cat deterent
Valerie 7
Posts: 59
Hello. Since losing our dog two years ago I have been redesigning our garden with wildlife in mind. So far it's all going well, and I was absolutely thrilled to find that we now have a resident mouse (or two) in the woodpile. The problem is that the neighbourhood cats have noticed it as well. Please can anyone recommend a cat deterent that won't harm the mice? Many thanks, Valerie
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Posts
I would recommend a contech scarecrow
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Contech-ScareCrow-Motion-Activated-Deterrent/dp/B005MW9VOM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424429614&sr=8-1&keywords=contech+scarecrow
I use it to protect small mammals and reptiles on our log piles. The local cats have learnt now our garden is a 'no go' area. That was after 6 years of me being miserable about cats devastating the wildlife in our garden. Things are on the mend now though.
They need a permanent pressured water supply and I would recommend using metal hose fittings for reliability (plastic hose connectors always 'pop off' when I'm out and I come back to a flooded garden). I tried everything before investing in a couple of scarecrows, nothing else worked to keep cats out.
I've just checked out the reviews on Amazon, and it certainly seems to be a popular and affective product. I assume that the movement of a small mouse won't set it off, I don't want to drench the one thing I'm trying to proctect. A couple of the cats have taken to sitting right on the woodpile so the scarecrow would have to be set up quite close.
Thanks, Valerie
I doubt a mouse would set it off, small birds don't but some larger ones do. It's really unlikely to hit the mouse, it fires out a spray of water in a large arc. I've never seen one wet a cat, the cats move too quick, though they do learn it is there, they don't like it, and avoid it totally. It's the movement and sudden sound that seems to do the trick to deter the cats.
I had the same problem, the cats would hunt around the woodpile and sit right on top of it. Not now though.
Another tip to deter cats from sitting on log/wood piles, place some prickly bramble or rose cuttings on top. This provides good cover for small animals too as they can quickly hide under it. If you don't like the idea of cats getting pricked by brambles (they don't really as they are not silly enough to try and sit on brambles) some willow cuttings laid on top help to make an 'unstable' topping that cats avoid.
Brambles I can do. No problem with that. It'll give me time to save up for the scarecrow too.
Thanks again, Valerie
Just a word of warning, they make a weird yowling noise when they are getting "high!"
Mice breed very very fast. Not sure I'd want to keep a couple in the woodpile. In a couple of months you'll have loads of them.
Once our garden and it's wildlife are more established, I might stop being quite so vigilant about the cats, but for now I'd like to give the mice (and the birds come to that) a fighting chance.
Not sure how I feel about catnip plants, it might be quite fun to watch some spaced out cats, but I could do without the yowling.
There's always been plenty of cats around, but they used to steer clear of our garden because it smelled too much of dog. But the more we dug up, the more they appeared. No plans to get another dog though.
Citrus peel might help. Spread around the area and garden. My daughter had a problem with neighbourhood cats visiting and this did help to deter.
Cat nip helps stop the mouse smell but be prepared for some very spaced out moggies.(Haven't had any yowling!)