There's a mouse in the house (bug out bag food storage)

[BullOnParade]

Been a busy few months. Mrs, baby and me moved out of the apartment in the big bad city to a small rental house in a slightly better city nearby.

Shortly after we started to move stuff in, we discovered the house had a mouse issue when we lost a small amount of shelf stable groceries. We threw a bit of money at the issue, improved our food storage and laid some traps. Caught one mouse and the issue seems to have gone away. But I'm sure the house has more.

I mainly came here to ask about bug out bags specifically. Our bags were set up with three days of mainstay rations and a few packets of candy and junk. Plus the dog's bag with three days of dry food. All of that stuff has been packed into the freezer for now, which I hate. I want my bags to be more together, not less.

Suggestions or pointers welcome. I've got a bucket trap in the crawlspace, filling holes with steel wool, and snap traps throughout the house. But any ideas for bug out bag storage are welcome.

[boskone]

I can't say as I'm particularly familiar with mice, but a couple thoughts would be either a plastic tote or a metal cabinet.

Plastic totes would be cheaper, and while not exceptionally mouse-proof combined with something unattractive-smelling might be enough to at least point them elsewhere.

It'd be more expensive, but at least here in the states you can get a metal garage cabinet or "chest-style" truck tool box (the kind that sits in the bed and doesn't overhang the bed) for $200-300. They're not super secure, but should be suitable for keeping rodents out. I'd probably go with the cabinet; I think you'd get more volume for your buck.

[NT2C]

Been a busy few months. Mrs, baby and me moved out of the apartment in the big bad city to a small rental house in a slightly better city nearby.

Shortly after we started to move stuff in, we discovered the house had a mouse issue when we lost a small amount of shelf stable groceries. We threw a bit of money at the issue, improved our food storage and laid some traps. Caught one mouse and the issue seems to have gone away. But I'm sure the house has more.

I mainly came here to ask about bug out bags specifically. Our bags were set up with three days of mainstay rations and a few packets of candy and junk. Plus the dog's bag with three days of dry food. All of that stuff has been packed into the freezer for now, which I hate. I want my bags to be more together, not less.

Suggestions or pointers welcome. I've got a bucket trap in the crawlspace, filling holes with steel wool, and snap traps throughout the house. But any ideas for bug out bag storage are welcome.

A metal trash can would work. Put the bags inside and put the lid on, problem solved.

[BullOnParade]

Ah, metal garbage can. Thanks guys. Definitely the easiest solution.

[MPMalloy]

Ah, metal garbage can. Thanks guys. Definitely the easiest solution.

Sensitive electronics perhaps?

[Zed Hunter]

Poison bait in hidden places works wonders. Tom cat is the brand I use.

[BullOnParade]

Ah, metal garbage can. Thanks guys. Definitely the easiest solution.

Sensitive electronics perhaps?

How so?

Alternative idea, secure hooks and or floating shelves. Anyone know if mice could scale drywall?

[Brekar]

Mice can scale pretty much anything if it means getting free food. We had that problem years ago before I started at the railroad. We moved into a shitty little apartment in Kansas City that was apparently a magnet for mice. We found that any holes patched with metal mesh was great for stopping mice from getting in. Any food kept in plastic containers was OK, but bags would be destroyed by them.

We also found that keeping the cats food in one of these cat food storage container's helped a lot. It also helps that we have a Siamese mix that is an absolute murder machine on anything rodent or lizard related.

Here's Donut in all her Glory...

[NT2C]

I have seen mice cross a plaster ceiling, upside down. (trying to avoid a cat)

[SCBrian]

Drywall is soft enough I would think a mouse would be able to climb it. What about establishing a population of Werewolf mice to combat the field mice you are dealing with?

[MPMalloy]

Ah, metal garbage can. Thanks guys. Definitely the easiest solution.

Sensitive electronics perhaps?

How so?
Alternative idea, secure hooks and or floating shelves. Anyone know if mice could scale drywall?

Something I heard about EMP.

[BullOnParade]

Mice can scale pretty much anything if it means getting free food. We had that problem years ago before I started at the railroad. We moved into a shitty little apartment in Kansas City that was apparently a magnet for mice. We found that any holes patched with metal mesh was great for stopping mice from getting in. Any food kept in plastic containers was OK, but bags would be destroyed by them.

We also found that keeping the cats food in one of these cat food storage container's helped a lot. It also helps that we have a Siamese mix that is an absolute murder machine on anything rodent or lizard related.

Here's Donut in all her Glory...

When my wife was just out of college, she had a bad experience with an infested house she was renting. When we discovered sign here, she went full bore moving the pantry into glass canning jars. I folded up some sheet metal boxes a while back and we repurposed them. Kitchen is now fully secured in glass or metal, no plastic containers. CanuckDiver was a big help to us , his rural property was infested when he bought it and he's taught us a lot of what worked for him.

Dogs bowl gets cleaned every night and put away before bed. And dishes are never put off til morning anymore. We've discussed a cat, it worked for my wife in that apartment many years ago, but isn't fail proof, and we don't really want another animal to care for right now.

[Brekar]

Nothing is fail proof when it comes to rodents, but that sounds like it makes it hard for them to get anything. As far as pets are concerned, if you have kids do like we did. My 8 year old wanted a cat, a.k.a. Donut for his 4th birthday. He picked her out at the pound, and they've been inseparable ever since. He has had 1 job since then. Clean up her messes, feed and water her, and keep an eye on her. That keeps her out of our hair as far as us having to do it, he takes the job very serious, and it leaves just my wife's dog for us to deal with.

[BullOnParade]

Ah, metal garbage can. Thanks guys. Definitely the easiest solution.

Sensitive electronics perhaps?

How so?
Alternative idea, secure hooks and or floating shelves. Anyone know if mice could scale drywall?

Something I heard about EMP.

Oh okay. Suppose it would serve double duty, yes. Each of our bags have an old cellphone and walkie talkies.

[RoneKiln]

What about establishing a population of Werewolf mice to combat the field mice you are dealing with?

This is why we can't have nice things!

[yossarian]

Poison bait in hidden places works wonders. Tom cat is the brand I use.

OP mentioned dogs, so poison bait probably isn't a great idea. No matter how well you hide it, dogs and cats are still at risk of of catching a rodent trying to flee from its own burning, melting guts.

[lurkshere]

Poison bait in hidden places works wonders. Tom cat is the brand I use.

OP mentioned dogs, so poison bait probably isn't a great idea. No matter how well you hide it, dogs and cats are still at risk of of catching a rodent trying to flee from its own burning, melting guts.

When said poisoned rodent does find somewhere to die better hope it's not inside the house. Hunting down the foul smelling rotting corpse can be arduous.

[BullOnParade]

Poison bait in hidden places works wonders. Tom cat is the brand I use.

OP mentioned dogs, so poison bait probably isn't a great idea. No matter how well you hide it, dogs and cats are still at risk of of catching a rodent trying to flee from its own burning, melting guts.

When said poisoned rodent does find somewhere to die better hope it's not inside the house. Hunting down the foul smelling rotting corpse can be arduous.

Wife read about mixing plaster of paris with cocoa powder or flour as a type of poison, the plaster hardens in the stomach and the mouse starves. We decided against it because 1) as mentioned, trying to find a dead mouse wherever sounds less than fun, 2) sounds like a shitty way to die. They may be a pest, but I want them to die quickly, 3) if they die in the crawlspace or attic, I'll never know how many were killed.

[tony d tiger]

Snap traps work really well if correctly placed. Just like a good ambush, you have to channel the rodents into the trap from the right direction. Placed between a few flower pots, or similarly positioned to avoid side approaches will get quick kills. I've used pieces of the dog's "beggin strips" wired onto the tray, with some peanut butter, as a tempting bait. Wiring the dog treat keeps the rats (in my case, the rodents are... big) from an easy meal. Then I block off the dogs from being able to get at the traps.

[Brekar]

I've done that wiring the bait trick to the trap before. It works well. Wire the cheese down, smear a bit of spray cheese on top of that, and bam. Dead mouse. Done it with Trix, etc before as well. But you'd better make sure the pets cannot get to it, or you'll be trapping your pet 1st.

[RoneKiln]

Yesterday I was staring at an unopened tin of Danish cookies and struggling with whether to open them. I can resist goodies in an unopened container for months. But the moment it's opened...

Anyway, it occurred to me that a lot of candies and cookies come in a wide range of metal tins nothing other than raccoons or bears are likely to be able to open. A metal cookkie tin might not be ideal for backpacking, but might still be useful for storing goodies in a BOB when concerned about mice in the house.

[MacWa77ace]

[...] Plus the dog's bag with three days of dry food. All of that stuff has been packed into the freezer for now, which I hate. I want my bags to be more together, not less.

Suggestions or pointers welcome.

Make sure you are rotating your dry dog food out every 2-3 months. There are fats in there that go rancid over time. Freezing may extend the life but you'd have to look at the freezer life of the type of fat.
My next door neighbor was complaining how her two little Westies wouldn't eat their food. What is the food? she points to a large tupperware container in her garage, in South Florida, with 50lbs of food in it and another 50lb bag next to that. Those dogs couldn't eat that in a year and my garage gets to 110 degrees in the summertime, easy. It was constantly rancid, they didn't like it. We had big dogs and bought small bags so they get freshest food rotated often to avoid that. [they got dry as a portion of their diet, for the added vitamins and minerals mostly]

I keep my vehicle GBHB in a cooler in my car. Along with some emergency food/ water/VFAK and other items that i'm trying to mitigate extreme daily temp changes. Most of the rest of my stuff is in a steel storage cabinet at home which either method should work for you with keeping mice out.


Something like this can hold BOB's and food securely together. Find used cabinets on Let go, Offer up, craiglist, used office furniture dealers, etc.

If you're not already doing this, you could keep your food in separate, small, 'mouse proof' container, and also in zip bags or vacuum bags in those containers, right next to your BOB's. Then when buggin', open the container, grab the bags and put them in your BOBs. Separating and yet compartmentalizing food like that will also help with rotation. You can date the bags with markers.

[Laager]

Whatever you do, don't shoot it. For some odd reason I ended up on the wrong side of every female in my family. Although all the males thought it was the way to go.

Something to know is that Mice like to travel along walls and baseboards (they tend to avoid open areas) so place your trap(s) along these areas. Also place some traps where evidence of mice such as fecal pellets or droppings are seen. I've always heard that when placing traps it is always best to lay them flat with the side along the wall, as well as placing more than one trap.

Also you seem to catch more mice on the first night, so don't be stingy with the traps place out more than you think you will need.

We use Sticky traps and they seem to work just fine.

[Brekar]

Like Laager mentioned sticky traps work really well. When I worked at the Phoenix airport we had a HUGE rat problem. Their answer was glue traps. They worked really well. We were catching 4-6 rats per pad on a pad not really designed to hold that many. They'd get caught trying to crawl over each other. It was disgusting to see.

I also advocated shooting them as well. My wife also thought it was a bad idea. She also thought it was a good idea to feed the racoon eating out of out trash cans when we lived on the edge of town, so you can see where this is going...