Mouse in the house
Mouse in the house
Caught him with a glue trap but we will be fortunate if there are not more.
Assuming we do have more what are some non-toxic ways to get rid of them?
I read somewhere that mice can often start house fires when they chew through electric wires. Is that usually only in older homes?
Assuming we do have more what are some non-toxic ways to get rid of them?
I read somewhere that mice can often start house fires when they chew through electric wires. Is that usually only in older homes?
Re: Mouse in the house
Snap traps are quite effective. I'm not a big fan of glue traps - seems inhumane. But better than poison. I set out a few snap traps in the fall when they tend to come in to get out of the cold looking for food. We used to get them in the attic but the local snakes have figured out how to get up there so I'm assuming they are cleaning them out in the attic. Now, they generally surface in the garage where the bird seed is stored - I think they smell it in the plastic container.jwblue wrote: ↑Sun Sep 29, 2019 11:28 am Caught him with a glue trap but we will be fortunate if there are not more.
Assuming we do have more what are some non-toxic ways to get rid of them?
I read somewhere that mice can often start house fires when they chew through electric wires. Is that usually only in older homes?
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
Re: Mouse in the house
Blocking the holes where they enter the house is by far the most effective control method.
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Re: Mouse in the house
+1 on snap traps.
I use Victory traps baited with peanut butter. Where there is one mouse, likely there are more. Put out a couple traps parallel to the walls for next two weeks to see if any more. Seal any cracks or openings especially where wires and pipes come into the house and around garage doors.
Here’s a recent thread with suggestions:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=289162&hilit=Mouse+house
I use Victory traps baited with peanut butter. Where there is one mouse, likely there are more. Put out a couple traps parallel to the walls for next two weeks to see if any more. Seal any cracks or openings especially where wires and pipes come into the house and around garage doors.
Here’s a recent thread with suggestions:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=289162&hilit=Mouse+house
Re: Mouse in the house
My indoor-only cat catches a mouse about once or twice a year. I take the mouse away, the cat is about trained by now to drop it into a box, I take the covered box outside away from the house and release the mouse.
I assume the mouse doesn't make its way back into the house, as the cat would catch it again.
No hawks, owls lost to secondary poisoning, no painful deaths of mice. Mice are actually kind of cute.
I assume the mouse doesn't make its way back into the house, as the cat would catch it again.
No hawks, owls lost to secondary poisoning, no painful deaths of mice. Mice are actually kind of cute.
Re: Mouse in the house
Hawks, owls, snakes and foxes in my area keep the mouse population down. Foxes are ruthless. Glad to have the mice gone though - they are a significant tick vector in my area.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
Re: Mouse in the house
We found that only the old fashioned Victory traps worked. The mice in our attic were too smart to go for the humane traps.
Also need to do your best to block off access points.
Also need to do your best to block off access points.
Warning: I am about 80% satisficer (accepting of good enough) and 20% maximizer
Re: Mouse in the house
A mouse did $1000 worth of damage to my husband’s car (in our garage) when it chewed through wiring.
One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not. - Alexandre Dumas, fils
Re: Mouse in the house
Horrible. They can cause house fires when chewing through electrical wires.
This was the first time I needed to catch a mouse. I just went to Home Depot and picked up whatever was readily available. I didn't know about humane traps. When the mouse was stuck to the glue pad it began squeeling. I felt bad. I will try a more humane trap next time.
Re: Mouse in the house
Set several traps around, definitely at any spot where entry may be gained. Over time, you will see some traps are tripped, some not. Place more where they are tripped and hope that your tripped traps are "Populated" with a dead mouse. If not, and it occurs regularly, then you may be dealing with something larger, such as rats. Avoid feeding birds, at least on the ground or near the house. Mice will come if not around already.
Tim
Tim
Re: Mouse in the house
I replied mainly to discourage poison, at least unless you've tried all other possibilities without success. There is a lot of incorrect info on the internet about how poison "makes them thirsty so they go outside to drink". That just isn't true, they will just as likely die behind your wall and make a really bad smell in your house. Also, if they do happen to die outside, other animals like owls or foxes might eat the poisoned mouse and become poisoned themselves.
There are also electric traps like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Victor-RZC001-Za ... B002665ZTC
and another option for capture traps:
https://www.amazon.com/Havahart-1020-An ... B0000DINGG
There are also electric traps like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Victor-RZC001-Za ... B002665ZTC
and another option for capture traps:
https://www.amazon.com/Havahart-1020-An ... B0000DINGG
Re: Mouse in the house
Cats are natural defenses against mice. In fact, a parasite in a mouse's brain is controlled by a chemical in a cat's urine so the mere smell of a cat's urine drives the mouse away.
We used the old fashion traps when we lived in an older house. The best bait was peanut butter - the stickiness was crucial. Other baits were snatched away by the clever rodents without setting off the trap. But a decade later in my new house, I still have PTSD when I step into my kitchen from the fear of stepping onto a trap . I never stepped on a trap but was always careful walking around in that kitchen where the traps were.
We used the old fashion traps when we lived in an older house. The best bait was peanut butter - the stickiness was crucial. Other baits were snatched away by the clever rodents without setting off the trap. But a decade later in my new house, I still have PTSD when I step into my kitchen from the fear of stepping onto a trap . I never stepped on a trap but was always careful walking around in that kitchen where the traps were.
Re: Mouse in the house
I had three mice in my house recently. Caught them after a few days with a humane trap from Amazon--cheese and peanut butter.
Re: Mouse in the house
Actually, it's the other way around - a mouse is naturally afraid of cats, but the brain parasite makes the mouse unafraid or even attracted to cat urine, so that it gets eaten, and the parasite gets into the cat, where it can reproduce:
"Mind-Control Parasite Kills Mice's Fear of Cats Permanently" - livescience.com
"Ritter, Tod und Teufel"
Re: Mouse in the house
Green glue traps in my shop and barn keeps the rodent population in check....
Summit
Summit
“Got my mind on my money, and my money on my mind!” Snoop Dog
Re: Mouse in the house
I run a two tiered system for mouse control.
Layer 1 is a gauntlet of 8 snap traps in the garage, which is the route they take into the house. My goal is to catch 100% of them in this layer. Traps are baited with PB with an embedded peanut.
Layer 2 is a couple poison traps in the attic where they move about. Many years I go check the poison traps and they're still full.
Layer 1 is a gauntlet of 8 snap traps in the garage, which is the route they take into the house. My goal is to catch 100% of them in this layer. Traps are baited with PB with an embedded peanut.
Layer 2 is a couple poison traps in the attic where they move about. Many years I go check the poison traps and they're still full.
Re: Mouse in the house
LOL...my cat and piranhas look forward to mouse season every year.
Re: Mouse in the house
Assuming no one in your home is allergic (whether literally or figuratively), get an indoor cat. You'll be amazed....
Years ago as a city-dweller, I wanted a dog but my apt. bldg. didn't allow them. So instead I settled for a cat who thought she was a dog: Loyal, cuddly, loved me unconditionally, always happy to see me when I got home, etc. In other words, she wasn't one of those standoffish snooty cats that doesn't know it's supposed to be a pet. You get the picture. Candidly, I loved her to death but if honest with myself, I have to admit that she really was the fattest, laziest, dumbest cat on the planet, lol.
SoAnyway, I didn't know there were mice in our bldg. until one day she caught one and proudly presented it to me when I got home. Given how fat/lazy/dumb she was, I couldn't imagine that she had actually caught the thing. (I assumed she must've rolled her fat butt over it during one of her many daily naps, lol....)
Then one day several weeks later as we were lounging on the couch in front of the TV, a mouse apparently came to her attention. In a split-second, she'd leapt off the couch and was ALL over it. I'd never seen her move so fast....
After I dutifully praised her and got rid of the carcass, the two of us were back lounging on the couch in front of the TV....
Nothing in this post constitutes legal or medical advice. |
Consult your attorney or physician to verify if/how anything stated might or might not be applicable to your specific situation.
Re: Mouse in the house
Humans really are inferior to most other animals in terms of physical abilities, by a startlingly wide margin.
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Re: Mouse in the house
Glue traps are effective but poor mouse slowly wastes away. Snap traps kill quite well and quickly.
If you do use glue traps Crack them in the head with something like an old mop handle or stick, to put it out of it's misery. Sad topic.
If you do use glue traps Crack them in the head with something like an old mop handle or stick, to put it out of it's misery. Sad topic.
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Re: Mouse in the house
Blocking the holes is good advice and should be first step. But mice can squeeze through really tiny holes (so can black snakes, and we have had both in our house).
I have used all the traps but prefer the snap traps with peanut butter. We have a large wooded lot with some adjoining wooded acreage which is ideal for mice. Hence, we usually get to use our traps at least once a year. We have at least 2 large black snakes on our property but apparently they cannot control the mouse population.
Re: Mouse in the house
A pest control guy advised us to low tech methods for keeping mice away once they’re under control. ...or at least actions which would strongly encourage them to live elsewhere. He says they'll move into a home where there are easy pickings over ones where they have to search hard for food. So our cereal, sugar, flour, snacks, etc are either kept in sealed containers or in the refrigerator. We use the kind of containers where the lid snaps or twists on.
Even though we don’t deep clean daily. We do clean and check floors and tables and chairs for any food crumbs. Until we did this we’d see the evidence, not hard to miss, of mouse visits. Now we rarely have those little visitors...and if we do, they’re easily trapped and gone. We know when they’re gone because there’s no droppings.
In short, we don’t make it easy for them. No pet bowls with food left standing all day, no cereal kept in easily chewed paper boxes. It’s amazing how much this reduces problems. We have hard winters and the mice here seem to be looking for somewhere they can settle in for the winter and rarely, if ever, venture outside. We don’t aim on our house being their vacation spot , no matter what season.
Even though we don’t deep clean daily. We do clean and check floors and tables and chairs for any food crumbs. Until we did this we’d see the evidence, not hard to miss, of mouse visits. Now we rarely have those little visitors...and if we do, they’re easily trapped and gone. We know when they’re gone because there’s no droppings.
In short, we don’t make it easy for them. No pet bowls with food left standing all day, no cereal kept in easily chewed paper boxes. It’s amazing how much this reduces problems. We have hard winters and the mice here seem to be looking for somewhere they can settle in for the winter and rarely, if ever, venture outside. We don’t aim on our house being their vacation spot , no matter what season.
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Re: Mouse in the house
We had a mouse in our attached garage on Saturday. I put out 2 snap traps with peanut butter on them. On Sunday morning I checked the traps and sure enough, the mouse got caught trying to get the peanut butter and committed suicide. I wasn’t sure it would work but it worked like a charm. Now we’re much more careful about closing the garage door. This time of year, mice are trying to find a warm place for the winter.
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Re: Mouse in the house
I can attest to the truthfulness of this as it happened to me. I wasn't the one using the poison, it was a neighbor, but the mouse died in MY wall. Not a good situation but it did cause me to find where the mice were getting in (around the tub drain in the crawlspace) and setting up house (between the wall and the tub). After evicting the offenders I installed fine wire mesh in the open space around the tub drain.Wabbit wrote: ↑Sun Sep 29, 2019 5:13 pmThere is a lot of incorrect info on the internet about how poison "makes them thirsty so they go outside to drink". That just isn't true, they will just as likely die behind your wall and make a really bad smell in your house. Also, if they do happen to die outside, other animals like owls or foxes might eat the poisoned mouse and become poisoned themselves.
I've used Victor Rat Zappers to control the mouse population for years. They are very effective and convenient. I keep one in the garage to prevent any wire chewing. I've found that it's next to impossible to keep mice from slipping around the lower corners of overhead garage doors.
Have a plan, stay the course and simplify. Then ignore the noise!
Re: Mouse in the house
Suggest you check inside your furnace (example fan compartment on a gas unit). If you find mice and/or droppings (small black lumps). If this is the case they are getting in via the furnace air intake tubing that goes to the outside to get air for the furnace. Check that the screens is in those entry point(s). Sometimes these are flappers that stick open or were forgot at the point of construction. You can add screening to prevent them from getting in but still allow air to pass. Probably field mice that look for warmth usually in the fall - they can somehow climb up as high as 2 feet to get in (I suspect they use a team effort). Good luck.
OAG=Old Army Guy. Retired CW4 USA (US Army) in 1979 21 years of service @ 38.
Re: Mouse in the house
Glue traps are awful, please don't use them. A simple/cheap snap trap is far more humane. Better yet a have-a-heart trap (the metal ones that look like a maze work great), but you have to take them to a place a few miles away and also clean out the trap which is a pain.
Re: Mouse in the house
That's the only real solution IME, but easier said than done in older houses like ours. After we had the kitchen demolished to the brick walls and redone we were able to plug some holes...then distressingly the mice showed up again. Turned out they were eating through styrofoam panel insulation under siding on redone laundry room addition on the back of the (brick/stone) house. Covered that all with copper mesh and so far so good, but cold season coming up again, we'll see.
Meantime we tried pro's. They used poison as well as snap traps but their results weren't really different than ours with snap or glue traps (besides qualms some people have with how the glue trap treats the mouse, I've watched small ones run over them and not get stuck). We stopped using the pro's and did just snap traps, but as long as the mice have a way in there's always more of them, it seems.
We're dog people, no cats. Neither of the dogs we've had over the years had much interest in mice in the house, which I guess most dogs don't. It was a little surprising with our most recent dog though because she was *so* aggressive toward four legged animals, including or even especially other dogs, though super sweet with all people, a very interesting personality. Anyway she'd want to chase mice we'd see outside sometimes: something moving? w/ four legs? kill! But she still wasn't that interested in ones in the house.
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Re: Mouse in the house
Except for the part about domesticating the very weapon we're using to control an intruder.
In all seriousness, we're no different than other animals in that we have our strengths and weaknesses. You should see the mouse try to beat us in a marathon.
Re: Mouse in the house
Cat. But it should be female. Males might not catch
Re: Mouse in the house
I have used the old victor snap traps and other snap traps, but until last year they were successful.
Then for some reason the bait was being eaten without setting off the trap, no matter what bait I used or how sensitive I made the trap.
So I got this... https://www.amazon.com/Humane-Mouse-Tra ... way&sr=8-4
Mice or rats, the trick is you have to put a weight on the trigger platform to make it extra sensitive for the extra small (light weight) mice.
Just throw a few peanuts into the back of it, set the weight, and catch them
It does not harm the mice, however how you dispose of them is up to you,
Then for some reason the bait was being eaten without setting off the trap, no matter what bait I used or how sensitive I made the trap.
So I got this... https://www.amazon.com/Humane-Mouse-Tra ... way&sr=8-4
Mice or rats, the trick is you have to put a weight on the trigger platform to make it extra sensitive for the extra small (light weight) mice.
Just throw a few peanuts into the back of it, set the weight, and catch them
It does not harm the mice, however how you dispose of them is up to you,
Arguing for the sake of arguing is something I am not going to engage in.
Re: Mouse in the house
I bought a mouse zapper at Home depot. Humane and no mess.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7ALREEcF7o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7ALREEcF7o
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Re: Mouse in the house
Plug up any holes you see on the outside of the house. If it is an older house, this might be harder. I also find "locking" up all the food that they could get into (fruits, vegetables, pasta, rice, etc.) helps. I had a mouse a few months ago. I only know because I saw it. I put glue and snap traps out for weeks and didn't catch anything and haven't seen any signs since. I think if there is no food they tend to move on pretty quickly. I even bought a WYSE camera to try and see if it was still here and nothing showed up.
Re: Mouse in the house
I had a thread about a mouse recently. It's linked in a previous post on this thread. I ended up catching the cute bugger with a humane trap. One thing I highly advise is to drill some additional holes in the traps. In the reviews for humane traps, it's not unusual to see tales of mice suffocating because the ventilation was insufficient.Smoke wrote: ↑Wed Oct 02, 2019 7:16 am I have used the old victor snap traps and other snap traps, but until last year they were successful.
Then for some reason the bait was being eaten without setting off the trap, no matter what bait I used or how sensitive I made the trap.
So I got this... https://www.amazon.com/Humane-Mouse-Tra ... way&sr=8-4
Mice or rats, the trick is you have to put a weight on the trigger platform to make it extra sensitive for the extra small (light weight) mice.
Just throw a few peanuts into the back of it, set the weight, and catch them
It does not harm the mice, however how you dispose of them is up to you,
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Re: Mouse in the house
The worst case of mice I ever had was a house with an attached garage, with the garage open to the house attic, connected via a staircase, all under one roof. I caught 20 mice per year there. Snap traps do not have to kill instantly : I caught one mouse on a leg, and it was crying...
- BarbaricYawp
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Re: Mouse in the house
This is rubbish. My 2 barn cats are both neutered males and will catch anything that moves. One specializes in snakes.
"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." --Dorothy Parker
Re: Mouse in the house
As you can see in the picture of the link I provided there is more than sufficient ventilation.sawhorse wrote: ↑Thu Oct 03, 2019 9:36 pmI had a thread about a mouse recently. It's linked in a previous post on this thread. I ended up catching the cute bugger with a humane trap. One thing I highly advise is to drill some additional holes in the traps. In the reviews for humane traps, it's not unusual to see tales of mice suffocating because the ventilation was insufficient.Smoke wrote: ↑Wed Oct 02, 2019 7:16 am I have used the old victor snap traps and other snap traps, but until last year they were successful.
Then for some reason the bait was being eaten without setting off the trap, no matter what bait I used or how sensitive I made the trap.
So I got this... https://www.amazon.com/Humane-Mouse-Tra ... way&sr=8-4
Mice or rats, the trick is you have to put a weight on the trigger platform to make it extra sensitive for the extra small (light weight) mice.
Just throw a few peanuts into the back of it, set the weight, and catch them
It does not harm the mice, however how you dispose of them is up to you,
Arguing for the sake of arguing is something I am not going to engage in.
Re: Mouse in the house
Just wanted to say that "Mouse in the House" sounds like it should be the name of a Dr. Seuss book!
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Re: Mouse in the house
I had a neutered male that specialized in scorpions. He must have been able to hear them move because he always zeroed in on them and then whacked them repeatedly until they died. When a scorpion would stop moving he was done (didn't eat it).BarbaricYawp wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 9:18 amThis is rubbish. My 2 barn cats are both neutered males and will catch anything that moves. One specializes in snakes.
It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them. --M. Twain
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Re: Mouse in the house
My neutered yard cat was heck on squirrels. Over his life, he must have improved their gene pool immensely. He cleaned out the foolish ones on a regular basis. He would leave a squirrel tail in the garage for us to discover. DW was not amused.Turbo29 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 11:34 pmI had a neutered male that specialized in scorpions. He must have been able to hear them move because he always zeroed in on them and then whacked them repeatedly until they died. When a scorpion would stop moving he was done (didn't eat it).BarbaricYawp wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 9:18 amThis is rubbish. My 2 barn cats are both neutered males and will catch anything that moves. One specializes in snakes.
Broken Man 1999
“If I cannot drink Bourbon and smoke cigars in Heaven then I shall not go." - Mark Twain
Re: Mouse in the house
Finding the entry points and blocking them is the most effective way. In our old house, the entry point was where the AC tubes came into the house. At our new house, which is rural, the entry point was a hole for some garage door wiring.
The mice still get into our garage, so we keep some snap traps and the plug in sonic pest repellers. I don't know if the sonic things work, but they're worth a try. We don't get too many mice in our traps, so maybe it does.
One got up in my car and made a nest behind the air filter. It stunk to high heaven - I had to take the car in for an ozone treatment, because the smell wouldn't go away even after the nest was gone.
We considered getting outdoor cats - but we're too close to a road, and it would break my heart to see a cat dead out there. Our two indoor only cats are useless. They don't catch mice - never learned how, not hungry enough to try.
The mice still get into our garage, so we keep some snap traps and the plug in sonic pest repellers. I don't know if the sonic things work, but they're worth a try. We don't get too many mice in our traps, so maybe it does.
One got up in my car and made a nest behind the air filter. It stunk to high heaven - I had to take the car in for an ozone treatment, because the smell wouldn't go away even after the nest was gone.
We considered getting outdoor cats - but we're too close to a road, and it would break my heart to see a cat dead out there. Our two indoor only cats are useless. They don't catch mice - never learned how, not hungry enough to try.
Re: Mouse in the house
multiple threads on mouse traps going back years. have you done a search
Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.
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Re: Mouse in the house
I use a glue gun and glue dog food to the trap. Peanut butter they can lick right off. This way they pull on it, and bam. I researched heavily and went with Victor snap traps. I’ve got a half dozen around my garage now, after having a major infestation. Caught only two but since I also cleaned out the garage, they are gone. Well, they moved over to our neighbor’s.
Haven’t had cold weather yet though, so we will see. But considering those traps cost only 50 cents, I’m going to put like 15 of them around the garage.
Haven’t had cold weather yet though, so we will see. But considering those traps cost only 50 cents, I’m going to put like 15 of them around the garage.
Re: Mouse in the house
One of the houses we moved into was on the edge of a woods. Apparently, those who lived there before us never dealt with the mouse problem. The problem was confined to the drop down ceiling in the walk out basement. At first I used snap traps. The downside was if you were not there to hear the snap, you did not know that you had one until the smell was there. I switched to glue traps as you coul heat them trash about. I would give them a tap with my hammer to end their suffering. Use glue traps they are mor effective.