I apologize if someone posted a link to the Tomcat poison boxes. These things work and work fast.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/TOMCAT-Child-and-Dog-Resistant-Disposable-Station-Rat-and-Mouse-Killer/1000545805?store_code=2851&cm_mmc=shp--c--prd--lwn--ggl--LIA_LWN_241_Chemicals--1000545805--local--0-_-0&ds_rl=1286981&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzYnPhP-n_QIVGsiUCR2h3wyfEAQYDiABEgKSkfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
I dealt with mice and rats as a boarder. Tack lockers are the worst things when it comes to mice - the mice can get in but the cats can not. Thatās a problem!
I put out bait stations as well as snap traps. I caught probably a hundred over my boarding time.
Yes the BO should handle it. But if itās between that and a saddle getting ruined - get the traps!
You 1) donāt keep food in your locker, and
Been there, done that. They can fit into any spot 1/4 inch or larger. Two years ago, I had a mouse die in my trunk and leave sad desperate claw/gnaw marks before it found a place to give up. I didnāt keep treats in my trunk, but others had put them in there for Xmas presents.
My small animal vetās husband spent a week in the ICU and almost died from a rodent-borne disease. I prefer to just keep them out.
If your primary concern is mice in your own tack locker, you might try putting an ultrasonic rodent repeller device inside. The ones I own are powered by a nearby electrical outlet, but there are likely battery powered devices available. No other boarders will hear the ultrasonic noise and it will make your locker a place for mice to avoid.
Thanks for all the tips guys. I think Iāll weather strip my locker so it closes and get a battery operated ultrasonic rodent repeller. I did ask if the weather stripping would be okay.
My BO isā¦ not very approachable. In fact she can be super mean lol. I am going to talk to the BM a bit too- he said they were live catching and releasing. As sweet as that isā¦ they just come back!
And the cats! One was taken home for retirement. The other suddenly was really sick and they think he got into poison. The remark was āI know some boarders have poison in their lockersā but nobody knows for sure. Thereās like 5 office cats but they donāt appear to be mousers
Nope. No idea how long the hemmhorraging takes. Donāt really care.
Finding a dead mouse beats having them reproducing in your trunk.
Feeding rehomed feral cats is your best bet for keeping them around & relatively cheap.
Just do not leave cat food out overnight.
Though, if your barn is already overrun, food left out during the day can attract mice too.
Damned if you do, damned if you donāt.
But putting catfood in a secure container when you leave is better than having your tack destroyed.
Do NOT believe anyone who tells you barncats should not be fed.
Theyāll hunt, but they need food too.
WTFruitbat is wrong with your BO?
Do they not understand mice can damage their infrastructure by chewing wires as well as holes in stalls?
Is a barn fire preferable to feeding a few cats?
And as mentioned, hanta virus is no joke.
Stoopid way to run (as you describe) a ācompetitive barnā 
Donāt use Tomcat bait.
Itās advertised āchild and pet resistantā but it will kill anything that eats a poisoned mouse.
Give your local predators - hawks, coyotes, fox - a chance.
Trust me, MI has black snakes. Getting one to take up residence in your barnā¦ Not so easy.
Just a tip from my own experience since we are getting close to turnout blanket storage time.
If you take them home to clean and store, thoroughly shake them out first at the barn.
I once took a blanket home that had been hanging outside my horseās stall. When I got home I opened the car trunk, took out the blanket, and four mice dropped out and disappeared into my garage. My hope was that they were all the same sex - that was not the case.
OMGā¦ NOOO!!! F. I never even thought of that! How horrible!
A lot of people have had better suggestions than this, but I got some peppermint-scented anti-mouse spray from Amazon. Works okay, and actually smells nice, but it sounds like you need a much more hard-core solution, with all the mice running around.
Well, yeah. Because the alternative is having a bazillion mice eating tack - if the BO isnāt willing to pay to replace damaged stuff, they need to act on the mice.
I had a BO like this once, with a tack locker set up like you have, with limestone floors for easy tunneling. I put three jumbo trays of poison in my locker, they were GONE overnight. The locker 3 down from mine got all the dead mice, I think she pulled 10 or 15 out. Whoops.
Unless the weather stripping is metal, mice will chew right threw it. I had a turkey baster in a drawer for syringing when serious dental work had to be done, a mouse chewed right threw the hard plastic of the syringe.
Yes they are cute but they carry disease and are destructive. My barn kitties all passed from various diseases when they were older. No more cats for me for several reasons, so I buy those TomCat boxes and put them under the shavings pallet in a stall. The mice never make it out of that stall alive.
I am a bad person, because this made me laugh REALLY hard.
@tipzythegreat, I think you have to decide if you want to make the mouse problem less for everyone or if you are going to work hard to make your locker safe for your things and everyone else is on their own.
Making your locker safe for your things should not be the hardest thing. Take the time to empty it out enough to see where there is any gap (like someone said 1/4") that a mouse could easily enter, then you need to close that gap with something that is enough of a nuisance that they will decide to eat/sleep somewhere else. Like so many things in the world, it will be about the path of least resistance. Make your locker not appealing and they will move into another locker.
Fixing the mouse problem for everyone is a much larger problem.
@eponacelt - I actively decided to not think further about what that thought might mean about me 
Semi related. I rented a house on property at the mouse barn; it was 150 years old and very well ventilated we can say. I always had traps out for mice. I had just moved there about the time I broke up with an ex, and there was a decent sized bag of clothes and whatnot that he didnāt want to take home from the house I sold 
. It went in a shed out back. When I moved from that place to my new house, I told him he needed to get his stuff or I was throwing it out.
He got his stuff and also a hitch hiker mouse that ruined everything in it and he saw the thing run out of the bag in his bedroom 
Steel Wool is a good item to stuff in small gaps, mice/rats do like to chew on it
But my concern is the horse Feed, how much are these rodents contaminating it
OMG! Thatās crazy!!! I am also very freaked out about the diseases. Itās no joke!
@SadieRidingHorses I have heard the peppermint deters them ā but yes, I think I need more to protect my stuff!
@2DogsFarm I wish I knew what was wrong with her. Maybe she doesnāt realize the wire chewing and disease carrying. I agree. She does a lot of questionable things, but I was shocked when she only offered me poison after my saddle pad was ruined. Come on - I am NOT the only one with this going on!!!
@trubandloki I think Iām going to just make my locker safe. Iāve cleaned it out a few times and take everything out every day Iām there to weed them out. Iām hoping they stay out.
@FjordBCRF Your ex got what was coming to him! HAHA!
@clanter the grain is on the other side of the barnā¦ but it wouldnāt be a big deal for the mice to scurry across the arena to get there. The grain room is easy to get into from the inside of the barn or the outside. Grain is left in a wheelbarrow overnight, although the main grain is in a silo or in a large wooden box with a lid. Iāve seen plenty of beetles in there. No miceā¦ yetā¦
I apologize I canāt remember who posted their husband became sick from a disease carried by rodents.
Maybe you could print this CDC document, shove it in the face of the barn owner and subtly (or not) let her know she could possibly face lawsuit(s) if she doesnāt clean up the rodent issue and someone gets sick.
Well if sheās ignorant of the danger to her property from a rodent infestation, you have to wonder what other safety issues sheās ignoring.
IIWM, I might be looking for a safer, cleaner barn.
10+yrs as a boarder & this is your only issue?
BTW: mice can chew through anything, including metal. Though that usually deters them.
This was my thought too. One barn I was at felt bad about dealing with raccoons 
. There were cats at least that dealt with mice.
. Grain is left in a wheelbarrow overnight,
I believe until this practice is curtailed there will always be rodents in the barn
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