Mouse Problem - Help!!!

I had quite a bit of luck with sticky traps but not until I put something like peanut butter or honey in the middle of them. The bait they come with is not very effective.

 

You can still use your traps. Take a cotton ball and smear it with the peanut butter. Then use some sewing thread to tie the cotton ball to the trigger. Then set and place the trap. When the mice tug on the cotton ball to get the pb, it pulls the trigger SNAP!

 

The cotton ball doesn't need peanut butter because the pregnant female mouse wants it for her nest. Just tie it to the trigger like suggested above. A mouse only needs a 1/4 inch gap to get into the garage, so you may need to re-examine your work. You have the right idea about building them out. Use plenty of traps inside. The glue boards and snaps should be placed against the wall. Pick locations next to openings behind objects like boxes and such. You should have a device every 6 to 8 feet. Re-arranging everything is also a trick that improves the capture. Mice learn the location of everything in the room and readily recognize something new. When you re-arrange, they are uncertain about everything and more likely to get into the trap or glue board. I never put anything on the glue boards. Placement is more important. Most glue boards have a perforated line to bend the cardboard, unless its a tray type. Bend along the perforation so the glue edge is against the wall. Look for the snaps with an oversized trigger. A tiny dab of peanut butter in the center will require them to step on the trigger to lick it off. Look for pathways along the edges. These are the hot spots. If you find a hole, surround it with glue boards and snaps. Since they run the same path over and over, they remove the dust and will actually eventually stain the wall about a half inch up. Look closely for these areas.

 

Sticky traps with a Hershey Kiss in the middle gets them. They love chocolate!

 

D-Con.

If your worried about other animals getting into it.. Tractor Supply sells a wonderful little triangular black plastic thingy. It is about an inch high with a snap down lid. You put food in one little section at the back.. and the other two sides have holes for the mice to run into, but nothing else. I used these in my chicken house last year. Worked wonderfully!

The year before I had a few in my house. Same story. I tried everything ELSE first. The other wonderful part of DCon is.. you only see dead mice, if at all; instead of squeling suffering mice BEFORE they die, that YOU have to dispose of.

Nuff said? Also, keep feedstuffs put up well.

 

We use glue traps along the walls and near the back of shelves, etc. I don't use any poison at all. The puppies have learned not to mess with glue traps, but plastic boxes full of poison would look like a toy to them.
deb

 

2nd the D-Con, tried traps.......nothing. Dog would lay there and watch them run around didn't lift a paw to help. :haha:

Got those triangle yellow boxes with the pull down flap, put two out and that was that, never saw another one, till I cleaned behind the china hutch. EWWWWWWWWWWW!

 

I hate glue traps. The live mouse is hopelessly stuck to the thing, and looks at you with terrified eyes. What do you do with the live mouse? Empty cottage cheese or yogurt containers with a little hole cut into the bottom side and the top repaced after baiting with D-con or equivalant and placed around mouse runs works for us. Biggest problem is the cats using the doggie door to bring in mice to play with and release--or kill and leave decoratively around the living room.

 

I am with MaKettle. Glue traps left me with a stuck live mouse. Yikes! I use the easily set and reusable plastic snap traps. They clean easily and are easy to set without danger to your fingers.

I use one sunflower seed stuck on with butter or peanut butter. Works great. Put it against the wall for best results. Check daily.

What also works is to let a snake live in your basement. I have had a bit of experience with that as well. Also Yikes!

I never got used to having poison around. Heck, everything seems to backfire on me sometimes so it just wasn't worth the risk.

 

While D-con is the easiest anti-coagulant rodenticide to find in the consumer market, it has many demerits. First, the granular formulation allows a single mouse to empty the container and hoard it. Second it is what is known as a multiple feed bait. This means that the mouse must continue to eat it for a while before a lethal dose is consumed. Occasionally, the mouse will get sick and not die and will no longer touch the D-con. I would suggest a block bait if you can find one. Most co-ops carry a block bait. The active ingredient is usually different than D-con and is stronger. Most block baits are single feed products that will kill a mouse even if the mouse only eats it one time.
Another advantage to the block bait is the mouse must nibble and leave it where you place it. This makes it easier to monitor for activity.

All anti-coagulants including D-con have a risk to birds of prey. If you have owls around your property I would advise against using any anti-coagulant. There is a rodenticide called Quintox that has zero risk of secondary poisoning.

 

A few things that I hadn't thought of before from the article:

Put out twice as many traps as you think you have mice. Leave them for a few days, then pick them all up. Put them back out a week later. Put them along walls in groups of two or three with uneven spacing between them. They recommended sunflower seeds in a little peanut butter for bait. Or using a hot glue gun to stick a few seeds to the trap.

 

My father in law had a mouse problem a couple of winters ago in his shed until he made a contraption that I'll try to describe:

You need a bucket-- at least a 3 gallon.
Take a roller type device, maybe a paint roller or an old rolling pin (modified) and attach it to the top of the bucket (utilize the metal handle already attached to the bucket if you can). Fill bucket with enough water to drown a mouse. But not so much that they can get out the top. Put some bait on the roller. Make an easy way for a moust to access the bait. Peanut butter is great. It will stick to the roller and you won't have to keep replacing it.

When the mouse climbs onto the roller to eat the peanut butter, he falls into the water. Can't get out so will drown.

Said "trap" will hold many many mice. To empty it, dump out the dead mice, and refill with water and more bait if necessary.

My FIL caught a LOT of mice with this.

 

Someone posted "secure your food" and at the risk of sounding like I'm shouting SECURE YOUR FOOD! We rent a cottage and it is... shall we say... porus. It has mice. If the tenants are religious about food storage, washing up after eating, securing their garbage, and not leaving pet food around, they're fine. If they are lax in any department, by December the neon sign is out at the mousehole saying "Welcome!"

And while traps and bait are a wonderful thing, nothing beats a hungry and motivated set of barn cats.

 

I have had very good luck with the Rat zapper
http://www.agrizap.com/

I have 2 and they work like a charm.
(just my 2 cents worth)

---J

 

my 2 cents. we are having a mouse infestation in the trailer, were moving into at the end of the month, i agree if there is no food or water, i would leave if i was a mouse, we even pick up the dog food bowls at night and burn trash before we go to bed there is no perishable left out every thing is in the frig.

 

The type of mouse does make a difference. For example, the common house mouse can live its entire life inside an 8 foot circle if it has food and shelter. Their reproductive rate is tied directly to the food supply and keeping your food out of their reach has a big impact. Dry pet food, even left out only during the day will provide the food they need. Your animals will adapt quickly if you only leave the food out for an hour.

However, a deer mouse is entirely different. A deer mouse, the most common rodent, is rarely seen and forages randomly over a half acre. They are not common invaders of inhabited structures, but will readily infest uninhabited structures. I have seen them get into over-the-road trailers parked in fields with only cardboard inside. Deer mice are easily identified because their underside is snowy white and their tail is covered with a furry sheath.

Deer mice are the primary carriers of hantavirus. The risk of hantavirus is greatest in the droppings. Be careful when you clean up droppings. You can eliminate the risk by dampening the droppings with a disenfectant. (like clorox 1 part to water 5 parts) Wipe up instead of sweeping.

 

melt chocolate and smear it on the trap trigger and let it get hard, they have to chew it off and whap dead mouse.

and get a cat.

 

Try smearing peanutbutter on the bottom side of the trigger as well as the top side, they will eat the top and then spring the trap trying to get at the bottom side of the trigger. Good Luck