ALERT If farmers don't plant=NO food, BUT A Plague of mice will leave farms for CITIES

ainitfunny

ainitfunny

Saved, to glorify God.
It occurred to me there is something else coming....

The fields our farmers plant are home to BILLIONS of mice that exist on the what falls from the crops.

If the crops are not planted, which word is THAT IS WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW SINCE THE FARMERS CANNOT GET LOANS TO BUY SEED AND FERTILIZER..,

Then those billions of mice will leave the farms and MIGRATE IN GREAT OVERWHELMING HORDES, covering the land, invading every home, IN A PLAGUE of vermin TO OVERRUN CITIES AND HOMES IN THEIR FRANTIC SEARCH FOR FOOD.

EXPECT IT. Be prepared. Buy new, metal garbage cans in which to secure your non-canned foods and grains. Or, USE YOUR USED LIDS with surplus canning jars to transfer corn meal, flour, oats, other grain and dry beans and food. BUY BIG COOKIE/POPCORN TINS FROM GARAGE SALES AND THRIFT STORES FOR THE SAME PURPOSE.
 
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D

Double_A

TB Fanatic
Bob you got a recipe?

My bag of rice and one of beans are in 15 or 20 gal (don't remember which size) zinc plated steel garbage type cans. I checked them for nice seal and tossed in a dozen bay leafs to keep the bugs away.

At my local hardware store you can buy 15, 20, 30 gallon zinc-coated steel garbage cans.

Rats almost ate through a 7 gallon mini plastic garbage can I used for dog food that I kept in my garage.
 
K

karnaaj

Membership Revoked
ainitfunny said:
It occurred to me there is something else coming....

The fields our farmers plant are home to BILLIONS of mice that exist on the what falls from the crops.

If the crops are not planted, which word is THAT IS WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW SINCE THE FARMERS CANNOT GET LOANS TO BUY SEED AND FERTILIZER..,

Then those billions of mice will leave the farms and MIGRATE IN GREAT OVERWHELMING HORDES, covering the land, invading every home, IN A PLAGUE of vermin TO OVERRUN CITIES AND HOMES IN THEIR FRANTIC SEARCH FOR FOOD.

EXPECT IT. Be prepared. Buy new, metal garbage cans in which to secure your non-canned foods and grains. Or, USE YOUR USED LIDS with surplus canning jars to transfer corn meal, flour, oats, other grain and dry beans and food. BUY BIG COOKIE/POPCORN TINS FROM GARAGE SALES AND THRIFT STORES FOR THE SAME PURPOSE.
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Off our meds are we?
 
H

Hermit

Inactive
bobpick said:
Done right and you have a stew.
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It's probably better to let the neighborhood cats get fat from eating them, and then put the cats in a stew (preferably killing, gutting and skinning them first).

The French claim that they taste just like rabbits.
 
bobpick

bobpick

Inactive
I'd rather eat something stupid like a dog :rdog: .. No offence dog lovers, but my cats love me to pieces (figuratively speaking).
 
B

BoatGuy

Inactive
bobpick said:
I'd rather eat something stupid like a dog :rdog: .. No offence dog lovers, but my cats love me to pieces (figuratively speaking).
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Be careful, Bobpick.. I feed my feral cats and they act like they love me, too... But, if I stop feeding them, I know they will kill me in my sleep and live off the carcass. So, I made sure to add lots of cat food to my preps...
 
ainitfunny

ainitfunny

Saved, to glorify God.
karnaaj said:
Off our meds are we?
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You have not "paid your dues" and are so damned new around here you haven't earned the respect to make a snide comment like that about someone on this board you don't know. You talk like an arrogant know it all 15 year old. If your "preps" are a reflection of your general ignorance you are bereft of wisdom and will be eating dirt soon.
:smkd:
 
H

Hermit

Inactive
bobpick said:
I'd rather eat something stupid like a dog :rdog: .. (figuratively speaking).
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Yeah, the Chinese and the Sioux would agree with you ..... but I don't think many dogs eat rats. I think it's mainly terriers and maybe chihuahuas, and they're too ugly and tough to bother with. Just not appetizing.
 
Dex

Dex

Constitutional Patriot
I've been actively training my cat for just such a contingency <tongue in cheek>. It's quite simple, all you have to do is get a pack of those little fuzzy mice and tie one onto the end of a fishing line attached to one of those little "kiddie" fishing poles that the sporting goods stores have. Proceed to cast the line and reel in your cat repeatedly until cat is literally addicted to playing "cat fishing".

My cat has given up nearly all interest in mice that just lay on the carpet without the help of tackle. I think lasers are ill advised for the sanity of a feline due to influencing them to chase something they can never really catch. Cat Fishing for my indoor cat has proven to be theraputic for all parties involved and certainly a creative training tool for her mousing career.

I have had my share of mouse infestations that have done some damage to my preps, I would hate to see an increase in rodent populations in urban areas, it's already bad enough. On the upside maybe it would help increase dwindling small predator populations that are condusive to the ecology.
 
C

cooter

cantankerous old coot
cant help it, this thread brought back some memories,

:groucho:

many yrs back had a friend ,(gee thinking back that was over 30yrs ago) that worked at a local mfg company (long gone like everything else now days:rolleyes:)

anyway they had a mouse problem and they had some BIG capacitors and high voltage transformers, :p

:chg:

with the idea of a bug zapper, we built a mouse zapper:shkr::xpnd:

it worked quite well, to say the least,
then too many people found out about the neet toy, :whistle: then, it disappeared rather quickly :shr::p

now if them mice do what the OP says, hey I might have the counter-mouse device market cornered
 
TECH32

TECH32

Inactive
ainitfunny said:
You have not "paid your dues" and are so damned new around here you haven't earned the respect to make a snide comment like that about someone on this board you don't know. You talk like an arrogant know it all 15 year old. If your "preps" are a reflection of your general ignorance you are bereft of wisdom and will be eating dirt soon.
:smkd:
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Ok - I'm an old timer around here so I'll ask: Are you off your meds?
 
ainitfunny

ainitfunny

Saved, to glorify God.
TECH32 said:
Ok - I'm an old timer around here so I'll ask: Are you off your meds?
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You have credentials. You should know I'm not on any "meds". If you think my thread and post is absurd and worthless, then DON'T take my advice and DON'T mouse/vermin proof your provisions. It is because most people WON'T, (if it occurs to them to "prep"
at all) that I mention the very real potential of a dearth of food for vermin in the fields COULD bring them to our doors. I may be crazy in your estimation, but my grandma used to describe it as "crazy like a fox".
 
Hfcomms

Hfcomms

EN66iq
How are the mice in the rural areas going to get into the cities?? Public transportation?? OK, little tongue in cheek but rodents lifespans are not great but they are profligerate. Rodents eat many things besides crops and then you have their natural predators as well. With lack of food they don't multiply as fast. However vermin is a problem and of course we should be prepared to deal with them. Sanitation is usually the key as to how many vermin you have to deal with. Keep clean and keep your area clean and you will have less to deal with. That and a few good cats!!
 
C

ceeblue

Inactive
I ran out of DeCon this year and just went ahead and bought a big box instead of a few of those little boxes. Every two years here the mice find a way in. This is the year they did and the year I caulk all over again, including the roof. Bah, I hate getting up there.

The price of diesel also has to be affecting decisions for next year's planting.

Years ago I was running into this guy in the clubs. We were friends of friends and ended up chatting often. He was raised on a dairy farm and hated cows. His father wanted him to take over the farm, but he hated farming. He wanted to be an author and was working on a novel about packs of rats moving over farmland, eating strangers on the road and such.

I looked at him like, oh, yeah, like anyone would believe that.

He educated me on country rats. I remembered a pack of rats on the property next door when I was a child. Anyway, the rats will pack where there is food. If there is old grain in an abandoned barn, rats will pack there. Lightning hits the barn and it burns down. The rats will take off and go to another farm. And it's good luck getting rid of them without burning down the barn and shooting every one that runs away.

So, yeah, if there is less grain on the land, the rats will be looking for new food sources. Some of those sources will be other animals. Remember this the next time your car breaks down in the country and you have to walk for help.

I wonder if that guy ever finished writing that book.
 
C

ceeblue

Inactive
Hfcomms said:
How are the mice in the rural areas going to get into the cities?? Public transportation?? OK, little tongue in cheek but rodents lifespans are not great but they are profligerate. Rodents eat many things besides crops and then you have their natural predators as well. With lack of food they don't multiply as fast. However vermin is a problem and of course we should be prepared to deal with them. Sanitation is usually the key as to how many vermin you have to deal with. Keep clean and keep your area clean and you will have less to deal with. That and a few good cats!!
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Five miles is nothing to a pack of a hundred or more hungry country rats.

We'll probably be seeing more hungry dog packs, too, as people abandon their pets on country roads.
 
K

Kdana

Inactive
First of all I have to say I think it's very important to protect your preps and alot of people might not think of that until they have a big problem! But - this sounds like the making of a new Disney movie.
 
ainitfunny

ainitfunny

Saved, to glorify God.
When I was a kid on a farm we lost quite a few chicks to rats who would kill them and pull them under the barn floor. They would kill the hens too sometimes if they could.
 
W

Witness

Deceased
Wow, Ainitfunny, that is real good advice. Wish I had thought of it. Now I have some work to do. I sure do learn a lot from you on this forum.

That makes me wonder. Didn't something like that happen in the bible? Now I understand how it could have happened, after they had no grain...then the mice came. Interesting.
 
B

Barry Natchitoches

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Now you city folks understand why OUTDOOR cats are so important to country folks!


I have actually seen feline adoption agencies that will not give you a homeless cat unless you sign a paper saying the cat will live indoors. Like indoors life is always better for a cat.


The fact of the matter is that country cats have a pretty good life in most cases. They are not pampered like their city counterparts, but they have large open areas to play in and lots of things to do. Boredom is seldom a problem for outdoor country cats.


Cats lived outdoors and partook of all the local rodentry long before man came around and tried to domesticate them.


And they will continue to do so long after the United States ceases to be the country we all know.


Don't underestimate the ability of the country cat to keep rodent populations in check.... unless, of course, man imprisons them in stick built homes where they are not free to stalk the rats.


:kat::kat::kat::kat:
 
Phil Ca

Phil Ca

Inactive
We just had a slight field mouse problem during the past week or so. Our garage door is not exactly flush with the door frame on either side at the bottom and the pesky critters scoot thsrough too easily. My wife was doing laundry and ssaw a mouse scurry past her to the second bedr oom. I immediately shut the door and we placeda folding table up Against the ouer doorframe. We obtained some Victor mouse traps with the scented yellow pedals and I added some peaenut butter and set twoinside the room and reclosed thedoor.

To further close the gap I set two traps near the edge of the garage dooor just inside. Within two days I caught four field mice about two to two and a half inches long in the garage traps. The traps in the second bedroom went untouched and there was no odor or visible mouse dirt.

A few nights ago I was in the laundry room when a small furry figure ran behind the very litter box I was cleaning out. I shut the door and called for my wife to place the folding table over the outside of the door so I could step out wthout the mouse following. Iplace three traps inside the laundry room and placed the cats litter box inthe hall bathroom where it remained for two nights. The third morning I did trapline patrol and found a three inch field mouse dead in the trap nearest the back wall.

I figured the one that entered the house might have come in whenthe front dooor was open for air and the security screeen door has a slight gapat the bottom. Anyway our mouse ordeal is over for now but I still keep the two traps near the two sides of the garage door.

I would reccomend that everyone keep at least six to eight traps on hand and be prepped for the little critters. The traps are reusable or you may throw them out with the deceased mouse if you are a bit squeamish about removing their little carcass from the spring. Back in the 20's and 30' my paternal grandmother ran a trap line in Wyoming. I have a couple of trapping books she ordered by mail and they are keepers.

When I caught a mouse in the trap I did a photo for evidentiary purposes and incase PETA comes by. All dead criters were checked using a strong flashlight to see if they appeared diseased or bore any fleas. They all seemed healthy and vermin free.

BTW, my six year old cat is not fast enough for mice as she is a tad overweight.

Happy hunting everyone.

BTW, I am no stranger to mouse extermination. When our daughter was born at the airbase in Montana in 1963 I was chasing mice at my office at the base supply. New fathers were not allowed at the delivery room at that time.

When I went to work at the US Assay Office I became known as the mouse killer. We moved to a country home in 1977 and our place had been empty for a few months. Within the first two weeks I caught 23 field mice in traps. It was more like three days actually. I plugged up entry points and seldom had a prblem after that. A few cats around kept the mouse and roofrat population down after that.
 
J

janecj333

Membership Revoked
ainitfunny said:
You have not "paid your dues" and are so damned new around here you haven't earned the respect to make a snide comment like that about someone on this board you don't know. You talk like an arrogant know it all 15 year old. If your "preps" are a reflection of your general ignorance you are bereft of wisdom and will be eating dirt soon.
:smkd:
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Putting up grain in mouse-proof bins makes sense.

The rest about treating new members as if they don't belong 'yet' or have to have a special password or decoder ring to fit in, not so much.
 
Walrus Whisperer

Walrus Whisperer

Hope in chains...
RATS-A-RONI! YUM!
:lkick:​
On a quieter note, Place traps close to walls, the little buggers like running along something. I've had them blunder into traps with no bait and snap themselves into their next lives. If you bait, something sticky is best, pnut butter is good. I try to smear some on the BOTTOM of the little bait place so they have to really get at the thing and more likely snap themselves. (sometimes those blasted traps don't go off) Another good way in an arid climate we used when I was a kid: A bucket with some water in it and a flat stick (we called it the plank :evil grin: ). Not too much water that they could swim out but just enough so that they will drown when they fall in. We were overrun with mice one year and we set a couple buckets up every night and every morning there was 10-20 dead mice in each one. This was out on the prairie. We were also overrun with rattlesnakes after the mice.

The cats are all well and good, but they need to eat the WHOLE darned mouse! One of the cats is catching them under the deck and bringing them in and crunching them up in the bathroom. Except for one little slimy piece stratigically placed for the first bare foot in the morning. I make hubby go in first. :D​
 
TECH32

TECH32

Inactive
ceeblue said:
Five miles is nothing to a pack of a hundred or more hungry country rats.

We'll probably be seeing more hungry dog packs, too, as people abandon their pets on country roads.
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There are still a few small farms in this area, but nothing more than a couple of acres. The bigger farms are at least 40+ miles west of here - at least.

Somehow I doubt the rats have a clue which way the nearest city is (unless they're living in them already). And last I heard they couldn't read maps.

I don't think we have much to worry about....
 
G

Gingergirl

Veteran Member
ainitfunny said:
It occurred to me there is something else coming....

The fields our farmers plant are home to BILLIONS of mice that exist on the what falls from the crops.

If the crops are not planted, which word is THAT IS WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW SINCE THE FARMERS CANNOT GET LOANS TO BUY SEED AND FERTILIZER..,

Then those billions of mice will leave the farms and MIGRATE IN GREAT OVERWHELMING HORDES, covering the land, invading every home, IN A PLAGUE of vermin TO OVERRUN CITIES AND HOMES IN THEIR FRANTIC SEARCH FOR FOOD.

EXPECT IT. Be prepared. Buy new, metal garbage cans in which to secure your non-canned foods and grains. Or, USE YOUR USED LIDS with surplus canning jars to transfer corn meal, flour, oats, other grain and dry beans and food. BUY BIG COOKIE/POPCORN TINS FROM GARAGE SALES AND THRIFT STORES FOR THE SAME PURPOSE.
Click to expand...

There is some evidence that crop failures in the Middle Ages had this very result, with the rats/mice bringing the Black Death.
 
C

ceeblue

Inactive
They can smell food and can follow roads, creeks and rivers.

Other country animals come to town, too, looking for food. Raccoons, opossums, coyotes, bobcats, whatever is around your area of the country. Coyotes follow rivers and creeks and end up walking around downtown Chicago. Over west of here in southern Wisconsin there is now a wild boar population. A man went to jail for that. He brought a breeding pair up from down south. The animals are fluid in their movements over time. Too bad we killed most of the foxes back in the 50s. Every month we'd see dozens of pelts laid out on the courthouse lawn when the trappers brought them in for the bounty money.

ainitfunny is right. As the flora changes, so will the fauna. We've had 60 years of steadily increasing grain supply. When that changes, so will the animals. Many of the citified subdivisions out in the country may have some surprises coming.
 
H

Hermit

Inactive
Walrus Whisperer said:
.....Another good way in an arid climate we used when I was a kid: A bucket with some water in it and a flat stick (we called it the plank :evil grin: ). Not too much water that they could swim out but just enough so that they will drown when they fall in. We were overrun with mice one year and we set a couple buckets up every night and every morning there was 10-20 dead mice in each one.​
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I've heard this one also, except that there was also some sort of grain floating in the water to attract the mice and rats.

Which grain floats all night long rather than absorbing the water and sinking?​
 
Walrus Whisperer

Walrus Whisperer

Hope in chains...
We just used the water. It was very dry where we were and they could smell the water and would go for it.
The grain might work in a wetter climate-you could just float a little plastic tub with some grain in it upon the water, although the thrashing of distressed mice might upend it. Suspending it wouldnt work because the little buggers are trapeze artists. Maybe a cone platform or the like, it would have to be deep in the bucket so they couldn't leap out. A very deep bucket would be wonderful for this, you could just suspend some grain deep in it and they'll tire of keeping their grip and finally fall in.
 
P

Publius

On TB every waking moment
I have been told there are as many rats as there people in every major city on this planet. Every year about this time field mice start looking for a better places to winter and our house is one of those places, so its time again to set the mouse traps and most of have been setoff by house cleaning and some of never get looked at until this time of year. I tell you the little devils can get into every thing if given a chance.
 
plantman

plantman

Veteran Member
Hmm, I don't see mice making the trek across the mountains. I think they have a 20 mile range...max before they go into serious calorie deficit and either get real skinny or keel over and fertilize the earth. That's just a guess. :tg:
 
Cascadians

Cascadians

Leska Emerald Adams
Since we have 28 bird stations around the house and are near rivers and creeks, we get critters. Lately the possums have been eating the shrews, mice and rats. But the possums climb the trees which are too young for that weight so lots of branches down.

Also scads of neighborhood cats roam through here. The varmin last only a couple days.
 
TerriHaute

TerriHaute

Hoosier Gardener
Field mice make great chicken food. I was digging compost out of the tumbler bin yesterday and dislodged a mother field mouse with several suckling babies. The chickens thought they were a great treat and fought over them. We actually have very few problems with mice. I think it has something to do with the fox family that lives in our hollow.
 
Loon

Loon

Inactive
The cities are already overrun with rats. We lived downstate in a city for 30 years. One day while I was hanging clothes outside I spotted rats around the bird feeder midday. I freaked out and took down the bird feeder and called the health department. A rep came out and gave me a great education about rats. He said rats always live within about 50 feed of their food source. THey especially love to live in or around cement. He easily found the "home" to my rats. I had a raised flower bed made out of those cement locking cottage blocks and there at the bottom was the rat hole. He said the one thing rats love better than grass seed is flower seed and my whole yard was filed with beautiful flowers. Their dessert was the seed that fell to the ground from the bird feeder.

I was shocked we had rats. I always thought rats lived in filfthy houses and yards. Mine was pristine and beautiful. I swallowed my pride and went to all my neighbors with the literature from the health department and gave speeches to the local garden club. I encouraged people to take down their bird feeders like I had done and to make sure their garbage was secure in heavy cans and taken out each week. For many bird lovers it fell on deaf ears. They were adament they were not taking down their feeders. My answer was that was good because the rats would then leave my yard and go to theirs to eat and multiply. I forget the stats now but rats can multiply into the hundreds of thousands in a very short time. The health dept. guy told me by the time you're seeing rats out in broad daylight you are overrun with them. We had always been so careful to keep our trash in covered cans up off the ground and take them out each week. Some nearby cities had banned bird feeding because the rat problem was so bad. The city brought out traps with poison in them and put them in my yard. We moved soon after this experience.

We moved to a farm in the country. I was careful to locate my new flower bed far from the house outside our fence. Thankfully, I have a resident snake who patrols my flower bed and protects it from mice. We placed our vegetable garden several hundred feet from the house for the same reason. Our numerous fruit trees are a long way from the house as well. I don't want any food sources for vermin up by the house. We do not feed the birds other than hummers. Our garbage cans are outside our fence up off the ground and in containers with lids. We have a number of outbuildings and each fall we put poison in each corner of the pole barn, old barn, bunkhouse, garage and even the old outhouse. By spring all the poison is gone.

I am faithful about picking fruit up off the ground and what we don't use I drive out into the woods and dump for the deer. You don't want rotting food laying around on the ground.

I also pick up my dog's feces immediatley as soon as they "go". I have a long handled pooper scooper and I keep a covered trash can with a bag in it to deposit all their poops into. Leaving dog feces around in your yard will attract rats and mice. It's a food source.

We have a lot of natural predators here like hawks, owls, skunks, possums and snakes. We've lived here now for 4 years and so far (knock on wood) we have not had one mouse in the house. I've never really ever seen any outside in the fields either but I'm sure they are there. I keep many acres of land mowed around our house. Mice and rats tend to hang out in tall grass. I also mow the grass and weeds before it sets seed which is what they like to eat. Take away their food sources and you won't have a problem.

This time of year as it's turning cold a lot of animals are looking to get into your homes, garages and out buildings for winter. Make sure your chimneys have cage covers over them and seal and caulk everything up tight.

I don't know if country rats would migrate to cities or not since they are so territorial but if and when they land in the cities they will have to fight the city rats up for space.

If you don't want rodents you have to be vigilent about keep all food sources locked away from them. Practice clean habits and you won't have a problem. We don't have ferrel cats either. We do have snakes on patrol.
 
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