Mouse Protection while in storage

Last year I had a wildfire burn thousands of acres around my property. We live on a National Forest and adjacent to the wilderness portion of it so we are the only place for over a mile.
We burned around our place with drip torches to save it so we had essentially an oasis of unburned fuel amidst land filled with ash.

Every damn rodent and snake that could make it into our couple of acres of oasis came in. For the months afterward there was no seeds, insects, or habitat for these critters to go except our oasis. It was an epic battle and has finally gotten back to normal rodent levels recently. Partly because of our trapping efforts and mostly because the habitat grew back.
Some things I learned along this journey may help someone.

Smells (moth balls, dryer sheets, cedar chips,…). Nice get used to the smell. They may be repulsed at first but they either get desensitized or just quit caring. They aroma repellent doesn’t work after a few days in my experience. No aroma will repel them indefinitely except maybe cat piss.

Speaking of cats. We recently got two cats from the same litter. They have turned into killing machines. Birds, moles, mice, moths, ….

I suggest a cat and traps. Before the cats we did all our damage with the good old fashioned wooden Victor traps. The only way to fix a mouse problem is to kill the mice!

Baiting the traps is a chore but just make it a daily to weekly ritual. You have to get creative because like the aroma repellents they get used to the smells and flavors. I would have to change up the flavors often. It’s got to affix on the bait tray good because these vermin are master thieves. Cycle through cashews, pecans, peanuts, peanut butter, raisins, cranberries, cheese. Always handle the traps with latex gloves. They will smell your scent and won’t be as willing to take the bait. Leaving the hood open is a good idea for squirrels and mice/rats. They tend to think a predator can swoop in and get them. They like their privacy.

Good Luck!