Mice!!!!!!!

HappyYooper · #1 08/01/12, 06:04 AM

First time since I can remember we've had a mouse problem and it's a BAD one!! We have 1 cat & 2 dogs..we keep our cat in the bedroom & dogs are crated at night. I'm putting out D-Con..4 boxes yesterday and it's nearly all gone this morning

Today I will be searching the perimeter of the house to see if I can find where they're getting in at. Anyone else having problems and what are you doing to get rid of them????

Vickie44 · #2 08/01/12, 07:15 AM

Yes I am and I was surprised as I normally have to fight this battle in the fall. There are a lot of cats around here and if they dont start doing their jobs there will be no more milk for them.

I think they are coming up from the basement and put baits down there last night .

Good luck , maybe put your cat in the kitchen ?

wy_white_wolf · #3 08/01/12, 08:22 AM

Start setting up bucket traps around the house and use pepperment extract to drive them away. Don't know if th PE will bother the cat but it doesn't seem to bother our dog.

ketthes · #4 08/01/12, 08:28 AM

just about every night our cat is downstairs torturing some poor mouse. Unfortunately, he lets them get away every time.

I think PE will probably drive the cats away too. The smell of my mint lip balm makes our cat literally gag.

wildcat6 · #5 08/01/12, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wy_white_wolf

Start setting up bucket traps around the house and use pepperment extract to drive them away. Don't know if th PE will bother the cat but it doesn't seem to bother our dog.

What is a bucket trap?

julieq · #6 08/01/12, 08:34 AM

When we looked at this home before buying it we noticed the seller had sticky mouse traps in the food storage room in the garage/shop. We brought our house cats and a multitude of barn cats with us (who have free run of the garage/shop area). And our neighbors all have cats who come and visit frequently.

We haven't seen hide nor hair of a mouse, although they do occasionally catch a gopher in the garden or field! You need to import some good mousers!

jross · #7 08/01/12, 08:47 AM

If a house has aluminum or vinyl siding, one overlooked "mouseculator" are the hollow corner posts which provide the edge trim. They are the mouse escalator to the attic, and down they come into the house.

frankva · #8 08/01/12, 05:26 PM

Chipmunks will drag a mouthful of DCon off and bury it. Peanut butter/Victor traps are satisfying.

lmrose · #9 08/01/12, 06:05 PM

Mice and rats are both a big problem here this year. Our farm/Border Collie hunts all day long killing mice and rats. The barn cat is almost 17yrs. and only hunts a little. The house cat seems to deter mice from coming into the house. We have traps set in the barn and shed. Traps caught 8 mice in two days. We don't use poison because cats may eat mice and our farm collie eats mice she catches and poisoned mice could poison cats and dogs. So far the mice and rats are being held at bay. I also store all food items and animal feed in metal garbage cans with the covers weighted down. Seems to work at keeping the critters from getting fed!

HappyYooper · #10 08/01/12, 08:03 PM

I did a walk around the house and found where they are getting in..I showed hubby and it will be taken care of tomorrow...in the mean time....we were gone all day today & when we got home I found a dead mouse on the kitchen floor & one up in the loft under my computer desk so the d-con is working

My puddy tat is 18 and not in the best mouse catching shape as she was years ago...plus now that the mice are dropping dead I don't want her or the dogs to eat any....not sure if my dogs would but I don't want to take a chance...looks like I'll be on a search & recovery mission....

Molly Mckee · #11 08/01/12, 08:10 PM

I would not use D-con. Not only do you get dogs and cats die from eating poisoned mice or rats but mice will pile it behind furniture or appliances to eat later and anything can get into it. IMO it's way too dangerous to have around.

MushCreek · #12 08/02/12, 05:37 AM

I just made a bucket trap for the barn, and it worked well. You need a 5 gallon bucket, an empty soda can, a bit of wire, and a board for a ramp. Drill a hole in each end of the soda can. Drill a hole through each side of the bucket, thread the wire through the bucket, the soda can, and out the other side of the bucket. The soda can should spin very freely. Put enough water in the bucket so the mice will drown, and put a little ramp up the side of the bucket. Smear the soda can with peanut butter. The mice walk up the ramp, and when they jump onto the soda can to get the peanut butter, they fall into the water.

I'm not sure how long they can swim, so I kill them when I find them, rather than making them swim for hours.

farmmom · #13 08/02/12, 06:08 AM

If you're like me and need a visual, here's a video on building the bucket trap. I've made large ones like this out of barrels with a dowel instead of wire to catch rats. It worked quite well. The mouse one was great!

dixieland · #14 08/02/12, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HappyYooper

First time since I can remember we've had a mouse problem and it's a BAD one!! We have 1 cat & 2 dogs..we keep our cat in the bedroom & dogs are crated at night. I'm putting out D-Con..4 boxes yesterday and it's nearly all gone this morning

Today I will be searching the perimeter of the house to see if I can find where they're getting in at. Anyone else having problems and what are you doing to get rid of them????

Son was telling me a while back to get some ready mix concret,mix in oatmeal,peanut butter and a large pan of water.You see where this is going. one heavy mouse!

Ardie/WI · #15 08/02/12, 10:55 AM

We live in a very old farmhouse and mice are an ongoing issue. This summer has been the worse I've seen.

We use mousetraps not poison because of our inside cats. Also, DH got out the trusty caulking gun and took care of some tiny,tiny places they might be able to get in.

Remember that they can get through a hole the size of a dime.

fishhead · #16 08/02/12, 10:57 AM

I caught two very pregnant mice last week and a juvenile. The latter was alive in an empty dog food bag and I turned it loose in the yard before I thought about it. It's probably already back in the house storing dog food in one of my shoes. I have to remember to put the dog dish up at night and when we are at work.

Kwings · #17 08/02/12, 01:00 PM

If you know anyone who has a ferret you could borrow, mice won't go near anywhere where they can smell a ferret. I had 3 pet ferrets in HS and before that we would get a mouse or two in the winter but the 4 years we had the ferrets we never had mice.

When I moved out on my own, taking the ferrets with me, moms house had 13 mice move in. She battled with them all winter, she caught 13 mice that winter but who knows how many there really were!

If you get one with decent prey drive they can actually be really good mousers except for the fact that they can get into places they probably shouldn't be sometimes.

earthkitty · #18 08/02/12, 02:25 PM

Cats are the best mousers around. I'd sooner adopt a younger cat or two than put poison all over my house, especially around children or other animals.

I have three barn cats. I have zero mice in my barn, even with all the hay and straw. I also have no rabbit problems around the garden because of the kitties.

You need a good mouser. That would solve your problem for over a decade.

hillbillygal · #19 08/02/12, 02:44 PM

I had a mouse increase my heart rate exponentially last night in the kitchen. I just bought a new pack of mouse traps last month but now I can't find them. I hope this isn't the start of a bad thing!

Allen W · #20 08/02/12, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MushCreek

I just made a bucket trap for the barn, and it worked well. You need a 5 gallon bucket, an empty soda can, a bit of wire, and a board for a ramp. Drill a hole in each end of the soda can. Drill a hole through each side of the bucket, thread the wire through the bucket, the soda can, and out the other side of the bucket. The soda can should spin very freely. Put enough water in the bucket so the mice will drown, and put a little ramp up the side of the bucket. Smear the soda can with peanut butter. The mice walk up the ramp, and when they jump onto the soda can to get the peanut butter, they fall into the water.

I'm not sure how long they can swim, so I kill them when I find them, rather than making them swim for hours.

A little vegitable oil on top of the water will make them go down faster.