Mouse Mitigation

[Danno]

So I'd like any ideas you guys have that dont involve poison, cats, AIDS, a maul or nuking from orbit.

[ötzi]

Oh yeah...I put one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

in my garage about a year ago. We've had pretty much every flavor of rodent in there over the years, from mice to bats to squirrels to, possibly, rats (never saw a rat but some of the animal shit I found looked exactly like internet pics of rat shit) and we've had zero problems in there since. Pretty sure there's no snakes in there since I'd probably have seen them by now. I did a little research and this was the best-reviewed one I found. And it seems to be working. Might be worth a shot.

[mattig]

I've ordered from here before https://www.domyown.com/

Are you averse to poison if it's in a secure container? The one I got came with a key. I wouldn't hesitate to have a few around the outside of the house with kids around.

That said, if they're getting inside, I wouldn't use poison. Last thing you need is a dead mouse in some interior wall/insulation that you can smell but not find.

[The Reverend Floater]

I've ordered from here before https://www.domyown.com/

Are you averse to poison if it's in a secure container? The one I got came with a key. I wouldn't hesitate to have a few around the outside of the house with kids around.

That said, if they're getting inside, I wouldn't use poison. Last thing you need is a dead mouse in some interior wall/insulation that you can smell but not find.

Yeah because my mutts will eat dead mice...they love them and seem to work in tandem with the cats at home for a "complete solution."

[mattig]

Ahh, traps it is then.

[sirbumpsalot]

Ahh, traps it is then.

I have a vole problem in my yard....followed every rec including the can of death and poison...then finally I laid 6 traps covered by buckets on their runways and caught 16 in the last 2 weeks. Work like a charm. Didn't even bait them - they ran into them as they scampered back to their nests. Cheese and peanut butter work best indoors where the ants can't get them....I catch a dozen shrews in my garage every winter.

Inside the house like folks said....cover EVERY hole you find no matter how small...I use expanding foam and steel wool. Had them in my last 2 houses when moving in and upon covering the holes never saw one again.

I have TOMCAT bait boxes around the perimeter of the house and something loves the stuff....but hard to tell if it works since you will never see a dead one.

Hope that helps.

PS: Neighbor called pest expert for his voles and a tree rat....all the guy did was....lay poison bait boxes around. FYI

[PNWbrit]

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Victor-E...250S/302256999

I've had good luck with these at my cabin.

Had a pack rat get in one time, he needed the huge jaws of death. But he got snapped 5 minutes after putting the trap down.

[sirbumpsalot]

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Victor-E...250S/302256999

I've had good luck with these at my cabin.

Had a pack rat get in one time, he needed the huge kaws of death. But he got snapped 5 minutes after putting the trap down.

Thats a good idea if you can't constantly check on them and are afraid of someone or something getting the dead mouse. TOMCAT sells the kill and contain traps too. I've had GREAT success with those. Not as easy to empty or clean them however. Made basically for throw away.

[TAFKALVS]

Just a few suggestions from a lifetime of renting & owning shitty houses: (and also owning birdmutts that like eating dead & gross shit)

First of all make sure anything that will be appealing to mice in the cabin is in some type of sealed container. Dry goods, dog food, etc are major attraction.

Make sure you're fastidious about quickly doing post meal clean up, making sure cabinets, etc are clean (spill some flour in the pantry? time for a thorough scrub) and there's minimal clutter.

Next is making sure the exterior isn't inviting to them. No junk, no vegetation if possible, wood piles, etc. Exterior traps along the walls/foundation can be helpful. Mice like to travel along walls, probing for entries.

Finally, dense wire mesh, steel wool and the dense Great Stuff expanding foam is your friend. Look along your exterior walls, insides of cabinets, tops of cabinets, ceilings, exterior vents, etc for cracks or entry points. Bigger gaps, fill with a layer of mesh, some steel wool and then foam the shit out of it. Smaller cracks and gaps, a little steelwool and then foam.

Finally, there is mouse bait that is non-toxic to dogs, it is a pellet that rapidly expands inside the mouses digestive system, causing them to become dehydrated. Similar mechanism of action to decon but without the toxic part. We used that in our last house, it worked for woodrats and squirrels too.

[Wrecked]

When you find the holes they are coming in... fill then with steel wool.... they won’t chew through metal to get in. This worked at FIL cabin with a similar situation.. I crawled under the house and filled around every water line... electrical wire and whatever else they could get around to get in... it worked.. no more mice after that.

I don’t think they like moth balls. In the past I’ve kept Dixie cups full of them in a winterized boat to keep out critters.

[krp8128]

Finally, there is mouse bait that is non-toxic to dogs, it is a pellet that rapidly expands inside the mouses digestive system, causing them to become dehydrated. Similar mechanism of action to decon but without the toxic part. We used that in our last house, it worked for woodrats and squirrels too.

Got a name?

4 legged creatures seem to be having a good year, need to keep them outside

[plugboots]

Woke up to this. Mice digging into the insulation.

[XXX-er]

a 100 yr old log house with an addition was full of mice, you could hear them running around in the walls, there was tin flashing kicking around the garage from the construction which was easily cut with tin shears so it worked well cuz I could slide it behind baseboard moldings to cover holes which were all down at floor level without having to move the molding, or cut elongated slots in 2 pieces and scissor them togetehr on an existing plumbing line, I would pull out a drawer and see there was a water line or conduit or sft, under the kitchen sink there are are lots of ways where a mouse could get in so you gotta hunt out all these paths and plug em

[dunfree]

My experience is they can be seasonal- fall/early winter by me - and if there’s “lots” it meant something got out of hand and nobody did shit. Ya gotta kill a bunch to get to maintenance. Unoccupied dwellings are prime for this. Put a couple like this outside https://www.qcsupply.com/ketch-all-multiple-catch-mousetrap.html
fuckers will eat each other or freeze. Got 7 in one day.

[ötzi]

If you're just gonna set traps in the house, these are the best traps I've used: https://smile.amazon.com/PIC-Simple-...b-8a79de2d236f

They don't kill em any better than the traditional snap traps, but they're much easier to bait and set, just smear a little peanut butter on there, push down until it clicks, then put out. No sketchy delicate shenanigans like with old-fashioned traps, and if you want you can just push the tab, shake the dead one off, and re-use the trap indefinitely.

I really hope God isn't a mouse, I've killed a lot of them.

[Skidog]

If you're just gonna set traps in the house, these are the best traps I've used: https://smile.amazon.com/PIC-Simple-...b-8a79de2d236f

They don't kill em any better than the traditional snap traps, but they're much easier to bait and set, just smear a little peanut butter on there, push down until it clicks, then put out. No sketchy delicate shenanigans like with old-fashioned traps, and if you want you can just push the tab, shake the dead one off, and re-use the trap indefinitely.

I really hope God isn't a mouse, I've killed a lot of them.

TomCat makes a version of this. I use them too. Screw those old fashions ones.

My max is 5 in one day, all in garage. I've only seen one in the house since construction finished. I agree seasonal.

[powdork]

TomCat makes a version of this. I use them too. Screw those old fashions ones.

My max is 5 in one day, all in garage. I've only seen one in the house since construction finished. I agree seasonal.

My dishwasher return hose had a leak so I put a big dog food bowl under the sink to catch the water. That has basically eliminated the problem. One night six drowned in it. I’ll regularly find three in there


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[The Reverend Floater]

Oh yeah...I put one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

in my garage about a year ago. We've had pretty much every flavor of rodent in there over the years, from mice to bats to squirrels to, possibly, rats (never saw a rat but some of the animal shit I found looked exactly like internet pics of rat shit) and we've had zero problems in there since. Pretty sure there's no snakes in there since I'd probably have seen them by now. I did a little research and this was the best-reviewed one I found. And it seems to be working. Might be worth a shot.

UPDATE:. I bought three of these and have had them running for two weeks in conjunction with those little pine bags Buster recommended. So far, so good... Zero signs of mice.

[ötzi]

Hope it works,

[ötzi]

It all comes down to animal behavior, if you're the kind of people who could support mice, you'll get them.

I''ve had them. Not claiming immunity here.

[~mikey b]

those new-fangled traps have not worked for me - the mice just lick off the peanut butter - the newer old style with the yellow catch seem to work better here

[detrusor]

^^^^^ agreed. I went back to old school snap traps (well...and spinners where the dog can reach. He loves cheese and peanut butter)


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[From_the_NEK]

Or I remember something about a large bottle about half filled with olive oil works well and preserves them nearly scentless, to the point one might not even notice them expired in the bottle with the lights turned low....

That would have been me...




On a related note, mice keep trying to set up shop in my propane grill this summer. If I didn't use grill for more than three days, they would start making a nest right on the cooking grate. I dumped the nest out several times and cleaned everything. Then I went on vacation for 7 days and came back to a HUGE nest in the grill. I dumped it off the grate again and then took the drip pan out to dump out the leaves and shit that was in that. Two mice jumped out of the heat shield gap and started trying to get away across the yard. Well a well placed whack from the drip pan took care of each of those but I knew there had to be more. A week and two placements of classic mousetraps/w peanut butter later and I am up to a total of 8 mice dead. Little shits are going to keep dying the rest of the summer and fall until they are are all gone.
Then it is on to my other whistle pig infestation.

[Jethro]

I’ve got an older house and mice get in. In my crawl space I set lots of victor snap traps and I use a walk-the-plank style bucket trap. The bucket is in a hole I dug so there is no ramp for the mice to go up. Every Week I go down and pull the bucket out and dump it out in a field. It can get nasty If it goes longer

I’ve also started using Rat X pellets for the mice as it’s non toxic to raptors and my dog if she gets them. I’m not sure if it’s effective or not as I still get mice in the traps