# Weasel moves in to the new shop...



## cathead (Jan 5, 2021)

Well, I began noticing some strange things happening in the shop lately.  First it was these unusual droppings and then
a bunch of dead mice partially devoured all lined up like cord wood...

It wasn't long and I had a visual on the intruder, an ermine all white with a black tip on the tail.  There is a small opening in the 
shop doors for them to get in so I blocked that off after hopefully chasing him out.  They are quick and viscous and apparently
like my new shop environment all insulated with a big wood stove.  It's 2800 square feet so lots of room to chase an ermine 
around in.   I have a friend who has a live trap so will employ that to catch him if he indeed gets back in.  These ermines
are some tough customers as there are mouse body parts strewed around and blood as well.  Anyhow, I know what I am
up against and expect to get even soon.


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## markba633csi (Jan 5, 2021)

POP goes the ermine!  I mean weasel.  He looks cute tho.  Probably tear your hand off
How do you plan to dispatch him? Are you going to re-locate him?  He might be wary of traps
-Mark


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## kb58 (Jan 5, 2021)

I'm only half way kidding when I say, why not leave him be for now, as he's obviously keeping the mouse population down. Once he cleans them out, he'll likely move on.

Are those also referred to as ferrets?


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## cathead (Jan 5, 2021)

I will try to live trap him if he shows up again.  He doesn't mess with my mouse traps with peanut butter.  
I have not seen any mice lately either...


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## markba633csi (Jan 5, 2021)

Easier to keep him out than the mice,  and he's actually doing a good thing by de-mousing


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## eugene13 (Jan 5, 2021)

Better than a cat, you don't have to feed him, beware of rabies.


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## higgite (Jan 5, 2021)

kb58 said:


> I'm only half way kidding when I say, why not leave him be for now, as he's obviously keeping the mouse population down. Once he cleans them out, he'll likely move on.
> 
> Are those also referred to as ferrets?


As I recall, weasels and ferrets are in the same family, but different animals. Sort of like wolves and dogs, roughly speaking.

Tom


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## savarin (Jan 5, 2021)

The best mouser you will ever see.
I say leave him to decimate the population, far less damage than the mice do.


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## savarin (Jan 5, 2021)

Weasel - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


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## NCjeeper (Jan 5, 2021)

You can release him in my basement. It is a constant battle with mice down there.


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## brino (Jan 5, 2021)

cathead said:


> It wasn't long and I had a visual on the intruder, an ermine all white with a black tip on the tail.


I believe that is just their "winter coat". They change colour for camouflage with the season.



cathead said:


> They are quick and viscous and apparently like my new shop environment all insulated with a big wood stove. It's 2800 square feet



2800 sq feet, I could live in there!
(.....and I am neither quick or viscous.)



markba633csi said:


> he's actually doing a good thing by de-mousing





savarin said:


> I say leave him to decimate the population, far less damage than the mice do.



.....but I believe @cathead has a pet bird too that joins him in the shop........ I don't believe those two would work out together.

-brino


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## Shootymacshootface (Jan 5, 2021)

I have a ferret, and he is the cutest and sweetest little guy ever, unless you are his list for a food source. We learned that the hard way. If you have any other pets, especially if it is a prey animal it will kill it. They are very smart and if they want something they do not give up until they find a way to get it. 
I hope that little guy can stay and kill your mice. If not live trap him and find him a new home. 
My little guy doesn't like peanut butter, but he loves sweets. You might want to try some maple syrup or a little piece of chocolate if you need to trap him. Post a pic if you get him!


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## projectnut (Jan 6, 2021)

When his job is finished there, and If and when you catch him send him this way.  We've had a mole and mouse problem at our family cottage for almost 10 years.  Neither get in the house, but the mice can easily take up residence in the garage.  The moles on the other hand continually destroy the lawn.  

The place has been in the family over 40 years and we haven't had these types of problems until the last 10 years or so.  We could use a good mouser.  I don't want to put out poison because of the resident dogs and foxes.  I'd hate to have them find and eat a poisoned dead mouse.  We had that happen to our first dog.  She found a dead mouse in the field next door and eventually succumbed to the poison she ingested.


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## CluelessNewB (Jan 6, 2021)

NCjeeper said:


> You can release him in my basement. It is a constant battle with mice down there.


Maybe you can rent him out, I could use him for a few weeks in my shop!


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## tghsmith (Jan 6, 2021)

I'd set him up with a litter box and a house,, one lived under a big stump that was next to my fathers dock,, dad would set dead minnows there after returning from fishing. Weasel got to the stage when hearing the boat tying up he would "pop" up and wait on the stump for his treats..


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## markba633csi (Jan 6, 2021)

Best trap I have found for gophers (and I assume moles too) is the metal Cinch trap and a little breakfast cereal as bait FYI
-M


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## brasssmanget (Jan 6, 2021)

We actually used to set mouse traps in our hunting shack/trailer home over the winter and throughout the spring, and empty them upon returning periodically. One time we could not find any traps at all [seemed odd since we ALWAYS set some before leaving]. My son looked under his bunk for a tripped trap, and found six of them [all empty] lined up under the bunk, next to a hole that had been chewed through the floor along a discharge pipe hole we had filled. Knew right away it was a weasel of some sort. No mice for over a year!

Unfortunately, after re-plugging the hole we lost our terminator and mice returned.


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## Al 1 (Jan 6, 2021)

Remember this:   "I hate those meeces to pieces!"  Al


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## brino (Jan 6, 2021)

tghsmith said:


> Weasel got to the stage when hearing the boat tying up he would "pop" up and wait on the stump for his treats..



Let me guess....a mulberry stump? 

-brino


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## FOMOGO (Jan 7, 2021)

I had one in my shop 2 years ago, he would come and go through the shop floor drain, which was just stubbed out the wall. Had zero mice the whole time he was around. I could tell he wasn't afraid of me, and I think he understood I wasn't afraid of him, so we got along just fine. I referred to him as the Weasler. When I came home in the spring after spending the winter away. I  found blood all over one corner of the shop. About a month latter I found the remains of a cotton tail behind some sheets of plywood. He appeared to have been Weaslered. Mike


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## savarin (Jan 7, 2021)

brino said:


> Let me guess....a mulberry stump?
> 
> -brino


Doh! it took me all day to twigg this one.


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## cathead (Jan 7, 2021)

I chased Herman the ermine around the shop twice today and he holed up in a pile of planed one inch
boards.  I't's not clear if he can get out of the building as it is fairly tight now.  My friend has a Havahart trap
so will try that soon and he will be hungry if he cant find an exit...


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## brino (Jan 8, 2021)

"Herman the Ermine" sounds like a great name for a kids tv show!



cathead said:


> I chased Herman the ermine around the shop twice today



Queue up the Benny Hill music.

-brino


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## cathead (Jan 10, 2021)

Well, the excitement is over for the moment.  Herman or possibly Erma has left the building.....


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## tghsmith (Jan 10, 2021)

the mice will dancing in the aisles...


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## RJSakowski (Jan 10, 2021)

We live in a century old house and despite my efforts to seal up any openings, mice are still able to infiltrate. Our tactics are to set traps until there is no more activity and then we can usually relax for a while.  Last week, the wife saw a couple of mice scurrying in the basement so I set five of the old style Victor traps.  I caught one mouse before the afternoon  and reset the trap for the night.

The next morning, the wife emptied two traps but informed me that I would have to empty a third  trap because there was a disgusting half eaten mouse in it and she wasn't going to touch it.  The mouse had most of a hind leg eaten, along with its ribs laid bare.  I know that there is no opening large enough for a weasel to get in which leaves a shrew as the logical culprit.  Later that day another mouse was trapped and its eyeball and surrounding tissue was missing. 

Shrews have incredibly high metabolic rates and are purported to eating their body weight daily.  They are capable of killing mice which might explain why I haven't caught any more mice.  Unless the shrew goes back outside, though, it won't survive long as its food supply is limited (assuming that it doesn't come upstairs where the dog's food is).

On another, note, we put the dog out for his nightly constitutional last week and he was slow to come back.  Earlier that night, the coyotes were carrying up a storm behind the house.  The next morning,  we again put the dog out and again, he wouldn't return immediately when called. I threw on some boots and started off on a trail along the creek behind our house.  A short distance down the trail, I spotted the dog by a deer carcass laying in the creek.

I suspect that the coyotes had chased down a deer that managed to crawl into the creek before it died.  The hind quarter had a fair amount of meat eaten.  Later that fay, I dragged the deer out of the creek on the opposite shore where the coyotes could finish their feasting.  Our dog will not cross the creek so we can be sure that he won't be chewing on the carcass. 

I looked for signs of an injury or gunshot wound that might explain the deer not being able to evade the coyotes but found nothing obvious.  I suppose that there could have been a wound that was obscured by the feasting.  Another thought was that it was infected with CWD as it would incapacitate the deer sufficiently to allow the kill.

Country living!


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