Mouse Problem

[maryyy361]

With Winter coming, I have begun to have a mouse problem in my home. I do trap the mice, but it doesn't seem to be enough, there are still droppings in the same room as my birds and it has me very nervous.

I know mice don't like the smell of peppermint or cayenne pepper, but I am struggling to find a mouse repellent that is safe to use around my parrots.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you so much!

 

[chris-md]

I’ve had perennial problems myself during the winter. I do catch and release. First time I did this I caught a whole family of 5 young mice. Big mama came a couple days later.

How clean do you kept the area? That’s going to have an impact here.

 

[SailBoat]

This is a common problem that can happen year around, but really expanses rapidly this time of year. As stated above, it all starts with little to no food available. Poor as a Church mouse has a solid foundation.

The process starts outside, with cleaning all rubbish away from the side of the home. target an area from the side out the home out of about 4'. Clean to the bare ground or grass. This will allow an active inspection of the openings that can exist or develop over time. Find 'all' openings and fill with a caulking or foaming filler. Note the areas filled and repeat on the inside like in the basement or crawlspace.

Clean the basement or crawlspace, targeting trashing all that stuff that has accumulated over the years. This provides the first real deterrent as when they enter an empty space they tend consider some other place that offers more places to hid and keep warm.

This clean area also provides an area to place mouse and rat killers. It's your choice as to whether your wish to be kind or just kill them all. It's your choice.

As stated above, and by my good friend, keeping a clear home, vastly reduces the interest of mice in staying around.

Yup, its a pain, but it beats living with mice!

 

[maryyy361]

I keep it clean around their cages and I change their paper weekly. The mice come up through the heat vents unfortunately so I can't seal those up! The only seed out is in their dishes overnight.

I also do catch and release, I've caught 4 so far over the past 2 weeks.

 

[SailBoat]

I keep it clean around their cages and I change their paper weekly. The mice come up through the heat vents unfortunately so I can't seal those up! The only seed out is in their dishes overnight.

Not true, replacing heat vents is easy. Sealing the heat ducts will provide a reduction in heating cost by getting the heat out to the far ends of the home. There is a number of products available for sealing ducts. The vent itself does not provide an easy access for mice to move in and out of, and is likely broken and needs replacement.

 

[Scott]

Whatever technique you choose, and catch/release most humane, be aggressive or else you will have an infestation. Thankfully mice, not rats - they are far more crafty and difficult to remove!

 

[Laurasea]

Find out how they are getting into the house. For me once it was a loose dryer vent outside, so thet got into the walls that way.

Change cage papers daily till resolves. I think a week is asking for bug or mold and bacteria issues...

Make sure no water source like a leaking pipe.

Pests have followed humans since forever.. ugh...

 

[Laurasea]

Also this disease among others is a real concern.

" Hantaviruses are a family of viruses spread mainly by rodents and can cause varied disease syndromes in people worldwide. Infection with any hantavirus can produce hantavirus disease in people. Hantaviruses in the Americas are known as “New World” hantaviruses and may cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). Other hantaviruses, known as “Old World” hantaviruses, are found mostly in Europe and Asia and may cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).

Each hantavirus serotype has a specific rodent host species and is spread to people via aerosolized virus that is shed in urine, feces, and saliva, and less frequently by a bite from an infected host. The most important hantavirus in the United States that can cause HPS is the Sin Nombre virus, spread by the deer mouse."

 

[Laurasea]

Some of the others

"Three percent of the mice carried Salmonella bacteria, 14 percent carried disease-causing Shigella, 12 percent carried the food poisoning germ Clostridium perfringens, 4 percent carried enteropathogenic Escherichia coli and 4 percent carried Clostridium difficile, a notorious cause of often-fatal chronic diarrhea.Apr 18, 2018"
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...ce-are-loaded-bacteria-superbug-germs-n866701

 

[noodles123]

I'g get a ton of live traps...and close off any holes under your baseboards etc (not with a chemical foam though). please don't forget to check the live traps...and release them FAR from your home (wash hands VERY thoroughly after, as they can spread hanta virus). Snap traps if you cannot do live, but ONLY in places where your bird cannot go.
NEVER EVER EVER use glue traps-- they are THE MOST terrible and inhumane way to kill anything (and they pose a risk to your bird).

Poison is another option, also inhumane to an extent, and also kind of sketchy depending on where it is stored....If your bird can get to it, do not use it. If you have it in a basement of garage, that is safer, but even then, I prefer to avoid it.

peppermint oil around the perimeter of your home, but not in the bird's room..

How are mice getting into your vents? I do think crickets sometimes come out of mine, but a mouse??? I know they can squish down to fit through small spaces, but a vent is a bit of a stretch (at least based on the style of vents I have here...1/2 " if not smaller)

 

[maryyy361]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions.
I live with my parents in a very rural area. So no changing the home and removing ducts. We have had mice every year like this but I was hoping to try an organic, humane way to so this safely but also keeping my birds safe.

Thanks again!

 

[fiddlejen]

I keep it clean around their cages and I change their paper weekly. The mice come up through the heat vents unfortunately so I can't seal those up! The only seed out is in their dishes overnight.

I also do catch and release, I've caught 4 so far over the past 2 weeks.

I had mice last year. Accidentally killed one with my foot, Caught & Released another three after that and seemed like it was all. That was LAST YEAR. There are new mice again this year.

REPELLENT: "No Escape Mouse Magic." This is great non-toxic, works good but only to Keep them out. Once they are already in it will NOT send them away. Once I had caught those few last year, I did not get any new ones, which I credit to the Mouse Magic. However you have to replace it about every month or so, and over the summer I stopped. I should have started again at beginning of September, but I just forgot until I heard them a week or two ago.

Spin traps are relatively safe -- at least compared to things like snap traps or glue traps. But the spin traps still scare me; my birds don't USUally go under things nor stick their little heads or beaks inside things... but birds Will do things they "never do." However the Capture traps I used last year, this year's mice are too smart for them. So I am putting down spin traps. I pick them up carefully in the morning before opening the cages, and I put them down again at night after everyone is securely in their cage and has finished their dinner.

---Speaking of CApture traps. You need to take the mice a LOOOONG way away before you release them, or they will return.----

While you are dealing with mice: Clean the cage Every Night. Take out all the food, and clean their dishes. (This is a good time to change the water too.) You might want to leave clean water for your birds overnight, preferably up high, but remove all the food. (If it's dry food, you don't have to throw it out if you normally wouldn't. You can put it in a sealed container away from the cages.) Discard the Paper Every Night. Then wipe down the bars and clean the tray. Every Night. Then sweep / vacuum / possibly mop the floor area around the cage. Every Night. (Then, in the morning, put fresh paper before putting in food for them.)

Why do I strongly suggest going to So Much Work? Because otherwise the mice Will go into your birdies' cages looking for food. Bird food IS mouse food. I learned this last year while HEARING my birdies rummaging around munching seed on their cage floor... but when I LOOKED they were actually perched unmoving on their highest perches. It was Not my Birdies who were eating their food!

This year, I'm hoping I've become aware of them sooner, before they're established. This year, I was only suspicious for a short while before I heard them--this year, heard them chewing the Walls! eekk! (i started banging things to scare them - one ran out, so I know it was a mouse. Otherwise from the wall-chewing, I would've thought it was something worse!)

This year, along with the nightly spin-traps, I've also found & blocked a couple entry holes. My landlord has also found where he thinks they're coming into the basement, will be blocking that entry, and he has also put traps in the basement as well. So I'm hopeful to go back to somewhat-less-extreme nightly housekeeping after maybe not-too-long.