We Are At War With Mice

[sonya]

I didn't know where else to post this so forgive me if it's not the right place. I have lived in this house for 17 years and have NEVER had animal population with the exception of spiders. I jumped out of my skin last Saturday morning when out of the corner of my eye I saw a mouse run across my stove and haul a$$, I do not want to hire an exterminator first of all because too expensive and they will want to put out poison - BIG NO NO - or set traps which I have been doing. (actually I have a neighbor who sets them because It's just too icky for me). I bought 4 Ortho Defense that you hide bait and when they go in it releases a lever and you never have to see dead livestock. I caught one Sunday morning and since then.....nothing. THey lick the peanut butter off the wood traps (I gave up on the Ortho) but don't get caught. This is day 6 and although there are droppings on both sides of the counter and on stove............no meeses. Cinnibuns has never seen them or I think she would have freaked. Any suggestions? Thank you

[TheFullHouse]

Keep moving the traps around. Mice are very smart and learn where they are set and will avoid the area. If you have a pantry, check in there, they will go where the food is and also watch where you store your dog food, they love the stuff.

[Guest snakes]

Multiple traps in one area you know they frequent so that they can't pass the area without getting to one worked wellf or me, but you have to make sure no curious noses can get to the trap or the little mouse that gets trapped!

The only thing I found that helped was top fidn teh holes they were getting in through (for us it was via the heating pipes) and close them up with steel wool. Anything else they will chew a new hole through, the steel wool they can't chew through without hurting thier teeth, worked wonders!

Some people say spritzing peppermint oil (i got it at GNC) works to repel them.

[sonya]

Never thought of moving the traps around. Thing of it is I can not find droppings anywhere wlse except on the counters. We think perhaps they are parachuting in. Since my husband the cook died I have very little food on hand that is not frozen, in the fridge or in cans. No droppings anywhere else. No pantry, nothing in basement....I've about had it. It's like they are going "nah nah nah nah" to me. AAAAAHHHHH But I will move the traps tonight. Thanks for the idea.

[heartdogs]

My DD has a mouse problem since her 2 mousers ( a corgi & a grey) died & last weekend she called to say a mouse had fallen head first into a bag of dog food & died. She said the tail & 2 back feet were sticking up in the air. She uses the old wooden traps kitchen & gets quite a few that way. They live on a ranch so have a lot of creatures around.

[revamp]

These are the best mousetraps ever: (NOTE--this link has a customer-added photos of a mouse caught in the trap) http://www.amazon.co...37964163&sr=1-2

 

I lived in a house built in 1910 and had a mouse issue there. These traps with just a smear of PB on the cheese (paddle) fixed my issue in just a week's time. These traps are so good, many times you don't even need to bait them, just place them perpendicular to, but up against the wall or backsplash where the critters run.

Edited May 25, 2012 by revamp

[buddibear]

We have fruit rats because of the orange ,lemon and grapefruit trees in the yard. I keep DECON pellets under the washer and dryer in garage. It works in a few days but the dead smell in the walls will go away in time. They usually leave the property in search of water,anyway. The house is raised off theground so I place the poison under the house also. Dogs can not get under house.

[kronckew]

watch out for them geneticly modified mice. they're armed and dangerous!

[cello]

Could you borrow a cat from a friend for a couple of weeks?

[MaryJane]

I use peppermint oil - put a few drops on a gauze and leave it around the area. You have to refresh every few days but they don't like the smell.

 

My problem is that I keep on forgetting to refresh the oil ....

[Riverhound]

watch out for them geneticly modified mice. they're armed and dangerous!

 

Dear god, that's cute!

[Guest twoskinnydogs]

I have always used the non toxic sticky pads because of the fear of the hounds eating the mouse poison....

 

The pads are safe and if I could have found the picture of one stuck to Emma's head I would share it.

[joejoesmom]

From personal experience, you will never get the problem under control unless you find where they are getting in and fix it. I finally hired an exterminator who found a few spots that I didn't see. He said that they could flatten their body to squeeze through a little more than a 1/8 inch crack. He suggested pushing steel wool into the openings (they won't try to chew through it) and fixing it in place by spraying in some expanding foam insulation.

 

One spot the exterminator found was through a small gap in the overlap of some roof flashing. They were then getting into the attic and from there, down the walls. I won't go into more detail what they were doing after that, kind of disgusting.

 

Jane

[Guest BrianRke]

Make sure you place the traps against the wall. Mice cant see well so they use the walls to navigate.

[Feisty49]

From personal experience, you will never get the problem under control unless you find where they are getting in and fix it. I finally hired an exterminator who found a few spots that I didn't see. He said that they could flatten their body to squeeze through a little more than a 1/8 inch crack. He suggested pushing steel wool into the openings (they won't try to chew through it) and fixing it in place by spraying in some expanding foam insulation.

 

One spot the exterminator found was through a small gap in the overlap of some roof flashing. They were then getting into the attic and from there, down the walls. I won't go into more detail what they were doing after that, kind of disgusting.

 

Jane

 

I live in the country in a house built in 1792. Talk about places for mice to get in! The nooks and crannies have nooks and crannies There is no way, short of sealing the house in a bubble, that every place they get in can be found. My solution has been my cat, who is a good mouser, and the sticky traps. Once the initial rush of mice is caught (by cat and trap) in the fall when the weather turns chilly, I never see another one. So they can be controlled without sealing up every hole.

[2fawngreys]

These are the best traps I have found

http://www.amazon.com/Kness-Mfg-102-0-019-Snap-E-Mouse/dp/B0002ZINDY

 

They are reusable - and you can release the mouse into the garbage or a plastic bag without touching the body.

 

I also place the traps inside a narrow cardboard box with an opening cut out (like a Ritz cracker box cut down) so they can only approach it by stepping on the trigger - plus it hides the carnage if you are squeamish and need someone else to dispose of the body.

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

We have been reecently waging a war here, too. I keep the dog food in sealed bins; but when we get a new bag it doesn't all quite fit, so there's a couple of days when the bag with what didn't fit is sitting up on the sealed container. I reached in with my scoop (a big stainless 8 cup measure) and imagine my surprise to see 2 beady eyes peering over the edge when I pulled the scoop out! We just use the wooden traps; placed under things or inside cupboards so no needle-noses will get an unpleasant surprise. My DF takes a kind of sick pleasure in hearing the "snap" when a trap he's placed goes off; ahhh, the mighty hunter! It takes a few days and then the population is mostly gone, enough so that my porch kitty and NonBon the MouseMonster can keep them under control. No poisons; I just won't risk it (even though some claim to be "safe", hello, it's poison, ya know, kills things? How is it SAFE?!) They seem to be cyclical here; none for a few years, then a few, then MICE!!!!

[kronckew]

i had a couple of mouse invasions, could hear the little devils scampering about the attic thru the ceiling at night. they'd go down a pipe tunnel that went from the head tank in the attic down to the ground level in the kitchen,, the lower and upper ends being open. initial stuffing with fibreglass insulation didn't work for more than a day or so (it did help my heating bill however), i put out a pair of snap traps baited with peanut butter around the baseboards behind stuff. got 2 big'uns (ma & pa?) the first hour. got a few more somewhat smaller ones (babies?) over the next few days, until they finally stopped and no more scrabbling. i used a galvanised metal based trap where it was arranged that the whole metal base was the trigger so they could't avoid triggering it if they went on or over it. the little lever that trips it was actually under the base, holding it all up precariously on the rear edge.

 

i once tried one of the 'humane' ones that let them in to a baited holding area after going thru a set of teeter-totter one-way doors. found the lid on the top open the next day, so i put a weight on top. caught six in one night. i guess it was six from the skeletons. the canniblistic little devils had eaten each other in panic and there was one big un-skeleton one that i guess was the winner. if you can it that . it was dead too. gave that trap away. washed the carnage out with bleach 1st tho. told the new user to check it more frequently than 24hrs if she wanted any of them to be alive.

Edited May 26, 2012 by kronckew

[Guest ctgreylover]

Last summer I had a mouse problem too. They were in my drawers and stove top and under the stove but no where else. It was so frustrating not knowing how they got into the drawers. I tried lots of different humane traps ect but in the end I got the old fashioned cheap wood snap traps. I did not leave gobs of peanut butter on the trap, I left a film so they had to really work for it. I caught 9 mice in 7 days. I took out the lower drawer from my stove and set the traps there. I put a baby gate across the stove so no cat or dog could go there. I used grocery store plastic bags to get the caught ones so I didnt have to see/touch them. sort of like how we pick up poops on walks. In the end I found that they were living on the top of my dishwasher and were walking on the wood that lined the wall behind my cabinets. If you can find where they came in, use steel wool to block their way.

[lukasmom]

I had a real bad mouse problem a few years ago. Besides 3 dogs I have two parrots and a cockatiel. I sweep or vacumn every night but still had mice. I got Anderson Pest Control and they did a great job. The first year they used poison bait stations which worked well. Now they have gone "green" and do not use poison. They have cardboard boxes with openings at two ends with the old wooden traps. They use chocolate syrup as bait and it works great. I had to stop using them due to the expense.

I was surprised to find we caught 3 mice recently which we don't normally see, once the weather turns warm they tend to stay outside. There is no way to completely seal up a house, but if you do see spots, steel wool like someone else recommended works very well. The mice hate to get that in their teeth and will avoid places filled with it.

[Hubcitypam]

I had mice in Lubbock and tried everything. Humane traps, snap traps, sonic repellers. They unbaited the snap traps, chewed through the steel wool in the hole by the dryer vent and pretty much laughed at me and the sonic repellers. I refuse to use glue traps. I'd rather die quickly from poison than spend hours in a panic ripping my legs off trying to get out of a sticky trap, but that's just me...Finally called an exterminator, best $70 I ever spent.

 

Saw what he used and used it once for mice here and again when I had an old shed torn down back. Never saw a dead mouse or rat and all evidence was gone in two days. The one I used is now only available to contracters in bulk but this has the same ingredient. Bromethalin has a MUCH lower secondary toxicity than anti-coagulants like Decon. I drilled several exterminators and they said even if a dog ate a mouse that died from it nothing would happen to the dog. Never had a problem with this stuff.

 

You can use dog and child proof bait stations but the pro guys just baited the attic, crawl space and places like behind the water heater in the garage.

 

[Guest june]

I won't use poison because even if they say it won't hurt a dog I don't want to be the one to prove them wrong. I'd rather put up with the mice. I now have the pug in sound wave mouse deterrents and haven't had a mouse in the house for some time.

Edited May 27, 2012 by june

[Guest 2dogs4cats]

I had a mouse once, but when I saw it, it was in my cat's mouth. Haha! This is a true story. So I got freaked out and bought a bunch of moustraps, but never caught anything and never saw another mouse or droppings. I think my cats got it right when it got in the house. I think a cat is the best mouse trap, but make sure it's a female. The males aren't good mousers.

[Hubcitypam]

My male yorkie was a great mouser.

[Finnsliz]

We have mice as well in our 1875 house. I found a recipe to use of equal parts baking soda and sugar. Place in a shallow dish along the walls . According to the site I found this on, mice can't expel gas (from either end) and this harmless mixture will kill them. Don't know if this is true or not, but we tried it and no mice, but that could be pure coincidence...

 

Nothing worse than sticking your arm into the dog food container and having a mouse jump at you first thing in the morning. Although it does get your blood flowing