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Rodents in the house: how to deal with them?

Rodents are a common problem in the country, regardless of the season. Not only do they harm the house by their stay, but they also bring with them dangerous diseases. Rodents are not masked in any way, and their presence in the country can be easily calculated.

You probably remember Hoffmann's tale of the fearless Nutcracker? His sworn enemies - mice - were ready to conquer the whole world. And what will save our dacha from the invasion of rodents, who feel like real owners there, especially in winter?

Experts have long calculated that one rat can eat about 18 kg of food per year, and with its "biological secretions" spoil food 10 times more than it can eat.

Therefore, we have to wage a real war with rodents, and in war, as you know, all means are good. For many years, gardeners have been fighting this fight with rats and mice in every possible way and are often defeated.

Unfortunately, there are no boundaries for mice. In search of food in the house, they climb into the most inaccessible places, while both in the house and in the garden they cause a lot of trouble. In addition to everything, rodents love to arrange winter nests in their homes, using blankets, uncleaned clothes, etc. Therefore, in autumn and spring, the fight against rodents usually enters the most active phase.

The most common way to deal with mice is keeping a cat. These pets, of course, catch mice, but if there are too many of them in the country, the dexterity of the Murok will not be enough for everyone. In addition, the owners of summer cottages do not live all year round in their country houses, and the cat needs constant feeding and supervision. Therefore, this option will not provide permanent protection from rodents.

What, then, must be done first of all? In the house and in dry underground, in addition to the usual traps near mouse minks, dry rodent bait must be poured onto plywood, mixing flour and one of the binding materials (gypsum, alabaster, cement) in equal proportions, adding a little sugar for taste, and a few drops for smell vegetable oil. Mice are very fond of this "treat". And having tried it, they very quickly die of intestinal obstruction.

Rodents are often "treated" to a mixture of flour, sugar and quicklime powder, taken in equal amounts. This mixture works more effectively if the animals immediately drink water. Therefore, water should be placed near the dry bait.

Another fairly effective folk remedy is to finely chop the cork and fry it in pork fat, then toss the bait to the mouse holes. After eating the cork, the mice quickly die from the swollen mass in the stomach.

Many gardeners widely use special glue to fight mice. It is squeezed out of a tube onto a sheet of cardboard in the form of a closed circle, and some kind of bait is put in the center - a cookie or a small piece of bread.

A regular rusk can be made even more attractive to mice by dripping a little sunflower or sesame oil on it. It must necessarily be scent, that is, unrefined.

And around the bait, glue is spread in a strip up to 1 cm wide for mice or 2-3 cm for rats. This glue has such viscous and strong properties that, stepping on the trap, the rodent has no chance of breaking off or running away with it.

Depending on the size of the canvas on which the glue is smeared, up to 5–6 mice can be caught at a time. The glue is sold in tubes and, being in the package, does not dry at all, even if it has not been used for several years. This device must be monitored every day, and sometimes every hour. This method will also find application exclusively during a permanent stay in the country.

But rodents are very intelligent animals (especially rats) and quickly "transmit information" about the trap to their relatives.This can be avoided if one of the branded feedings is used against rats and mice - "Foret", "Storm", "Geldan", "Clerat", "Efa-grain", "Tornado", etc. This is mainly grain processed with a special composition. The baits are very attractive, and rodents eat it. Instructions for their use are given on the packaging.

Anti-rodent glue and ready-made baits

Poisonous baits do kill mice, but they also have a number of disadvantages. They can be eaten by poultry and also perished. A mouse that has eaten poisoned grains can say goodbye to life, being in an inaccessible place at home, which will entail the appearance of an unpleasant odor from decomposition of the body. Therefore, in the fight against rodents, it is advisable to use this method last.

Many of these baits do not cause poisoning in rodents, but a fatal lung disease that does not occur immediately, but after 3–7 days. Since the disease develops slowly, the rodents do not associate the bait with danger in any way and do not "warn" their relatives about it.

Rodents eat it themselves with great pleasure and feed the cubs. Then they begin to weaken, suffocate, strive to quickly leave the room where they feel so bad. Thus, the whole family perishes, and outside of your home.

According to the reviews of many gardeners and summer residents, an old folk remedy - tenacious thorns of a burdock - is also effective in the fight against domestic rodents. These thorns are scattered in the places where the mice are supposed to be. A mouse, running alongside, catches these thorns with its fur and cannot get rid of them in any way. She dies from stress or runs away from this place.

Many gardeners use black root with its tenacious seeds to fight mice. The leaves and inflorescences of this plant contain substances that repel these rodents. Before using them, cut plants are dried and then laid out in places where mice, rats, shrews, moles, etc. are found.

Blackroot seeds covered with tenacious spines are also of great danger to mice. The mouse cannot tear them away from itself either with its paws or with its teeth. In despair, she runs away from that place, just to be saved.

In the fall, it is necessary to cut off the ground part of the black root along with the ripe seeds and scatter it on the floor, mixing with the bait - cereals or bread crumbs. And on the site, sprinkle the bait in several places on a film spread on the ground, covering it with a box on top. Mice will run there freely, but birds will not be able to get there.

In the fall, fresh leaves and stems with seeds can be tied to tree trunks to the height of the snow cover. Before the snow falls, dried plants must be laid out under fruit crops and pressed down with pebbles.

It has been noticed that rats and mice do not tolerate the smell of naphthalene, mint and many other odorous plants. Therefore, at the entrances to the mice holes, it is necessary to lay out the tops of potatoes or tomatoes, branches of marsh rosemary, elderberry leaves, cloves of garlic, herring waste, cat or dog hair.

Some gardeners argue that if a lot of mice appear in the garden area in the back rooms, then it is necessary to set fire to rubber, a piece of fur or old woolen socks in some container such as a saucepan. After such a "gas attack" the mice usually leave.

To combat mice and prevent their appearance, an effective and safe remedy is often used - mint alcohol. They should spray areas of the house where rodents often leave their "footprints". Not only mice, but also rats cannot tolerate the smell of peppermint alcohol, and quickly leave such places.

Therefore, leaving a country house after the end of the season, do not forget to use this method, it will help you get rid of mice in the country and provide protection for the house from uninvited guests during your absence.

And this is for information only. Sometimes under the floor of a room or veranda, you can find a nest with small, mouse-like animals. These are shrews.They do not need to be exterminated, they will never appear in your kitchen. In addition, shrews are enemies of domestic mice and will quickly relieve you of their presence.

"Ural gardener", No. 25, 2016

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