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10/14/08, 06:03 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Kansas
Posts: 328
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When Mice Attack!
The invasion has begun! This time of year we have mice doing their best to come into the house as it gets colder out. Anyone have any preventative ideas? I would rather deter them from coming in in the first place rather than dealing with traps and poisons after they are in. Thanks
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10/14/08, 07:17 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: northcentral MN
Posts: 14,383
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Put your traps outside.
Now that I have a cat lover living next door the number of mice that come in the house in early fall has dropped off to almost nothing. One year I trapped more than 50 in Aug-Sept.
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"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbs
"I'm not sure that man needs the help." Calvin
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10/14/08, 08:20 PM
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de oppresso liber
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 13,948
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I grew up in a house surrounded by fields and every fall when the crops were harvested all the little critters headed for the house. Well a few of them went into the pump house, the workshop and other out buildings but you know what I mean.
Anyway, we never found any way to keep them out. Get yourself bunches of traps and listen for the 'snap'. We'd take turns getting up and emptying the traps when we heard one trip. Sometimes you'd get a twofer where a second trap would go off while you were on your way to empty one.
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Remember, when seconds count. . .
the police are just MINUTES away!
Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. . .Davy Crockett
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10/14/08, 10:30 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Eastern N.C.
Posts: 8,834
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10/15/08, 07:01 AM
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Maine
Posts: 3,622
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We had a big season for rodents last year, and at my wits end, I put out poison. Let me tell you: not only did the mice disappear REALLY fast (we did have one die under the kitchen and it stank for about a week), but there is NOT ONE hint of rodent activity this year either. I just shoved chunks of poison into any tunnels I saw along the house and marked the location with a piece of aluminum tape stuck to the siding so I could remove the bait after a while.
The rodent trap linked below is VERY effective...most people put water in the bottom of the bucket, but I'm wondering if the antifreeze mentioned here would "preserve" the casualties until you've finished the job...I personally would stick to water. Believe me, this trap works. In fact, we had a 5 gallon bucket with a top on it, about half full of water with a crack at the lip that created a hole, and when we dumped it after having forgotten about it for a couple years, there were many dead mice in the bucket.
Here's your link.
http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Mouse-Trap
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10/15/08, 08:08 AM
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 213
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We have a couple of mouse-savvy house cats. In the four years we've had our house, never once had to set a trap... we HAVE had to pick up a couple of half-eaten carcasses though. 
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10/15/08, 08:19 AM
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Just howling at the moon
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Wyoming
Posts: 5,530
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This will catch a dozen or so mice before needed reset so you don't have to listen for the snap to reset it all the time.
http://www.amazon.com/KNESS-MFG-COMP.../dp/B0002YUD6U
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If the grass looks greener it is probably over the septic tank. - troy n sarah tx
Our existance here is soley for the expoitation of CMG
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10/15/08, 08:41 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: UT
Posts: 3,840
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10/15/08, 09:46 AM
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Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 2,274
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Gotta plug any hole you can poke a pencil through.
Mice can get through cracks 1/4", holes the size of a dime
Rats can get through cracks 1/2", holes the size of a quarter
Raccoons? Make a fist - there, that's the size opening they can squeeze through.
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You shall judge a man by his foes as well as his friends
~J. Conrad
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10/15/08, 10:13 AM
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 327
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Got one of those sticky traps the other day and woke up to 2 of them boogers on the same one. Dead. I didnt' think they worked very good but they did double time. They and the fleas have been going NUTS this last 2 weeks. I wonder if they know something we don't about the weather.
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10/15/08, 11:19 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 47
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We live in a fairly new house and every once in a while we'll have to deal with a mouse or two. From what I've read, the best approach is to put traps, or poison around the outside of your house (every 10 feet). This gets them before they enter the house.
We were lucky to have a cat inside that liked to kill them. Now that she's outside, I may need to bring her in every once in a while to 'patrol'.
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10/15/08, 12:05 PM
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: missoula, montana
Posts: 1,407
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I've been having great luck with a 2x4 ramp up to the edge of a plastic bucket with a little peanut butter in the bottom.
Some people put water in them to drown the mice. I prefer to keep them alive and then feed them to critters later.
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10/15/08, 01:37 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Quinlan, Tx
Posts: 1,565
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Plug the holes.
Spread cinnamin and cloves around - it seems to chase them away while the scent lasts - best of all no one knows you are chasing off mice.
If the do get in buy a small hamster habatrail and put your bait in that - relocate or whatever once you catch them.
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10/15/08, 01:43 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Ohio
Posts: 19,350
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Dd saw a mouse in our hallway a few days ago. There is no way we could seal off the holes unless we replace the odd-sized basement door and the poorly installed sliding door. I do set out snap traps baited with chocolate frosting. Catches them FAST! And I feed the ill fated rodent to the ducks so it doesn't die in vain. Rabbits do nothing about eliminating rodents. I think the rabbits just show the mice where the good food is.
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10/15/08, 10:50 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Eastern N.C.
Posts: 8,834
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cnvh
We have a couple of mouse-savvy house cats. In the four years we've had our house, never once had to set a trap... we HAVE had to pick up a couple of half-eaten carcasses though. |
A good cat is the best mouse trap, and lucky you have  My FIL was at a local dairy and noticed four cats that their coat was real shiny and the cats were in perfect shape weight wise. He asked the dairy farmer did he give the cats milk or cream making their coats so shiny? He said no, it was them mice and rats they caught and ate, because if he gave them milk and cream, they would think they were on welfare and stop earning their keep.They ain't laying around here eating, and not working. If they eat, they will work for it.
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10/16/08, 02:58 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Oregon
Posts: 72
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Haha, I have to say, since our cat population exploded last year (I know, I know, gotta get them to the vet faster to stop that!), we haven't had ANY problem with any pests, except for having to clean up half eaten ones. Well, and I also have a 10 yo dd who freaks out every time she finds one of the cats chewing on a mouse....which is happening several times a day, this time of year. The wierd thing is, we feed our cats TONS, so they aren't eating from hunger, but just from the instinct to kill the buggers. The one thing that the cats haven't helped a darn bit about, though, is the opossums. We have our fridge in an outside breezway to our garage, right outside our back door, and several times I've opened the door to a hissing opossum in the middle of the night. NOT fun, though I know they're fairly harmless. Those TEETH, though....ICK. I don't want to hurt them, so I don't worry about it, except to jump when they hiss at me on the way to get a glass of milk in the middle of the night.
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10/16/08, 04:39 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: UT
Posts: 3,840
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no Eddie Buck, the best mouse trap is a good terrier as this picture shows
4 terriers 1 1/2 hours 102 rats and hundreds of uncounted mice.
ETA: Laci a good little terrier will take care of the possums (even raccoons for that matter) w/o any impact of the small native birds unlike outdoor cats.
Last edited by Pops2; 10/16/08 at 04:43 AM.
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10/16/08, 06:12 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: UT
Posts: 3,840
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don't know the particulars, just a photo i found searching photobucket
you can see the dynatite terriers & lurchers and the results
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10/16/08, 06:16 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: UT
Posts: 3,840
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and another job well done
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10/16/08, 01:38 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,252
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We have 4 cats and a dog (all outside) and still get mice occasionally.
Of course we get much less than before! Our dog is also really good at getting moles! We had a serious mole (or vole?) problem before we got her and now they are gone!
We had a serious rodent problem in the henhouse and ended up putting poison in the barn that is next to it. We were hesitant to do so with all the animals around but this barn is a storage shed, none of our animals live in it, and we knew the mice were going in there. It made a huge difference.
I think any time you live on or near a farm you are going to have these issues.
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