# Critters in the shop



## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

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.


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## MonteCristo (May 29, 2012)

Or maybe head north ??


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

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.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

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


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## DKV (Jul 18, 2011)

Can you say cat?


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## bondogaposis (Dec 18, 2011)

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


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

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


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## BroncoBrian (Jan 14, 2013)

panthers work faster than cats.


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## longgone (May 5, 2009)

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.


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## 280305 (Sep 28, 2008)

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.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

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.


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

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.


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

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


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

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.


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## MarkDavisson (Apr 26, 2009)

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


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## joeyinsouthaustin (Sep 22, 2012)

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??


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

I've had mice, squirrels, birds and bats in mine and that's with the shop being above the kitchen. The house has had more and worse which makes me glad to be moving.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

*At least you didn't say bats!*
Once a bat ********************s in your shop others will home in on that and more ******************** and more etc.! Too many bats and their guano can make you sick. Once living in northern Wisconsin next to a tall rocky cliff, a flour mill, and a lumber yard we had bats underneath or 10'x50' mobile home (two worked their way inside) and the pest company was not surprised.

The pest guy opened part of the skirting stuck an airisol like "bomb" and ran like hell. After I caught up with him I asked him why he ran to which he said he did not want to be in the way when they came out. He said this is a lesson he learned the hard way!

Moth balls take care of them too if it's not too late and sealing any opening greater than 1/4" will keep them out. Outside they should take care of the flying bugs!


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## GaryC (Dec 31, 2008)

I'm in the country. I use my 40×50 barn as my shop now. Lots of mice, keeps the cat busy. Birds now and then but they are in and out. Had a pack rat once. No snakes yet. Summer is wasp time. They are there in droves. Few spiders and other crawlie types. Dogs roam in and out. Chickens used to come in. Nasty what they can do to a piece of wood. That cat tho….he has a talent of coming in when I have an open container that I'm not watching closely. I think he has a demon


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## Grandpa (Jan 28, 2011)

One good bull snake is all you need. He will seldom be seen and he lives off the land so to speak. I have those pesky mice. They *WILL *mark their territory and you don't want to leave a pencil laying around. You might put it in your mouth some day. I keep all my pencils in a plastic jar with a lid on it.


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## AandCstyle (Mar 21, 2012)

If I found a snake skin in my shop I would move! They aren't as bad out doors, but I sometimes don't pay a lot of attention when I open a drawer…....


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## MarkDavisson (Apr 26, 2009)

"...and you don't want to leave a pencil laying around."

Grandpa, I can't leave my little foam ear plugs laying out - they'll be gone within hours!


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## taoist (Jul 31, 2011)

You might try one of those high frequency boxes that plugs in to an outlet. It has worked with the chipmunks in our walls.


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

taoist…I think they work for a while, then they just get used to it. kinda like being married for a long time.


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## Wiltjason (Jan 10, 2013)

back before i got divorced we lived in a rural area and raccoon had a litter in my lumber cut off bin. i reached in there for a scrap peice of wood and dont you know that momma ******************** thought she was gonna tear my arm off! it scared the hell out of me and to boot she wouldnt leave! i ended up shooting the momma selling the babies and bought a new router! lol


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

Those raccoons are mean (and big)...used to encounter them in my 2nd story bird feeders and they didn't leave…they charged. And those didn't have babies. Not to sound like a *********************************** or anything, but I ate roast raccoon at a game feed once. Tasty…


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## Momcanfixit (Sep 19, 2012)

Double Eeek

I may never chew a pencil again for as long as I live.
These stories make the sub-zero weather here all the more bearable.


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## MR_Cole (Jun 1, 2012)

I have these little tiny bugs that look like crayfish but about 1/4" long that love the damp spaces. Im also plauged by horrible mold in the summer. My ikea particle board cabinets were falling apart at the end of the first summer


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## Wiltjason (Jan 10, 2013)

teejk i know that raccoon coming at my face sure looked a hell of alot bigger than the ones that we would tree ******************** hunting lol i think it was all about view, weather its their teeth coming at you vs butts running away from dogs lol i never ate one though , dad always said to only eat herbivores


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## BTKS (Nov 30, 2008)

As far as mice go, a five gallon bucket about 1/2 full of water and a dowel drilled through just under the top lip going through a small plastic bottle works great. The trap stays loaded all the time, some peanut butter smeared on the horizontal bottle baits them in. A ramp up to the lip of the bucket helps too. I have had to scoop three to five out of a bucket at a time. They don't smell unless you forget to check for a long time. 
In winter, just dump in a little anti-freeze. I used a large sport drink bottle and the dog can't get his head past the bottle so I don't worry about poisening the pets.
I would not use this with toddler sized children around, even with a hefty dowel through the top. I have one in my shop and it made a world of difference. Many times I'll get one adult and two or three little ones that never got a chance to multiply!!!! I have two in the garage and I've only caught one or two mice in there and I don't seem to have anymore damage or droppings showing up.
Good luck with the rest of the critters.


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## mojapitt (Dec 31, 2011)

Snakes? I HATE SNAKES! I can deal with about anythhing but snakes in there. Cats are alright, but they like the sawdust for the wrong reasons.


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

I'm glad, not happy to hear that others have critter problems also. I now have several ways to combat the problem. I don't like cats. I'm going to get some moth balls for starters. Oh BTW, rats got into my Toyota, Camry and ate the wiring. My next door neighbor had the same thing happen with her car and it cost plenty to fix it. I was advised to buy a new wiring harness, but that is expensive. I've tried poison baits. They work. Victor rat traps were tried, but no takers. Setting those traps scares me. Fire ants also are on my property, but they don't get into the buildings.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

MrRon,

How can you say you don't like cat's? For Shame!

We always keep 5 or 6 or a dozen around.

When we get broke we call them, "The other white meat"!

There are lot's of great recipes on the internet! LOL.

Beer Can Cat
Beer Roasted Cat


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

Mr ron

you don't say what kind of rats you have…We had a grocery store near an old landfill. Some 50 years later they decided to build on it and we had rats in the store (not good for business). They were the big ugly "Norway" rats. Our professional mixed his poison with ground beef. It worked but with the poison they died behind the walls (we had to smell them out and poured bleach where we could). Years later we moved to the east coast and bought a house a few miles away from an old landfill. In-laws thought the kids should feed squirrels so they brought out ear corn. Kids had a blast shelling the corn and using it on good old fashioned corn fights in the yard. Rats! Started with DCon but found out they picked it and stored it (they did do a nice job stacking it…like cordwood). So I went to the old Victor trap with ground beef…first night they licked it clean. So then ground beef inside a piece of cheese cloth tied to the trap. BANG.


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## shawnmasterson (Jan 24, 2013)

take a pouch of decon and mix it with a half jar of peanut butter. then spread it on plates and place it all over decon works for mice alone but the other critters will go or the peanut butter. I had chipmunks and they would dump the poison. with the peanut butter they scarfed up. happy hunting

small animals dry up fast (1-3 days)
************************* stink for a while (3-6 weeks)
don't ask just know what you are killin


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Monte- You might want to visit me during the winter when my BIG shop snake is hibernating. He's right at 6', totally harmless and I have never seen a rat or mouse turd in my shop. He's very nocturnal so you rarely get to see him but I find his shed skin. Everyone needs a big blacksnake or king snake in their shop. Keeps the girls from borrowing your tools also!


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## RonInOhio (Jul 23, 2010)

Better to trap rats I say than poisioning them. If you poision them they can crawl under the floor or inside walls and die. Then you will have a god awful odor to deal with.


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## stonedlion (Jan 12, 2011)

I used to have a big problem with voles and mice in my garage.

I removed a lot of their ready made housing - the previous owner insulated between the bare studs in the garage and never did anything more with it. The mice made some big warrens in it. I took that down and it made an immediate improvement.

I tried poison, could see that it was being eaten, but only occasionally would find a dead mouse. Snap traps never caught anything. Tried a glue trap, caught a mouse within minutes, but the Mrs. thought that was cruel. I even tried the bucket and dowel set up with no luck.

Now, I use a Happy Trap, a non-kill trap that I found on Amazon. Quite ingenious really. In the course of a month I crashed the vole population in and around our yard. For awhile I had to check it twice a day. Every vole I caught was dead before I checked the trap. I think they die quickly when stressed.

I bait it with just regular birdseed, the pressure plate is very sensitive and releases the door with the slightest pressure.

I still catch mice now and again, but even they have gotten to be somewhat scarce. The mice don't die in the trap like the voles, but an old kitty litter bucket half full of water makes short work of them.


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## kizerpea (Dec 2, 2011)

I have a king snake that hanges around the shop….he likes the mice….an other snakes to.


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## YanktonSD (Jun 21, 2011)

The best cure for my shop has been cats. I live in a rural area and 10 years ago I had no cats, but tons of rats, mice, crickets and bugs. Then I got 4 farm cats and have not had crickets, mice, rats, june bugs, and they even control the birds. They also do a great job cleaning up spiders to. (Wolfs)


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## BroncoBrian (Jan 14, 2013)

Dallas - you should get some kind of award. 3×5 foot King snakes…. I expect you don't have many female visitors either?

Can I send you a sign that reads "BEWARE OF SNAKES"


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## Knothead62 (Apr 17, 2010)

If a mouse can get his head in, he's in! Mothballs! I used to spread them around our campsite to keep critters, especially skunks, away. Got the idea from a guy who worked at the campground. He had a motorcycle in a trailer. I noticed mothballs under the trailer. He explained it kept spiders and other critters out of the trailer.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

*BroncoBrian*....

We seldom see the snakes. One was suppose to be male and the other two female but we haven't seen any babies in the 4 years they've been here.

They do a great job all over our RV park keeping the copper heads away along with the *************************.

They do have problems digesting armadillos though, they come out dead but not gone.


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