we stayed at the Port Wakefield Caravan Park in our CT and caught plenty of mice (at least 8). The inlaws had their dogs with em and they loved chasing the bloody things. Reminds me, need to get some glen 20 to disinfect the camp table for the next run.
Funny thing was when we packed up the CT their was a dead mouse squished under the CT floor. We'd been walking over the sodden thing for the few days we where there.
Had mice in the CT, rummaging through stuff all through the night. Not much you can do other than make sure the bin was empty and food was well out of their way.
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We camped at Coward Spring last night and yep they are there as well. We have them around Roxby to the point that we caught 45 on nightshift in 10 hours in the office in traps without bait. Last night camping we had them a few times during the night on the roof of the camper and trying to get in. People camping next to us had small holes chewed through as they were trying to get in. They are everywhere.
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Anyone have a good recipe for repelling the little bu&&ers? Not looking forward to facing that every night for a month. ???
Cheers,
Cairns ( ;D ) Cam
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I got a few in my place, kill 1 and another just pops up!
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Could try using rat sack in an old ice cream container with a small hole in it so that only the mice can get into. Put it away from the reach of small children of course. Hope fully they will go for the rat sack and leave every thing else alone.
Thanks for the reminder cootha better put some in the camper before our Western Qld trip in June.
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When i was a young bloke i lived in a Holden ute for a while travelling around and surfing. There was a mouse plague at Cactus bay when i was there. At night you could just walk around and step on them. They were in everything including sleeping bags.
We used to spend evenings inventing ways to kill them
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The mice don't bother me, it is the damage they can do to the canvas that has got me worried. : >:(
There are heaps of stories starting to surface, of them eating their way in and out of tents and campers. :'( :'( :'( :'(
Cheers
Parry
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Maybe take a Diamond python with you. The only issue is they only eat about one mouse a week so you might need a few...
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I wonder what deep fried mouse tastes like :-X
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I just got back from a trip, they didn't get bad until we camped near Hilston. They tried to get in our tent all night but failed, though they did get into the car and eat all of our perishables and pooh everywhere. I don't know how yet. I caught 5 stow aways in the car at the next camp and had them running up my leg whilst driving (no kidding).
It wouldn't stop me going by any means, as long as your tent is thick 12oz plus Australian canvas you won't have an issue.
Take a couple traps and make sure all your food is in containers and rubbish kept well away from your camp.
I built the fire big thinking it might give me a radius but they are not scared by it either. I ended up making a slingshot and trying to shoot them all night.
Once they have a decent cold snap it will nuke most of them and sort itself out in time.
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Save the environment and all its beautiful inhabitants and try some of this stuff:-
Here at Dreaming Earth Botanicals (in addition to our many essential oils and massage products for humans), we produce all natural pest control products: Mouse Away for mice, rats and other rodents is all natural, very effective, safe for people and animals. Plus, we offer a non-harmful mouse trap - the Mice Cube, aka Mouse Cube.
Note: we are experimenting with some crawling insect repellents for roaches and other insects and plan to have them ready soon.
Products:
Mouse Away Concentrate - Pure essential oils of peppermint and spearmint. Use "straight" and place on saucers, cotton balls, etc.
Mouse Away Solid - Convenient pouches containing our Mouse Away concentrate that can be tossed in cabinets, attics, crawl spaces, and hard to reach areas.
Mouse Away Spray - Spray under cabinets, in closets, around exterior walls, in basements, etc.
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Particularly interesting the peppermint and spearmint ingredient, perhaps someone could try this combination out.
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Rather than kill them maybe we should try and understand why they are trying to get into our stuff. Work with them. That way we can have an outcome that is acceptable by both party's.
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Years ago in another mouse plague I put a large container half full of water and sprinkled some chaff over the top and a few fence palings resting on the ground and the top of the container with some chaff sprinkled on the wood. The mice would walk up the wood and jump into the chaff covered water and drown. The most I caught in one night was about 15. Its easy to use and non dangerous, except to the mouse
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Or maybe we could use and inverter and one of those plug in pest free gizmos... ;D
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Or maybe we could use and inverter and one of those plug in pest free gizmos...
Now that would be a good test but I'd still like to see them walk the plank >:D
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Years ago in another mouse plague I put a large container half full of water and sprinkled some chaff over the top and a few fence palings resting on the ground and the top of the container with some chaff sprinkled on the wood. The mice would walk up the wood and jump into the chaff covered water and drown. The most I caught in one night was about 15. Its easy to use and non dangerous, except to the mouse
On that trip out at Cactus we got a sealed milk crate, taped a glass coke bottle with the neck hanging over the edge, made a ramp up to it then hung a bit of food on a wire near the neck. The mice would run up and along the bottle and slip into the water. We would then watch them swim, they lasted between 30 to 45 min then drowned. in the morning we woke up and the crate was so full the water had spilled over and they were just jumping out.
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We found they didn't chew into canvas, but liked anything rubber or silicon. They even had a chew on the jockey wheel! Also the foam rubber used as padding on the stone guard and on the hard floor roof rack. as has already been said, keep your rubbish up high, like on or in your car, close up your kitchen and keep all food sealed.
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Maybe take a couple of cats with you ;D ;D ;D
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Does one's camper insurance cover damage by mouse plague? I could see a lot 5+ year old campers suddenly heading west ;D.
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;D ;D ;D
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Hey Dan,
Where did you get those mouse traps?
Cheers
Parry
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Parry, IGA at Lake Cargelligo NSW. I think they were home brand or something.
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We were staying at Waratah Bay last year having a few days out of the tent and into a cabin to clean up a bit. My wife said she could hear something during the night, i said its just possums. In the morning i noticed the pikelet bag stewn on the floor and no other signes of the pikelets, i then noticed a hole in the fly wire screen where the rats had eaten their way in and devoured my missus breakfast haha she was pretty peeved off with em. They also ate her chewys and some tea bags were cracked open.
I have the plastic rat trap here at home that i got from safeway, rats and mice love peanut butter so a bit on the trap and wait for the crack, probably the quickest and humane way of dealing with them.
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Missus saw a mouse in the garage this arvo, off to Bunnings for the traps, now the wait begins...
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Peanut butter on traps works a treat!
But I ran out the day... so I used a little dribble of strawberry jam... also worked like a charm! I guess there is so little food and so many mice out there, they are willing to give anything a go.
the Nurse
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Peanut butter or bacon rind
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Rat shot in the .22? Not suited to all occasions but could help in some!
Sounds like we got home in time, we saw a couple of little mousy looking things at Coward Springs but I think they were native types. They were the only mice we saw in the whole of our travels.
:cheers:
Dave
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I like the humane types of control ... ye ole trap or peppermint oil.
Alas, when one uses things like RATSACK, you tend to kill what ever eats them afterwards, like our fabulous birds of prey and dingos.
Kit_e
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csiro facts about mouse plagues:
http://www.cse.csiro.au/news/documents/Mouse_Plagues.pdf
says in there numbers usually crash mid to late winter, fingers crossed!
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Rat shot in a .22.... ah the memories :angel: many hours were spent as kids years ago with a torch & a .177 air rifle spot lighting mice /rats in the chook pen & the shed.The .410 made short work of rats >:D For the more adventurous , try a 7 iron. :cheers:
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I had a massive problem with them recently in the workshop. They kept on setting off the alarm everynight.
A trip to Bunnings and grabbed some Talon Blocks, that took care of them ;D
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I've got some rats in the back yard that use the Talon Blocks to clean their teeth >:D Can't believe the beggars are still around.
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Or maybe we could use and inverter and one of those plug in pest free gizmos... ;D
You can get battery operated gizmo's, relatives of ours use one in the motorhome when in storage it seems to work as they had a mice problem but not any more.
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I had a massive problem with them recently in the workshop. They kept on setting off the alarm everynight.
A trip to Bunnings and grabbed some Talon Blocks, that took care of them ;D
Last time i tried that stunt one was caught behind the big cupboard in the shed and talk about stink it up for a month or so. At the moment i have a resident brushtail he just pees and craps everywhere and sleeps all day.
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Well they are in seriously plague proportions here in the Red Centre. They made swiss cheese out of our tent weekend before last. Unbelievable amounts of mice as soon as the sun set.
I just drove down to Adelaide and back and there was no way I could avoid running over them on the road there was that many of them.
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Any update on the mice in northern SA and the centre? We're heading out there soon and I'm a bit worried about the canvas....
Cheers,
Cam
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Hi,
friends are back from the centre about a month ago and had problems with mice getting into food etc, They even chewed through the windscreen washer tubes to get at the water in there.
Sturdy plastic food boxes seems to be an effective barrier for them.
Their tent was only for sleeping, no food in there to attract mice.
cheers
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Akaroola the mice were few and far between, at Merty Merty they came alive at night but didn't cause any damage.
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On our trip in SA we had mice in William Creek till Marree.
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the old man used Ketchall mousetraps in his aviary's when he was breeding birds.Used em for years and caught loads of mice.You just wind it up and when they go into the hole it flips them into a box,will catch 20 at a time.
http://www.thepestdepot.com/kemucamotr.html
P
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Thanks for updates. Have plenty of tips on how to foil the little suckers so we'll see. SWMBO isn't big on roughing it OR mice, so I'm really looking forward to her first night time visit to nature's mouse-riddled ladies' room..... ;D
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We have just done the )Oodnadatta Track (2 weeks ago) up to Mt Dare and Alice Spriom gs. We saw a few miced (6t-10) at Coward Springs at nightg, one at William Xreek (other than a few that had been sqauached prevc iosuly) 1
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That's sounding more bearable - thanks.
Cam