I have never had to deal with mice before so I have no idea what to do. I hired a professional company 3 months ago to come and rid my house of them and it worked until last week. I have no idea this time how they are getting in to the house!! I have searched everywhere and can't find a crack or any small opening inside or outside! I have set glue traps and bait and snap traps and have not caught any mice. My dh and I see them at night running through the living area and my kids have seen them in the bathrooms, storage room and garage. I don't hear them in the walls but that doesn't mean they aren't there. Have any of you had to deal with this problem and if so what did you do to get rid of them?!?!?
We have never had to deal with them until we moved to this state. Anyway, by far the best thing we have found is the snap traps. Get a little piece of cotton ball, I mean very little, and put a very small amount of peanut butter on it and set the trap. They smell the peanut butter and while they are trying to get it off the cotton ball the trap gets them. I have read to put them up against the walls, but I don't know. HTH
It will be hard to find the spot they are coming in. A mouse can squeeze through an opening as small as a dime. Here is what we do. 1. Toss rat poison in the crawl space 2. Get a cat. Sometimes the smell of even an outdoor cat helps keep them away 3. Traps, glue traps and snap traps. Some snappers are better than others. We stick a goody in the trap w/peanut butter. Mice like different foods. Sometimes we catch them with a bit of cat food. Last time they had a taste for sunflower seeds. If you are not catching them, try a different bait. Even the glue traps, we bait. I set the trap where I see the most droppings.
I would also suggest a cat! Traps, etc., will get rid of some, but not all. With a cat, the smell of it will prevent them from coming near.
Another vote for a cat. If you have any other pets, don't use poison. A pet can eat a dead mouse and the poison will then affect your pet.
We had a bout with mice when I was an early teen, and my parents "got me a cat". lol. The cat took care of the small mouse problem GREAT, but the cat would often leave little "trophies" on my pillow of his latest kill for me. lol. Silly Cat! This happened all the time and he never did it to anyone else! Vote #625 for a cat. lol
Even though we are severely allergic to cats we did get an outdoor cat but it ran away 3 days later. How do you get a cat to stay?? Do we need to get a kitten or a cat?? I have baites the traps baited with pb and so far they havent even touched the bait. I have heard chocolate or other candy will work...I will try that.
My dog is better than any cat I know! LOL. I have heard rodents hate the smell of mint...so planting mint around the house or having it in the home will deter them. However...if you have mint where the mice are...say a basement...they will come up to where there isn't mint. So perhaps...it is best to get rid of them first and use this as prevention.
put the glue traps up against the base board in the bathroom (like under the vanity) they usually run along the edges of places. The round traps that make it where you ca't see them are ok.... but the glue traps worked best... but since we've had a cat.... no problems really.... it might take her a couple of days (ours seam to go behind the stove).. and she tells us about it when its gone.
I have all my traps up against the baseboards. I have actually watched the mice run along the baseboard and when they reach the traps they go around them. Maybe I have super intelligent mice! They know what to avoid. I have a dog and she is so old she doesn't really do much to catch them. She just sits there and watches them take her food.:roll: I am thinking we might just have to go get a cat and hopefully that will take care of the problem. I do wonder though, if we get an outside cat and she takes care of the mice outside, and the traps aren't working inside....how do I get rid of the ones inside?!?
Do you have an A/C unit? Mice can go through your unit and into your house through the vents. My neighbor had an infestation in her attic.
Aye for cat! Your mice are indoors, so maybe you should get an indoor cat. As far as traps go, they also like bread. We had one mousev(that we know of) when we moved in. One of those snap traps worked...it was kind of gross though, like a mini guillottine almost...
I do have an A/C unit... I will have to go look and see if that is where they are getting in. We can't have an indoor cat, my dh has severe allergies to them, and the one time we tried a cat we found out that my oldest ds had allergies too. It closed off his throat and he spent a weekend at children's hospital.
Wear gloves when you handle/bait the traps, sometimes the mice won't touch the bait or traps if they smell human on it.
Mice are so gross. We get them in the basement on occasion. We have no idea how in the world they are getting in either. We have been through there countless times and simply cannot find any cracks. But, they are sneaking in somehow! Oh well, we maybe see two a year. But when you live in the country, you get mice. Here's what I learned: Check all the places where plumbing, electrical lines, etc. come and exit the house. Many times when the hole is cut the space around the line is not filled. A good example is under the sink in the kitchen and/or bathroom. If there is any space at all, fill it in with some spray foam. Also, any attic vents that are not covered with screen will allow them to get in and climb down until they find a hole to crawl in. Also, keep all food put away. Don't leave any fruit or anything else on the counters. Don't leave pet food out either. Keep other stuff like cereal in plastic containers. You could also try what Ava mentioned and put mint soaked cotton balls around the outside of your house where you think they may be able to sneak in. I'm not sure if this actually works or not but it is probably worth a try You have to move the traps after a few days. I think it even says to do that on the instructions. The sticky pads baited with peanut butter seem to work best for us.
Adopt a cat! lol no really my cat pretty much lives on mice (I feed him, btw, but he loves his meeses!) and my dog was just as good! Try and stay away from the poisons if at all possible... Rat poison is basically a blood thinner and they bleed to death... solves your mouse problem but if anything else (dog, cat, baby) gets into it it could very well kill them too or leave them with long term damage.... my o so awesome neighbors poisoned one of my dogs 3 times (yea that got expensive) but the kicker was that my good dog, the one who NEVER left the yard and was an awesome mouser, ate a poisoned mouse and died... Just sayin' exhaust all options before going down that road...
