# Mice!



## ckarotka (Aug 28, 2010)

Have an investation of mice going on. normally I will get a few with the traps during the year....but I just got 3 in 24hrs in the cabinets
How many field mice make up the average nest? 

I'm gonna have to get aggresive, without calling in a pro what else works good to get rid of them quick. 

No cats!! I'd rather have snakes.


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## Bobbin (Aug 28, 2010)

When I (or any of our 3 cats) uncover a nest there are usually anywhere from 3-6 babies in them.  But that's just the tip of the iceberg because Mummy Mousies will have several litters over the course of the year; doesn't take long for sexual maturity to be reached nor does it take many days to brew up the new batch.  Mice and small rodents are basically the plankton and crill of the woodlands and meadows.  

You can put out poison but that endangers animals that will feed on carrion, you can focus on minimizing habitat (tough order where wood stacks are involved), and you can focus on making sure grass seed, bird seed, and all manner of food sources are carefully stored against them.  Good luck, they're a drag when you have too many of them and they're tough to eliminate.  

We have 3 cats (pity you don't like them) who are outdoors by day but in at night.  They are clean, quiet, very affectionate, and superbly adapted to rodent hunting.  They incisors are actually perfectly spaced to sever a rodent's spinal cord... a fun fact to know and tell.  Every single day they get at least 1 each and usually deposit them on the deck or the door steps for our delight.  If it's not mice, it's voles which are the scourge of a perennial gardener.  They are amazingly efficient hunters and their some of their favorite hang outs are the stacks of firewood.


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## ckarotka (Aug 28, 2010)

A quick search revieled some pretty Interesting traps. I think multiple types and alot all at once should knock down the population quick. Found o e that goes like this:  rubber maid tote with water in it, wire strung between handles, hanging on the wire a tin can paper removed and both bottom and top lids removed, covered in bacon fat. The mice walk the wire and spin off the can to the pool below. The article said it could trap quite a few at one time.


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## gzecc (Aug 28, 2010)

Use poison and find out how they are getting in and out. There must be multiple holes around your house. They multiply fast. Trapping them doesn't keep up with the multiplication factor.

Following copulation, female mice will normally develop a vaginal plug which prevents further copulation. This plug stays in place for some 24 hours. The gestation period is about 19–21 days, and they give birth to a litter of 3-14 young (average 6-8). One female can have some 5-10 litters per year, so their population can increase very quickly. Breeding occurs throughout the year (however, animals living in the wild don't reproduce in the colder months, even though they don't hibernate). The newborn are blind and without fur. Fur starts to grow some three days after birth and the eyes open one to two weeks after birth. Females reach sexual maturity at about 6 weeks and males at about 8 weeks, but both can breed as early as five weeks.


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## LLigetfa (Aug 29, 2010)

gzecc said:
			
		

> find out how they are getting in and out. There must be multiple holes around your house.


Ja, seal up the obvious holes but they can squeeze through a 3/8" gap so that can be tough.  Put out lots of traps and empty them often.  They say the early bird gets the worm but the later mouse gets the cheeze.

How about an outdoor cat?  Keeps the population down around the house so fewer trying to get in.


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## btuser (Aug 29, 2010)

ckarotka said:
			
		

> A quick search revieled some pretty Interesting traps. I think multiple types and alot all at once should knock down the population quick. Found o e that goes like this:  rubber maid tote with water in it, wire strung between handles, hanging on the wire a tin can paper removed and both bottom and top lids removed, covered in bacon fat. The mice walk the wire and spin off the can to the pool below. The article said it could trap quite a few at one time.



Ahhh, the bucket of death.  Without a doubt the MOST EFFECTIVE trap ever.  I've caught 12 chipmumks/day with this thing, and the only reason it would stop working is it was so full the little varmits could jump back out!


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## ANeat (Aug 29, 2010)

I like the snap traps over stuff like poison.  With poison they will crawl off somewhere and die, probably somewhere in your house.  I live in a farm area so there is always a few that find there way in when it gets cold.

   A few snap traps with some peanut butter will take care of them.


 One year right after they harvested the field behind my house we had a bunch.  Probably caught several in one day,  a few after that, then none.

 Wife thought she seen one the other day, set a trap out and nothing.  So he probably didnt find anything to eat and moved on


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## benjamin (Aug 30, 2010)

The traps with the plastic triggers are much better than the ones with the steel triggers.  Glue traps work good until they get covered with dust.  

Try a bunch of traps within 10 feet of any sign.  Keep them baited.  Move them around and change up baits.


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## raiderfan (Aug 30, 2010)

i started having my issues with mice last winter (i actually think there was another thread on this).  They were getting into my chip cabinet -- ABOVE my stove.  Trapped them and trapped them, until after the fifth one, i blocked off a 1/4" gap between my wall and cabinet backing with some molding and kept them out of there.  Set up traps in my basement (figuring that's where they were coming from), caught two more, but haven't seen them or evidence since.

Earlier in the summer, I patched holes and crevices in my foundation, all around the house.  I'm sure I didn't get everything, but plan on doing round two before winter.  Never even noticed mice in my house until I started burning wood, a couple of years ago.  My woodpile is about 10ft from my house, so I guess that could be it.


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## benjamin (Aug 30, 2010)

Another point is the difference between house mice ( grey) and deer mice (brown and white underneath).  House mice mostly live inside, deer mice live outside and sneak in occasionally.  Voles (grey pointy noses) also live outside usually.


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## raiderfan (Aug 30, 2010)

the mice i'd catch were house mice and deer mice, then.  most seemed to have been house mice, but the last two were brown with a white belly.


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## Shari (Aug 31, 2010)

If you have the deer mice variety, better tie your traps to something.  My son had them in his garage and when they got trapped by a foot or leg they dragged the trap away....... ;(

Shari


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## keydiver (Aug 31, 2010)

What ever trap you use.  Use peanut butter!  Weather is turning.  They are looking for warmth.

We had a few.  Set glue traps with PB.  5 year old at 6AM the next morning.  MOMMMMMM Dadddddd  WE GOT ONE!


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## billb3 (Aug 31, 2010)

Have grey ones and brown and white ones here.
I see both out in the woods, too.

I'll get them living half way between the attic and the chimney in the Winter, A bit of poison and there will be a bunch of them on the cellar floor around the perimeter of the chimney .
I have found tunnels in the attic cellulose insulation and watched one disappear in a crack in the foundation stones in the basement.


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## gpcollen1 (Aug 31, 2010)

My oldest cat died yesterday.  15 years he has been keeping the mice population in check for me with my other cat.  I actually replaced him in advance last summer with a new kitten.  His health was failing for a while and he finally gave out.  The new cat has been trained well though and doing fine...

I do not know what I would do without the cats...


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## maverick06 (Sep 3, 2010)

I dont like poision, then you have a rotting, smelling, poision laden carcas somewhere in the house. 

Just buy the cheapest mousetraps home depot sells and put peanut butter on them. They will do a great job. As long as you find a good location to put the traps. 

I had an issue, traps killed probably 12 within a month. Now I probably get 1 every 4 or 5 weeks. No Idea where they are comming in from, but am not worried about that now!


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## oldspark (Sep 3, 2010)

benjamin said:
			
		

> The traps with the plastic triggers are much better than the ones with the steel triggers..
> 
> .


 Yes they are and who said they could not build a better mouse  trap!


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## raiderfan (Sep 3, 2010)

Wat makes them better?


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## Snag (Sep 4, 2010)

We use the traps with the yellow plastic cheese piece and bait that with peanut butter.   I don't know if it matters but they supposedly can be set for sensitivity based on where you put the metal arm of the trap.  You can tie bacon on the trap as well but if you use food, change it when it gets rancid or it won't catch mice.  If they're getting their food elsewhere they sometimes can be caught with bits of drier fluff tied to it with thread  as they like that when they are looking for nesting material.    Garages and barns are great places for a 5 gallon bucket trap.  Dont' know if it is true but I heard if you put some dish detergent in the water it spoils the surface tension of the water so the mice drown much quicker.  I don't like the sticky traps, I think they suffer both mentally and physically for too long.  I won't use poison because I don't want my dogs accidently getting into the poison or eating a mouse that has eaten the poison.

My sister had problems with mice and had a fella come out and inspect the house.  He said mice can jump about 12" so make sure to close up any access to the house where they can get in.  Folks that have siding may find mice getting in under the siding at the outside corners of the house.  I stuffed any access spot I found with steel wool and then sprayed in some of the foam insulation to seal it up tight.   We also keep our garbage cans and recycle bin up off the ground and the dog food is kept in sealed bins in the garage.  

The more open access you have around the outside of your home means the owls, hawks, fox and coyote will have less trouble seeing and catching the mice before they make it to your doorstep.  Being kind to your black snakes means they'll hang around to feed off the mice that make their homes in places other hunters can't get to.


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## tickbitty (Sep 4, 2010)

Yes there are some gray plastic traps called something like "better mousetrap" that have red writing on them and sometimes a plastic cheese piece to put the bait on.  These are very effective and almost always get/kill the WHOLE mouse rather than catching a tail or across the face or leg with the rest of the mouse intact, which I have seen with those wood/metal ones.  Plus the gray plastic ones are really easy to pick up and unload without touching the mouse, it's got a spring just like a chip clip or something.  Often the bait is still there and you can just lay the trap back out again!

I killed nine mice in one night with these one time and never had another one after that gang - this was after a couple years of mouse problems!

I don't like poisons or glue traps, don't want to find stinky drowned guys either, and the live traps aren't really humane anyway.  So, these gray ones are the way to go, I think.  They are by "Intruder" and are available at Target usually or probably amazon.


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## BrotherBart (Sep 4, 2010)

Every since this little girl showed up out by the woodpile two years ago the huge mouse problem we have had for years started tapering off to nothing. She starts the nightly hunt around the outside of the house at sundown when the little rodents are most active and comes into the basement at ten to make a round and go to bed. She was out catching mice every night when we had four feet of snow on the ground. She is upset now because she can't find any more mice. So she is working the pole barn.

I call her The Woodpile Panther.


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## ozzy73 (Sep 9, 2010)

I love the glue boards. Bait them first, leave the paper on for a few days. 
I also avoid poison, decomposing body stinks up the house.


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## raiderfan (Sep 9, 2010)

So...  About poison and mice dying somewhere in the house...

I've heard numerous exterminators and other "regular" pepole say that mice eat the poison, then go outside to find water and end up dying there.  Never really believed that to be totally true, however, just heard from a friend that the exterminator he hired, put out poison and gave him that same explanation.

Is that all a bunch of bull?


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## Highbeam (Sep 9, 2010)

My mouse cat died this Spring. I now use poison and set it up in the barn near the feed storage. There are many mathods of placing poison now that eliminate the chance of pets getting into it. The amount needed to kill a mouse is not going to hurt a pet. I have found mice less than a foot from the poison twitching to death so I don't buy the story that the mice will leave to seek water before dying. Don't put the poison in your house. Traps and cats in the house, poison outside and in the outbuildings.


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## Wooddust (Sep 10, 2010)

I use bait stations outside and in crawl space I toss about 10 bricks of poison in fall. Traps inside when I see the lil poop pellets. The bait stations have cut my problem to very little and I have concentrated on finding every access point they have and stopping them up. I think the place i order from is doityourself pest control online


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## raiderfan (Sep 10, 2010)

I have been trying to find the access points and sealing them up, as well.  I just throw some traps in the basement, along the top ridge of my foundation wall, and catch them there.  

As long as they STAY OUT of my kitchen, I'm o.k.


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## oldspark (Sep 10, 2010)

raiderfan said:
			
		

> Wat makes them better?


 Bigger area for the mouse to trip the trap, I  have a much easier time catching mice with the plastic bait tray, some times they step on it and trip it.


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## Flatbedford (Sep 10, 2010)

raiderfan said:
			
		

> So...  About poison and mice dying somewhere in the house...
> 
> I've heard numerous exterminators and other "regular" pepole say that mice eat the poison, then go outside to find water and end up dying there.  Never really believed that to be totally true, however, just heard from a friend that the exterminator he hired, put out poison and gave him that same explanation.
> 
> Is that all a bunch of bull?



A few years ago we had problems not with mice, but rats! Turns out most houses in the neighborhood had them. I set traps baited with bacon and tied down. I was catching them regularly in the crawlspace. The exterminator I called suggested the bacon traps and poison. I didn't want to go with the poison for two reasons, the aforementioned worry of stinking, decomposing bodies in the house, and because of the family dog that we lost when she ate rat poison out of the neighbor'sgarage when I was a kid.
At one point I couldn't keep up with traps alone. I put lattice all around my deck and front porch, where I knew they were hanging out, so the dog couldn't get in. Than I put traps on 8' or so long boards and loaded them with poison. I left holes in the lattice that were just big enough to get the poison through. In about a week the rats were gone without a trace. My neighbor told me that he wasn't catching any at his house either.
Conclusion. I wiped out a whole neighborhood's worth of rats with poison and never had any evidence of a rotting, stinking corpse in the house.
That was 4 or more years ago and we are still doing well. I have also done quite a bit of work to close up the house better not just to keep the animals out, but the cold too.


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## GunSeth (Nov 15, 2010)

I was a fool and after I had my chimney relocated I left the old opening exposed for far too long.  Now I've got mice!







I've sealed up the old hole but the damage has been done.  Luckily we were alerted to their presence when our cat Simon left one on the basement rug.  He's now killed four and my traps have claimed three.  Gods only know how many are in my walls now.

The little bastids are smart, aren't they?  Last week my traps claimed two on the same night.  A few nights later, one trap was missing the peanut butter and hadn't been set off.  Two more had been set off but had no mice or peanut butter.  But the forth trap was his undoing.  Still, I fear they are adapting too fast for me.  Like the borg.

Since they have infiltraded my newly finished basement walls, they could gain access to the first floor with time.  I heard that steel wool works to plug up small holes.  I have a large hold in the bathroom closet that looks down onto the basement (or used to.  Now it looks down onto the drywall ceiling.)  Would tinfoil work well as a temporary barrier to keep the mice out of my bathroom closet?


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## Flatbedford (Nov 15, 2010)

I think the foil is good too. As I understand it, they don't like to chew the foil or steel wool.


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## MoeB (Nov 24, 2010)

We had a problem with mice last year.  We have cats so didn't want to use poison.  I found one like is shown in the upper right-hand corner of this blog.  It works like a charm!  We got ours at our local hardware store.  You don't have to touch the mice.  When the light is blinking, there is an dead by electrocution mouse inside.  It's humane, too, because they die instantly.  Then you just dump them out and push the button to turn it on again.  

http://www.electricmousetrap.biz/

Moe


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## chrisasst (Nov 24, 2010)

Moth Balls


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## ckarotka (Nov 24, 2010)

Well the good ole snap traps seem to be working. "The bucket of death" trap isn't catching any????? Now that the weather turned colder again I'm back to about 10 traps all over and get two or three a day.


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## raiderfan (Nov 24, 2010)

Yup, keep waiting for my first casualties of the season.  Tightened up some holes and gaps outside this spring/summer, so hoping that makes a difference this year.  Have my traps set along the ridge of my foundation walls in the basement, just in case.  As the weather gets colder, I'm sure I'll see some of my uninvited guests.  I'm just hoping to see them in the traps and not running through my house


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## Adios Pantalones (Nov 24, 2010)

I got em in my attic.  You can hear them chewing on stuff at night through my wooden walls, so I went with snap traps (metal, not plastic- though I would have chosen differently had I read this first).  Got 2 mice so far, 2 traps sprung that missed, and one they licked the peanutbutter off without springing.

Is it true that you don't have to bait the yellow cheese looking ones?


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## basswidow (Nov 24, 2010)

Flatbedford said:
			
		

> I think the foil is good too. As I understand it, they don't like to chew the foil or steel wool.



They will chew thru insulated wire.  I stored christmas decorations in my shed.  The shed has an infestation of deer mice from the previous owner who used to have a dog kennel attached to the shed and stored dog food in it.  Well the deer mice completely chewed up my lights and decorations.  They chew thru the insulation and the wire.  

They also got into my boat and chewed up my life jackets, landing net, and wires for the stern and bow light.  

I opened one box that had a decoration in it and found a nest and 8 deer mice scurried out.   Seriously,  there must be hundreds of them around my property.  I've had them build nest in my cars (parked outside).  When I mow the grass, you can see them jumping and running out in front of the mower.  These are hearty creatures and this was their turf before my house was built.  I've given up on getting them all.  As long as they stay out of the house and garage,  they can have the shed.

This year, I will store my decorations in my garage or basement.   

I put out poison baits under the shed and under my deck - places where my dog couldn't get to it.  I also use old fashion snap traps with peanut butter.  These deer mice are bigger (like a gerbal) and they can not be stopped with a glue trap.  Also, the glue traps don't work well with cold temps and in dusty places.

Good luck with your mice.  Seal all holes and continue to trap.  You'll get them all.


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## CTburning (Nov 24, 2010)

The mice seem to be really bad this year.  I got a little lazy last year and had an infestation but caught a half dozen with traps and then a couple more with poison.  The poison says they will die within 4 days so they have a chance to be outside when they die but not all the time.  This year I have been better about setting the traps and poison, especially the poison.  I have killed at least 4 or 5 that I can smell.  Sometimes I find the corpse, usually not.  I saw my neighboor yesterday caulking everything on the outside of her house and she told me that she has the problem this year as well.  Hasn't had a problem in 20 years.  I hate to use the poison as it really stinks up the place for several days but because of time constaints, usually just open a package and set it on top of the foundation.  This winter I'm working on sealing up everything inside and hopefully won't have the problem again.  My GF might win out on the cat situation as well.


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## raiderfan (Nov 25, 2010)

that's my fear with poison.  everyone tells me that they eat it and die outside, but that sounds too good to be true to me.  So I just keep going with the traps and if I catch them great, if not, I tell myself I must not have mice

I have a simple rule here where I live.  The mice can live in my detached garage, attic or basement.  JUST DON'T LET ME FIND YOU IN MY KITCHEN OR MAIN LIVING AREA OF HOUSE!


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## gzecc (Nov 25, 2010)

raiderfan said:
			
		

> that's my fear with poison.  everyone tells me that they eat it and die outside, but that sounds too good to be true to me.  So I just keep going with the traps and if I catch them great, if not, I tell myself I must not have mice
> 
> I have a simple rule here where I live.  The mice can live in my detached garage, attic or basement.  JUST DON'T LET ME FIND YOU IN MY KITCHEN OR MAIN LIVING AREA OF HOUSE!


If you don't exterminate the mice they will multiply so fast you could be over run. 
A family of 6 mice will multiply into 60 in 3mos, could be 300 in another 6 mos if conditions are right. Three months to sexual maturity!


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## GunSeth (Nov 26, 2010)

So between the cat and my traps we had caught six each.  The mice started to get good at eating the peanut butter without setting off the traps.  I reset all eight snap traps on Monday and so far not a one has been touched - not even the PB taken.  It makes me wonder if I've won the fight but that seems to good to be true.

The other odd thing is that the mice we've caught has been a mixture of deer and house mice.  From what I've read usually you don't have both because they fight each other.


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## gzecc (Nov 26, 2010)

GunSeth said:
			
		

> So between the cat and my traps we had caught six each.  The mice started to get good at eating the peanut butter without setting off the traps.  I reset all eight snap traps on Monday and so far not a one has been touched - not even the PB taken.  It makes me wonder if I've won the fight but that seems to good to be true.
> 
> The other odd thing is that the mice we've caught has been a mixture of deer and house mice.  From what I've read usually you don't have both because they fight each other.


Have you found out how they are getting in/out? They always have multiple points of entry.


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## GunSeth (Nov 26, 2010)

gzecc said:
			
		

> Have you found out how they are getting in/out? They always have multiple points of entry.



Yeah.  I had my unsafe chimney corrected this past summer.  It used to be going through the basement window.  I was an idiot and left the old opening exposed for a month (see pic below.)  The insulation might as well have been a "Please Live Here" sign.  There was plenty of mouse droppings on the little ledge outside of it.  I've since sealed it up but good.  We've never had mice before so I have to believe that this was the only access point.


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## basswidow (Nov 26, 2010)

If your traps are coming up empty now,  I'd say you've won the battle.  I'd keep them baited and keep at them for alittle longer.  Perhaps move them around to new spots.  Mice generally move along the wall,  so I would place them in a path of travel.

I had the similar problem in my basement.  The builder left an arm size hole at the top of both basement windows between the window frame and the top plate of the foundation.  They stuffed it with insulation, which the mice easily defeated.  I had to pull down all of the joist insulation and replace it.  I found numerous holes the builder simply left open.  I closed these up, reframed the windows,  and after making sure all the mice were trapped, re-insulted the joists. 

Double check your insulation.  And plug every hole and you should be good now.  

I've seen both grey house mice and brown deer mice at my place.  If they fight,  my money is on the deer mice.  Those suckers are big and hearty.


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## raiderfan (Nov 26, 2010)

gzecc said:
			
		

> raiderfan said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## joel95ex (Nov 27, 2010)

an outdoor cat is good.  we had some show up 2 different times.....the first time there were 3....a few years later, there were 5 or 6....  just set traps for a couple of weeks.  I wouldn't use poison because if they die in a place where you can't remove them, it will stink.  also plug up any obvious cracks. just be patient.....    an exterminator is just going to charge you for what you can do on your own....lots of traps for a couple of weeks. BTW I observed a trapped mouse in the live cube trap opening the door----so I only recommend snapping kill traps.


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