My new mouse trap... (It's a tool, isn't it?)

Bob

Well-known Member
One of these little fellas has taken up residence in my shop. Not quite sure how he got in, because it's a pretty tight steel building. His fur is just as pure white as can be (seasonal snow camo).

Several times over the past several days, I've seen something out of the corner of my my eye, but yesterday I finally got a good look at him.

Even though it was quite cold today, I left the OHD open for a while while I was working across the yard to give him and easy exit, if he so chose.

Here's a photo from the 'net, as he hasn't posed for me yet, and a link to more info.

<img src = "http://www.lewis-clark.org/media/NewImages/Importing/FORTUNATECAMP/an_ermine-sherman.jpg">
Untitled URL Link
 
Just curious, what part of the world do you live at, how cold does it get there, and what is the outdoors like there (prairie, trees, forest etc).
 
Hi if you got him round you won't have rats either. He aint very big but talk about vicious. You wouldn't want him hanging off your finger!. I saw what one did to a pretty big rat down at my hog barns last winter.
The rat never stood a chance!. This one you could get within 10 ft of, if he was out down there in the day.
if he's the same as the one here in Manitoba the last 1/2"or so tip of his tails jet black, and thats what I used to see in the corner of my eye, when he ran in the snow.

The last 4 winters i had seen one or seen foot prints. this winter I haven't seen a sign of one, and we got a few rats. I guess it died or moved on. Been giving the rats some red belly ache bars to chew on instead the last few days L.O.L.
Regards Robert
 
I used to trap those when I was a kid. A few weasels and a couple mink were big money to a kid in those days.

Saw one in the main support pipe of the Cockshutt pull type swather one summer. He would poke his head out and screech at me, then turn around inside the pipe and run to the other end, but he wouldn't leave the tube (pipe).
 
I had one of those move into my house a few years back. It drove my dog nuts. They like summer sausage an pepperoni. When they're white they're called Ermine. They're supposed to be good luck but I didn't feel lucky when it pooped in the broiler in my oven.
 
Some years ago I was working in front of the shop and I really thought I was going nuts! You know when you keep seeing something move out of the corner of your eye but you can never see it. Its there when its gone! This went on all day till about 6 pm when I was grilling some burgers and hot dogs, I thought I dropped a hot dog on the ground. I looked down at it and it moved! I did a double take and it moved again? Am I seeing things? I looked closer and seen the head and ears and in the blink of the eyes it was gone. This thing moved like greased lightning! I had never seen a weasel in my life till then, Only the carnage they leave behind. Well back to grilling and I did drop a hot dog on the ground and guess who got it, He must have really liked it cause for the rest of the summer every time I grilled out he came around to get his dinner too. Never figured out how something with such short legs can move so fast. Greased Lightning! I am really glad they are as small as they are, Could you imagine one the size of a cat? I shutter to think of it. Bandit
 
They are something given their size. I had the same thing happen a few years ago in my garage, saw some movement along the shelving in the opposite bay one morning. The garage door gasket and sweep on the jamb, on the bottom corner had been chewed out by a chipmunk that got in when the door was opened, then closed, so there was a way in and out.

As a hobby, I've kept a cage with a small clan of voles, I use the manure or old bedding to make compost on a small scale. I actually collect the sawdust and chips from cutting wood, dry it down for bedding. I collect grasses dried down just like hay, nice green hay on a small scale, they really like it, nice healthy friendly little guys too, I've had 5 or six for years now, and its helped me build up great soil in my small garden patch near the house. In every group of these, there's always one that is very friendly, so there will be a favorite one in the bunch. A few years back I had one that I caught as a juvenile, she was something else, just tap on the nest, she comes out every time, jumps into your hand, I never bribed them with food, they just like the attention it seems. She was getting old and you could see it, getting feeble and wobbly as she walked, just like us, though in the wild, they never die of old age being the meat supply for so many predators.

So the weasel, in his winter attire finds his way in, and somehow gets past the snug hardware cloth lid on the cage, a glass aquarium, and I notice there are voles missing and of course he's taken the old feeble one.

Sure enough as I am quietly standing there, this weasel shows right up and is ducking in and out of places, he wants to get at that cage, but I'm in his way. I could not believe how brazen he was. He ain't gonna out smart me though LOL, so I take a tool bag with a zipper and place it near me, within reach, and I wait, sure enough he eventually goes right in the bag and I zip it up, caught him, well not yet, now I have gloves on and have to pin him so I can grab him and that went fine, he was nothing once I caught him, p*ssed off though. I put him into a galvanized steel garbage can and put a lid on it. I took photos and a video of him. In one part of the video, I got him to strike. You cannot believe how fast he was, what a fierce little tasmanian devil! Later I took him down to the edge of a large pond at the bottom of the hill, let him jump out into the powdery snow and he scampered back and forth looking back at me, then disappeared.

At some point later, maybe later that year I had a female vole and some young, something you have to do every so often as they only live 2 years, though I have one right now that is older than that and very healthy. She is the sister of the one with the young. So I had them in a bucket separated from the cage til the young open their eyes. I look in one morning and the mother was dead, 2 distinct puncture wounds on her head, the darned weasel came back, but could not carry the carcass out of the bucket. She was the most docile, lay flat in your hand and loved attention, so after some years I seemed to have domesticated these, selected her for the next brood. The young survived as they had opened their eyes and were agile enough to escape, that weasel would have taken any of those or at least killed them. I still have them today, they are 1 1/2 years old, the 3 of them.

I repaired that garage door gasket, and I've never seen another weasel. I am sure he was attracted by scent, though the cage is cleaned 2x daily and or sanitized regularly, he certainly knew where to find prey.

I've got a new mouse trap too. I placed some snap traps on the trim over my front door, darned deer mice climb the brick and had used a small hole to get into the soffit/overhang. So I see a trap went off, older trap, spring not as strong it seems, little hantavirus carrier is still alive, so I said what the heck, I'll give him a reprieve, put him in a steel garbage can, take him far enough across the field, he'll either make it or be prey. I check in on him the next morning, there is another one in there and they know each other, if they don't they tend to fight. Somehow he got in, and there has been none in the basement, traps been clean for a year. I figure he climbed the wheel of a cart near the can, dropped in, could not get back out. Their sense of smell is beyond comprehension, so it works out, had no idea one was in the garage, did a good deed with the stay of execution and I got rid of one I never knew I had ! LOL !
 
I was loading up at the farm one day and a weasel went right across the drive. Not a bit afraid of us. Could not have been more than 6-8 inches total length. Really small. I was glad to see him. I put cages around my trees to keep the deer off and then the voles girdle the trunks under the snow.
 
Be very careful of weasels (or any other animal) that are not timid. Can sometimes mean they have distemper. You usually have to get way too close to see if they're foaming at the mouth.
 
Hi Bob;

One thing I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned is that weasels have scent glands that give off a very strong, very bad smell. Some people describe it as being worse than skunk scent. I remember reading a story about pre-Communist China years ago in which the author talked about a house that had stood vacant for a while and been occupied by a family of weasels. After that there was no way to get the smell out of the house.

Stan
 
Bob, I had one come visit me in my shop at the farm SW of Minot last summer, while I was watching Gunsmoke on the tv there. Spent about 20 minutes with me, just running around exploring and watching me, if I moved he would hide for a couple minutes and then come back out. Only saw him the one time, he finally ran out the door and disappeared.

Dick ND
 
Had one around the farm years ago. Darn thing got so tame he would follow me around the barn feeding cows. He would always show up about 4 pm, waiting for me to turn the silo unloader on. Any rat or mouse that came down the chute was toast. Glad I didn't have any chickens around or I would have had to get rid of him
 
We have them around here, northern MN. They are small and fun to watch. We have one cat that has managed to catch and kill 2 of them. I have NO idea how she did it, let alone twice. SMH
 
These little guys never miss a mouse or rat. I had some tractors and two cars in a shed. He took care of the shed all winter for me.
 
Don, similar situation here. We had a weisel that noved into the parts department in our Case dealership. My wife who took care of the parts counter got to be good friend of the little guy. He got so he would come to her and eat peices of food out of her hand.
Loren
 

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