Mouse problems, please advice.

[Tangie]

We had a mouse problem very bad last year. They would get into my room, attracted my Kiko's food, and try to get into it. My kitty killed them as they came in, but I was worried for her health, too! Tthe last draw was when she brought a dead one into my bed, and my thinking it was her little tail or something, I gave it a little squeeze, and realized I disconnected her foot! (Lol!) And then, to my horror, I realized I had squeezed a mouse, in my bed, and it was so disgusting, I will save the details.

First off-

1) Go through your whole house and put away any food that will attract mice, away in mouse proof containers. That will help. Make sure all dishes are done, as well, before bed.

2) Go through the house and look for little holes that they can come through. Upon finding holes, take some steel wool and plug the holes with that. Mice can not chew through steel wool.

3) For the holes that are missed, set up mouse traps for the mice that manage to get in.

That's about it for a mild job. It will not prevent mice from getting into your house, but setting food away, and plugging holes with steel wool, with minimize most all possibilities of mice getting into certain room.

Though, after looking at all the posts, it seems like all of this has already been mentioned, which is great!

 

[Mamaof3]

We had a mouse problem very bad last year. They would get into my room, attracted my Kiko's food, and try to get into it. My kitty killed them as they came in, but I was worried for her health, too! Tthe last draw was when she brought a dead one into my bed, and my thinking it was her little tail or something, I gave it a little squeeze, and realized I disconnected her foot! (Lol!) And then, to my horror, I realized I had squeezed a mouse, in my bed, and it was so disgusting, I will save the details.

First off-

1) Go through your whole house and put away any food that will attract mice, away in mouse proof containers. That will help. Make sure all dishes are done, as well, before bed.

2) Go through the house and look for little holes that they can come through. Upon finding holes, take some steel wool and plug the holes with that. Mice can not chew through steel wool.

3) For the holes that are missed, set up mouse traps for the mice that manage to get in.

That's about it for a mild job. It will not prevent mice from getting into your house, but setting food away, and plugging holes with steel wool, with minimize most all possibilities of mice getting into certain room.

Though, after looking at all the posts, it seems like all of this has already been mentioned, which is great!

Omg i would have screamed bloody murder...lol.

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[Mamaof3]

The only other time i came across a mouse was when i was in high school, and my brother and i went into the kitchen for a snack and saw a mouse on the floor. We screamed soooo loud and was jumping up and down like we were walking on fire. The poor mouse was in such a shock from the noise we made that it passed out. I thought we killed it from our screaming . My mom came running downstairs because she thought we were getting hacked to death by an intruder, she was not happy when she saw it was just a tiny field mice and not even a rat . She put it in a plastic bag and took it outside. When she went outside with it and it started moving, i guess it woke up from its coma, my mom let it go.

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[dhraiden]

Shame to resurrect this thread, but we're having mouse problems at home too!

It happened while we were away, and the birds were not even around! Seems the cold weather drove them indoors.

I managed to catch one humanely and release it in a wooded area far away. But there's still more. I've seen droppings between clean-ups/vacuuming, and it's quite frustrating!

I've got non toxic lure and humane traps setup everywhere with bits of corn nuts and things to lure them in, but the remaining "guests" seem too smart to get stuck inside the one-way-in devices.

Any solutions/suggestions? The fids have their cages cleaned daily and we're debating emptying food trays each night...I don't want them exposed to any disease from droppings (I found some in the play-area bins atop their cages, gah).

I find it detestable but at this point I've ordered conventional (snap-kill) traps and the like.

 

[Kentuckienne]

The snap traps may be more humane than releasing the mice outside, far from their normal territory, where they are likely to starve slowly or freeze. Mice put up stores of food for winter, and they aren't prepared to make it in a strange territory. I learned a good trick here - to put peanut butter on a short piece of string tied to the trigger. They LOVE peanut butter, but sometimes they lick it off, or move back cautiously and get a foot or tail caught instead of the neck, which is the most merciful way to die in a trap. They pull at the string and snap the trap more reliably. It is hard to do it, but the alternative is disease and pests- fleas, bubonic plague, hantavirus, all sorts of nasty infections that could sicken you or the birds. We live out in the sticks, and thanks to rigorous inspections and application of caulk, steel wool, metal guards and the like have never had one in the house. They get in the car, though! Have to regularly check under the spare tire for nests and be careful not to leave snacks overnight.

 

[sonja]

I'll add my agreement to the snap traps being the most humane. And I say this as a vegetarian who would never ever hurt an animal normally. Glue traps - well, that's about as inhumane as you can get. But live trapping and releasing, while it sounds nice, is, as Kentuckienne mentioned, really just a very long death sentence as they starve to death. Once removed from their home (your home), they do not have the nest and food available and are just out there flailing around for food and shelter. So, a quick, humane snap trap is the best option out of imperfect options.

 

[dhraiden]

Good advice, thanks for the responses guys!

 

[dhraiden]

As an update, I seem to be daily upturning new areas of droppings! Gah....my new "houseguests" are making me twitch.

It is like they just dance around the traps!

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[Kentuckienne]

What are you using for bait? I find peanut butter is the best and most irresistible thing.

 

[dhraiden]

I'm going to put that in the traps tonight, maybe move them around...they might've gotten used too their current locations and know to avoid them. They literally left a dropping on TOP of one of the traps!

I'm using a well rated non toxic lure I got off of Amazon, that supposedly works better than peanut butter...it apparently only worked once!

Pro-Pest Professional Lures for Rats and Mice jfo-1001 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004HCWUU0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_H3txyb0EYP6N3

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[dhraiden]

Bumping with an update - two down, but one to go? After ridding ourselves of a set of chairs that our mousey guests had moved into, we found two traps had quickly (and humanely) done their work the next morning.

Cue FINALLY removing our snacks from tupperware and easing up on the vigilance? Sadly, no -- we've still got at least one rodent scurrying about, gah. I've joked with the fiancee that perhaps we might try adopting a Kestrel next....

 

[Anita1250]

Put the legs of the cage into pans of water at night. They won't go through the water, so can't get into the cage. Do this until you know they are gone. Then, stuff any holes in the floor base with steel wool. Especially around pipes. This will help keep them out.