Eek!! Rodent invasion!!

It took a year at the campstead, but the rodents have finally organized a committee to protest my presence. I'm finding little turds over everything around the kitchen space. It has essentially ruined my appetite for my favorite food, wild rice.

What are the health risks associated with the little critters? I'd imagine it is less acute between ones essentially living here in a forest and ones living in parts of old homes around all the junk of an urban setting?

With temperatures staying below freezing, washing surfaces with soap is growing impractical. Does dry wiping and spraying with a vinegar solution do a decent job of sanitizing?

What size hardware cloth is needed for exclusion? Does half inch do it or is quarter needed?

Coydon Wallham wrote:It took a year at the campstead, but the rodents have finally organized a committee to protest my presence. I'm finding little turds over everything around the kitchen space. It has essentially ruined my appetite for my favorite food, wild rice.

What are the health risks associated with the little critters? I'd imagine it is less acute between ones essentially living here in a forest and ones living in parts of old homes around all the junk of an urban setting?

With temperatures staying below freezing, washing surfaces with soap is growing impractical. Does dry wiping and spraying with a vinegar solution do a decent job of sanitizing?

What size hardware cloth is needed for exclusion? Does half inch do it or is quarter needed?

I can only speak to this part of your question.  1/2" hardware cloth has always worked for me.  I only use 1/4" on windows to stop rain infiltration.

The one creature that I cannot stand are rodents.

I would want some kind of cleaning besides just vinegar so I would add some dish soap to the vinegar. Then rinse again with a spray of straight vinegar.

I highly recommend getting a cat.

Anne Miller wrote:The one creature that I cannot stand are rodents.

I would want some kind of cleaning besides just vinegar so I would add some dish soap to the vinegar. Then rinse again with a spray of straight vinegar.

I highly recommend getting a cat.

This.. exactly. You can (in my area at least) adopt feral cats that have been caught and “fixed”. Feed them just enough to keep them around, but you want them lean and mean for the hunt. I have three, and rarely see rodents or their “evidence”. Best of luck to you..

Coydon,

Yes, cats you must have!
For such a destructive and quickly multiplying pest as rodents, you need something designed to eat them.
I raised my two male cats on 100% cats' diet. When they were 3 months old I was bringing them gophers, ground squirrels, road kill snakes. They never saw such a thing as store "cat food". They are amazing hunters and loving, vocal companions. They decimated rodent population on my field, killed all mice in the trailer that we are temporarily staying (oh, how I hate structures with cavity walls - but it's another topic).
They catch, kill and eat the whole prey. It makes them healthy and me happy.

I refuse to put my toilet paper rolls on backward, so cats are a no go here.

Not sure if I would be able to exclude them from the yurt entirely, but definitely don't want them making homes in my rmh mass. If I have the hardware cloth going down the sides of the mass, would just a few inches folded under the mass be enough to exclude, or will it need to be dug in or wrapped across the entire bottom?

I don't have a problem with cats and toilet paper.

I think that is a thing to make people laugh with Memes!

Cats can learn the word "NO" though so far I have not used it in reference to toilet paper.

We ran into a major mouse issue this past spring.   We finally turned our full attention to mouse catching.  We used a variety of traps .  My wife and I caught 17 mice in 7 days.   My MM (Master Mouser) took out another 10.   They have not been back. It is amazing the damage they did.

Coydon Wallham wrote:What are the health risks associated with the little critters? I'd imagine it is less acute between ones essentially living here in a forest and ones living in parts of old homes around all the junk of an urban setting?

Uh-oh. In my part of the world that behaviour would suggest deer mice. If that is the case, then yes they can carry disease transmissible to humans: it's called hantavirus. It's a hemmoragic fever. If the local deer mouse population carries this, they spread it through feces and urine.

I can't get a straight answer why, but some people don't seem to get sick; some have a case of "flu" they can't identify; and an unlucky few come down with hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. In these extreme cases, they stick you in an ICU and try to keep you alive. There are documented fatalities from this every year.

With temperatures staying below freezing, washing surfaces with soap is growing impractical. Does dry wiping and spraying with a vinegar solution do a decent job of sanitizing?

Again, operating on the supposition that these are deer mice potentially carrying hantavirus, the answer is absolutely not.

First, infection with hantavirus is primarily through aerosols -- particles of feces and urine that have been stirred up through mechanical cleaning -- brushing, sweeping compressed air, etc. The first line of defence is wet cleanup, allowing some soak time to make sure nothing gets airborne; I use soap to aid in this. When cleaning up enclosed areas with a heavy infestation, a tight fitting N95 mask is the minimum; a P100 respirator is the gold standard.

Actual sanitizing involves applying a compound that will corrode the virus -- typically chlorine bleach or the chemical in liquid Lysol at adequate concentration with a 15 minute "fully wet" contact time.

This likely offends permie sensibilities. It certainly reeks of unpleasantness either way. I have no idea if a 50% straight vinegar would do the job, but maybe it would with adequate contact time. Boiling of course nukes all viruses, as does time and UV exposure.

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Personally, if it's that bad, I think you need to take the fight to them, inside and outside of the envelope of your building. Traps with peanut butter are effective; I put them on a piece of cardboard since they pee/poop upon death. Deer mice are highly territorial; you have a right to be also. The mice can play in the woods all they like; but if they try to come inside, it's game over baby.

Pardon the pedantic rant -- I've been through the wars with this, and I sympathize with your situation. Luck to you!