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Keep Your Garage Critter Free Without Killing A Thing (Not Even a Mouse)

02/22/2021

In a previous blog, we gave several tips on how to keep critters from setting down roots and getting comfy in the dark corners of your garage. Today we’re going to share a few techniques for controlling those pests if your prevention measures weren’t put into place in time. It is possible to eradicate your little guests without harming them a bit.

Spotting Mice and Controlling Them With Care

Mice find plenty of places to burrow and hide in a cluttered garage, and unfortunately the garage can be the gateway to letting them venture inside. They’re quick and elusive, but you might catch them scamper quickly across the floor if you’re in the garage at night, when they are usually active. You might hear them in the walls if you’re in the room next to your garage, or an upstairs bedroom above. Finally, the most urgent telltale sign, is scatterings of scat — tiny poop pellets that are black and slightly larger than rice. It shouldn’t take long to identify their favorite spots. Mouse droppings tend to accumulate in the same spot night after night. Your first instinct may be be to vacuum them up, but this can create dust tainted with Hantavirus, which can lead to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

Gently scoop up the droppings, using something disposable like a pair of notecards, cardboard or paper towels. A mask and gloves are a good idea. Disinfect the area of course. One no-kill option you might come across is an ultrasonic deterrent, a small device plugged into the wall that emits sound at a frequency undetectable to us, and repulsive to them. Unfortunately, I can tell you from experience that they don’t really work. They might repel the mice temporarily, but it doesn’t take long for them to get used to the noise and return.

A brief journey through Youtube will show you countless contraptions for “catch and release,” but many are quite complicated and time-consuming to make. There’s a reason the game “Mousetrap” features a series of interrelated mechanisms leading up to the “trap.” Many of these DIY options involve plastic water bottles, rubber bands, inclined planes, buckets and more. Here is a link, if you’re into that sort of thing.

A Humane Trap That Actually Works

The CaptSure Original Humane Mouse Trap can be placed alongside the wall, where you’ve determined is a regular path. The front features a spring-loaded door, which you flip down and secure with a little notch. (You might have to file this notch down with a nail file in order for the trap to react.) The back features a compartment where you place food, to draw the mouse inside. Interestingly enough, they prefer peanut butter over cheese. They’ll simply run in, and the door flips shut behind them. DON’T FORGET to check the trap each morning, especially if it’s in a back corner of the garage. You wouldn’t want them to starve to death, a fate worse than beheading. Once you’ve captured your little mouse, drive him three miles away, and release it in the wild.

How Does a Garage Door Torsion Spring Work?

The torsion spring might be the most important part of your garage door. All the moving parts depend on the torsion spring to store and release energy as it winds and unwinds around the torsion bar. The spring tightens when the door is closed and releases tension when the door opens. Torsion springs last longer than extension springs of the past, but it’s necessary to check on yours every 7-9 years.

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