What's your trick for getting rid of MICE

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minimule

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With all the rain we had this spring, we are infested with mice. All the litters are surviving because there is plenty to eat. They aren't in the house but they are UNDER the house and the dogs are going nuts trying to dig them out.
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We got an estimate to have them exterminated
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but because we have the dogs they won't poison them. All they could do was plug up all the water lines and any holes that would let them in the house. For that amount of money.....we can do that ourselves Thank You!

We can't have cats because are dogs are also very fond of them.
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They have to be REEEALLLLLYYYY fast cats to survive around here.

The exterminators said they can't do it but we can, and that is to put mothballs under the house. They said mammals hate the smell of them and won't go near it. Not sure THIS mammal wants to smell them either.
 
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I have heard that peppermint oil will keep all rodents away. I don't know if it works, but it is worth a try. Smells much better than moth balls!
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Linda

Roxy's Run Miniatures
 
What you can do is control the dogs and put out poison. For example, in the house put poison under the kitchen cabinets late at night and then keep the dogs out of the kitchen. Same in the barn, put it in the feed room or where needed then keep the cats away from it. We put it out in a dog crate. Mice got in but the dogs couldn`t. Pick up the poisen in the morning. After the second or third day if they mice are no longer eating it its because they are all dead !!
 
OH OH OH You get an empty 2 liter bottle and make a hole in the bottom. Put rat bait/killer in there. They will crawl in it and croak. That way, your pets can't get to the poison!
 
Cool idea Marty. Will have to try that one.

I think I'll try the peppermint oil too.

The problem with using the poison is that if the dogs find the sick/dying/dead mouse first, they eat it! The dogs are outside only dogs and have full access to everywhere. They both LOVE to hunt.
 
Do you allow your dogs to go poo-poo around where the infestation is? I swear by this especially with my groundhog problem I've had. I started scooping up the dog poop and putting it in and around the groundhog holes...also around the perimeter of my chicken coops on the "outside" of my property...I have not seen one mouse, groundhog or rat hanging around this year. As a bonus I've even been able to let my own hens and ducks hatch out their own babies...which I had'nt been able to do in a while because the rats would steal them.

It's worked for me!
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But some friends of mine own multiple apartment buildings and they swear by moth ball crystals, it's considered safe by the Health Department to use as rodent deterent ..........they put them all around the perimiter of their buildings, around trash areas, etc. They say the mice track thru it then lick their feet and it poisons them.

I unfortunately am allergic to moth crystals so count on my cats to do the chore.
 
We don't use any poisons because of our pets and the hawks and eagles here. We also don't use the fumigants (moth balls) because they make me gag. We plug up any holes with steel wool (mice love the taste of caulking) and use snap traps. Snap traps are gross, but effective.

Hubby also made a mouse trap; I don't know if it's 'better', but it's pretty neat. He got a five gallon bucket, filled it half way with water, built a little mouse-ramp up the side. Then he built a little frame, looked kinda like a gallows, and hung a peanut butter covered piece of cheese from that, just out of reach of the ramp. I think he was just wanting to use his new cordless tools, but it actually worked. The varmits climbed up the ramp to get the treat, jumped for the treat and fell in the bucket. Mice aren't effective swimmers. Also gross, but effective for multiple kills in one night. Unless it freezes in your garage, in which case, mice do seem to be able to ice skate.

I'll also pick lots of field mint (it grows wild around here) and spread it where the mice are living or running. They hate mint.

We've tried the ultra sonic thingies, and the mice just put on little ear plugs and ignore them.

The most effective are our cats. They each deliver at least one carcass each day.
 
All good suggestions.

My one dog is very private and goes out to the horse turn outs to do her "chores". The other, the hound dog, goes when and wherever the mood strikes her.
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, but it usually is away from where the mice are. They are tunneling under the foundation and living in the crawl space of the house. I'm going to give the peppermint a shot. Should make the place smell good! Well, except for when all the little varmints start croaking.
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Well, if it were me, I would get one of those wind-up multiple traps, the ones that just look like a flat square box with clear plexiglass on top, put it in the crawl space at night, and take it out in the morning full of mice. I used to catch up to 12 a night with one of those. They run through it (no poison or bait needed) and a little trap door flips them into a holding area. The mice are still alive and I guess some would turn them loose...... I was pretty convinced they would beat me back to the house, so I put the trap in a bucket of water and walked away for a little while. Then I emptied the trap up on a manure pile and by the end of the day I had grateful hawks, ravens and magpies. This was my version of a "bird feeder"
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and since it did not use poison I did not have to worry about anything accidentally messing with the trap. Also, unless is was as small as a mouse, nothing could get in there. I always worried about cats or dogs getting into the snap traps although I really think those are very effective, and use them when I can.

I heard a version of the bucket trap! This one had a little island of something floating in it, a piece of wood with some grain on it, something like that. It worked about the same way as Keeperofthehorses bucket trap works. However I guess your dogs might get into it and spoil the trap until you re-set it.
 
I know some people have put the bucket rick already, but I have used this bucket trick before and it has worked wonders at keeping mice out of my rabbit barn.

Set up a five gallon bucket about half full of water. Take an empty tin can and put a little metal rod through it and set the rod and can over the bucket. Cover the tin can in peanut butter. Set up alittle wooden ramp so the mice can get to the can. I usually but a bit of oats or corn on the ramp to get them to find the peanut butter. The mice jump run up the ramp and jump on the tin can, the can rolls and they plop in the bucket.

In no time you will have caught and killed alot of mice. We got 30 mice in one day when we set it up. Evidently our "barn" cat doesn't do her job
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We got 30 mice in one day when we set it up
That's a scary thought
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. I'm afraid how many we could catch in a day.

I have an extra bucket around, I think I'll try this one in the hay barn.
 
I don't have any clever trapping methods, but a VERY efficient bait is a little bit of Nutella spread on a bit of white bread.

When we were trapping mice in our attic, we would catch one each time we would lay the trap, within hours, til they were gone.

Liz M.
 
This works in the barn, get a tall bucket put some grain, peanut butter, etc in the bottom they jump in and can't jump out. Put them in the back of your truck and deposit them a mile from your house.
 

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