Just had a read of this thread, and last 2 weeks we put and end to 6 mice in our roof. Sue heard them scampering around in the afternoon when she was recovering from her hospital visit a month or so ago. After a week now we seem to be free of them, luckily they do not seem to have done any damage. I have yet to find where they were getting in.
Listening is the act of aural discrimination and dissemination of sound, and accepting you get it wrong sometimes.
Analog Inputs: Pro-Ject Signature 10 TT & arm, Benz Micro LP-S, Michel Cusis MC, Goldring 2500 and Ortofon Rondo Blue cartridges, Hitachi FT5500 mk2 Tuner
Digital:- Marantz SA-KI Pearl CD player, RaspberryPi/HifiBerry Digi+ Pro, Buffalo NAS Drive
Amplification:- AudioValve Sunilda phono stage, Krell KSP-7B pre-amp, Krell KSA-80 power amp
Output: Wilson Benesch Vector speakers, KLH Ultimate One Headphones
Cables: Tellurium Q Ultra Black II RCA & Chord Epic 2 RCA, various speaker leads, & links
I think I am nearing audio nirvana, but don’t tell anyone.
Those with the mice might want to consider capturing a number of them alive apropos constructing a 'Mouse Organ' like in Monty Python
Current Lash Up:
TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.
They also make great burger meat...
'ANDSOME IN THE SUMMER..'ORIBBLE IN THE WINTER. Barney Milne
Cambridge Audio CXN, Seagate nas drive, Michell Gyrodec SE, SME309, Benz M2 Ruby cantilever, Denon DL103, Primare R32, Densen D20, Densen D30, Cambridge Audio 840A V2 integrated, Pioneer SX-N30AE Network Stereo Receiver, Roksan Darius speakers, Technics speakers, Canon speakers, Bastanis Dragonfly Horns, REL Storm III sub, Target R1 speaker stands, Atacama Equinox.
If you have room build them a little shed, stack some wood pallets and add some straw and hay ,cut pieces large PVC pipe .
A bag of dried corn, your old vegetables will keep them in the shed area, as long as they have food and water ,safety they are not prone to wander.
Do it right and you will have lots of little friends. You don't have to kill them.
The mouse organ is a terrible idea.
Jeff :UBERTHREADKILLER
Location: Moved to frozen north, beyond Inverness
Posts: 2,626
I'm Dave.
Location: South East Cornwall
Posts: 322
I'm Dominic.
A little update on my rat problem.
Every single night we would get at least two rats inside the house and as fast as I was putting steel plates over the holes that I found they were making new ones. I canot tell you how anxious and stressed I was getting hearing them gnawing away night after night. I woke one night at 3.00am and saw one scampering down the back of the fridge (6ft tall no less), another ran across the sitting room and hid behind the settee, then another in my listening room behind the rack. Went back to bed feeling utterly despondent.
The next day the boiler stopped working so I called a plumber out and found the little shits had chewed through most of the wiring of our new boiler. Bill for nearly £200 to contend with. How, I don't know but they had even chewed through the cables that feed the under cabinet lights - the 12volt lines worse luck. Time to get serious about getting rid of them while I still had a house and my sanity left.
Went through each room with a keen eye and found several hidden holes which were covered over with plates. Then I went around the outside of the house with cans and cans of expanding foam squirted into every likely looking gap. Next, I went underneath the house and reinforced the foam inside with 13mm chicken wire folded double for good measure, then added more foam onto that. Where the wood floors were softened from water damage and where they were gnawing the most, that got a triple layer of chicken wire to protect it.
I had bought some poison blocks off ebay which are a reddish colour and although they were being carried away there were no dead rats as a reward. I then bought a large bag of blue BIG CHEESE blocks which got two of them into the traps and a day or two later the unmistakeable stink of corpses, a nice tally of four big males.
Having gone the belt and braces route, I read up that rats cannot abide the smell of peppermint oil, citronella and Bay Leaves, so there is a dose of each next to existing holes. It also said that rats love eating onions but it is fatal to them so a pile of that chopped into quarters is also under the house too.
As I type this it is now 10 days since a rat has been inside the house, although we have seen them out in the garden once or twice. I am perfectly happy for them to run around in the garden although a stone lobbed at them may give the hint this eaterie is now off limits.
I don't relish the thought of killing these animals but they are far too destructive and carry too many diseases to be allowed into my home.
CD player = Marantz CD6006
DAC/pre = Rotel RC 1572
Power amp = ADA PF201
Speaks = Quadral Chromium Style 6
A shotgun is rather effective against rats. The only snag is the devastated woodwork and plaster.
It is impossible for anything digital to sound analogue, because it isn't analogue!