njhowie
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I use the classic Victor traps - they do the job.
On yours - first bullet in the description "Cooks in 10 minutes"
Critter in the crawl space
- Thread starter imoldernu
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I use the classic Victor traps - they do the job.
On yours - first bullet in the description "Cooks in 10 minutes"
Fedup
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Some of my traps catch birds sometimes. It’s sad because we only want rats to be caught.
RetiredAt55.5
Full time employment: Posting here.
Another vote for peanut butter. Caught a whole family of mice (5) in my engine compartment with that and wood snap traps.
I've caught about 40 chipmunks this year with a mix of black oil sunflower seeds and some peanut butter. The peanut butter will attract the rodents, but once they discover the seed they won't leave it alone. Unfortunately, I've also caught 5 squirrels. Dumb critters won't leave them alone, and keep getting caught in my live traps.
I actually prefer the old style wood snap traps over the plastic ones for small pests. The wood ones are cheaper (i.e., when it's a messy kill I just toss away the trap rather than trying to reuse it), and available everywhere (Lowes, HD, Dollar General, local supermarket, etc). In my limited experience, the wood traps are as effective as the plastic ones. As others have responded, setting more traps works better. The other thing I have read is that inside the house, rodents tend to run along the walls so it's better to put the traps along the walls.
I've caught about 40 chipmunks this year with a mix of black oil sunflower seeds and some peanut butter. The peanut butter will attract the rodents, but once they discover the seed they won't leave it alone. Unfortunately, I've also caught 5 squirrels. Dumb critters won't leave them alone, and keep getting caught in my live traps.
I actually prefer the old style wood snap traps over the plastic ones for small pests. The wood ones are cheaper (i.e., when it's a messy kill I just toss away the trap rather than trying to reuse it), and available everywhere (Lowes, HD, Dollar General, local supermarket, etc). In my limited experience, the wood traps are as effective as the plastic ones. As others have responded, setting more traps works better. The other thing I have read is that inside the house, rodents tend to run along the walls so it's better to put the traps along the walls.
Al in Ohio
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I use the classic Victor traps - they do the job.
On yours - first bullet in the description "Cooks in 10 minutes"
Lol.. it also says:
6 Pack - $14.98
12 Pack - $99.99
Now, I ain't no mathematics surgeon or nuttin' but ....
Fedup
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We caught a lot with the cheap wood traps, mostly mice, not rats. But I got a little bit of everything, I got some big poison ones from Amazon too. Let’s see if the population is decrease. But we seem to catch more rodents from the right side then from the left. My fig tree is from the left.
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ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I use the classic Victor traps - they do the job.
On yours - first bullet in the description "Cooks in 10 minutes"
I saw that too. I have no idea. Some weird glitch at Amazon (I can only hope).
I've built a little wood top and bottom, back and sides to the bigger rat trap size. Helps to keep bigger things out, or something trying to get in from behind, and I haven't got any birds either.
-ERD50
Winemaker
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1.Get a cheap game camera to identify critters to take appropriate action.
Not only did I find the expected deer and groundhogs, I caught humans walking through the south 40 during the summer.
2. Put your peanut butter inside little paper towel pouches, and wire them to the Victors.
Not only did I find the expected deer and groundhogs, I caught humans walking through the south 40 during the summer.
2. Put your peanut butter inside little paper towel pouches, and wire them to the Victors.
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I take a piece of a nut and jam it in the bait/trigger mechanism. Then I put some peanut butter on that. I’ve never actually analyzed the death scene to see if they actually finish the peanut butter, but I figure if they do, they’ll use a little more force to get the nut and I’ll get the results I want. I also play with the trigger a bit so that it’s just barely latched. Sort of a hair trigger
ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
... I also play with the trigger a bit so that it’s just barely latched. Sort of a hair trigger
Yes, the cheap traps especially, you might need to bend that little plate a bit to get it so it just barely stays set. Flatten it to make it more sensitive, push it out a bit if it needs more grip. I also add a drop of cooking oil to that plate where the wire touches it.
Test it with a stick. It should trip very easily. It might be a bit frustrating to get it set, it might trigger a few times until you can get it to hold. This is also why you want a half dozen of them. One might trip from vibration, or just randomly.
-ERD50
JPatrick
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We toss a few moth balls in a couple of nylon stockings and hang them in our boat when we put it to sleep for the winter. Keeps the 4 legged critters away, but the geese still haven't gotten the memo.
18" tall, OMG that would wear you out crawling around in there !!!!! i can do hands and knees in mine.
good advise for you OLDER, reminds me of one of my first times down in my crawl. 3/4 in and then i here the slizzer of a black snake on the plastic trying to get away from me and me from him... Next coupe times i went in always carried a 3 iron.
also might want to go in there at night and either from inside or outside shine BRIGHT LED flashlight around the house to see if you can spot an entrance with a friend on the outside....
good advise for you OLDER, reminds me of one of my first times down in my crawl. 3/4 in and then i here the slizzer of a black snake on the plastic trying to get away from me and me from him... Next coupe times i went in always carried a 3 iron.
also might want to go in there at night and either from inside or outside shine BRIGHT LED flashlight around the house to see if you can spot an entrance with a friend on the outside....
Thanks to all for great advice and and to hear about your own adventures. Never expected to get this kind of response.
So... for an update... I have stuck with the bright light and the Ultrasonic sounds program from the internet. Now going on three days, with no sounds. That silence happened once before, for a full day, and I turned the computer off, thinking I was home free... only to get the sounds back again. Now will continue for a few more days, and try again to see if he/her/it is gone.
As a stubborn do it yourselfer, I hate to spend when there's any chance I can fix it myself. Here's one reason why, from the internet:
Sealing the crawlspace can cost between $3,000 and $5,000 (at the low end).
So... for an update... I have stuck with the bright light and the Ultrasonic sounds program from the internet. Now going on three days, with no sounds. That silence happened once before, for a full day, and I turned the computer off, thinking I was home free... only to get the sounds back again. Now will continue for a few more days, and try again to see if he/her/it is gone.
As a stubborn do it yourselfer, I hate to spend when there's any chance I can fix it myself. Here's one reason why, from the internet:
Sealing the crawlspace can cost between $3,000 and $5,000 (at the low end).
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that really is strange, will be interesting to see what happens in a couple days. I would still get in there at night with super briight LED flash and have someone outside looking for light leakage!!! They'll probably come back at sometime.
ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
And why do you think it would be different this time?
If you end up with damage, and/or a dead animal down there, that $500 exterminator is going to sound cheap.
Blow That Dough!
-ERD50
Fedup
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One of my kids apartment has rats. She heard chewing noise at night, it turns out there was a rat eating the carpet in one of the bedrooms. Luckily, the landlord is taking care of it. I asked if she has food left around and she said no.
End of the critter story
Well, the first post by Talkjk was very, very close to the the cause.
What I was sure was a critter, came back... in spades... Loud, Loud bumping in every room in the house.
At wit's end, I decided to call public works, in my City of Peru. One of the nice things about living in a small town, is that people are great. Yesterday two nice guys came out to the house, and spent 3/4 of an hour, tracking down the cause. Not easy. Into the crawl space, and then checking out every possible source for the problem. Fortunately the problem was at it's peak so they could hear the bumping..
The problem was not in the house, but under the front driveway to the house. Between the driveway water shut off to the house, and the street water main, there was a leak in the brass fitting.
Going back a bit, when we moved in, in 2004 our driveway of 12' x12' concrete slabs, has one that had dropped down about 1/4 inch. Gradually, over the years, this grew to 1/2 inch, no big deal, but obvious. Turns out that the leak in the pipe, under the driveway had caused the soil to wash away and the slab to drop. It was on the city's side of the valve.
Anyway, the problem is solved. Slow water leak outside the house. It means that I get a new driveway and the noise will be gone. Total cost to me $00.00 instead of the $2000. estimate I had received to repave the slab. I love the town where we live.
Whew!
Here's the first post that came close to the problem.
Well, the first post by Talkjk was very, very close to the the cause.
What I was sure was a critter, came back... in spades... Loud, Loud bumping in every room in the house.
At wit's end, I decided to call public works, in my City of Peru. One of the nice things about living in a small town, is that people are great. Yesterday two nice guys came out to the house, and spent 3/4 of an hour, tracking down the cause. Not easy. Into the crawl space, and then checking out every possible source for the problem. Fortunately the problem was at it's peak so they could hear the bumping..
The problem was not in the house, but under the front driveway to the house. Between the driveway water shut off to the house, and the street water main, there was a leak in the brass fitting.
Going back a bit, when we moved in, in 2004 our driveway of 12' x12' concrete slabs, has one that had dropped down about 1/4 inch. Gradually, over the years, this grew to 1/2 inch, no big deal, but obvious. Turns out that the leak in the pipe, under the driveway had caused the soil to wash away and the slab to drop. It was on the city's side of the valve.
Anyway, the problem is solved. Slow water leak outside the house. It means that I get a new driveway and the noise will be gone. Total cost to me $00.00 instead of the $2000. estimate I had received to repave the slab. I love the town where we live.
Whew!
Here's the first post that came close to the problem.
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Rustward
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MRG
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Car-Guy
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ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
It is human nature to see patterns in things that may not be there.
Like market timers.
-ERD50
It is human nature to see patterns in things that may not be there.
Like market timers.
-ERD50
Amen!
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