Janie Grace Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 We're considering professional pest control because I am :ack2: about the thought of living with mice for any length of time. They (or their droppings) have been seen in the kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom and two bedrooms. I'm over it. Calling in the professionals is expensive though ($125 initial treatment, $30 per month to maintain) so I want to know if anything else works. "Works" means gets rid of them and keeps them away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 I put down "mouse treats" as my Mother called them when she gave them to me. These have worked before because I would just keep out a box of treats in a few places, so the new mice would be dealt with before I noticed them. The down side was that I kilt the parent mice. About a week ago two baby mice were discovered in my basement. This lead to (NOT BY ME) the mice being caught, cared for, ... the died. But we are now going to buy two pet RATS since the baby mice were so enjoyed by everyone in the house. (BUT ME). So the "mouse treats" dealt with the mice, but lead to pet rats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlylocks Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 We use "snap traps" with peanut butter...and our "old reliable" -- a 15 year old cat by the name of Max. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Baiting snap traps with jube jubes is what has worked best for us. I got the tip from a super of an apt bldg. Peanut butter is often talked about, but we found they could lick it off and get away without setting off the trap. A jube jube squished into the trap firmly attracts them, and they really have to work to get it out...never had a trap robbed of the candy and not set off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim in Appalachia Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 a multi-pronged approach. I would suggest bait as well as traps. You need to get them out as quickly as possible. I've always found sticky traps to work better than snap ones. You need to use poison if you want to get rid of that many. It takes to long to catch them all, and they reproduce to quickly. Doing both poison and traps should take care of it. I would not call in professionals, since what they will do is set up traps and poisons and you still need to clean up the mess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Nyssa Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 I'm sorry to tell you this, but for us nothing worked. Tried: snap traps, glue traps, homemade traps, electric traps, havaheart traps. By then there were larger rodents too. Also, 2 extermination companies. We had to move out. Hope you will have better luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janie Grace Posted October 12, 2011 Author Share Posted October 12, 2011 I'm sorry to tell you this, but for us nothing worked. Tried: snap traps, glue traps, homemade traps, electric traps, havaheart traps. By then there were larger rodents too. Also, 2 extermination companies. We had to move out. Hope you will have better luck! Oh my goodness! That's terrible. Why was it such an impossible-to-solve issue, do you know? I have never heard of someone having to move due to rodents. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeekingSimplicity Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 We have cats, but our chickens also eat mice. For the one or two that gets in the house every year, we set out snap traps and poison. There's a poison that embalms them (or something) so that they don't stink if they get stuck in a wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krisperry Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Throw some poison under the house. I don't feel comfortable having it in the house since I have little ones. I buy many glue traps at the time. Then I find an area where I know they are traveling and stretch the glue traps all the way across in a straight line so there is NO way to get across the room without hitting a trap. I know that people say they stay close to the wall but I've caught enough in my middle traps to know that isn't always the case. After I've caught 1-3, I move my sticky trap line. Mice are fairly smart and will adapt. You have to move the traps in my experience to keep getting them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Well, I put cats because if you have any other animals or babies you don't want them exposed to poisins. You also don't want to have a dead mouse in a trap and not find it immediately (smells ba-a-ad!). If your cats are good mousers they will kill off most of them fairly quickly and any that live will quickly learn that a cat household is not a safe place to live. I have three great mousers (and one not so great one) so they were catching mice left and right. The only problem is I live in a no kill household so I had to catch the cats and remove the mice and take them outside before the cats ate them. I had a bit of time because my cats liked to play with the mice for awhile before trying to eat them and I got really good at hearing the mice squeak once they started running from the cats. Cats are also good at catching just about any otherwild life smaller than themselves as well especially snakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abigail4476 Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 *sigh* We have cats who are good mousers, but they stay with my Mom in her MIL suite because my son is allergic--so that limits the number of mice they can eliminate. We've used traditional traps, sticky traps and now my husband has these new plastic traps that are similar to the traditional wooden "snap traps", except they're a little less scary to set. I nixed the sticky traps because I don't like to see or hear a mouse squeaking in pain and frustration for hours. I want them dead [quickly] and gone. No matter how many we catch, more come in. :glare: I don't really know how to stop them completely. I suppose it all has to do with living out in the middle of a field. I'm cleaning out my pantry today because my husband called our pest control service about sugar ants, which have taken over the 2nd and 3rd pantry shelves, and we're going to see if they can do something about the mice while they're at it. Poisons are out because we have other pets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SophiaH Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 We live in the country. Our outside cats are excellent mousers (and catch birds and snakes as well :001_huh:). In fact, just yesterday I walked out the front door to a huge 6-8 inch mouse being eaten on my door mat by my momma kitty. :ack2: For the couple of mice that have made it past the cats to get inside, snap traps with peanut butter have worked every time within 1-2 days. Just make sure you check them every day, 'cause they STINK if left for a couple of days. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrdinaryTime Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 We had a mouse problem over the summer. They were only in the laundry room where the dog is fed. So we started by locking up the dog food and bowl except at feeding times. Then we caught several with sticky traps and put out poison, but they just kept coming. We did a self-assessment of the house and found a few small holes that we plugged. Still kept coming. We finally hired a pest control company. They placed inside and outside traps as well as poison. Interestingly, I found out that the ingredients in dog food (and what is left behind in dog droppings) is an antidote to many mouse poisons. Anyway, all the traps and poisons still didn't quite stop the mice. Finally, we paid the pest control company to do a professional house inspection to plug any possible entrances into the house. The mice are finally gone. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sushi's Mom Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 My cat is afraid of mice! http://www.amazon.com/Agri-Zap-RZU001-Zapper-Ultra/dp/B000BWFESU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318448422&sr=8-1 The Rat Zapper works well. I just use sunflower/pumpkin seeds as bait. We don't have rats, just small mice, but if you do have rats, it will catch those as well. Clean up is simple, you just tip the unit over and dump them out. There is no blood. (we only had two mice and I see no more evidence at the moment.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sushi's Mom Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Forgot to say, we are keeping the Rat Zapper set up, in case another mouse comes in. Since it uses dry bait, you can keep it set up for a long time and not worry about it going bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Baiting snap traps with jube jubes is what has worked best for us. I got the tip from a super of an apt bldg. Peanut butter is often talked about, but we found they could lick it off and get away without setting off the trap. A jube jube squished into the trap firmly attracts them, and they really have to work to get it out...never had a trap robbed of the candy and not set off. Thank you-this is what I'm going to try-i found the same with the PB. And they've invaded. :glare: Though, the cat did catch one, the kitten is too small to realize what he's supposed to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 We've done snap traps and I think dh has done some poison. He's also worked to figure out how they're getting in and plugged the access. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Well, in my opinion, the most effective means of irradicating rodents (snakes as well) involves demolition by immolation - explosives. Shoulder launch bazookas, land mines, C-4, and nukes are all effective at eliminating unwanted animal life, however, there are some negative side-effects, some of which include a. the demolition of home and b. an unnatural curiosity by the Department of Homeland Secuirty, FBI, and Sheriff's Office in your methodology! :D I voted other. I also believe running away from home is a legitimate option. :biggrinjester: Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2squared Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 We live in the country. Our outside cats are excellent mousers (and catch birds and snakes as well :001_huh:). In fact, just yesterday I walked out the front door to a huge 6-8 inch mouse being eaten on my door mat by my momma kitty. :ack2: For the couple of mice that have made it past the cats to get inside, snap traps with peanut butter have worked every time within 1-2 days. Just make sure you check them every day, 'cause they STINK if left for a couple of days. Good luck! :iagree: You have to be very strategic about the peanut butter, and you might have to group the traps in multiples. We (meaning dh) puts the peanut butter way back under the springs of the snap traps. If you have boys, they are great for removing the carcasses and resetting the traps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah CB Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 We have had mice on and off since we moved here - until two years ago when we got cats. We haven't had mice since. When we did have mice we tried snap traps and poison - poison worked better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jyniffrec Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Our cat was very good at catching mice. But then she started bringing them in from outside. She put them in our bathtub and tortured them for an hour or so before eating them - it was systematic and creepy - she would sometimes have more than one in there. Sometimes it was a race to the bathtub if we wanted to get a shower before she got her mouse in there. :ack2: Father of Pearl would get them out alive if he could and release them outside. That cat ended up running away and I can't say I am very sorry about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janie Grace Posted October 12, 2011 Author Share Posted October 12, 2011 Well, in my opinion, the most effective means of irradicating rodents (snakes as well) involves demolition by immolation - explosives. Shoulder launch bazookas, land mines, C-4, and nukes are all effective at eliminating unwanted animal life, however, there are some negative side-effects, some of which include a. the demolition of home and b. an unnatural curiosity by the Department of Homeland Secuirty, FBI, and Sheriff's Office in your methodology! :D I voted other. I also believe running away from home is a legitimate option. :biggrinjester: Faith :lol: Explosives sound good to me!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Cats were all that worked for us. We used traps. And then called in professionals. They set out poison that the mice were suppose to eat and then go outside in search of water and the theory was they would die outside. Not so much. And it didn't work long term. We borrowed a neighbor's cat. The cat ran in the door and promptly caught a mouse in the dining room. She caught I don't know how many mice. We shortly afterwards got two more cats of our own. We have recently had tenents in the house. They had a dog, but I still noticed evidence of mice when I cleaned the house after they moved out. The next tenants are moving in with a cat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimm Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 My parents live way out in the country and while I was still a teen living at home, we were waging war on a mouse invasion and losing sadly. We tried all kinds of traps, the sticky ones, humane ones, and the wooden mousetraps. We emptied them and reset them often. It did nothing. Then we got several cats (like three or four). There was still an occasional mouse here and there (I mean, it's the country, what are you going to do?) but the cats took care of most of it. It was rare we saw a mouse after that. Until you've laid in bed unable to sleep because you're afraid the mice you hear scurrying around will crawl up and into your bed... you can't really appreciate that magical mouse murdering abilities of a few good cats. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jyniffrec Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Well, in my opinion, the most effective means of irradicating rodents (snakes as well) involves demolition by immolation - explosives. Shoulder launch bazookas, land mines, C-4, and nukes are all effective at eliminating unwanted animal life, however, there are some negative side-effects, some of which include a. the demolition of home and b. an unnatural curiosity by the Department of Homeland Secuirty, FBI, and Sheriff's Office in your methodology! :D I voted other. I also believe running away from home is a legitimate option. :biggrinjester: Faith :lol::lol::lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captivated Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Well, in my opinion, the most effective means of irradicating rodents (snakes as well) involves demolition by immolation - explosives. Shoulder launch bazookas, land mines, C-4, and nukes are all effective at eliminating unwanted animal life, however, there are some negative side-effects, some of which include a. the demolition of home and b. an unnatural curiosity by the Department of Homeland Secuirty, FBI, and Sheriff's Office in your methodology! :D I voted other. I also believe running away from home is a legitimate option. :biggrinjester: Faith BEST answer!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MicheleinMN Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Oops, I missed marking having a cat too. Snap traps and an outdoor/garage cat made a huge difference. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeannie in NJ Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 5 of our cats sleep with us and the other 3 guard the house. We have meadows behind our house and had mice until we started our little cat household. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaHappy Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Well, we've had mice and mole problems in the past and the only thing that really seemed to work was a cat. Seriously. Last year we had a big mole problem in our backyard and our cat caught every last one of them. Same with mice in the house too. *Sigh* I sure miss that cat. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 When we had cats we never dealt with mice but then post-cats we've only had one episode so maybe we're just lucky. Everything failed here except poison. Well, I caught one on a sticky trap and it was really sad and I don't want a repeat. My mice ignored all the snap traps (three different kinds--they didn't even try to eat the bait on the traps). My sister had tons of mice in her attic. They did poison and eliminated all of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtsmamtj Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 For us what worked was either a cat or traps with peanut butter!! T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 I'm sorry to tell you this, but for us nothing worked. Tried: snap traps, glue traps, homemade traps, electric traps, havaheart traps. By then there were larger rodents too. Also, 2 extermination companies. We had to move out. Hope you will have better luck! Same here. We moved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janie Grace Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 Same here. We moved. I hate hearing this! Did you move because of the rodents? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Other. Bait blocks in the crawl space under the house and zap traps (battery, reusable) in the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarreymere Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 We used to have a mouse problem when we moved from town to a more rural area. We got a cat, a kitten really. She had a blast that first year, so many mice that she felt generous enough to put mouse bodies in the dog's dish as a gift. It was gross, but not as gross as mouse droppings everywhere in my kitchen. The mouse population fell rapidly. I guess the smarter ones left immediately, and their dumber or more optimistic relatives stuck around a few more weeks until the cat got them. We haven't seen another mouse since then. I think it took her about three months, as a kitten, to clear all of them out. She still patrols the house even now but I bet there isn't a mouse within a good hundred yards of us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janie Grace Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 We used to have a mouse problem when we moved from town to a more rural area. We got a cat, a kitten really. She had a blast that first year, so many mice that she felt generous enough to put mouse bodies in the dog's dish as a gift. It was gross, but not as gross as mouse droppings everywhere in my kitchen. The mouse population fell rapidly. I guess the smarter ones left immediately, and their dumber or more optimistic relatives stuck around a few more weeks until the cat got them. We haven't seen another mouse since then. I think it took her about three months, as a kitten, to clear all of them out. She still patrols the house even now but I bet there isn't a mouse within a good hundred yards of us. Well, I went on Craigslist this morning and found an ad (from a month ago) for a free mouser that needs a new home! Dh is open to it, so here's hoping... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Well, we've had mice and mole problems in the past and the only thing that really seemed to work was a cat. Seriously. Last year we had a big mole problem in our backyard and our cat caught every last one of them. Same with mice in the house too. *Sigh* I sure miss that cat. :( My dog caught a mole in the backyard just recently. He played with it just as much cats do with mice and then I had to wrestle the thing out of his mouth without being really sure what it was or if it was alive or not. Not my idea of fun.:glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
endurancerider Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 The most effective way to get rid of mice is to remove the reason that they are there in the first place: Food and water source. A friend of mine had their brand new house infested with mice, (they actually kept a tally of how many mice they caught over a one year period and it was in the hundreds) and after about a year, they discovered that the mice were loving the condensation on the water pipes in their attic. After they removed the mice's water source by insulating their pipes, the problem was solved through the use of the mouse traps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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