Mouse plague deals fresh blow to Australian farmers - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Trader
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2021, 03:31:59 am
content: Some Aussie could create an Electronic Rat Trap. Just saying...

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2021, 08:36:17 am
content: I saw it on Sky News Australia a week ago. The situation is pretty dia down there.I found it ammusing that PETA activists are campaigning for trap and release. They have no idea. Release them where? It's fair enough doing that in places where mice are native, but they have no natural predators in Australia, which is why there's a problem in the first place.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2021, 11:22:52 am
content: There is a video channel on mouse traps, must be a very popular item in those areas at the moment. And yes, cane toads were imported to deal with mice, but became an even bigger pest problem.Time for the farmers to get inventive and make some large volume mouse falls, and place them all over the area, and then get a mincer and boiler, and make hog food out of the mice.

author: beanflying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2021, 11:26:41 am
content: It happens twice every year this year is a bit up on normal. The Media is Bored with COVID so lets go look for the next ratings grabQuotePeel back a Tarp loosely covering a pile of grain and surprise surprise what does the Media Camera catch "Ratings"

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2021, 06:23:28 pm
content: Quote from: beanflying on May 27, 2021, 11:26:41 amDidn't you guys got rid of a lot of feral cats a few months back? I recall seeing a news clips on that ~6 months ago, or may be 6-12 months ago.

author: Sal Ammoniac
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2021, 08:09:39 pm
content: Give every teenage boy in Australia a BB gun and turn them loose.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2021, 08:37:04 pm
content: Glue traps work great but you have to kill the mice stuck onto it quickly.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2021, 09:30:56 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on May 27, 2021, 08:37:04 pmIn order to work, they have to be firmly secured, otherwise they can go missing. Yes, they're not the most humane option. I'm even in favour of banning them in the UK, but desperate times, call for desperate measures, so wouldn't blame the Aussies for using them.

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2021, 09:33:04 pm
content: Quote from: Zero999 on May 27, 2021, 08:36:17 amFrom a helicopter into the ocean of course

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2021, 10:05:32 pm
content: Quote from: magic on May 27, 2021, 09:33:04 pmHere's the video I was talking about. Skip the first 45 seconds if you just want to hear the animal rights nutjob go on about not killing mice.

author: sandalcandal
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 27, 2021, 10:23:30 pm
content: Quote from: beanflying on May 27, 2021, 11:26:41 amStatement from CSIRO"A mouse plague of this sort happens about every 10 years."https://www.csiro.au/en/news/news-releases/2021/mouse-plague-in-queensland-and-new-south-walesQuotehttps://www.csiro.au/en/research/animals/pests/mouse-controlQuote from: Zero999 on May 27, 2021, 08:36:17 amQuote from: Zero999 on May 27, 2021, 10:05:32 pmI would strongly recommend against paying any attention to Sky NewAustralia. They have a strong tendency to distort "facts"https://youtu.be/zuXdl69iUS4https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/24/sky-news-australia-is-tapping-into-the-global-conspiracy-set-and-its-paying-off

author: langwadt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2021, 11:12:46 pm
content: https://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/ngslo9/homemade_mouse_trap_to_help_combat_the_mice/

author: Trader
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 12:53:23 am
content: Quote from: langwadt on May 27, 2021, 11:12:46 pm

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 02:54:30 am
content: Might it work to use scanning high power lasers (relatively cheap nowadays) to blind the mice so they'll have a harder time escaping from predators? I suppose the biggest problem with that idea is making sure the lasers don't blind anything other than the target mice.Or maybe just stick to the high voltage electrodes with a bit of peanut butter smeared on them.

author: beanflying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 03:07:38 am
content: The correct time to look at this was Spring last year as the weather started to warm and the long dry spell was ending and then get really serious about it when it first became apparent in January February it was going to be a worse than 'normal' year. All they can do NOW is minimize the issue and then what is needed is a cold wet winter to knock the bulk of them on the head and then get serious about control leading into Spring this year in 3-4 months.The most effective trap for this sort of location is some sort of drop mechanism (spinning rail or seesaw) into a bucket of water. Poison baits around Silos and storage work too but are still best when done in conjunction with a fall trap. It needs to be low cost, low tech, and robust.JANUARY News Report so this is not New Newshttps://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-22/mice-rats-wreak-havoc-across-nsw-and-qld/13078798

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 04:09:32 am
content: Youtube channelMousetrap MondayHe has some high volume mouse/rat traps that are basically variations of walking a plank and falling into water and drowning. The guy then puts the dead mice out in a field. Vultures, racoons, etc. have a dinner feast.There's a new trap RinneTrap "flip & side" that looks pretty good. The electric traps don't do that great, the mouse just lies there dead or leaps off the electrodes.There must be a predator missing in Australia's ecosystem? The place is full of scary critters, I wonder what usually ate mice there.

author: beanflying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 04:24:12 am
content: Quote from: floobydust on May 28, 2021, 04:09:32 amThe first introduced pest arrived here in 1770 wearing a poofy wig and many other pests followed. We do have a native marsupial Rat and small mouse sized ones too but the introduced ones including their cousin Rattus Rattus with farmed grain/crops as food supplies thrive.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 04:43:30 am
content: Farms in in this part of the world have cats, they're highly efficient hunters that feed primarily on small rodents like mice. Cats have served to control the mouse population for centuries, it was one of the primary reasons they were domesticated.

author: beanflying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 04:50:06 am
content: Quote from: james_s on May 28, 2021, 04:43:30 amMeanwhile also wiping out native Marsupial populations and severely depleting Bird populations and diversity. You don't get something for nothing and introducing additional Cats that is still a pest in its own right is not the solution.https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive-species/feral-animals-australia/feral-cats#:~:text=Feral%20cats%20threaten%20the%20survival,small%20to%20medium%2Dsized%20mammals.&text=They%20are%20found%20all%20over,grasslands%2C%20wetlands%20and%20arid%20areas.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 04:57:22 am
content: Well they're native here, or at least they've been around for as long as Europeans have been. I'd much rather have a bunch of cats around than a bunch of birds and rodents and stuff, I never did like birds, they crap all over my car and wake me up in the morning but whatever. It's true you don't get something for nothing, and really the most destructive pests on this planet by far are humans. You have to spay/neuter the cats so they don't breed out of control.

author: beanflying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 05:18:35 am
content: Quote from: james_s on May 28, 2021, 04:57:22 amThat is a bad argument for the Cat. They are more or less the top predator in Oz in particular and already out there is the number of Millions unchecked and feral. The culling campaign is a band aid on an amputation given they live over the entire country including some of the remotest areas. They are nothing like the cute and cuddly housecat that get a trip to the Vet at 12 weeks for a snip. In some of the areas shown with the Mice issue the nearest Vet for example might be 2-300km+ away for a start.Pre 1770/1788 there was no Mice or Rattus Rattus and no Cats or Rabbits or Foxes or Cane Toads or Pigs or ..... Their common ancestory is fairly recent and the Damage done is huge.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 08:13:34 am
content: Quote from: Zero999 on May 27, 2021, 10:05:32 pmBut that's not what the activist said (I can't believe I'm defending PETA.) She would prefer 'catch and release' but she understands that's not realistic in a scenario like this (the implication is of course they will be killed though she doesn't say that.) She wanted the government to intervene more before this became a problem, which is absolutely the only way you stop such a plague.The host (along with bundling in climate change and wildfire management, y'know, things with actual science behind them) pushes this as a big anti-intellectual conspiracy. Not surprising given Sky News Australia is owned by Murdoch, and Australia has many fewer media fairness regulations compared to e.g. the UK.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 08:59:30 am
content: https://www.3aw.com.au/the-3aw-interview-that-left-tom-elliott-questioning-where-society-is-headed/According to the cafe-latte sipping Greens in PETA, I am a serial killer. I have murdered while families of mice, subjecting them to a terrible death - poison, decapitation, and running over them with a motor mower ripping their babies to shreds.

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 09:23:33 am
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on May 28, 2021, 08:59:30 amAlot of ppl are missing the whole point of the anger towards PETA. Them saying we shouldn't exterminate the vermin is indeed silly for them to say. However, it's their efforts in preventing people from keeping the pest numbers down in the first place that inhibits the ability to prevent plagues. It is that that needs to be examined.

author: beanflying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 09:37:15 am
content: Important to note that PETA are complete Hypocrites and have a Cat and Dog Euthanasia count at their shelters that is ignored while preaching morality to others.

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 09:42:25 am
content: Meanwhile in Poland we have a plague of those filthy Spanish slugs.I wonder what PETA would say about all the creative methods of killing them that our women come up withBecause most women don't have the balls to "simply" stomp on those little shits...

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 02:23:59 pm
content: Quote from: tom66 on May 28, 2021, 08:13:34 amPoint taken regarding not to take Sky News too seriously, but she was still foolish to mention catch and release. She should have known it would anger many and not further her cause.Quote from: beanflying on May 28, 2021, 05:18:35 amThe media talk about this being a natural disaster, but it's man made. Humans released these pests and now have to deal with the consequences.Some are advocating stronger poisons to deal with the mice, but how are they going to avoid collateral damage?If you kill all the cats, you'll have more mice. It's easier to kill cats, than mice, since they're larger and fewer of them. There's no simple solution to the problem.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 03:35:24 pm
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on May 28, 2021, 02:54:30 amMice operate mostly by smell so blinding them won't help much

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 03:40:15 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on May 28, 2021, 04:57:22 amWell... birds eat mosquitos. In the end the only real solution is to bring the natural balance back.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 04:07:04 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on May 28, 2021, 03:35:24 pmIt would make a good plot for a film though.Quote from: nctnico on May 28, 2021, 03:40:15 pmBut how do we remove every creature which doesn't belong in Australia? It's far too late for that, given some of animals there are already extinct.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 06:15:11 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on May 28, 2021, 03:40:15 pmYes, birds do eat mosquitoes and cats do eat mice but a "natural balance" is not the answer unless you (humans) are prepared to live with hoards of mosquitoes and mice. In a normal balanced eco system, predators only eliminate some of the their prey and not all of them. if they did then the predators themselves would then die off.What we as humans actually want isn't a "balanced" or a "natural" eco system but one in which the pests (mosquitoes, mice, etc) are completely removed. But with as little side effects as possible and without us having to do anything squeamish such as have to put salt of snails, or squish tomato worms or slugs. Or deal with mountains on dead mice.

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 06:37:16 pm
content: Quote from: floobydust on May 28, 2021, 04:09:32 amI like that channel—it was where I learned about the Perlite in a bucket trap, which caught 3 rats at once when I used it.Once the rodent climbs up to the rim of the bucket (provide a ramp or platform to make that easier), the surface of floating perlite appears to be solid. So they walk out across it to approach the bait (I put a Snickers bar on a large bottlecap so it would stay above the surface). Once they are standing on the perlite, it shifts like quicksand and they fall in and can't swim because of all the perlite above them.Around here I haven't heard anyone complaining about killing rodents, which is a bit surprising given all the other crazy ideas afoot. What does get mentioned is that poisoning them has collateral effects on predators like hawks, which is counter-productive since predators are what control the pest population.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 06:53:54 pm
content: Quote from: Stray Electron on May 28, 2021, 06:15:11 pmIn most parts of the world, we don't get plagues of pests, because the ecosystems are in balance. People occasionally have problems with rats and mice in Europe, for example, but never massive swarms of them like in Australia, because there are plenty of natural predators. Plagues normally occur due to human interference, in the ecosystem. I accept there are a few exceptions, such as locusts, in Africa, but it isn't the norm.

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2021, 10:48:46 pm
content: Well, we do have some predator deficit in Europe too and as a result there are things like boars roaming city streets scavenging for trash. Although recently, ASF appears to be taking care of those.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2021, 01:59:32 pm
content: Let's imagine the effort that has been put in to fight COVID was used to fight these little bastards (sorry PETA, I should have said these little cute innocent micey wiceys that have as much right to procreate as us evil humans). Then maybe an electronic solution would be found. A certain frequency and amplitude. Has anyone tried knocking out a rat with a brat? If we could get Justin Bieber to throw eggs at the mice whilst playing the Justin Bieber Christmas Album through 1000W speakers, it would wipe the lot of them out.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2021, 02:08:34 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on May 28, 2021, 03:35:24 pmWell it would make it easier "to cut off their tails with a carving knife!"

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2021, 02:26:02 pm
content: Mice plagues have happened in rural New South Wales for more than a century.My Dad was born in NSW, lived there as a boy before coming to Western Australia, & remembered the mouse plagues vividly.They even gave rise to a saying:"Heads on 'em like mice!" to refer to something of which there were many.For instance, if you were looking for Electronics Geeks, there are "heads on 'em like mice" on eevblog!

author: Sal Ammoniac
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2021, 03:30:57 pm
content: Quote from: Ed.Kloonk on May 28, 2021, 09:23:33 amI'm a card carrying member of PETA -- People Eating Tasty Animals.

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2021, 09:36:52 pm
content: Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on June 01, 2021, 03:30:57 pm"I didn’t claw my way to the top of the food chain to eat vegetables”

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2021, 09:44:36 pm
content: How did wild cats actually become such a big deal recently?Haven't they been around Australia for a few centuries already?

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2021, 09:53:16 pm
content: Quote from: magic on June 01, 2021, 09:44:36 pmShort answer, without trying to put too finer point on it..We have gone from being able to shoot the damn things on sight to not being allowed to do anything.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2021, 11:29:11 pm
content: Quote from: magic on June 01, 2021, 09:44:36 pmMore people, more neglected cats going feral.Also, cats can really only occupy more territory at cat walking speed, plus, if they have a good hunting area, they will stay there till their numbers outgrow the food supply.Cities expand rapidly, till what was once "bush" becomes suburbia, putting habitat loss pressure on not only native animals, but also feral ones.In any case, "recently" is a relative term----50 years ago there were baiting programs for ferals.