Mouse in the House

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Riverrose28

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I have a mouse, maybe more, not sure, but this little begger is smarter then I am. At first I set out humane traps, you know the kind, you put bait in there, catch, then take outside into the woods and release the little begger. Well, he figured out how to eat the bait and get out, once he got out while I was carring the trap outside and ran down my arm. So I bought some sticky traps, which I feel are mean, but I'm frustrated at this point, and he completely ignores them, even going so far as to move the one that I put in a dog crate that he was getting into. I have evidence he was going into the crate to get close to the dog food storage. Last night I heard him in my bedroom, and couldn't find him when ever I turned on the light. Well today I drive to the feed store and go into my purse to get some peanut butter crackers that I always have on hand, and they were half eaten! My purse was on the dresser, so that is where he was! Now I have a JR terrior that will grab a mouse if he sees one, so I can't put out any poison, what in the world do I do now?
 
Oh geez, he was in your purse? We have one right now too...he got into the insides of our oven (not where the food goes, but in between there and the shell of the stove)...he built a nest along with some nut storage that caught fire last time I used the oven. We are only at this house part time and it had been a while since I used the oven. I am in the same boat as you as I have dogs in the house so poison is out.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/easterly110.html

My husband has used this type of trap in our crawlspace....can't see why you and I both can't use it in the house....the key is to put it somewhere that the dogs don't spill it over though.
 
What are you using for bait? We've had the best luck with peanut butter. You might just have to go with icky, snap traps, and do the little beggers in as they come for bait.
 
It is that time of year when the rodents start looking for their winter homes and move into ours. If you are willing to do the little blighters in (as in end their nasty germ carrying little lives - I'd be happy if there were no live mice in a 50 mile radius grrrr) here is a method that seems to work fairly well. Take a number of sticky traps and lay them in a circle in the centre of the circle set a standard 'snap' type trap baited with peanut butter (or something else that has a good odour). The mice will try to reach the peanut butter (which btw I have had many a mouse lick off the trap with out setting it off) and either they will step in the sticky trap and get stuck or they will jump the sticky trap and set off the snap trap. Either way if they go for that Pnut butter they are done. The water bucket works too but takes up a lot of space.
 
Thanks for all the tips, I'm declaring war! Daughter went to clean the light fixture in the bathroom and there was mouse feces in it. The little begger actually moved the sticky trap over and pooped on it. Yes i was using peanut butter in the humane traps, but no more humane! I'm done with the little beggers! I'm going to buy as many sticky traps as I can and put peanut butter right in the middle of them. I've already began and put one under the bathroom sink and one in the laundry room near the dog food. One of the the little beggers actually tried to eat my chips that are by my computer, so that means war. I'm out to get them!
 
Put out little bowls of Coca Cola for him. Supposedly they drink it because it is sweet but mice cannot burp sooo the Coke kills them. Probably not the best way to go but it won't poison the dogs and it's cheap.
 
I would set some real traps using peanut butter for bait. The absolute BEST mouse traps you can buy that work the best, are the brand name "The Better Mouse Trap". They ARE INDEED!! Do not waste your money on a less expensive same looking type...been there, done that...a total waste of money.
 
I didn't know that about the Coke method. Not sure I would want to use that as he'd wander away and could die anywhere. EW!

We use snap traps and have caught 2 so far! And my cat has caught two. Well, she caught 4 but she lost two while playing with them & they ran off. This old farm house...the mice moved in but we're down to just 2 more now. Little beggers! Grrrr!
 
Cats! I have them in the barn(first round of defense) then we have one in the garage(second line of defense) and then we have one that comes in on occasion(third line of defense). Good mousers are worth their weight in gold to me! So far we have never had one in the house. But at our old place(old farm house) we had them and sticky traps with peanut butter as well as snap traps with peanut butter worked the best. Also keep all food in mouse proof areas. Right now they still can find plenty to eat so are a bit harder to catch but when the picins get slim you will catch them. Might want to go around the outside of the house and do close inspection for places they can get in. They can fit into very small holes. Good Luck!
 
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I use peppermint oil on cotton balls. They hate the smell of the peppermint I guess. I use it in the barn and in the house and my husbands garage. Haven't had any problems with mice.

I know what you mean it's gross to find all the places they have been.
 
If you can find where they are getting in it, stuff steel wool in the hole...supposedly they won't chew through it. They can get in the smallest of spaces though....chances are you have many places they can enter...as do we. I hate them. One got in my snowmobile suit in the garage I hadn't worn in a while, I recently washed it and dang it the darn critter was in my washing machine...ewww! He was already dead before the washer cycle as his body was mummified...he must of died in the pocket. I then had to disinfect the washing machine. What a pain. We have a motorhome that they just love to winter in...last year we went camping in the early summer and there was a smell coming from the wall...it died in the wall...ughh...took a couple months for that to go away. We do the sticky traps, snap traps, and poison in the rv. We do catch a few over the winter...thankfully they haven't done any damage in the rv...there are so many places they can get in it's impossible to close them all up. I've read they don't like the smell of dryer sheets, so last year I put 500 dryer sheets all over the rv...scattered on the floor, etc....one was curled up dead on one of the sheets in the spring (must of been the poison) but obviously he didn't care about the dryer sheets.
 
I may have posted this before on a topic of mice but a friend who an owner of many apartment complexes

uses moth balls or the moth ball granules.

They use it around the exterior of all their buildings and around the areas where the dumpsters are.

Tenants often are not so caring if they get the contents of their garbage all the way in the dumpsters

so there is a constant food source for them that draws them to the buildings.

It won the approval of the Public Health Department and he swears it's taken care of the rodent issues.

I do use the dryer sheets, also, when I pack away seasonal decorations, in the attic. Either there isn't

mice, in the attic, or the dryer sheets keep them away.

Last year was the first year we had mice in the barn, that we'd seen signs of. It was an especially cold winter

and they found lots to snack on, I guess.

The barn cat, is nearing 16, and her food of course is readily available for snacking as she leaves crumbles of her kibble.

Also our long awaited colt is a messy eater. He takes his grain and throws it out of his dish, then eats it or tromps

on it, making another easy food source once the horses go outdoors in the AM.

We put out bait bars recommended at the feed store. We placed them in old peanut butter jars (with peanut butter residue left in them), left the lid screwed on and a hole big enough for them to fit thru yet nothing else would be affected by it. They totally ignored it.....never took even one bite of it. So that was a bust :::::::: Until 2 days ago. That bar sat there all last winter but in the past

2 days the bar has been completely eaten and they started gnawing on the plastic lid.....so they are back and the battle begins anew.

I really don't mind small furry critters but they must respect our space and the horses space........they've acres and acres to roam

they don't need to come in ----- That statement has had no affect on them, what so ever , no matter how many times I say it when I'm in the barn.
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Funny thing is, I don't think I have any in mybarns and there are three of them. My old barn cat just passed this spring, but there is a stray that I feed, plus durng the summer we have lots of black snakes and hawks. They are driving me crazy in the house. Besides getting into the light fixture in the bathroom, I heard one on my computer desk trying to get into my chips. Then last night my friend was sleeping on the couch and woke up to find one running accross the floor. One of my friends on FB said to get the electronic pug ins that repeal. Well I'll look into that, plus I think I need to suck it up and go up in the attic and put some sticky traps and also get some snap type traps for places that the dogs can't get to. My daughter that moved in with us has two cats, but they are in the other end of the house, as my bullies will kill cats, so no cats over here on my side.
 
We just got the mouse in the cupboard above our stove! Snap trap! WHOO HOOO!!
 
We use moth balls in our rv too...five boxes and they still come in...but they don't seem to stay too long.
 
Oh Riverrose I can completely sympathise with your mouse problem. My chicken coop was FULL of them! It was something that looked like it should have been in a horror movie when you went in there at night! They were so bad one ran up inside my snow pants while I was standing there!!!(UP MY PANTS!!! Thats crazy!! LOL!! ) So I knew I had to start protecting the house. First I removed all plant material up against the house and put moth balls down, which I have to do often because of the rain.Then I tied moth balls in fabric softner sheets and placed them in any spots I thought they could get in. Also I threw them all around my attic. They still came in, not alot but a few. Let me back track for a second and tell you what worked in my coop! I did the buckets with water and sunflower seeds but it was not good enough and it was costing me an arm and a leg in seeds! Lol! I'd set up 3 5gal buckets evey other day and get about 3-4 mice in each but it was not making a difference in the "Horror Coop". So what I did was I took the to off 2 guinea pig cages and set them on the ground so mice could get in but chicks were to big to get the mice out and disturb anything. I put rat sticky traps(they are bigger then the mouse ones) sprinkled chick feed lightly in the center of each and also put snap traps in all the spots that were not filled by stickys. I got over 105 mice in one week! I checked these 3 times a day, every time I checked for eggs, and I'd have something somewhere! YUCK!! I now have it under control(Ithink..) and set this up once a month so I can keep control of them. So now back to the house! I have snap traps(ones with a big yellow plate to put the feed on, the small cheep ones with the little skinny gold plate do not work.) and sticky traps in my attic. After reading this thread I went and checked my attic traps and I had 3 in the stickys and one in the snap. It has been a few weeks since I checked them and I'll be more faithfull knowing this time of year is when they start to come in.

Good luck and just be faithful in setting your traps! You'll get them!!

On a side note my useless house kitties just proved them selves to my husband! 5 mice in one night! In my closet is where the attic access is and they must have came through and made a nest between my suitcases. I'm guessing I killed the mom and the babies came out and were wondering around and the cats turned into the great hunters! lol! My Newfie followed the cats around trying to take their prize(he thinks he's a hunter too!) so I knew something was up! I found the cat took the mouse and went back to bed. In the morning I found 4 more wet and dead and a few of them flat! I think my Newfie layed on them after the cats were done playing! It's a constent battle with these mice!!!
 
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A decent repellent is CabFresh, they are herbal pouches filled with scents mice don't like. I have one in my fabric room and furnace room, and we haven't had mice in the house in several years (you have to irradicate the mice first for them to really work, but they really help), I have one in my pick-up; and then we also put them in the combine cab and grain trucks. Here's an Amazon link, so you can see what they are: http://www.amazon.co...h/dp/B0021LWPPY We can buy them at the local CoOp and farm equipment dealership and I think at least one of the hardware stores.

Edited to add... I did a little further google search and came up with Jeffers as a supplier, so if you have horse stuff to buy, you can always add this to your order.
 
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