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Critters in the shop

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Forum topic by MrRon posted 114 days ago 860 views 0 times favorited 42 replies Add to Favorites Watch
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MrRon

1575 posts in 1414 days


114 days ago

I have been plagued with all sorts of critters in my shop. Rats/mice/squirrels have been feasting on plastic and insulation. Birds have been making nests in the ceiling using my fiberglass insulation and now I find the remains of a snake skin in my router table. I didn’t even mention all the bugs and spiders that call my shop home. I know that I have to close off any openings that a critter could enter by, but it is sometimes not possible; around large sliding doors for example. I do have a lot of clutter in my shop and that provides refuge. I guess it’s time I cleaned it up.




42 replies so far

View MonteCristo's profile

MonteCristo

2061 posts in 359 days


#1 posted 114 days ago

Or maybe head north ??

-- Dwight - "Free legal advice available - contact Dewey, Cheetam & Howe""

View joein10asee's profile

joein10asee

1707 posts in 178 days


#2 posted 114 days ago

MOTH BALLS! Spread ‘em in the corners and on the floor along the walls. Throw ‘em around by handfuls up in the attic areas. It is a deterrent. Yeah, some say the smell is overpowering, but it ebbs away in a day or two.

-- Perform A Random Act Of Kindness Today ... Pay It Forward

View a1Jim's profile

a1Jim

87255 posts in 1748 days


#3 posted 114 days ago

Not cool ,I just HOPEFULLY won a battle with fleas in my shop.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

View DKV's profile

DKV

2025 posts in 675 days


#4 posted 114 days ago

Can you say cat?

-- I would drink a river of the kool aid before I took the smallest sip of the tea...

View bondogaposis's profile

bondogaposis

1254 posts in 522 days


#5 posted 114 days ago

I had a trap line going this fall for mice. Hopefully they’re gone, had a nest in my router table, yuck.

-- Bondo Gaposis

View helluvawreck's profile

helluvawreck

10466 posts in 1037 days


#6 posted 114 days ago

Well you certainly don’t want the snakes in there. My brother’s son in law was cleaning out his barn which is fairly tight. He picks up and old wooden crate full of odds and ends and starts hauling it out to the truck and as he was on his way a 20 inch long copperhead starts coming out. He dropped it and the snake hightailed it out of their.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com

-- If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau

View BroncoBrian's profile

BroncoBrian

75 posts in 129 days


#7 posted 114 days ago

panthers work faster than cats.

-- ...it's Danny sir

View Greg The Cajun Box Sculptor's profile

Greg The Cajun Box Sculptor

3779 posts in 1479 days


#8 posted 114 days ago

I have had rabbits, lizards..lots of lizards, bees, roaches, spiders, cats and dogs in my shop…even had a hawk fly in once and crap on my workbench …in addition to whatever might still be hiding somewhere…If they do not bite…then I am good…and they never ask to borrow tools.

-- Every step of any project should be considered your masterpiece if you want the finished product to reflect the quality of your work. http://www.FineArtBoxes.com

View ChuckV's profile

ChuckV

1753 posts in 1698 days


#9 posted 114 days ago

My shop is part of our barn. I have my share of critters, but not as many as I would expect. That might be a result of the visits from our cat. Or, more likely, the part of the barn that has our animals and all the feed is much more interesting to the critters than the workshop.

I do have a habit of checking the pulley enclosure on the top of my drill press. One time it was stuffed with some animal’s stash of food.

-- I was walking down the street, something caught my eye, and dragged it 15 feet.

View Dallas's profile

Dallas

1877 posts in 658 days


#10 posted 114 days ago

The snake came into the shop in search of the other critters that were in there.

Buy a King snake and let him live in the shop…. no more snakes, no more critters.

We don’t have a problem around our house and shop because we have 5 cats and 3 5’ king snakes.

-- Improvise.... Adapt...... Overcome!

View teejk's profile

teejk

972 posts in 855 days


#11 posted 114 days ago

I think I read once that a mouse can get into a hole the size of a pencil. And they can climb so don’t assume they are coming in at ground level (I had them in my basement…only when my son was hosting a beer pong party did I figure it out…they watched a mouse climb a cinder block wall where it followed the wiring chase into the house from the garage.

For mice Victor mouse traps baited with peanut butter. Rat’s…Victor rat traps baited with ground beef wrapped in cheese cloth (watch your fingers…that trap will break them). Squirrels…pellet gun followed by pressure cooker. Snakes…you need a mongoose.

View Bill White's profile

Bill White

2607 posts in 2131 days


#12 posted 114 days ago

Wahhhhhhhh! Makes me nervous. So far, no critters here.
Bill

-- bill@magraphics.us

View teejk's profile

teejk

972 posts in 855 days


#13 posted 114 days ago

Bill…my shop is pretty tight (part of a steel building is a flange ledge on the bottom plate that is actually labeled “rat guard”). A few months ago I had some fine sawdust on the floor by the TS…tiny little footprints! I have 16×30 unfinished/unheated space in the same building and I watched a mouse scale that wall with zero effort.

Having lived in rural settings for much of my life, IMHO one can’t prevent them, only control them. The first “cold-snap” in the fall is the worst as they seek a warm spot.

View Mark Davisson's profile

Mark Davisson

276 posts in 1488 days


#14 posted 114 days ago

I’ll second the moth ball suggestion. It works.

-- From the fruit of their lips people are filled with good things, and the work of their hands brings them reward. - Prov 12:14

View joeyinsouthaustin's profile

joeyinsouthaustin

518 posts in 243 days


#15 posted 114 days ago

I watched crickets carrying cabinets out of my shop all spring and summer. Crazy this year, I mean ten’s of thousands. We killed and vacuumed them every day, and it was havoc on the stain grade. If I had only been able to train them to load the cabs in the trailer and install them. Maybe you need a shop cat??

-- Who is John Galt?

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