Go Back   IceInSpace > General Astronomy > General Chat

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread
  #1  
Old 17-05-2021, 11:23 PM
glend (Glen)
Registered User

glend is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Lake Macquarie
Posts: 7,033
Mouse Plague

It seems rural NSW is suffering through a mouse plague, the images are like something out of a horror film. Have any IIS members had to deal with this infestation yet?
I have heard mice numbers are on the rise in Canberra lately - there is probably a joke in that line but I may call for help from the resident comedians to compose one.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 18-05-2021, 12:00 AM
Steffen's Avatar
Steffen
Ebotec Alpeht Sicamb

Steffen is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Toongabbie, NSW
Posts: 1,965
After years of eradicating stray and feral cats we now have a mouse plague. That was completely unexpected, wasn’t it?
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 18-05-2021, 12:39 AM
ngcles's Avatar
ngcles
The Observologist

ngcles is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Billimari, NSW Central West
Posts: 1,664
Hi Glen, Steffen & All,

There are areas worse than where I live (15km SW of Canowindra), but it is very bad here at present. Between the dog and I we have dispatched maybe three dozen inside the house alone in the past six weeks. Double that counting the garage -- combined traps, caught and poison.

I have poison baits out for them outside and I can only estimate that at the rate the ratsak disappears, I must be killing hundreds -- I am going through a 1kg box of ratsak per fortnight. Thankfully it isn't very expensive.

Bunnings Cowra have ratsak by the pallet-load and it goes like hot-cakes. I live in an area where a lot of grain crops are grown (wheat, barley, canola & oats). The harvested and baled hay is being quickly destroyed. We have had a couple of very cool to cold nights in the past few days -- which is much needed. The frost in particular knocks the babies on the head and stops the breeding cycle.

I have seen mice plagues worse than this before but not had to actually live through one. It's rotten!

We also have a feral kitty problem in this area (have done for years) but there's only so many mice a cat can eat in a day!

Best,

L.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 18-05-2021, 04:48 AM
leon's Avatar
leon
Registered User

leon is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Warrnambool
Posts: 12,430
Hi Guys we, Alice and I have been looking after a very large property near Gundagui NSW and have just returned to Victoria.
We had them in the ceiling running around all night and the shed was infested with then.
We found traps and Rat Bait were the best options and were getting 15 to 20 per day, they were, and still are everywhere.

Leon
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 18-05-2021, 07:12 AM
fsphotography (Frank)
Registered User

fsphotography is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: geelong
Posts: 60
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steffen View Post
After years of eradicating stray and feral cats we now have a mouse plague. That was completely unexpected, wasn’t it?

Looks like the stray and feral cats that have supposedly been ''eradicated'' have been sleeping on the job,or do they just prefer to control the wild life?
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 18-05-2021, 07:13 AM
multiweb's Avatar
multiweb (Marc)
ze frogginator

multiweb is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Sydney
Posts: 22,060
MBJ's been swamped. He traps 200 a day on average. A real calamity.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 18-05-2021, 06:19 PM
xelasnave's Avatar
xelasnave
Gravity does not Suck

xelasnave is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Tabulam
Posts: 16,866
The cat catches at least one and many times three and the other night they trapped 9 in addition to whatever the cat caught that night..no poisen simply because of fear that it may kill the cat, the chooks or the ravens. All will eat the mice so we need to not kill them with secondary poisening.
Years ago mice ruined my 12 inch with their urine on the mirror when I was in Sydney a moment too long..it saddened me greatly...I suppose at least its not summer which would call in more snakes.
One could think someone could invent some kind of illness that wipes them out...
Alex
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 18-05-2021, 06:33 PM
GrahamL's Avatar
GrahamL
pro lumen

GrahamL is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: ballina
Posts: 3,263
Guy in the press the other day was saying bumper grain harvest and no available storage, in the shed on hay sounds like troubles coming sooner or later.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 18-05-2021, 09:07 PM
mental4astro's Avatar
mental4astro (Alexander)
kids+wife+scopes=happyman

mental4astro is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: sydney, australia
Posts: 4,979
Plague is here in Sydney now, but you wouldn't know anything about it as no one here has mice, do they...

ALL the Bunnings stores have been cleaned out of all baits and traps. Can't find any for love or money. But no one here has mice, do they...

My mum has had mice appear over the last week. Her cat is proving to be a good mouser, having caught 9 in the last 5 days. Burrows have been dug into the straw bails they have as raised garden beds where none were present in the 10 months prior. She lives in Earlwood. But no one here has mice, do they...

If you think the mouse plague hasn't reached Sydney, you are not looking.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 18-05-2021, 11:31 PM
toc's Avatar
toc (Tim)
Registered User

toc is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Victoria
Posts: 826
Not seeing too many in Melbourne. Might be too cold for them?
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 19-05-2021, 09:45 AM
AstralTraveller's Avatar
AstralTraveller (David)
Registered User

AstralTraveller is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Wollongong
Posts: 3,766
I don't think they have reached here but I'll keep an eye out. I won't dispute that they have reached Sydney but I also think it's possible that Bunnings have directed their stocks of traps and baits to where they're selling like hot cakes.

BTW years ago we spent a night camping in a mouse plague in the Warrumbungles. We didn't know about it until after dark but then it was the full moving carpet effect. They got the tent and we slept in the car. Next night we were a lot further east. I feel for anyone who has to live in a plague.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 19-05-2021, 10:10 AM
MortonH's Avatar
MortonH
Deprived of starlight

MortonH is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Sydney
Posts: 3,762
The plague has been going on for weeks. My daughter lives in Orange and has had several in the house. They also ate through something in the aircon unit outside which meant no heating for almost two weeks while a part was ordered. That's two weeks without heating when the temperature was falling to 0°C at night!
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 19-05-2021, 03:15 PM
dimithri86 (Dimithri)
Registered User

dimithri86 is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Hornsby
Posts: 141
Would this apply to more residential parts of Sydney? Like hornbsy?

I caught 1 last month. I've kept the traps set, and there was no activity for 2 weeks after that. I removed them due to having small kids. After reading this thread, I'm considering putting them back up.
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 19-05-2021, 03:36 PM
MortonH's Avatar
MortonH
Deprived of starlight

MortonH is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Sydney
Posts: 3,762
Quote:
Originally Posted by dimithri86 View Post
Would this apply to more residential parts of Sydney? Like hornbsy?

I caught 1 last month. I've kept the traps set, and there was no activity for 2 weeks after that. I removed them due to having small kids. After reading this thread, I'm considering putting them back up.
I think putting them back up is a good idea.
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 19-05-2021, 03:57 PM
mental4astro's Avatar
mental4astro (Alexander)
kids+wife+scopes=happyman

mental4astro is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: sydney, australia
Posts: 4,979
Yes, i too agree to set them up again. It will give you an idea if the little buggers are around or not. I've set a few to monitor hings where I am.

Mice coming into Sydney have been brought in by hitching rides on trucks, cars & trailers that have been to plague areas. Their rate of spread within Sydney will depend on a few factors.
Reply With Quote
  #16  
Old 19-05-2021, 04:19 PM
xelasnave's Avatar
xelasnave
Gravity does not Suck

xelasnave is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Tabulam
Posts: 16,866
When I lived at the old place I had a barrel trap set up permanently so you could get an indication if they were about...plus there was a python I had released (kind thing to do) who I saw rarely but I suspect he would have been onto them early and of course they would show up in the barrel trap and when that happened I purchased baits..I didnt worry about poisening "Snakey" however and there no animals at that point up there just me.

They are making the classic mistake here but I wont say anything, as I am tired of being called a control freak over various things, ...one night the cat does not catch one and there were none in the traps so it is over..so wrong..stop setting traps...but no one will know until numbers are up again...even in the city I always have a few baits out and look every now and then to see if anything has been taken...its not like they are not there somewhere...waiting to move in.
Alex
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 19-05-2021, 05:19 PM
glend (Glen)
Registered User

glend is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Lake Macquarie
Posts: 7,033
It seems the Mice are becoming Cannibals!

https://www.news.com.au/technology/s...57feedac0af60a

And as if the Internet or mobile service was not bad enough, those pesky Mices are eating the cables too,

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-...-nsw/100150206
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 19-05-2021, 07:03 PM
Hans Tucker (Hans)
Registered User

Hans Tucker is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 2,449
Quote:
Originally Posted by glend View Post
It seems the Mice are becoming Cannibals!

https://www.news.com.au/technology/s...57feedac0af60a
Reminds me of the story Silva tell James bond in the movie Skyfall when they are at Hashima Island .. but that was concerning a rat plague.

Oh .. and PETA aren't happy urging farmers not to kill the mice but to capture them humanely and release them .. oh they need a reality check.
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old 19-05-2021, 08:10 PM
glend (Glen)
Registered User

glend is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Lake Macquarie
Posts: 7,033
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hans Tucker View Post
Reminds me of the story Silva tell James bond in the movie Skyfall when they are at Hashima Island .. but that was concerning a rat plague.
.
"Last rat standing". Haha.
Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old 20-05-2021, 08:00 AM
gregbradley's Avatar
gregbradley
Registered User

gregbradley is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Sydney
Posts: 17,877
Anyone heard of the mouse problem around Wyangala?

Greg.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time is now 03:26 AM.

Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.7 | Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement
Testar
Advertisement
Bintel
Advertisement