On another forum, people say using peppermint oil spray deters the mice.

It really depends on the exact intensity of the plague and can sometimes differ greatly from hour to hour.

In the sixties three of my brothers spent around two days taking it in turn to physically brush off mice with whatever implement worked. They did this non stop taking shifts to keep the vehicles and water tanks free of mice. Water tanks can be an issue if it is or has been very dry. Regardless, mice always seem to just fall in water tanks whenever there is a plague of them.

I can pretty much attest that nothing, other than physically brushing them off if things get really intense, works.

As an aside, the youngest brother, about 12 at the time, decided to do a school project of off his own bat. He wanted to see how long it would take to half fill a 200 litre drum with drowned mice. He half filled a vertical drum with water, then dropped a plank from the ground to the tip of the drum. I seem to remember it was under 15 minutes before the drum started to overflow. Mind you, probably only half drowned, some were crushed but the moving morass of mice just diverting up the plank was a sight to behold.

Another contraption he made was to nail a dozen mouse traps to another plank of wood, set the traps and see how long it took to get all 12 traps with mice. I think the average was somewhere around 30 seconds.

Not long before that mouse plague, my brother had been gifted a stop watch. He was at the time, obsessed with timing things. He didn't fare too well when he started to time mum cooking food though..........

You also have to have your trousers tied with string to stop them running up the insides of your trousers, don't ask how I know this.

As for a locust plague, any green coloured wiring will be eaten first.

All these experiences were in western Victoria in the Wimmera between Jeparit and Rainbow, which is just wheat as far as the eye can see, with occasionally a paddock sown with rape; which is a glorious colour change.

Jeepers creepers Doug I'd rather see a cartoon pic of the cat that says I hate dem meeces to pieces.

Hi Doug, which is better? This bloke's/lady's cousins (brown snakes) or the mice? I guess the snakes - they don't do the damage that mice do but they'll be in greater numbers following the mouses! People will have to be careful.

Wayne, we found on the West Coast of SA that Baysol Blue snail pellets worked well but keep them away from pets. I don't know if they are still available as we don't have snails up here. Farmers used strychnine, killing thousands in a night. Alternatively bottle traps worked well - mice were not distance swimmers (staying afloat for around 30 seconds), but only one at a time. We could buy traps that took 4 at a time but we had to clear them quickly as often mice trapped were eaten by their mates.

Hook up and drive. Lol

Carbon monoxide ?

with all the rain .....i reacon it might drown the buggers

Hi Age-old,
I'm certain if your wife had lived through a mice plague, she'd prefer a few snakes.
Snakes don't destroy people's water supplies by falling in & dying in them, they don't eat electrical wiring (240v, 12v), they don't eat tomato bushes off at the stump so the fruit dies. Mice can get in the smallest holes, under doors with ease.

My suggestion - if it's possible to defer your trip, do so. Mice in their millions are not nice, you never forget the smell of dead mice.

At Ceduna, we didn't have the high tech revolving trap as above.
We put a sock over a bottle up to the neck, peanut paste in the opening & placed the bottle on our brick compost heap with the bare section of the bottle over the bucket.

The old fashioned light shade on anything touching the ground so they cant climb . Fixing all the holes . They are not keen on alfoil ! Pack it in crevices. Keep grainy foods well sealed in tin box .