rat patrol
Moderators: GAHorn, Karl Towle, Bruce Fenstermacher
My two mice stories:
We got a swimming pool last year, as can be expected when cleaning the skimmers I found a little mouse in one... he had probably been swiming for his life for hours. He would swim like hell come up get a breath of air then get sucked down, swim like hell, breath, get sucked down, over and over. I finally got tired of watching him and scooped him out, the little fellow almost looked grateful, untill I showed him to Licorice (my little OCD Terrier mix). It must have been Licorice's first kill because he got a little sloppy, anyhow I was so proud of my boy I almost cried!
While rebuilding my airplane engine I left the mufflers lying on the floor. Decided to set out some poison pellets since I had seen signs of mice. The way these things work is you put it out in the infected area. Mr. Mouse comes along and thinks he has struck the motherload, a stash for the entire winter. So he goes about stashing this stuff while taking a little nibble here and there, He sees those shiny mufflers there with perfect mouse sized holes and thinks "Hey, cool pad to impress the Mrs. Mouse with!", pretty soon he starts feeling a little faint and decides he needs water... well you know the rest of the story. I am still blowing mouse poison out of my mufflers.
David
We got a swimming pool last year, as can be expected when cleaning the skimmers I found a little mouse in one... he had probably been swiming for his life for hours. He would swim like hell come up get a breath of air then get sucked down, swim like hell, breath, get sucked down, over and over. I finally got tired of watching him and scooped him out, the little fellow almost looked grateful, untill I showed him to Licorice (my little OCD Terrier mix). It must have been Licorice's first kill because he got a little sloppy, anyhow I was so proud of my boy I almost cried!
While rebuilding my airplane engine I left the mufflers lying on the floor. Decided to set out some poison pellets since I had seen signs of mice. The way these things work is you put it out in the infected area. Mr. Mouse comes along and thinks he has struck the motherload, a stash for the entire winter. So he goes about stashing this stuff while taking a little nibble here and there, He sees those shiny mufflers there with perfect mouse sized holes and thinks "Hey, cool pad to impress the Mrs. Mouse with!", pretty soon he starts feeling a little faint and decides he needs water... well you know the rest of the story. I am still blowing mouse poison out of my mufflers.
David
I have a Sears shop vacuum, and don't like the exhaust shooting out the side, so I installed a PVC 90-degree up elbow in it, so the exhaust blows straight up.
My wash-room in the back of the garage is a large room that used to be the "game room (as in wild-game)/butcher shop" of the hunting lodge we've made into our home. I found Jamie's 50 lb bag of birdseed in there had a small hole in the side, so I moved it into a large metal can to keep it away from the meese. Then I went into the main area of the garage and got the shop vacuum and brought it into the game room to vacuum up the small grain/birdseed spill on the concrete floor below where the meathooks used to be in the ceiling.
When I turned the shop vacuum on,.... WHIRRRR-SPRAYYY.... 5 lbs of birdseed blew out, up, hit the ceiling, all over the 20 X 40 room, fell back down into my hair, down my collar, all over the place, into storage boxes, into the clean clothes in the hamper (had just been washed/dried) etc.
That little guy had stored several lbs of birdseed in the upturned exhaust elbow of my shop vacuum that was over 30 feet away in the next room!
Spent the next half-hour vacuuming up birdseed and sweeping/shaking out boxes, clothes, etc etc.
My wash-room in the back of the garage is a large room that used to be the "game room (as in wild-game)/butcher shop" of the hunting lodge we've made into our home. I found Jamie's 50 lb bag of birdseed in there had a small hole in the side, so I moved it into a large metal can to keep it away from the meese. Then I went into the main area of the garage and got the shop vacuum and brought it into the game room to vacuum up the small grain/birdseed spill on the concrete floor below where the meathooks used to be in the ceiling.
When I turned the shop vacuum on,.... WHIRRRR-SPRAYYY.... 5 lbs of birdseed blew out, up, hit the ceiling, all over the 20 X 40 room, fell back down into my hair, down my collar, all over the place, into storage boxes, into the clean clothes in the hamper (had just been washed/dried) etc.
That little guy had stored several lbs of birdseed in the upturned exhaust elbow of my shop vacuum that was over 30 feet away in the next room!
Spent the next half-hour vacuuming up birdseed and sweeping/shaking out boxes, clothes, etc etc.
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
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MoonlightVFR
- Posts: 624
- Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2005 5:55 pm
Another variation
Double up your protection.
Take a regular mouse trap. Drill two holes in end of board. Wire it to the tail spring. Bait w peanut butter. Use ONLY JIF EXTRA CRUNCHY peanut butter w fresh roasted peanut taste. After all it is the mouse's LAST MEAL.
Second position to take depends upon if it is a church mouse or field mouse that has taken a shine to your C170. One or the other is going to jump over the trap and continue up the fuselage station by station with a determined creep.
In the baggage floor board area place an open container of "pellets" you know the ones w a green tint just a hint of the IRISH. If he eats now he will "Elvis has left the building" and perish outside your airframe.
How do I know this? In 1983 I was working hard to earn IFR rating in my C170B and began to have communication problems. I owned one pair of headphones and the instructor owned NONE. "[1983]" The instructor had to listen to what Approach Control and TOWER was stating via the ORIGINAL speaker located in headliner. The quality fell off so dramatically we pulled the headliner. Appears while I was discovering SALAD BAR at local reastaurants (1983) mouse had made BRUNCH with my speaker. GONE. Archaic
It is a strange feeling when you walk in and look at tail wheel spring and see the mouse hanging w head tiltled to the side. End of Story.
So double up, mouse trap AND pellets.
You don't have to tell the kids why you are buying the Better Peanut Butter.
Happy flying.
Double up your protection.
Take a regular mouse trap. Drill two holes in end of board. Wire it to the tail spring. Bait w peanut butter. Use ONLY JIF EXTRA CRUNCHY peanut butter w fresh roasted peanut taste. After all it is the mouse's LAST MEAL.
Second position to take depends upon if it is a church mouse or field mouse that has taken a shine to your C170. One or the other is going to jump over the trap and continue up the fuselage station by station with a determined creep.
In the baggage floor board area place an open container of "pellets" you know the ones w a green tint just a hint of the IRISH. If he eats now he will "Elvis has left the building" and perish outside your airframe.
How do I know this? In 1983 I was working hard to earn IFR rating in my C170B and began to have communication problems. I owned one pair of headphones and the instructor owned NONE. "[1983]" The instructor had to listen to what Approach Control and TOWER was stating via the ORIGINAL speaker located in headliner. The quality fell off so dramatically we pulled the headliner. Appears while I was discovering SALAD BAR at local reastaurants (1983) mouse had made BRUNCH with my speaker. GONE. Archaic
It is a strange feeling when you walk in and look at tail wheel spring and see the mouse hanging w head tiltled to the side. End of Story.
So double up, mouse trap AND pellets.
You don't have to tell the kids why you are buying the Better Peanut Butter.
Happy flying.
gradyb, '54 B N2890C
OK here's my story: A friend calls me one day for a service call to pull his dishwasher. It seems that he had a member of the rodent family in his kitchen, so he grabbed his .22 rifle and loaded it with .22 shorts he used for plinking.
He has his wife chase the little innocent critter from its hiding place with a broom, then as it ran around the kitchen, he draws, aims and fires!
Well he hit the poor little fellow (or fellitte) but it still has enough left in the gas tank to run behind his dishwasher before succumbing to the GSW. I think that being mortally wounded, it prolly just wanted to have the last laugh.
As sure as a bear eats in the woods, in about 3 days the poor little critter starts to get a little "odiferous", hense a $90 service call to remove and inter the remains (AKA dipsy-dumpster burial).
That was the last time his wife let him play "The Rifleman" in the house. <g>
regards
~Marc
He has his wife chase the little innocent critter from its hiding place with a broom, then as it ran around the kitchen, he draws, aims and fires!
Well he hit the poor little fellow (or fellitte) but it still has enough left in the gas tank to run behind his dishwasher before succumbing to the GSW. I think that being mortally wounded, it prolly just wanted to have the last laugh.
As sure as a bear eats in the woods, in about 3 days the poor little critter starts to get a little "odiferous", hense a $90 service call to remove and inter the remains (AKA dipsy-dumpster burial).
That was the last time his wife let him play "The Rifleman" in the house. <g>
regards
~Marc
I once shot a squirrel who was eating my peaches. I failed to notice he was sitting directly between me and the power company's electric meter.
He died. So did the power.
When the power company showed up for the service call, I told them "I dunno".... but the lineman managed to get a peck of peaches for his wife.
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
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Kyle Wolfe
- Posts: 706
- Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2003 12:30 am
Another squirrelly story....
A group of us owned an Arrow. Our motto was always "You put the bugs on, you take the bugs off". I had just returned from a flight and was going to wash the bugs off the leading edges. We always kept a 5 gallon pail filled with water and soap. In the pail we kept a couple of bug sponges.
I walked over the the bucket, reached in and grabbed the sponge. I gave it a good, strong squeze to rid the sponge of excess water. I thought the sponge felt a bit too soft. I looked down at my hand to see what was wrong with the sponge and all I could see were mouse innards
The mouse had fallen in the bucket and drowned. I simply had not looked when reaching in the bucket. Took me numerous washes to get that mouse smell off my hand!
Moral of the story - if you keep a wash bucket in your hanger make sure it has a cover.
A group of us owned an Arrow. Our motto was always "You put the bugs on, you take the bugs off". I had just returned from a flight and was going to wash the bugs off the leading edges. We always kept a 5 gallon pail filled with water and soap. In the pail we kept a couple of bug sponges.
I walked over the the bucket, reached in and grabbed the sponge. I gave it a good, strong squeze to rid the sponge of excess water. I thought the sponge felt a bit too soft. I looked down at my hand to see what was wrong with the sponge and all I could see were mouse innards
The mouse had fallen in the bucket and drowned. I simply had not looked when reaching in the bucket. Took me numerous washes to get that mouse smell off my hand!
Moral of the story - if you keep a wash bucket in your hanger make sure it has a cover.
Kyle
54 B N1932C
57 BMW Isetta
Best original 170B - Dearborn, MI 2005
54 B N1932C
57 BMW Isetta
Best original 170B - Dearborn, MI 2005
One good mouse story deserves another...
I noticed that my wifes 87 Mercury Sable had a hole in the headliner up by the rear view mirror. A neat 1/2" hole that wasn't there the day before. I decided to take the car through the car wash and what do we see sitting on the windshield wiper as we enter the first rinse? A very wet pissed off mouse looking as us from the outside. He quickly scampered off behind the gas station never to be seen in our garage again. I have also had the aircleaner material destroyed by mice in two different cars.
Cheers Eric
I noticed that my wifes 87 Mercury Sable had a hole in the headliner up by the rear view mirror. A neat 1/2" hole that wasn't there the day before. I decided to take the car through the car wash and what do we see sitting on the windshield wiper as we enter the first rinse? A very wet pissed off mouse looking as us from the outside. He quickly scampered off behind the gas station never to be seen in our garage again. I have also had the aircleaner material destroyed by mice in two different cars.
Cheers Eric
Franknmouse
We once lived in a little trailer on the airport next to my shop. One fall a mouse with teeth like a beaver moved in under the floor. It sounded like I was going to be shivering in a pile of shavings by morning when that little sucker started chewing.
When I mentioned he might be in the piano, my wife had blood in her eye as she demanded I kill it. I assured her I would as soon as she let go of my collar and quite banging my head on the wall.
Until I figured out how to do him in, I would stomp on the floor to scare him into silence. One night he followed me back to the bed room after a good stomping and proceeded to chew the floor structural members to dust.
I found a new nickel sized hole true the floor and linoleum under the piano and dumped a bunch of mouse bait down it. No joy or silence, seemed like he used it for energy. I could see him with a flash light as a flash leaving the scene when I peeked thru the hole looking down the barrel of the pellet gun. Tracy was all in favor of using the 12 gauge.
I finally thought he might be courious so I stuck the barrel in the hole and rattled it around. Sure enough he stuck his head into view so I pulled the trigger. I could hear him wheezing so I tried the rattle the gun barrel
trick again and he stuck his bloody head into view again, so I shot him again, Blessed silence. All was well till about three days went by. Must have taken a month for Franknmouse to quite haunting us
When I mentioned he might be in the piano, my wife had blood in her eye as she demanded I kill it. I assured her I would as soon as she let go of my collar and quite banging my head on the wall.
Until I figured out how to do him in, I would stomp on the floor to scare him into silence. One night he followed me back to the bed room after a good stomping and proceeded to chew the floor structural members to dust.
I found a new nickel sized hole true the floor and linoleum under the piano and dumped a bunch of mouse bait down it. No joy or silence, seemed like he used it for energy. I could see him with a flash light as a flash leaving the scene when I peeked thru the hole looking down the barrel of the pellet gun. Tracy was all in favor of using the 12 gauge.
I finally thought he might be courious so I stuck the barrel in the hole and rattled it around. Sure enough he stuck his head into view so I pulled the trigger. I could hear him wheezing so I tried the rattle the gun barrel
trick again and he stuck his bloody head into view again, so I shot him again, Blessed silence. All was well till about three days went by. Must have taken a month for Franknmouse to quite haunting us
52 170B s/n 20446
56 172 s/n 28162
Echo Weed eater, Jezebeel
56 172 s/n 28162
Echo Weed eater, Jezebeel
one evening a bunch of my pilots were waiting in our shop hangar for some weather to arrive, and they trapped a mouse in one of the legs of an engine hoist. Removed him from there using a shop vac, then got the now dizzy and dusty mouse out of the vac, put him in a box with half of a candy bar, taped it up with some airholes, and UPS-ed him to another of our pilots at another base.
package arrives a couple days later, guy opens it and the mouse ran up his arm, dove for his living room and promptly made a home in one of the guy's stereo speakers.
same guy, now hating mice, later lived in an old trailer on the airport, he'd make a pot of coffee on his coffee maker at the beginning of each week and then just reheat a cup every morning until it ran out. Until the last cup came out with a drowned mouse in it, making him wonder how long had he been drinking mouse-coffee that week? bleah.
package arrives a couple days later, guy opens it and the mouse ran up his arm, dove for his living room and promptly made a home in one of the guy's stereo speakers.
same guy, now hating mice, later lived in an old trailer on the airport, he'd make a pot of coffee on his coffee maker at the beginning of each week and then just reheat a cup every morning until it ran out. Until the last cup came out with a drowned mouse in it, making him wonder how long had he been drinking mouse-coffee that week? bleah.
'56 "C170 and change"
'52 Packard 200
'68 Arctic Cat P12 Panther
"He's a menace to everything in the air. Yes, birds too." - Airplane
'52 Packard 200
'68 Arctic Cat P12 Panther
"He's a menace to everything in the air. Yes, birds too." - Airplane
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Boiler Bill
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 6:17 am
Hanger rat
I had my 170 in a rented hanger. A friend said he found a nice couch and brought it over. It was dark and raining out and he drug it in, wet ! I didn't have the heart to tell him to get it out. (mistake). Well it happened that King Rat lived in that couch and in one night he carried away all my creamer packages (new box full) and ate them under the couch, then got most of the coffee under there also. The day before I had a small part of a candy bar I took out of the plane and tossed it in a plastic garbage can.
The next morning that rat ate a hole in the side of the gargage can about the size of a dinner plate, what a mess. Glad I had no food in the plane. My friend picked up the couch the next day. Problem gone.
Bought a new hanger and moved my plane there, and a few months later found insulation in my glove compartment of my classic car. A mouse nest. Figured out the mice were taking insulation from under the dash of the airplane and putting it in the glove compartment of the car!
Set up a trap line and caught 4 in the car and 3 in the plane. Interesting site while checking traps in the plane, one mouse trap was tripped and had a small mouse foot in it. Then I checked the trap line in the car and found a mouse that was missing one foot.
All I can say is Happy Trapping
Bill
The next morning that rat ate a hole in the side of the gargage can about the size of a dinner plate, what a mess. Glad I had no food in the plane. My friend picked up the couch the next day. Problem gone.
Bought a new hanger and moved my plane there, and a few months later found insulation in my glove compartment of my classic car. A mouse nest. Figured out the mice were taking insulation from under the dash of the airplane and putting it in the glove compartment of the car!
Set up a trap line and caught 4 in the car and 3 in the plane. Interesting site while checking traps in the plane, one mouse trap was tripped and had a small mouse foot in it. Then I checked the trap line in the car and found a mouse that was missing one foot.
All I can say is Happy Trapping
Bill
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Boiler Bill
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 6:17 am
mouses
Well today I sent my scout into my airplane and my classice car in the hanger. The scout being my little dog. She will pick up the trail of the smallest mouse and let me know if there back. Sure enough she was hot on the trail, so I set out my trap line again. There back so get ready.
Bill
Bill
. A hungry cat can handle the mouse or mice problem on the ground and is also handy for unplanned IFR flight