"jim" wrote in message
...
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
That's trading one pest for another. Traps work.

I don't see the cats as pests at all. In fact, I like 'em. One is very
friendly and loves to be petted. I don't feed them or take care of them
...... they just make a twice daily patrol of the yard and barn.

Eisboch