Mice!

[raiderfan]

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.

 

[oldspark]

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.

 

[Flatbedford]

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.

 

[GunSeth]

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?

 

[Flatbedford]

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

 

[MoeB]

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.

(broken link removed)

Moe

 

[chrisasst]

Moth Balls

 

[ckarotka]

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.

 

[raiderfan]

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

 

[Adios Pantalones]

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?

 

[basswidow]

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.

 

[CTburning]

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.

 

[raiderfan]

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!

 

[gzecc]

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!

 

[GunSeth]

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.

 

[gzecc]

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.

 

[GunSeth]

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.

 

[basswidow]

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.

 

[raiderfan]

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!

I'm going to pretend that I didn't read this... :bug:

 

[joel95ex]

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.