Hi Jeremy, I don't think those covers are going to keep mice out. It just means the mice will suffer without staff seeing it. I started setting snap traps with peanut butter close to our sticky traps (one on each side of the sticky trap in high mouse traffic areas). Then at least the mouse has a quick death. I also keep a little oil on hand to use in freeing a mouse from sticky traps in case that happens. They'll still be in shock and probably won't survive, but at least can be freed. Is there any chance you can work with Maintenance staff to step up your exclusion efforts?
We are located in the temperate rainforest and there are enormous rodent populations in our landscape. The only approach that really works for us is exclusion. It took one of our staff contracting hantavirus for the park management to get serious, but once we all got on board with exclusion efforts, the problem has been greatly reduced. They can enter through incredibly small openings, so it takes a lot of time to find all those cracks and crevices. But it's worth it both for staff health and collection health. Best of luck! Samantha Richert Museum Curator, North Cascades NPS Complex 360-854-7343 ________________________________ From: pestlist@googlegroups.com <pestlist@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jeremy Kisala <jeremy.kis...@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, December 2, 2024 9:25 AM To: pestlist@googlegroups.com <pestlist@googlegroups.com> Subject: [EXTERNAL] [PestList] Anti-rodent covers for sticky traps This email has been received from outside of DOI - Use caution before clicking on links, opening attachments, or responding. Hello PestList, With the turn towards colder weather, we’ve been seeing an uptick in mouse sightings indoors. We’ve had several incidents of mice getting stuck on sticky blunder traps intended for insects, which of course is inhumane for the mice and rather distressing for staff. I’m wondering if anyone has experience using plastic covers for sticky traps (something like these https://www.epestcontrol.com/pest-products/724-2424-d-sect-ipm-station.html?srsltid=AfmBOor-T7jYA1Yrn7kxn5dPC8Re2HO0jcz7AZYJEFz9sUorwSbTuR5T or these https://veseris.com/default/insects/traps/crawling-insects/trapper-pest-monitor-station?srsltid=AfmBOooTWkbUWQ9xOhmOZRFsNJ_GT3ImWTsuCT1mimcbUJf1tAhvufOt) – do they actually work to keep mice off the traps? And, importantly, do they still let insects in? I’m concerned that they would catch far fewer insects and thus decrease the effectiveness of our monitoring program. Any ideas or experience would be very much welcome! Best, Jeremy Jeremy Kisala (he/him) Assistant registrar Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology 617-496-5473 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MuseumPests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CAP4ZP_0ZWnwskP2RhHZNpqLnDTB29CZBmHYF8PCfXo%3DSHnc%2BZA%40mail.gmail.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CAP4ZP_0ZWnwskP2RhHZNpqLnDTB29CZBmHYF8PCfXo%3DSHnc%2BZA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MuseumPests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/MW4PR09MB902786E5DF7D33F6360128C4E6362%40MW4PR09MB9027.namprd09.prod.outlook.com.
