What surface discourages mice?

[Scribbler]

Last week we got a brief reprieve from the heat wave and the mice came back to party in one of my lofts. They ran across the compressed Timothy and pooped a lot. They love eating the Timothy seed heads.

I noticed that they clearly spent more time on the bakes that had flat compressed sides up versus the cut sides, which in this particular hay are very sharp ended (much more than regular hay).

This got me wondering if there was a type of fabric or something I could toss over hay to discourage mice feet. In winter I tarp which works somewhat but they can still get under tarps to some extent.

[S1969]

I honestly can’t think of anything that would actually discourage mice; they are so little, and so enterprising. It was easy for them to lounge on the flat sides of your bales because they were available, but I’m sure that if they had all been stacked cut side up, they would have found other ways to eat the seed heads. I’m wondering if the way the bales were stacked just made it more evident that they were there…but maybe always were there.

I had mice living inside one of my winter blankets once - it was hanging but never got very cold so I didn’t have to use it for a while. Thankfully I noticed before I put it on my horse! LOL.

They are cute, but I hate them.

[Feathered_Feet]

Closest thing to fabric I can think of would be a somewhat stiff, slippery plastic sheeting. Good luck, they are tenacious and creative.

[LCDR]

Not a surface, but how about a couple of hard working barn cats? And if you are lucky and have a black snake take up residence, count it as a blessing and learn to live with it. It is a bit of a shock to find one curled up in a corner under the feed bucket - just waiting for a tasty mouse to come looking for spilled feed.

Another thing to try would be electronic rodent repellers. They get mixed reviews, meaning they work great for some people, and not at all for others, but over the past year I have had decent results with several of the T3-R brand units…

[StormyDay]

I’ve never had any luck with the electronic repellers. I wish they worked.
The best thing you can do is kill them. If you have no barn cats you can put out poison. They have these little poison traps that are only big enough for a mouse to get into. If you do (or have barn owls and such nearby) those electric shock traps work really well (though you have to empty them daily)

I bet if you found a fabric that was really poky and caught on their fur they would hate that. But they are so tenacious they would probably find a way around it.

[Scribbler]

We have barn cats but perhaps not very effective ones. We have high tech bolt gun traps. We have installed owl nesting boxes. Rat poison has just been banned in our province unless you have an exemption for food service or production. We do all the sensible things to keep our grain secure. I was just wondering about “hardening the target” for the Timothy hay as they love it.

[StormyDay]

@Scribbler

We have barn cats but perhaps not very effective ones. We have high tech bolt gun traps. We have installed owl nesting boxes. Rat poison has just been banned in our province unless you have an exemption for food service or production. We do all the sensible things to keep our grain secure. I was just wondering about “hardening the target” for the Timothy hay as they love it.

Have you tried this? It’s poison free. Somehow it kills them while being safe for other animals. It seems to either work great or not work at all.

Amazon.com : EcoClear Products 620200-6D MouseX All-Natural Non-Toxic Humane...

And I know what you mean about the Timothy. I kept finding piles of seed heads under things last winter until I put out poison.

[Scribbler]

Really interesting. I don’t see how it could work with the ingredients though. I’ve run it by our club pest management specialist to see what she thinks.

[StormyDay]

Let me know what she says. I recently tried one that was supposed to keep them away with essential oils and it did nothing but make my tack room smell nice.

[baybrio]

@Scribbler

Really interesting. I don’t see how it could work with the ingredients though

I’m not sure if it this product but I’ve heard of one that expands lethally in the digestive tract. Maybe that’s how this works.

[Scribbler]

The mouse x apparently works by poisoning them with salt. You have to remove all food sources and then put out these high salt pellets. Not necessarily the humane death they tout on the website

[clanter]

I have tried the mouse x stuff…nothing will eat it…absolutely nothing

might try this self adhesive shelf paper

https://www.spoonflower.com/en/wallpaper/6148893-paint-by-number-cats-large-by-rawbonestudio?country=us&currency=USD&fabric=wallpaper_woven&size=WALLPAPER_IMPERIAL_TEST_SWATCH_2_x_1&measurement_system=imperial&gclid=CjwKCAjwmeiIBhA6EiwA-uaeFbm3lR1eD42bxtdPZ4oR5fRvb8DbT1mIvkySPlIvj_GGZhfZEzUtrBoCI7UQAvD_BwE