Mice?

rjespicer

Post   » Tue Mar 10, 2020 4:11 pm


Still haven't been able to track down any sign of them other than catching movement out of the corner of my eye. Starting to wonder if I am seeing things or being haunted by our deceased Hammies.

As for marking them maybe you can make them color coded waistcoats out of felt? ;)

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Wed Mar 11, 2020 3:36 am


Well, if they dressed up like Beatrix Potter characters I wouldn’t mind them being around the house!

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Wed Jan 12, 2022 7:47 pm


I have problems with mice in the garage and basement. Haven't seen any in the upstairs part of the house so far. I suspect the 3 dogs and 2 cats have a lot to do with that. In the garage, they get into the stuff we have stored for bedding. The only food source out there is the pet food and guinea pig hay, which are all kept closed in tightly closed 5 gallon buckets for the dog and cat food and a garbage can with a hinged lid that latches down tightly for the guinea pig hay. I think they're just in the garage to get out of the cold and hunt for food elsewhere.

In the basement, which is finished and being used as a living space, there is a gap between the upstairs floor and the drop ceiling tiles which makes a perfect habitat for mice. They pretty much stay up there and bring in acorns and food items from outside to store up there, since there isn't any food source down there. I have to get rid of them, or at least minimize their population as much as possible somehow.

Poison is out of the question because of the danger to the other pets. It would be bad if one of the dogs or cats got ahold of one laced with poison. Even worse if the guinea pigs came in contact with it or the poisoned mice. Those electronic devices that supposedly repel mice are out too for obvious reasons. That leaves trapping them. I tried the glue boards, but with the chill in the garage, the glue hardened to the point where the mice don't stick to it. Haven't tried it in the basement yet, but I think it is warm enough for them to be effective.

We got up into the basement ceiling and found some empty boxes of decon and several carcasses. Looks like they have been up there for quite a while because the boxes were empty and had been chewed up pretty good. I'm going to put several traps up there along with some glue boards and see if I can get rid of them. Being in the country, mice are something that will always be a problem since there are literally millions of them around here. I read about using steel wool to fill the holes they come in through. Finding said holes is not going to be easy. Most of them are in places that are inaccessible.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Jan 12, 2022 8:31 pm


Yes, a thorough assessment and tightening of your home can work. You might look into some of those "have a heart" traps that you can put a little peanut butter in to trap them.

But then there is always what to do with trapped mice. Relocate or drown. Getting rid of mice is not fun. I wish there was a nearby owl rehabilitation center they could be donated to.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Wed Jan 12, 2022 9:44 pm


You can get electronic pest repellers. I know several people who live in the country who have to put them in their car engine compartments at night to keep the mice from eating the wires. I don't know what distance you have to stay away from them yourself not to be bothered by them, but I'm sure some of the promotional literature would tell you.

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pigjes
Cavy Comic

Post   » Thu Jan 13, 2022 2:16 am


I have an electronic rodent repellers here, one that varies tones and even throws in a few predator sounds random, like barking dogs, shrieking large birds or meowing cats. Works like a charm. We live on farm land, there are soo many rats and city hall does nothing against it.

That said, I read up on the subject back then, and it said to have at least 4 feet and 1 double brick wall or one concrete slab in between pet rodents and the device. It had 4 double the size of the requirement walls and 5 feet in my house. I recorded Binky's reaction with a camera to see if he heard it, no response at all, he kept on sleeping soundly.

We bought it after a huge rat gnawed a labyrinth through the house, starting from under the foundation, up though a small gap where a rain drain was, into the double walls, through the kitchen wall and landed next the kitchen cabinet onto the kitchen. We kept heard it instantly at night, checked all rooms and it was trapped in the living room. We kept guard over Binky all night and had to run a few times from it ourselves, we gave it an escape route through the front door.

Yet, that open door lured a vole inside, sigh, which we noticed the evening after. The vole was scared of us, we again stood guard for Binky and eventually chased it out in the morning by blasting 80ties metal hits, lol. We met that vole in the garden and it wasn't scared of us anymore, but just passed us by without any hurry at all.

The labyrinth was closed off with pebbles, strong concrete and metal wire mesh. The rats tried to gnaw it for a few weeks, we heard them, but they gave up eventually.

I forgot to mention in my earlier post that when we had mice in a previous home, it tried to access the pigs' food. I noticed something was off because Kooky and Druppy seemed to stand guard when we went to bed, but didn't understand why till the morning after. Then I found a blood trail from the cage and about 3 feet from it, there was a dead mouse!

I bought a live trap then and later that evening, found a 1 inch gap in the back wall and closed that off. Yet, we still had mice! One evening, I saw a mouse crawl indoors from right under the small gap at the front door! I closed that gap and the one at the back door with a door rubber. Job done.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:49 am


Mice are certainly able to squeeze in to the smallest spaces! Sounds like you have lots of experience dealing with them.

I helped build my home over 40 years ago. It is a slab on grade treated wood foundation. Exterior, treated sheets of plywood, T-111. Walls sheetrock. We put in a soap stone floor which raised the floor level perhaps 2" or so. Mortar filled the gap between the closest floor stones and the sheetrock, making a pretty much impermeable barrier to the outside (assuming mice aren't into chewing through plywood and sheetrock). After we raised the roof some (added insulation, a radiant barrier, and metal roof), there had been a few very small gaps. Some years later a snake got inside so I took the time to completely finish sealing everything from the outside. No stray mice, no stray snakes. Happy home owner!

It may take different techniques to seal things up, but it can be done.

p.s. if your electronic rodent repellers are still sold, pigjes, and you have a link to one, it would be nice to know who makes it.

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pigjes
Cavy Comic

Post   » Thu Jan 13, 2022 11:08 am


I can't find mine anymore, I just looked.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Thu Jan 13, 2022 2:35 pm


I know there are people who hate to see mice killed. I'm not one of them. I have no problem exterminating them as long as it is done quickly and humanely. Just because they're pests, doesn't mean they should be tortured or made to suffer. I just don't want to risk my other pets in the process. I don't see any point in catching them and releasing them because they'll find their way back into the house. The glue traps must be checked often so that the mice don't suffer. Mechanical traps are quick and instant. Decon is the most effective in exterminating mice, but hemorrhaging and bleeding to death from the inside isn't my idea of humane. That is a last resort and I would have to consider the other pets too, so it would have to be hopless before I use it.

The basement is under the house, but not the garage. The walls are concrete with wooden joists and sheathing between the levels of the house. There are literally thousands of ways for mice to get in. Sealing all of them off will take a lot of time and could get pricey. There isn't the necessary distance and barriers between where the electronic rodent repellent would have to go and the guinea pigs to shield them from it. I could put it on the other end of the basement without it bothering the guinea pigs, but that may just make things worse if it drives them all to that end of the house.

Luckily the problem is remaining in the basement ceiling and the garage so far. The mice have no reason to come down to the basement floor because there's no food and they get all of the bedding they need from the insulation between the upstairs floor and basement ceiling. The dogs and cats all chase the underground rodents in the yard and have actually caught a couple of them, so I'm sure they would do the same thing if they get into the house. I believe that is why the mice don't come in here.

It's not easy and it never ends, but I have to keep working on this problem.

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Thu Jan 13, 2022 8:24 pm


Don't use glue traps. They are one of the least humane devices you can use to trap and kill mice.

I have used these in the past, and they are generally very effective:
D-con Covered Mouse Trap

Steel wool (the very coarse kind) is handy for sealing up gaps where mice can get in.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Thu Jan 13, 2022 10:19 pm


Glue traps are basically useless around here this time of year. The glue gets cold enough to harden to the point where the mice can walk on them without getting stuck. When I used glue traps in the past. I always monitored them and took care of the mouse as soon as it became trapped. Of course that was when the problem was smaller and there were only a couple of mice to deal with. Around here, there are literally dozens of them in the garage and basement combined. I'll have to trap them with mechanical traps like the one you linked to or these:

Victor Easy Set Mouse Traps (Pack of 12)

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Fri Jan 14, 2022 12:35 am


We get mice in a furnace room and we use the covered snap traps. They follow water lines and we have hot water heat, so there are water pipes all over the place. And they only need a space the size of a dime to squeeze through.

Years ago we had shrews that got into the downstairs of our bilevel. I noticed droppings in the dog food dish and thought it was mice. We had a fox terrier at the time and he caught and killed one. We called Orkin, a guy came out, looked around and said they don't exterminate shrews because there's no way to trap them. So I had to research what they ate, which turned out to be insects. I set covered mouse traps with canned dog food and caught them right and left. Just creepy. Anyway, in the spring when we had a siding company over to complete our steel siding, they commented that the previous contractor never replaced the trim strips and that we could get insects in the house without them. So that explained why we never had a problem before, and haven't had a problem since.

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