What would be a nice humane way to get rid of mice in a yard?

Question

My coworker has quite a few Vole (sp?) rats or mice in his yard and was wanting to know a humane way to get rid of them? Is there any kind of spray or repellent he can use to keep the rats from going in his yard? What would it cost to have animal control or something come out and capture them?

Answer 1

You could capture them, but as long as the yard is an inviting place to live, they will continue coming back.

Keep down on clutter, like garden waste, and unneeded furnature, and just general c**p that builds up.

Keep bushes/thick shrubs down to a minimum.

If there ares sheds, make sure there are no places for them to get inside.

Same goes for attics, eves, and crawl spaces. Make sure they can't get in anywhere and make nests.

Make sure garbage is in a rodent safe container.

If they compost, don't compost meat, fish or dairy, as these attract rats.

In short, make sure there is no place for them to live, and nothing for them to feed on.

and, if all else fails

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Get a cat.

Answer 2

Capture them with a Have-a-heart trap, or whatever it's called. [If you have seen the Pixar movie Ratatouille, when the rat is caught in the trap and put in the trunk of the old chef's car, that is the trap I'm referring to.]

Make sure that they don't have any good places to life after that. Maybe find the mouse-holes and slowly flood them out so that they have to leave and then they'll find the trap, and then go in! Then you will want to fill in their holes and keep them out.