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Post by 405x5 on Jan 2, 2022 13:38:41 GMT -5
The ones that “fly” are the toughest to catch….(no, really!)  |
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ttocs
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Post by ttocs on Jan 2, 2022 22:37:02 GMT -5
Found evidence of activity in the basement today. The amount of "evidence" seems commensurate with the number of mice caught to date, and it's all in one small area - luckily, which is below the kitchen dishwasher and about 5' to the right of where the famous dryer vent is.
Steel wool, wire mesh, foam insulation, and silicone caulk are in my future.
The fresh snow has made critter tracks visible. I found lots of small critter activity behind the house under the snow. I'm on the hunt and feel that I'm getting close.
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Post by 405x5 on Jan 2, 2022 23:12:21 GMT -5
Your getting close! (Hang in there!)  |
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ttocs
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Post by ttocs on Jan 3, 2022 8:10:46 GMT -5
Crap! I'm checking the Lounge right before leaving the house and a trap just got a hit. I feel like an executioner.
Yesterday, I noticed a "hole" in the spray foam mound that I surrounded the old dryer vent with, so I pushed some snow into it to test whether this "hole" was due to how the snow fell and blew around, or if it's because of a mouse. When I got home I checked and found the hole was made whole again. So maybe this is still an entry point. I need to get myself in gear and mortar this right away!
edit:
Today's score update is up to:
Baits = 1
Snap Traps = 7
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ttocs
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Post by ttocs on Jan 3, 2022 11:02:58 GMT -5
Today's mouse did not die from the trap squeezing it just at the bottom of its ribcage. I had to dispatch it myself. I had to make a choice and was severely time limited due to needing to leave immediately. My instant choices were either put it in a bucket to drown, or, hypothermia in 9˚f temperature. I chose the latter.
I'm really adverse to smashing a mouse. Don't know why, just am. So I chose a method that I would choose for myself if I were in the same position. If I had've already left the house a couple minutes earlier, the mouse would've been in the trap suffering for many hours. This is the most carnage I've directly experiences in my life, and that includes a short bought with roaches in one of my apartments years ago. Yes, I know, I'm lucky to have lead a life mostly devoid of pests, unlike the "scary" house a few blocks away that was inhabited by a sever hoarder.
I suspected that this particular house was a hoarder house due to its dilapidated look from outside, and was confirmed when I spoke with someone connected to a new build next door - that still has not happened. They demolished the existing house, only to be overrun with pests of all kinds. So they complained to the city that the pests were coming from the "scary" house, and it took many, many, months to go through the process of working with the hoarder, posting timed demands for improvement, and finally condemning the house as uninhabitable, after which time someone was seen clearing out the house including all plaster on every wall and ceiling. The lot next door is still not built upon, and the scary house is currently not occupied.
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Post by marcl on Jan 3, 2022 11:13:37 GMT -5
Today's mouse did not die from the trap squeezing it just at the bottom of its ribcage. I had to dispatch it myself. I had to make a choice and was severely time limited due to needing to leave immediately. My instant choices were either put it in a bucket to drown, or, hypothermia in 9˚f temperature. I chose the latter. I'm really adverse to smashing a mouse. Don't know why, just am. So I chose a method that I would choose for myself if I were in the same position. If I had've already left the house a couple minutes earlier, the mouse would've been in the trap suffering for many hours. This is the most carnage I've directly experiences in my life, and that includes a short bought with roaches in one of my apartments years ago. Yes, I know, I'm lucky to have lead a life mostly devoid of pests, unlike the "scary" house a few blocks away that was inhabited by a sever hoarder. I suspected that this particular house was a hoarder house due to its dilapidated look from outside, and was confirmed when I spoke with someone connected to a new build next door - that still has not happened. They demolished the existing house, only to be overrun with pests of all kinds. So they complained to the city that the pests were coming from the "scary" house, and it took many, many, months to go through the process of working with the hoarder, posting timed demands for improvement, and finally condemning the house as uninhabitable, after which time someone was seen clearing out the house including all plaster on every wall and ceiling. The lot next door is still not built upon, and the scary house is currently not occupied. Urban carnage and wild carnage ... a whole 'nother level of carnage. In 2009 I spent over an hour photographing this ... marclombardi.zenfolio.com/p152538563/h1ff9d459#h1ff9d459 |
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ttocs
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Post by ttocs on Jan 3, 2022 11:48:08 GMT -5
Did you use peanut butter to catch it? |
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Post by DavidR on Jan 3, 2022 12:30:52 GMT -5
 Has anyone tried this style? I bought 2 sometime ago and they are VERY easy to set and reusable. |
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ttocs
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Post by ttocs on Jan 3, 2022 12:58:22 GMT -5
Has anyone tried this style? I bought 2 sometime ago and they are VERY easy to set and reusable. This looks pretty foolproof on a consistent kill. The critter needs to poke its head into the bait cup cover, so it looks like it would always be in a correct orientation for a decisive extermination. My only problem with a trap like this is that I am using the cheap traps as a one-time use. Although, being that this one is plastic, it would be cleanable, unlike the cheap wood traps. I go kinda nuts with the sanitation after an event. |
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Post by marcl on Jan 3, 2022 13:07:12 GMT -5
Has anyone tried this style? I bought 2 sometime ago and they are VERY easy to set and reusable. This looks pretty foolproof on a consistent kill. The critter needs to poke its head into the bait cup cover, so it looks like it would always be in a correct orientation for a decisive extermination. My only problem with a trap like this is that I am using the cheap traps as a one-time use. Although, being that this one is plastic, it would be cleanable, unlike the cheap wood traps. I go kinda nuts with the sanitation after an event. When I was in engineering school 45 years ago the "better mousetrap" was used as an example of designing something nobody wants. Nobody wanted a more efficient and reusable mousetrap, the professor told us. They just want to carefully pick it up by the wood as far from the deceased as possible, and take it right outside to the trashcan. |
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ttocs
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Post by ttocs on Jan 3, 2022 13:20:48 GMT -5
This looks pretty foolproof on a consistent kill. The critter needs to poke its head into the bait cup cover, so it looks like it would always be in a correct orientation for a decisive extermination. My only problem with a trap like this is that I am using the cheap traps as a one-time use. Although, being that this one is plastic, it would be cleanable, unlike the cheap wood traps. I go kinda nuts with the sanitation after an event. When I was in engineering school 45 years ago the "better mousetrap" was used as an example of designing something nobody wants. Nobody wanted a more efficient and reusable mousetrap, the professor told us. They just want to carefully pick it up by the wood as far from the deceased as possible, and take it right outside to the trashcan. Well, it looks as if I'm in the camp headed up by your professor. I don't even touch the wood, I use a plastic bag, take it outside before closing the bag to minimize the particulates escaping from the bag while inside my house. |
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Post by DavidR on Jan 3, 2022 14:55:07 GMT -5
I'm not so squeamish. I just wash may hand s well after use. The plastic ones are simple and safe to set. Just pull the red plastic piece up and back and its set. Hell, I even reuse the wood ones BUT those cheapos are not easy to set and catching a finger is always a possibility.
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Post by 405x5 on Jan 3, 2022 20:46:33 GMT -5
I'm not so squeamish. I just wash may hand s well after use. The plastic ones are simple and safe to set. Just pull the red plastic piece up and back and its set. Hell, I even reuse the wood ones BUT those cheapos are not easy to set and catching a finger is always a possibility. Oh yeah! (Just look what happened to me)  |
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ttocs
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Post by ttocs on Jan 19, 2022 10:32:19 GMT -5
Haven't had any customers since last death toll update.
Upon drilling the 4" hole in the masonry, I found that the space between the CMU (concrete block) and the exterior brick is not only larger than other areas of my house, but it's not filled with mortar like the other areas of my house that I've been able to see when cutting into the exterior walls. So this made for an easy entrance for the mice.
The mice chewed through the old dryer vent, got into the space between CMU and brick and found an entry into basement through loose mortar. I'm finding any loose or missing mortar and filling the gaps, but there are most likely some inside the first floor wall I'll never be able to fix, so exterior protection is key. As has been said in a previous post by someone, sorry, I don't remember who at the moment, pay attention to the weeps in the brick.
It never ends.
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cawgijoe
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Post by cawgijoe on Jan 19, 2022 10:54:56 GMT -5
Haven't had any customers since last death toll update. Upon drilling the 4" hole in the masonry, I found that the space between the CMU (concrete block) and the exterior brick is not only larger than other areas of my house, but it's not filled with mortar like the other areas of my house that I've been able to see when cutting into the exterior walls. So this made for an easy entrance for the mice. The mice chewed through the old dryer vent, got into the space between CMU and brick and found an entry into basement through loose mortar. I'm finding any loose or missing mortar and filling the gaps, but there are most likely some inside the first floor wall I'll never be able to fix, so exterior protection is key. As has been said in a previous post by someone, sorry, I don't remember who at the moment, pay attention to the weeps in the brick. It never ends. "Attack of the Killer Mice" |
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ttocs
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Post by ttocs on Jan 19, 2022 11:08:29 GMT -5
I'm going to install a 12" x 12" moat surrounding the house. It'll be heated so the water won't freeze in winter.
What's interesting to me is that my mouse problem started within days of a next door neighbor having a pest control truck parked in their driveway. After my problem seemed to go away, for the moment anyway, the neighbor directly across the street from me also had a pest control truck in their driveway within a couple days of my last mouse visitor. Are the mice going from house to house?
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LCSeminole
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Post by LCSeminole on Jan 19, 2022 11:36:55 GMT -5
I'm going to install a 12" x 12" moat surrounding the house. It'll be heated so the water won't freeze in winter. What's interesting to me is that my mouse problem started within days of a next door neighbor having a pest control truck parked in their driveway. After my problem seemed to go away, for the moment anyway, the neighbor directly across the street from me also had a pest control truck in their driveway within a couple days of my last mouse visitor. Are the mice going from house to house? This is very similar to my lawn problems of yesteryear. Spittle bugs and webworms will move to the next untreated lawn, so when my next door neighbors would treat their lawns, these pests would move to the next untreated lawn. So smarter minds prevailed when we figured it out and treated our lawns at the same time(much to the dismay of our neighbors down the street  )! |
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Post by 405x5 on Jan 19, 2022 12:49:14 GMT -5
I'm going to install a 12" x 12" moat surrounding the house. It'll be heated so the water won't freeze in winter. What's interesting to me is that my mouse problem started within days of a next door neighbor having a pest control truck parked in their driveway. After my problem seemed to go away, for the moment anyway, the neighbor directly across the street from me also had a pest control truck in their driveway within a couple days of my last mouse visitor. Are the mice going from house to house? Yes! I have done similar at my place ( though a tad larger) and it has helped immeasurably! Additionally, I keep it well stocked.   |
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Post by 405x5 on Jan 19, 2022 16:57:24 GMT -5
“What's interesting to me is that my mouse problem started within days of a next door neighbor having a pest control truck parked in their driveway. After my problem seemed to go away, for the moment anyway, the neighbor directly across the street from me also had a pest control truck in their driveway within a couple days of my last mouse visitor.” I cannot say enough about my exterminator. I can hook you up if you would like to get with him…..  |
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