Mice and spiders....
Posted by: Sicey on 04 August 2005
Since moving back into the country we seem to be inendated with creatures.
Have already had mouse catcher round once and he appeared to have done the job as the mouse/mice took the bait, but 6 weeks later we have another little blighter lurking in the kitchen somewhere, seriously tempted to get cat now, think kids will love having a pet around and am sure he/she will be good deterent for rodents.
On the 2nd point we seem to have an awful lot of spiders coming into the house and setting up camp in every nook and cranny, have tried feather duster but that only keeps them at bay for a day or so, does anyone know if you can buy some sort of deterent spray that will put them off in future?
Regards,
John
Have already had mouse catcher round once and he appeared to have done the job as the mouse/mice took the bait, but 6 weeks later we have another little blighter lurking in the kitchen somewhere, seriously tempted to get cat now, think kids will love having a pet around and am sure he/she will be good deterent for rodents.
On the 2nd point we seem to have an awful lot of spiders coming into the house and setting up camp in every nook and cranny, have tried feather duster but that only keeps them at bay for a day or so, does anyone know if you can buy some sort of deterent spray that will put them off in future?
Regards,
John
It's amazing how many people leave outside doors wide open and then expect the wildlife to ignore the invitation. Don't have bird tables near the house and don't overload them either or you'll collect rats and mice from all over. Don't put food on the compost heap for them either. Vegetable matter only!
The previous owner of our present house used to say to neighbours that mouse droppings would float to the surface of the milk on his cereal. In fact we found about a cubic meter of mouse nesting material scavenged from all over the house above and below kitchen cupboards and in the ceilings and roof space. They liked to chew the exposed electricity cables too!
Once the mice were gone and the house tightened up we haven't been bothered again in years. The council rat catcher never believes us when we say we haven't any since everybody else has. Our lean-to conservatory has hinged, small-mesh wire inner doors in alloy frames to allow complete ventilation without rats, mice and toads getting in. But beneficial insects like the small, wasp-like, hover flies can get in to the plants. The doors probably help to keep other uninvited guests out too.
A female cat is usually a better hunter than a lazy male who only thinks about eating, sleeping, fighting and making kittens. But a female will actually produce dozens of kittens unless "seen to" by the vet early on. Feed her well and she'll be a far better mouser than the millions of starving farm cats who die young. Often too ill and weak to catch anything.
We keep plain net curtains stretched tightly across any open windows to keep insects out and are very rarely bothered by them. The odd fly which gets past the defenses is swiftly despatched with a plastic fly swat. One swat to each room saves having to fetch them and then lose the fly in the meantime. The few spiders we find are caught in a drinking glass. A postcard slid carefully under them to avoid injury and then they are sent outdoors again. They will starve indoors where there is no prey.
I remember a short summer holiday in rural Cornwall as a child. Waking to find the bedroom ceiling and upper walls almost black with insects. I quickly hid under the covers and couldn't sleep for hours.
The previous owner of our present house used to say to neighbours that mouse droppings would float to the surface of the milk on his cereal. In fact we found about a cubic meter of mouse nesting material scavenged from all over the house above and below kitchen cupboards and in the ceilings and roof space. They liked to chew the exposed electricity cables too!
Once the mice were gone and the house tightened up we haven't been bothered again in years. The council rat catcher never believes us when we say we haven't any since everybody else has. Our lean-to conservatory has hinged, small-mesh wire inner doors in alloy frames to allow complete ventilation without rats, mice and toads getting in. But beneficial insects like the small, wasp-like, hover flies can get in to the plants. The doors probably help to keep other uninvited guests out too.
A female cat is usually a better hunter than a lazy male who only thinks about eating, sleeping, fighting and making kittens. But a female will actually produce dozens of kittens unless "seen to" by the vet early on. Feed her well and she'll be a far better mouser than the millions of starving farm cats who die young. Often too ill and weak to catch anything.
We keep plain net curtains stretched tightly across any open windows to keep insects out and are very rarely bothered by them. The odd fly which gets past the defenses is swiftly despatched with a plastic fly swat. One swat to each room saves having to fetch them and then lose the fly in the meantime. The few spiders we find are caught in a drinking glass. A postcard slid carefully under them to avoid injury and then they are sent outdoors again. They will starve indoors where there is no prey.
I remember a short summer holiday in rural Cornwall as a child. Waking to find the bedroom ceiling and upper walls almost black with insects. I quickly hid under the covers and couldn't sleep for hours.
quote:Originally posted by Steve Bull:
Never had a problem with mice in the house, but the cat takes care of spiders pretty effectively.
Most cats WILL eat spiders
That said, spiders are good - they eat flies. Whilst I have an aversion to killing small defenceless animals and EVEN insects, I *hate* flies and wasps with a passion as they go for my eyes (due to my contact lens drops).
The pesky little sods are almost impossible to swat if you have nystagmus - grrrr!
quote:Originally posted by Yeldarb:
Spiders in a house is a good thing - it means you have a dry house.
B
I'm surprised to hear this. I know of a damp and ancient pub cellar right beside a regularly flooding river and a leaky canal which has the largest spiders in England, bar none.
quote:Originally posted by garyi:
We live in a cottage built in the 1700s. I have never seen so may spiders in my life, they are every where from little things up to ones that actually scare the shit out of me.
Still, keeps the flies down and one thing is for sure, you ain't gonna get rid of spiders, what you can see is surely the thin edge of the wedge.
This would appear to be the case even in my relatively modern (1990's-built) house. Spiders are a regular occurance, again like garyi says from small ones that hang discretely round the ceiling of my bathroom to one particularly fearsome looking house spider that suddenly came crawling out from underneath one of my system racks! I could have sworn I could see the hairs on its legs it was so big!
Then there's the thinner creepier looking thing that was still must have been a couple of inches in diameter, that hung on its web as if standing sentry outside my bathroom the other night. Fortunately by the morning it had disappeared...
Cheers,
Jon
I have nothing against spiders personally apart from them putting webs everywhere ie. behind my speakers etc!
Its just a PITA keeping the place clean with spiders in every nook and cranny.
Wife is off down the RSPCA in morning to look at some young mouse catchers
Its just a PITA keeping the place clean with spiders in every nook and cranny.
Wife is off down the RSPCA in morning to look at some young mouse catchers
quote:Originally posted by andy c:
Only things I use in the garden is slug killer ...
Beer traps are far more effective at catching slugs. It's what danish beer was invented for.
If a hedgehog eats a poisoned slug it will probably do more harm than a drunken slug.
The same with fly spray. Who wants to breathe a chemical cocktail for a couple of hours? A plastic swat and a vicious killer instinct is great therapy after hard day on the forum. Make sure you close the lid of your Linn first though.
quote:Originally posted by Hammerhead:
A horse fly bit bit me on the hand a couple of weeks back and said hand swelled up like a boxing glove.
Steve - forgot about THEM! One bit me on my ankle in 2001, and the damn thing swelled up so much I had to walk with a stick for 3 days...
Since I WOULDN'T pay £45 for one (the cheapest anywhere in Reading had) I went to Bitz Bizarre and got an African skull stick (about 5 feet tall) for £8 and used that instead. If anyone in the town centre took the pee, I pretended to put a curse on them - very amusing indeed.
Apart from that damn swollen foot!
(I still have the stick btw
)