Pest control?

[FTL_Ian]

Anyone got a recommendation?  I'd like to control for insects and rats.

[Kat Kanning]

Get a cat.

[FTL_Ian]

Mark says I should get sticky traps for rats.  I can probably handle trapping and disposing of them on my own, but I have a really bad situation with my cabinets in the kitchen.  The upper area of the cabinets has a 3 inch gap where any little beasties can just crawl right in from the mud room / wall of the house.  That needs to be remedied even once the rats are dead.

[FTL_Ian]

Get a cat.

Had one: Mark's "Senor Grouchy Pants".  He sat in the kitchen and stared up at the cabinets.  He probably did a good job of keeping them from running through the house, but he's not so effective at keeping them out of the cabinets.

[Barterer]

For bug control, get some boric acid and mix it half-and-half (by volume) with corn syrup.  Fill up some bottle caps and put them where they hide.. Muahahaha. 

Besides the cat idea, you might also consider a little BB or pellet gun for rodents. Have some fun with it.  Rats know better than to come near my  .22 Benjamin.  There are also semiautomatic CO2-powered pistols for outdoor use only Just don't shoot your eye out, kid!

If I was in NH already I'd bust out the miter saw and help redo your cabinet trim.  But for a literally stop-gap solution there's expanding foam sealant.. It goes by the name "Great Stuff" and is available at Home Depot.

[FTL_Ian]

If I was in NH already I'd bust out the miter saw and help redo your cabinet trim.  But for a literally stop-gap solution there's expanding foam sealant.. It goes by the name "Great Stuff" and is available at Home Depot.

I thought about that, but wouldn't hungry rats just chew through it?

[Barterer]

Right, obviously the sequence is to kill the rats, then seal.  Maybe put some of that sticky paper or rat traps wherever they're coming from.  For a rat barrier you'd need to tack up some hardware cloth.. those lil bastards chew through wood too.. and wiring.. which is a fire hazard.. kill them.

[Dreepa]

Funny timing.

I have a shed and I noticed mice where in there.
I put an old fashioned mousetrap and used peanut butter as bait.... next morning.  Trap did not spring but all the peanut butter was gone.

The next day, I placed one of those sticky traps.  Then....the next morning the trap was gone... yes gone. I searched the whole shed.  It isn't there.  I couldn't find any cracks where the mouse could have dragged the trap.

I wonder where it went. ???

[Barterer]

Amazing how animals gingerly snag the bait, huh? I have a sunroom that isn't exactly critter-tight (in fact, I'm in the middle of rebuilding it so I can sell my house so I can afford one in NH) and a raccoon used to get into it to eat cat food.  So I borrowed one of those cage-type traps so I could humanely catch it and give it to a friend who keeps them as pets.  I heard it spring shut in the middle of the night and took a peek. Sure enough he was in there, and I thought I'd take care of it in the morning.  I giggled a bit as I went back to sleep because he was thumping on the cage.  Damn if he didn't get out.  And he never sprung the trap again, despite many cat-foodings.    

[slim]

My experience with the rats/mice I like to use decon. The problem with this is that the you have to find the rat corpse if they die in your house or if you cant find the corpse you have to deal with the stench. You will need to find the hole where they come in from and seal it up so that they don't keep coming inside.

[Kat Kanning]

Well, a cat who's a mouser.  We used to have mice when we first moved in.  I have seen or heard one in a very long time.  She's always leaving disgusting organs around.

[FTL_Ian]

Used glue traps in the cabinet, caught one pretty quick.  Where there is one there is probably more, so we decided to try a more humane approach this time.  (It was a bit sad watching the little guy straining to get off the glue trap, and when we inspected the corpse, his leg had torn open from all the pulling.)  We now have the "Mice Cube", which gets rave reviews online.  So far its been a few days and no mouse has been caught....

[Lloyd Danforth]

Humans are smarter than rodents, but, don't have the same time on their hands

You should identify every hole a mouse could get thru from outside or basement and seal it with steel wool and caulking.  They aren't opening the cabinent doors, so there must be a hole or opening somewhere. Keep working on physical barriers to the mice to keep them out of your living area and trap and kill them in your basement.