Eisboch wrote:
"Dave Brown" wrote in message
news:UtWdncaSmcFWJ1bVnZ2dnUVZ_jydnZ2d@wtccommunica tions.ca...
No doubt this has been discussed before, but let's see if we can get a
little more boat action going in here and see what may be new on this
topic.

I received an e-mail this morning from someone asking how to deter rodents
from nesting in their boat over the winter. The winter of 2006/2007 was a
particularly bad year in our region and yet last winter, we didn't have a
single occurrence in any of the 200+ boats we store.

There are common remedies like dryer sheets and moth balls, but I have
seen infestations with both of these used. Plus, the smell never goes away
for either (not to mention the health effect the moth balls can have on
humans).

Last year I went with rodent baits hoping that if they were going to get
in, they'd at least be killed before the upholstery was trashed and carpet
urine soaked. Of course, having one of the little buggers die inside an
inaccessible panel wouldn't be pleasant either.

Thoughts? Ideas?




One word.

Cat.

The cat doesn't have to live on or near the boat. It just needs to be aware
that the boat is a rewarding place to visit once or twice a day as it makes
it's daily rounds. An initial training period of leaving a small amount of
canned tuna in the area of the stored boat will make it's location part of
the cat's daily prowl.

We have a lot of field mice in the horse paddocks at our house and the horse
barn had evidence of them making themselves at home. Our next door neighbor
adopted a stray cat a couple of years ago and he (she?) makes the barn part
of the daily rounds.
Occasionally we have seen it accompanied by a second cat. Since they
started their daily visits, we have not seen any further evidence of field
mice in the barn.

EIsboch

I read the header, and instantly thought........Oh, you know!