Author Topic: Mouse attack!  (Read 10666 times)

AliEli

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Mouse attack!
« on: March 15, 2017, 01:35:19 AM »
I found a mouse in my pantry yesterday 😳☹️ Ick!  So after spending $50 on a pest controller to put some bait out (best money I've spent lately!), I've now completely cleaned out my kitchen cupboards and removed anything they could have got in to. This means that I've got rid of pretty much everything except canned goods. So now I have to start from scratch again.

So, what would you re-stock your cupboards with if you had to start from scratch?

MilesTeg

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2017, 02:50:33 AM »
I found a mouse in my pantry yesterday 😳☹️ Ick!  So after spending $50 on a pest controller to put some bait out (best money I've spent lately!), I've now completely cleaned out my kitchen cupboards and removed anything they could have got in to. This means that I've got rid of pretty much everything except canned goods. So now I have to start from scratch again.

So, what would you re-stock your cupboards with if you had to start from scratch?

Before you worry about real stocking your cupboard, consider this:


Odds are if you have one mouse you have several at least. Putting out some bait probably won't solve your problem. With mice you have to put on a full court press. First you have to find out how they are getting in and stop them, or you'll be fighting an uphill battle. Then you have to clean the entire house floor to ceiling; when your prey goes to ground leave no ground to go to. Leave no food messes and no floor clutter of any kind. Then set KILL traps and leave them for a few weeks to be sure, assuming that's possible. Then always be super tidy with food, especially with messes.

Critically, if you live in an area know to have deer mice that carry Hanna Virus, then read up and follow the guidelines from the cdc on cleaning any mouse droppings. If hanta virus is possible and you have a large amount of droppings, then don't mess around and hire a pro. Hanna Virus is not something to mess around with, it's very deadly.

accolay

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2017, 03:45:22 AM »
*hantavirus

Why stop there? Here's the complete list:
[url][/https://www.cdc.gov/rodents/diseases/direct.htmlurl]

To answer the OP question:
Pretty much just whatever I'd thrown out. I would have had to get rid of the following:

Beans
Baking staples
pasta
crackers
raisins
oatmeal
onions
garlic
potatoes

Did you throw out spices too?

CheapScholar

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2017, 05:55:41 AM »
Gross.  I haven't had mice in my house yet.  If I see one I'll just let my dachshund kill it.

ubermom4

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2017, 06:37:06 AM »
Sorry you have found a mouse. You definitely have many more of them. I agree with Miles - without knowing more about your situation, I would plan on taking a holistic and multi-pronged approach. Store all food items in thick plastic containers that are very hard for mice to enter. Put away all food and constantly wipe all surfaces. You might consider putting out peppermint oil in the evenings to get them out of your kitchen. This will not eliminate them from your house but get them to leave the kitchen -- I detest them in the kitchen.

It is best to find entry points and block them. You will need to learn how to use the traps/bait. This is yucky to me -- hubbie baits them and I deal with the corpses. Using throwaway plastic gloves can help with this.

Do not feel badly or discouraged about this. I have lived all over the States and have had mice/rats in every one of our houses. Neighbors also have them.  Am firmly convinced that all human dwellings have them -- we either know they are there or don't. They are definitely there. Currently we live in an old house and I keep 2 cats around to create some sort of balance. If the thought of the mice continue to bother you, consider getting cats. My research (limited) showed that semi feral female cats can be the best mousers. Hope this helps you.

Fishindude

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2017, 06:51:10 AM »
Mice are pretty common living in the country.  They tend to invade at the first good cold snap every year.
Don't panic, just take care of them.  Put DCon in your basement, garage or crawl space where pets can't get in it.  Set a few mouse traps and check them regularly, peanut butter is good bait.
Keep trash emptied and food cleaned up so as not to attract them.   Store food in cupboards in mouse proof containers, tupperware, tins, etc.

AliEli

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2017, 07:39:35 AM »
I live in a rural town in Victoria Australia. We don't have deer and I've never heard of that virus, so I'm pretty sure we will live.  The mice are both a good and a bad sign -bad bc "ick", but good bc it means there are probably no snakes on the property. We have a major river at the end of our street, so we also have a lot of poisonous snakes around who would be eating the mice if they were on the property. On balance... I prefer mice over snakes.  My neighbour said she and some others in the street have had mice come in lately. We only moved in in November, and I am certain that they are contained to the kitchen bc there is nowhere else in the house they could hide as we still haven't put the doors back on any of the cupboards after we painted them and I move the furniture every 1-2 weeks to vacuum (we've got dogs).  The pest controller said that they are probably coming in under the oven (gas, and he thinks the outlet is probably a bit too big for the pipes, allowing them access).  But... to fix the problem we will have to get a plumber in to remove the stove so that we can access the hole :(

My solution for now is just to buy some heavy plastic containers to store everything that's not canned. But I've had to throw out so much that I thought it's worth re-thinking the way I stock my pantry :)





Bruinguy

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2017, 08:06:10 AM »
I would be looking for access points from outside the house. We eventually figured out there were gaps between the foundation and the siding all around the house. Once we filled those with cement we never had any more get in our house.

Rimu05

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2017, 10:51:21 AM »
Good luck.

We had a mice infestation and eventually just moved out.

ltt

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #9 on: March 15, 2017, 11:54:42 AM »
We've had them; they will get in through the tiniest openings--it won't matter.  They come in from the cold--kinda' like humans. :)  As others have mentioned, strong plastic containers or else they will chew right through any paper/cardboard type packaging.  Buy some traps.  As another poster mentioned, put peanut butter in the trap.  If you like cats, they are great mouse catchers and might even bring you one as a gift. :)  Between plastic containers, a cat, and some traps, you should be good to go. 

jms493

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #10 on: March 15, 2017, 12:02:17 PM »
We had our first one in 5 years this month.  We put a $2 trap in the closet with some PB and less than 12 hrs later it was caught.  I make sure to go around my house an if there are any slight openings I stuff steel wool in the hole.

Sibley

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #11 on: March 15, 2017, 12:35:41 PM »
Well, this isn't going to be helpful but I have no problems with mice. Why? Look at my avatar. That particular cat is useless with rodents, but the other cat is an accomplished and enthusiastic mouser.

Of course, if you prefer to get a cat, you can't use poison on the mice. But regardless, good luck.

Lis

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #12 on: March 15, 2017, 02:36:55 PM »
Well, this isn't going to be helpful but I have no problems with mice. Why? Look at my avatar. That particular cat is useless with rodents, but the other cat is an accomplished and enthusiastic mouser.

Of course, if you prefer to get a cat, you can't use poison on the mice. But regardless, good luck.

My first apartment was a basement apartment in a private house. First winter comes, and I hear the scratching in the walls. My two monsters are driven nuts, but there weren't any sightings or any evidence (poop) of mice, so I let it go. One morning at 2am, I'm woken up by what I think is a loud motor running in my room. Turn on the light and it happens to be Montser #1 with a mouse in his mouth, growling away at Monster #2 (and at the mouse). Spend 45 minutes chasing Monster #1 trying to convince him to drop his prize. He did so once - the poor thing tried to scurry away but Monster #1 with his monstrous paw came slamming down. Finally, he drops it, dead, right into his water bowl. Little mouse body gets chucked away outside into the cold.

Two days later, Monster #2 is laying down in a weird spot, staring at the wall, and nothing can break his attention. Monster #2 is a weirdo in general, so I don't think much of it. The next morning I do a quick vacuum, and oh look, another little mouse body, right where Monster #2 was laying. That one gets chucked outside as well.

For the rest of the winter, I'm officially mouse free. I'd hear the occasional scratching, but not much else. Landlord (who lived upstairs in the main house) curses up a storm about mice. I'm guessing mice routinely found comfort in the basement during the winter, but officially kicked out by my felines' presence, so they took up residence upstairs with my landlord (who was catless).

Long story short, cats rule.

(One winter it took seven (SEVEN) cats to get rid of the one mouse that plagued my parents' house. It got past three outdoor cats that my parents took in and kept in the basement during the colder months and their three adult cats. It was finally the kitten that caught it, after destroying and knocking down everything in their pantry.)

nancyjnelson

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #13 on: March 15, 2017, 03:47:52 PM »
I would second everyone who recommended storing food in plastic bins.  While I still occasionally get mice, I don't have to toss the food. 

If I had to re-stock staples not already in jars or cans I would choose: rice, wild rice, dried lentils, raisins, prunes, oatmeal, hot cocoa mix, flours, and sugars.

Congratulations on mice over poisonous snakes - an option I'd take any day.

I'd stay away from poisons like d-con.  Yes, the mice take the poison back to their nests and feed it to their young, but if they are nesting inside your walls, you will suffer from dead mouse smell for weeks and weeks while they die one after the other then slowly decompose.

Don't ask me how I know this, just know that it is true.

Then there's the time I had a bad smell in the kitchen and thought it was a dead mouse, but it kept on smelling even a couple of months after a normal dead mouse would have decomposed so it had to be something else.  I zeroed in on the decrepit dishwasher, cleaning and disinfecting it, replacing some of the rubber gaskets, etc, and finally changing dishwashing detergents.  Still stunk a bit but not too bad.  Then came the day I replaced the dishwasher.  I'm sitting in the living room and hear a "Hey, Lady," come from the guys working in the kitchen.  I walk in to see that they've pulled out the dishwasher, and the biggest, deadest, most mummified mouse in the world is on the top of it (it had died in the space between the top of the dishwasher and the counter).  Every single time I ran the dishwasher, I had warmed up the little mouse corpse, once again releasing dead rodent smell into the air.  Over and over and over and over again.




YttriumNitrate

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #14 on: March 15, 2017, 04:11:40 PM »
I'm a fan of the classic snap trap. They are ridiculously inexpensive (~25 cents a trap), non-toxic, can be baited with kitchen scraps, and can be reused almost indefinitely. Living in an area with abundant wildlife, I've been keeping a dozen or so traps baited at all times to catch any mouse that manages to sneak into the house.

Spork

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #15 on: March 15, 2017, 04:32:51 PM »
I'm a fan of the classic snap trap. They are ridiculously inexpensive (~25 cents a trap), non-toxic, can be baited with kitchen scraps, and can be reused almost indefinitely. Living in an area with abundant wildlife, I've been keeping a dozen or so traps baited at all times to catch any mouse that manages to sneak into the house.

+1

The poisons have always made me nervous.  My house is full of pets and my woods are full of birds of prey.  Snap traps are cheap, easy and pretty safe.

For me, mice have always been relatively easy to catch.  Rats are a little harder.  I get mice in my workshop every year or so.

scottish

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #16 on: March 15, 2017, 05:17:56 PM »
We used to have mice problems.   When we renovated the kitchen, there was a huge pile of rat poison the mice were stockpiling in the wall behind the sink.  ?!?

They're gone now.    Also our neighbours let their cats roam the neighbourhood freely.    Cause and effect?   The groundhogs seem to have left as well...

Silverado

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #17 on: March 15, 2017, 07:10:10 PM »
Good luck.

We had a mice infestation and eventually just moved out.

Yeah, thanks. Took me a couple years to eliminate them all!

I have had recent good luck with stainless steel wool jammed in some small gaps outside. Hvac unit mounting brackets seem to be an entry point i missed.

ptgearguy

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #18 on: March 15, 2017, 07:55:04 PM »
Like all pests the trick is to make survival difficult. They will either die or move on if your remain persistent.

Id take mice over bed bugs anyday of the week...

startingsmall

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #19 on: March 15, 2017, 08:53:18 PM »
We had a mouse problem in our last house. We didn't use bait (didn't want to damage pets or wildlife) but had a lot of success with electric mousetraps baited with peanut butter. Caught a mouse or two a day for a week, then no more sign of them until the next fall.

Metric Mouse

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #20 on: March 16, 2017, 05:13:09 AM »
I thought this would be a thread about me. I'm less interested after finding out that it is not.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #21 on: March 16, 2017, 05:27:27 AM »

<...> I walk in to see that they've pulled out the dishwasher, and the biggest, deadest, most mummified mouse in the world is on the top of it (it had died in the space between the top of the dishwasher and the counter).  Every single time I ran the dishwasher, I had warmed up the little mouse corpse, once again releasing dead rodent smell into the air.  Over and over and over and over again.

I once took up the mouse traps on the attic to fill them with cheese for the new cold season. One of the traps contained the decayed body of a mouse from last season. It had turned into a ball of dust, only recognizable as a mouse by the tail. That was an interesting experience.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #22 on: March 16, 2017, 05:30:54 AM »
I live in a rural town in Victoria Australia. We don't have deer and I've never heard of that virus, so I'm pretty sure we will live.  The mice are both a good and a bad sign -bad bc "ick", but good bc it means there are probably no snakes on the property. We have a major river at the end of our street, so we also have a lot of poisonous snakes around who would be eating the mice if they were on the property. On balance... I prefer mice over snakes.  <...>

Once when we came back from summer holiday there was a not-poisonous snake lying in the sun in front of the front door of our house. It had a very distinct thick body in one place. I bet it had just eaten a mouse and done us a great favor.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #23 on: March 16, 2017, 05:45:38 AM »
We had some issues with mice during the years.

I our cabin we have had mice in the kitchen sink, the cupboard where the drain is. We figured out that the solution with tightening the gap around the drain pipe with a stuffed plastic bag was not sufficient, so we replaced it with tin foil. After that no mice have been seen inside.

In our previous house where we lived for 15 years, we would have mice on the cold attic every autumn. The attic was quite open and not possible to close. So we just set up mouse traps and empty them daily during October and November. After that there wouldn't be any more mice. We also put some small discs with poison on the attic, just in case for the rest of the season. One year we forgot to set up the traps and then first heard the mice crawling in the bathroom wall. Luckily they have never set foot in the kitchen.

In that same house, we also once find dead mice in the bathroom downstairs, that we don't use often. My DH got the bright idea where they entered, which was a door in the outside wall of the washing room, but closed with a wooden panel on the inside. Underneath that door there was a big gap. He closed that gap and the mouse problem there was solved.

In our new house, we had mice this winter in the basement, which is only accessible from the outside (no connection to inside). We are home beer brewers and need to store the malt somewhere. My DH thought he could leave it in the basement in an open crate, because the create had slippery sides and mouse can't climb those. At least, that is what he thought. Then we went on a Christmas holiday and when we returned mice had been feasting on the malt and nesting and eating everything in the basement. They ate fish nets, rucksack straps and some of the malt. There was a lot of mouse urine and poo on many places. Also inside creates with all our camping cooking gear, between fishing gear etc. We cleaned the whole place and bought a lot more plastic crates to put the remaining stuff in. The beer is now in completely air tight canoe containers. Some other chewable items have been removed from that basement. We still need to find out where they came in, but I think there are many options. The basement is just not tight enough. I have understood that mice like to nest in places that are warm and dark and contain food. That is the description of our basement as it was. We caught lots of mice with traps during several weeks and now it's over. Again, luckily they have never been in our kitchen. But it is tiresome that I really need to put everything remotely chewable in containers and make them well closed.

AliEli

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #24 on: March 16, 2017, 06:35:56 AM »
I went and bought some heavy plastic boxes with snap lock lids today, but when I got home I realised that the seal wasn't good enough to keep the mice at bay. Tomorrow I'll have to return them and see whether they have anything else that we can use. The kitchen hasn't been renovated since the house was built in the 1940s, so I decided tonight that I will rip out the lining in the cupboards and paint the wood underneath as it smells musky and yuck.  We are eating a "paleo" style diet at the moment while I finish cleaning up:( not a grain left in the kitchen☹️

Spork

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #25 on: March 16, 2017, 08:54:34 AM »
I thought this would be a thread about me. I'm less interested after finding out that it is not.

No.  This is about the SAE mouse, not the metric mouse.

dreaming

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #26 on: March 16, 2017, 11:32:27 AM »
I feel for you.  For the first time in 17 years living in our house, we have heard mice in the attic.  Put some traps up there and have caught 5.  (which reminds me, we need to look at the traps again.  There could be one in it)  We also put some traps in the garage and have caught 2.  I am waiting for warmer weather so I can go around our house and patch the holes.  We have a cat, but he doesn't go in the attic so he's no help there.

Good luck with getting rid of them.  It stinks you had to throw out all that food.

CptCool

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #27 on: March 17, 2017, 08:23:46 AM »
I wouldn't rush to getting everything back in the pantry. My rule of thumb is 1 week after you've caught the last mouse = all dead. The mice usually come in pairs & multiply extremely quickly so if you found one you're likely to get more.

Also, I've been using these $1 snap traps instead of the $0.25 ones and it really does make resetting & cleaning up a breeze. Also, if you have pets/kids they won't get snapped accidentally.
https://www.menards.com/main/outdoors/animal-insect-controls/animal-traps-repellents/tomcat-reg-no-touch-mouse-snap-trap-2-pack/p-1444453651237.htm

Bicycle_B

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #28 on: March 17, 2017, 02:21:37 PM »
We used to have mice problems.   When we renovated the kitchen, there was a huge pile of rat poison the mice were stockpiling in the wall behind the sink.  ?!?

They're gone now.    Also our neighbours let their cats roam the neighbourhood freely.    Cause and effect?   The groundhogs seem to have left as well...

During a rodent infestation, I concluded by observation that some rodent poisons contain bait, aka something that smells good to rodents.  At one point I specifically found a rat whose sole purpose appeared to be chewing up the one bait container I left in the open, and trying to get at the several that were still in a package.  Maybe yours collected their treasures instead of eating them.

pudding

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #29 on: March 17, 2017, 07:34:50 PM »
Lots of cheese ;)

BlueHouse

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #30 on: March 17, 2017, 07:41:27 PM »
Put some outfits on Mr Jingles and teach him some tricks!

Monkey Uncle

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #31 on: March 18, 2017, 04:26:58 AM »
We used to have mice problems.   When we renovated the kitchen, there was a huge pile of rat poison the mice were stockpiling in the wall behind the sink.  ?!?

They're gone now.    Also our neighbours let their cats roam the neighbourhood freely.    Cause and effect?   The groundhogs seem to have left as well...

During a rodent infestation, I concluded by observation that some rodent poisons contain bait, aka something that smells good to rodents.  At one point I specifically found a rat whose sole purpose appeared to be chewing up the one bait container I left in the open, and trying to get at the several that were still in a package.  Maybe yours collected their treasures instead of eating them.

Yes, all rodent poisons contain bait.  Otherwise, the rodents wouldn't eat them.  The hoarding problem is easily solved by using the blocks of poison instead of the granules.

Larsg

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #32 on: October 09, 2017, 05:26:38 PM »
Get a cat(s) with a litter box. Cats are great mousers and even when you clean up the box, the mice can smell any traces left of urine and will not vista any more. We bought a house in the country, then adopted 2 cats that are actually mouse hounds. They found and killed every mouse within the house that I had never seen. Then when I found one in the garage, I let the cat play out there every day for a couple hours in the evening. After 1 year, have not seen or head any mice or mice do do.

Good luck!

misshathaway

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #33 on: October 10, 2017, 07:20:44 AM »
Get a cat(s) with a litter box. Cats are great mousers and even when you clean up the box, the mice can smell any traces left of urine and will not vista any more.

My cat box is in the basement, with little mouse poops on the cement floor around it. Some day I will find a mouse in the cat box, or perhaps on the cat itself.

RetiredAt63

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #34 on: October 10, 2017, 11:22:59 AM »
Butter and cheese are also good mouse trap baits.  We always get a few in the fall.  Field mice, not house mice, just looking for a winter home.

Lulee

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #35 on: October 10, 2017, 12:03:23 PM »
Had several apartments with mice issues.  Had a cat for a while but for the first 5-6 years of life, she was afraid of the mice and so I had sole mouse catching duties.  After she got a taste for it, it was game on and we both raced to kill the little poop machines.

Mom tried the peppermint oil trick as it had worked in a friend's summer cottage.  Didn't work for Mom.  Hers gathered up all the cotton balls and stuffed them in a vase which they then hung out in as evidenced by the poop left behind.  I teased her that she was the only person on the planet with mice that huffed peppermint oil.

Sibley

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #36 on: October 11, 2017, 08:24:17 AM »
Get a cat(s) with a litter box. Cats are great mousers and even when you clean up the box, the mice can smell any traces left of urine and will not vista any more. We bought a house in the country, then adopted 2 cats that are actually mouse hounds. They found and killed every mouse within the house that I had never seen. Then when I found one in the garage, I let the cat play out there every day for a couple hours in the evening. After 1 year, have not seen or head any mice or mice do do.

Good luck!

Just like people, cats have a huge variety of personalities and hunting ability. Some cats will only hunt if they're hungry or feel like playing. Other cats have a strong enough prey drive that they'll hunt regardless. I have one of each, though my hunter doesn't eat her catch, she plays with them until they die, then they're boring and are abandoned.

AliEli

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #37 on: October 12, 2017, 04:18:55 AM »
Until last week we hadn't had any mice since march.  But now... they're back.... 😞.  We replaced all of the baits and gave the kitchen surfaces a good clean. I haven't found any evidence of them since the weekend.

We have a dog who is a little too fond of cats, so getting a cat is out of the question for us.  Güs just smiles and watches any mice he sees, so they are not afraid of him.

After throwing out so much good quality, mouse damaged food, I transferred everything that I re-stocked with into plastic tubs with solid lids. I also found a local food coop, which means I can take my own containers and re-fill ☺️.  So now i am buying smaller quantities bc I can decide how much I want, and they are going in to re-used jars with screw top lids.

Mtngrl

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #38 on: October 12, 2017, 08:48:40 AM »
We live in a rural area and have dealt with mice off and on since day one. Last year they were particularly bad -- at every neighborhood gathering, people would discuss the mouse problem. On the advice of the man who re-stained our house last summer, we took caulk and sealed every opening in the garage -- even very tiny holes. This has substantially reduced the mouse problem. Previously, we used calk around every plumbing pipe opening and the dryer vent and this also helped a lot.

We use snap traps baited with peanut butter, which are very effective. My husband (wearing gloves and a mask, because Hanta virus is a problem here) tosses the little bodies out in the woods in back of the house. Last summer when the mouse problem was at its peak, we had a great horned owl that hung around to feast on the buffet.

We can't have a cat -- we're both very allergic. But our little terrier has proved to be a pretty good mouser and has done away with quite a few over the years.
Peppermint oil seems quite effective in keeping them out of the pantries and out of our camper. I wipe down the shelves with a solution of peppermint oil and water and tuck cotton balls soaked in the stuff in corners. A bonus is it smells very nice.

fuzzy math

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #39 on: October 12, 2017, 04:28:10 PM »
We had mice at sn old house and bought "compassionate" mouse traps that just trap the mice so you can release them. We did that a couple times...forgot to check the trap for 2-3 days and found out they'd been practicing cannibalism. Nasty little creatures. If we had to do it again we'd just kill them.

misshathaway

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #40 on: October 13, 2017, 06:51:19 AM »
On the advice of the man who re-stained our house last summer, we took caulk and sealed every opening in the garage -- even very tiny holes. This has substantially reduced the mouse problem.

This was the most effective method for me too. Before that I was essentially trying to exterminate the entire outdoor population. I used the spray expanding foam and hardware cloth which is 1/4 wire mesh you can cut with heavy scissors. Both readily available at Home Depot.

MrSc00b

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #41 on: October 16, 2017, 05:59:33 PM »
First post and I realize this is an old thread.... but for future readers, I go through mice issues a couple of times per year. I didn't read the entire thread so this may have been mentioned but I thought I'd toss my two pennies in.

My house is in rural west tennessee in the middle of a lot of farm land so whenever it gets cold or there's a drought, mice go to houses.

The cheapest and easiest way I've dealt with them is to buy a jar of the lowest end crunchy peanut butter locally available and a couple of packs of the old school wooden mouse traps (avoid the ones with a plastic catch as they are garbage after the first use) as soon as a mouse or mouse feces is found. Put them close to entryways and near any observance of feces. The little buggers can't resist the peanut butter.


Sometimes the small mice will steal the bait and not trigger the trap so try to orient it on a step or shelf where they have to physically walk on it to eat.

PB: $2
Pack of traps: 2 x $2 (spares, y'all. :D )


Works every time. :)

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Linea_Norway

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #42 on: October 19, 2017, 06:42:52 AM »
First post and I realize this is an old thread.... but for future readers, I go through mice issues a couple of times per year. I didn't read the entire thread so this may have been mentioned but I thought I'd toss my two pennies in.

My house is in rural west tennessee in the middle of a lot of farm land so whenever it gets cold or there's a drought, mice go to houses.

The cheapest and easiest way I've dealt with them is to buy a jar of the lowest end crunchy peanut butter locally available and a couple of packs of the old school wooden mouse traps (avoid the ones with a plastic catch as they are garbage after the first use) as soon as a mouse or mouse feces is found. Put them close to entryways and near any observance of feces. The little buggers can't resist the peanut butter.


Sometimes the small mice will steal the bait and not trigger the trap so try to orient it on a step or shelf where they have to physically walk on it to eat.

PB: $2
Pack of traps: 2 x $2 (spares, y'all. :D )


Works every time. :)

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

I used those basic wooden mouse traps for years. Yes, they do their job, but I was always quite affraid for my fingers when setting them up. I have switched to using plastic traps ( https://www.felleskjopet.no/butikk/hus-og-hage/ugress-og-skadedyr/mus-og-rotter/musefelle-rapp2-plast-2pk-50234046/) and they have been working well for me. And my fingers are safe.

partgypsy

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #43 on: October 19, 2017, 10:01:20 AM »

Aegishjalmur

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #44 on: October 19, 2017, 11:05:57 AM »
ugg.... mice are a pain....    I tried snap traps, no success. Sticky traps work but the tomcat ones are expensive after awhile. here are the ones I have now https://www.amazon.com/Catchmaster-Professional-Scented-Trapper-Masterline/dp/B007E83LUM/ref=pd_sim_328_5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=9FKECY0N8TYC00Z26HAK .

They are essentially sticky glue on a piece of cardstock. Can be folder or laid flat and cover more area then a lot of the other ones.

These combines w/ the tamper proof poison traps has helped keep them at bay.


partgypsy

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #45 on: October 19, 2017, 02:29:30 PM »
I agree with the mult-prong approach, remove or store securely anything that may lure mice inside, both food and birdseed. You may also want to see if you can borrow a cat who is a more adept mouse catcher. My cat is now 18 and only has 2 teeth, and she STILL brings us mice. When she was younger, if there was a mouse somewhere such as in the backyard, she would be obsessed with it, waiting and stalking it until she got it. I think it helped that she was a stray living with her mom and siblings, and we literally snatched her off the street. She's extremely self-sufficient.
« Last Edit: October 19, 2017, 02:31:26 PM by partgypsy »

Aegishjalmur

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Re: Mouse attack!
« Reply #46 on: October 19, 2017, 02:59:18 PM »
I You may also want to see if you can borrow a cat who is a more adept mouse catcher.

I wish I could do this. I love cats but I am extremely allergic to them.. as in, being in a house with cats start feeling miserable w/in a couple hrs (makes visiting the parents a treat as they have 4-5 indoor cats).