Mouse In The House?

[thompson12]

Yes there comming in early this year, the other night I seen one clime down the edge of the brick fireplace in the living room. Got him a trap the next day.

Mitch

[ttocs]

Oct 13, 2020 20:59:53 GMT -5 thompson12 said:

Yes there comming in early this year, the other night I seen one clime down the edge of the brick fireplace in the living room. Got him a trap the next day.

Mitch

What's his name?

I have a friend who lived in a town nearby that's all multi-acre lots. The house was way too big for just him, and he himself was a packrat, he wasn't a hoarder - just a packrat. One room was for clothes, neatly organized, but rarely used. So the unused rooms became occupied with a mouse he named Randy. I tried to tell him, Randy has friends because Randy lived there too long. He used live traps for months and relocated each Randy. When he moved out the true story came to light of all the damage "Randy" had caused in the least used very large room he used for storage that had lots of boxes (no basement). Mo money, mo money, mo money!!!

[thompson12]

We named this one a mouse we use live traps and relocate down the street by the river. If we get another on we'll name him another mouse

Mitch

[Deleted]

Oct 13, 2020 16:53:03 GMT -5 DYohn said:

When I was in the Navy stationed at Mare Island, a friend who lived in Vallejo, CA one day noticed his front yard quivering and moving like it was alive. He called an exterminator and there was a colony of over 100,000 rats living under his house and yard. Yum.

Now that explains a lot!   

[Deleted]

Here in the mountains of NC, we use natural control: Blackie, a 4' long black (rat) snake. He lives on the drop ceiling I put in the garage I turned into my AV room and may be above my head now as I type. When blackie is around, mice are thin on the ground. We are friends and he seems to actually recognize me when we meet outside. Good blackie.

[405x5]

No trap needed

[coldcanadian]

I am a strong believer in the old fashion snap traps.

When we built our house on our farm, we were without cats for a few years.  We had about 10 traps in our basement, brother and I walked the trapline twice a day, emptied and reset as necessary.  2 cats resolved all rodent issues within 100 feet of the house regardless of the season once we were settled.  I think cats are the best solution, but as I said above.  The old fashion traps work great, bait them with the PB, stays fresh and keeps its smell longer than cheese, even cotton works, they use it for their nests.

Having moved to the city now I find that those nasty little creatures like to wander in once it gets cold outside.  2 traps in the garage, 2 in the basement, one on the main floor, and 1 upstairs with the bedrooms.  I place them all in a tucked away spot, mice don't want to be seen ever really, but especially when they are going to snack on something.

As several people have said.  If you see one mouse you likely have two, three, or more.   Keep the traps set even after catching a couple! 


Now that we have dropped below freezing here, I suspect we will have the traps set through to spring.  Nasty little buggers!

[ttocs]

Oct 14, 2020 20:10:57 GMT -5 coldcanadian said:

I am a strong believer in the old fashion snap traps.
even cotton works, they use it for their nests.

Cotton, never heard this one. Sounds like a great idea.

[Deleted]

I like and have used for some years The Better Mousetrap by Intruder. 

They are easy to use and stay fairly clean.  Peanut butter stays put and simply remove the mouse and reset by pushing or stepping on unit end.
Available at many local stores or online.  Sold separately or in sets of 4, 6, 10, etc.  Run about $2.00 and up.




(Use cheap peanut butter, smooth or chunky, unless you might need to scrape it off to make a samwich.)

[Deleted]

Oct 14, 2020 18:22:42 GMT -5 cecilg said:

Here in the mountains of NC, we use natural control: Blackie, a 4' long black (rat) snake. He lives on the drop ceiling I put in the garage I turned into my AV room and may be above my head now as I type. When blackie is around, mice are thin on the ground. We are friends and he seems to actually recognize me when we meet outside. Good blackie.

Good Blackie:

[405x5]

Oct 15, 2020 3:38:07 GMT -5 @tllfkacn said:

Oct 14, 2020 18:22:42 GMT -5 cecilg said:

Here in the mountains of NC, we use natural control: Blackie, a 4' long black (rat) snake. He lives on the drop ceiling I put in the garage I turned into my AV room and may be above my head now as I type. When blackie is around, mice are thin on the ground. We are friends and he seems to actually recognize me when we meet outside. Good blackie.

Good Blackie:

Time to put Blackie to the test 

[brubacca]

Don't want to scare you, but if you see one or two there are many. We live behind a farm that grows corn. When my son was young my wife put a bird feeder close to the house so he could see the birds.

We the feeder attracted the mice amd we had an infestation. They got into food in the basement. We say many things gotten into. We hired a place. They said they come in at the lowest point they can and go up into the attic. We baited the inside for a couple years and still bait the outside (10 yeard later).

Get a professional. Get it taken care of.

I had a pair of speakers in the basement. Took the driver out and found that the mice had crawled in the port and was storing food in there.

They get in, multiply and go everywhere inside the walls.

Sorry. Its a shitty thought, but its what happened to us.

[DYohn]

Here is a 12-inch Infinity Beta subwoofer I was saving it in my garage work area for a future project. A mouse or rat got to it and loved the poly cone.

[ttocs]

Oct 15, 2020 12:28:42 GMT -5 DYohn said:

Here is a 12-inch Infinity Beta subwoofer I was saving it in my garage work area for a future project. A mouse or rat got to it and loved the poly cone.

He tuned it to his liking.

[405x5]

You guys are jogging my memory..... I’ve had a few reminders that these little pests are around.
Keep an umbrella ☂ in the hidden rear compartment of my Durango.....past few years the wooden handle has been getting smaller. And I have found acorn debris on the valve cover of my wife’s car. Both have been garaged ( nice and cozy). Not so bad as my brother, who has suffered 2 electrical systems failures with 2 cars from rodents chewing wires.
My HVAC guy looked at me cross eyed when I told him I had ordered a winter cover for the new compressor. Bad idea I found out. The mice made themselves comfortable under there in 2 different places. No serious damage before I made the discovery, but they took a good chunk of insulation out of the compressor blanket and literally relocated it to the compartment where the capacitor is located.

I now use that cover for my deck chairs only!

[ttocs]

Since discovering a possible entry point about a week ago there's been no critter activity. None of the traps or baits have any sign of usage.

[405x5]

Oct 19, 2020 8:44:43 GMT -5 ttocs said:

Since discovering a possible entry point about a week ago there's been no critter activity. None of the traps or baits have any sign of usage.

youtu.be/drk_yDIyxhY

Try this if they come back....

[ttocs]

Oct 19, 2020 9:25:58 GMT -5 405x5 said:

Oct 19, 2020 8:44:43 GMT -5 ttocs said:

Since discovering a possible entry point about a week ago there's been no critter activity. None of the traps or baits have any sign of usage.

youtu.be/drk_yDIyxhY

Try this if they come back....

That's what I use to trim the buckthorn on the side of my house. The neighbors complain about the noise though.

[cwmcobra]

We can tell when it's mouse season here by an infestation of hickory nuts in the house. I can't believe how mice get something that large in their mouths, but it's amazing how many they've carried in. I've found them in shoes in our closet, and hidden under other items. And my favorite, when I took down a section of drywall in the basement there were about 3-4 inches of hickory nuts in the bottom of that section of stud wall behind the insulation!

I've read that these must be Deer Mice...

Constantly have conventional traps baited in waiting in the basement and one or two in the upstairs. Tis the season!

[markc]

Oct 13, 2020 13:44:40 GMT -5 ttocs said:

I've lived in my current house for 7-1/2 years rodent free. That record, sadly, came to an end recently.

I started seeing mouse droppings a few weeks ago. One, sometimes two, in the living area, and not often. I figured the basement was the home of the offender(s), so I bought some smell makers including mint packets and warm oil fragrance emitters using cinnamon oil and put these all over the basement. I fragranced up the whole house by doing this. I also bought bait stations for the basement which are unused even now.

A couple nights ago I SAW a mouse in the living room, then later saw it in the bedroom. Now, I know this might have been two different mice, but if there are multiple mice - why am I not seeing more evidence? I didn't sleep at all that night. So I got nasty real quick, starting with spraying ammonia along where baseboard meets the floor and there are gaps. I doused rags with ammonia and placed them in unused areas. I also bought the standard traps and more bait stations but this time I put them on the main floor.

And I also bought some Pine Sol. I normally use cleaners which have no lingering smell, so when you enter the house - it just doesn't smell. So I decided to start using Pine Sol to stink up the place, and that smell lingers. So now the house smells like cinnamon, mint, and Pine Sol. The ammonia dissipates pretty quick, it's just for where I thought mice might be using for their routes.

Then I got the audio system into action. I played loud bass rumbles, and also played very high frequency sounds in the 14,000 - 20,000Hz range. I played the sounds for 20-30 minute periods every few hours. I use an SPL meter to determine how loud the high frequency sound is playing to keep the intensity at least at 80dB. It's pretty amazing that these high frequency sounds also bother "me" to the point where I wear ear protection. I didn't think I'd be able to notice when the high freqs were playing, but I do.

I think I discovered an entry point for the mouse. A wood strip on the front windows had been pulled back that was covering a rotted portion it's attached to. The windows need replacement. I stuffed steel wool into the void and re-secured the wood strip and continued with the ammonia and sound assault. Since the night of the sightings there's been no discernible activity.

No food. Sure there's canned and bottled goods, but I have just one kitchen drawer that has less than a 1/8" gap around the drawer front with unopened packages of pasta and noodles, and anything else - including cereal - is kept in the fridge. This is a hold-over from when I had a problem with roaches when I lived in an apartment and the roaches migrated to my apartment when the unit above was being renovated. And for the record, I bag and freeze food waste until garbage day so only non-smelly items are in the trash bin. So the only food is in the kitchen area since I don't eat in the tv area, and only water makes it into the bedrooms.

I don't know what any mouse would be attracted to if it doesn't discover food. Does it leave? Does it bring in carry-out? Any mouse experts out there? I've often said that when it comes to mice, if you see one there's more, so I want to squelch this before it becomes a family matter, and so on, and so on, . . . .

There is NEVER one mouse just putting in multiple appearances!