Mouse!!!!!

[susiestar]

Earlier today Jessie screamed at the cat "Gracie, what is in your mouth!?!?!" So Gracie showed her. A very very small mouse!!!!!

She screamed, thank you (home with this dang virus) screamed, I was down with a migraine and yelled WHAT???????

My smart good cat then went and killed the mouse while the kids told me what was up.

I hate mice. Not pet ones, but the kind that run loose. I did go and take it from her once it was dead. She was a bit upset that it quite playing. I hate mice.

I am dreadfully afraid we have a nest of them. I am getting back around after the surgery, recovery and the stupid virus, but no way have I gotten through the backlog of housework.

Gracie let me have it in exchange for "snow". This is what she and I call the canned spray whipped cream.

I don't want mice. I may call a cleaning service. I am just icked out!!!!! Gracie is a good kitty.

Any advice for keeping out field mice??

Thanks. Did I mention I hate mice?

 

[Lothlorien]

You already have the best thing to keep mice away....a good Mouser Cat.

My friend finds field mice every so often and she's terrified of them. I keep telling her to get a cat and keep it outside.

My parents' house is over 100 years old. We used to get field mice in through the basement all the time. We tried everything, but when we started feeding the stray cats outside, the mouse problem disappeared completely.

 

[slsh]

Our house backs up to a field and we usually get a couple of mice in winter time. I've tried setting traps (those sticky kinds, not the snapping kind) but I've never caught one.

Of our 3 cats, 2 are mousers. Figaro has gotten too old now (14) to be real effective but in his prime he not only caught mice, but he'd bolt out the door and bring us birds. Elsie is pure cat. She has amazing patience and if she suspects a mouse, she'll sit there until she gets it. She also will bolt outside and has brought us birds and a vole once.

I really *do* wish they wouldn't play with their catches - yuck!

This is the first town we've lived in where mice were a problem and it does make me a bit queasy. These are the tiny little mice and I figure they're just trying to stay warm. Wish I knew how they were getting in the house!

on the other hand - compared to the possums we found in our garage, mice aren't so bad.

 

[muttmeister]

I also live in an old house (over 100 years) and, although it has had foundation work and has been totally remodelled, I still get mice. I have learned to live with them, up to a point. A cat is the best defense although my dogs will also catch them. I keep Decon in the dark places where I know they go and none of the animals or grandkids can.
But don't feel bad if you have them. I went to one of those fancy Showhouse things a couple of years ago. It was a new house that eventually sold for nearly 2 million dollars and as we were sitting in the courtyard, a little fieldmouse came out and twitched his nose at us and then ran in through a cracked open door. We got a good laugh about the "rich" mouse and wondered if he knew he had just entered a luxurious place.

 

[ShakespeareMamaX]

I like the stray cat idea the best. I'm not too big on killing animals (and, personally, I think mice are cute), but I'd rather nature take care of nature, with no traps set. Mice can get in anywhere and, if I remember correctly, they have the power to flatten themselves to sneak under doors.

Just pretend they're your pets. Give 'em names. Maybe then, it'll be a little less scary when you see them. Hehe

Good luck! <3

 

['Chelle]

I like mice etc, they are cute and we've had gerbils and hamsters as pets, but fieldmice have to stay out of my house if they want to live. I once watched a cable program, about people's fears, and on a segment on mice they set up a test kitchen and let 4 mice go in there "overnight". At the end of the time they put a flourescent light on (mice urine glows under the light) and there was urine and urine trails on EVERY surface - on the counters, stove, table top, floor - it was gross. So if they invade my space I have no sympathy.

To actually keep them out you have to seal every possible crack and hole, even one as small around as a quarter they can squeeze through. It's pretty hard to find all the small places they can come in. We have an older house backs onto a field, so in fall we sometimes have gotten mice. We haven't had one for a couple years now, so maybe my husband's obsession with sealing all the cracks got them LOL. We now have 2 cats, one who loves to catch stuff in the air, and one who loves chasing and "hunting" toys etc. on the floor, so I'm figuring if we get another mouse he/she is toast.

 

[Abbey]

We had a mouse problem about a year ago. We thought it was just one...no, they don't live alone. We tried all kinds of traps, then resorted to an exterminator. His best advice was to get a cat. We finally got them all, but our house was littered with traps of all sorts for a LONG time.

Abbey

 

[Star*]

I haaaaate to do the math on this for you but as a rodent lover - and owner of 2 beautiful domesticated and intelligent rats - here's what I know -

A man mouse and a lady mouse meet -
It takes less than .2 seconds for them to mate
In 23 days she has a litter of babies anywhere from 1-15
In 21 days (at 3 weeks old) they can mate with each other

Lets do MATH!!!! On average a normal litter is around 9
if 4 are males and 5 are females - that's at least 5 new mommies
5x9 = 45 more mice in less than 6 weeks.....23 days later
so lets take 45 new babies, and the original 9 who have already had their second litter plus the original mommie has already had a new littler...times the number of cereal boxes you have in your house, factor in only one cat, (if it's outdoors and not indoors) ad in a mean number of 50 ....and

In about 2 months - you can literally have over 100 mice in your home.

Tada....and my 6th grade math teacher said I'd never get it.

Go to any hardware house - and buy the live traps. They are little boxes that are spring loaded. Fill them with cheerios or peanut butter and put them along the walls and baseboards and do NOT disturb them - mice are very fast and smart. When the spring is sprung you'll know - and then just take the box outside - and if you are humane - let them go over 5 miles from where you live in a woods OR throw the trap away mouse and all. Expensive but the best way to avoid seeing a mouse or hearing screams. (the mouses)

@ @
. .
>.<
MM~~~

 

[tammyjh]

We have pet mice...not from the store....rescued from our shed last Spring. We disturbed mother mouse in her nest and she took some of her babies but left 4 and never came back for them. We left them overnight hoping she would come back but she didn't so we adopted them. I really thought they wouldn't make it because their eyes weren't open yet but they did. So, now we have two cages. One that houses "Spidermouse"...the male. The other cage is the 3 girls...Trixie, Sophie, and Fatty. They are sooooooo cute. We even tried to save a wild baby turkey last spring but it didn't make it....I was so sad. We're nuttty here...or at least I am.lol. Other than the ones we adopted, we don't have a big mouse problem because our cat takes care of things for us. I just have to keep him away from the room where the mice are.lol.

 

[Shari]

Where's Six Dinner Sensory Integration Disorder (SID)?

Seriously, we had the fattest, laziest, non-mouse-eatin-est cat in the universe living in the shed outside, and when he died (of old age) the mice MOVED IN. I know he did nothing more than watch them run around, but his presence alone was a huge deterent.

We keep outside cats around for that reason, and if we get mice inside that we see evidence of, the best mouser will get to upgrade for a while.

 

[flutterbee]

Mice can get in any opening that is 1/2 inch, I was told. Put a screen over your dryer vent, things like that.

Sticky traps are horribly cruel. I'd rather use decon than sticky traps. If you do live traps, you'll have to release them at least 5 miles away or they'll find their way back.

Make your house as unfriendly for mice as possible. Having the cats around helps, don't leave cat food out, etc. We have a plastic bin with a lid that snaps that we put the cat food in.

Several years ago I started to notice that we were going through a lot of cat food. Found out why when I saw the little mouse running from the cat food dish back under the basement door. I put a towel under the door so the mouse couldn't get through and he moved on to a more hospitable home.

 

[susiestar]

Star, I don't like your math. Not at ALL.

I don't like mice. Have had rodent pets, even had mice in high school.

I don't like them running around the house.

Gracie knows she hasn't gotten them all. And we live in a new house out in the country. Lots of fields. The mice should go to them.

I hate mice. In my house.

I need more cats.

Six dinner Sensory Integration Disorder (SID) is too busy trying to mooch a meal or spray my siding with HIS pee to worry about mice. They LAUGH at him.

At least Freckles isn't here. She had PET MICE at one point. She chased my parents' cats away and had a whole batch of them. Boy, she was PO'd when I got rid of them.

I need more cats. Or a new house. But probably more cats.

Gracie killed it by playing with it. NOT a true mouser.

But she had fun playing warrior kitty.

Must buy whipped cream to treat warrior kitty and bribe her into killing all mice.

Susie

 

[timer lady]

We're in an old house - that = field mice. Even in the midst of the city. Our cat is a great mouser - loves to "present" his catch to us. However, haven't seen one in a great while.

My husband, every autumn, seals every crack he sees in the foundation & other places. It will never be enough.

I'm just grateful we don't get squirrels or raccoons - stuff like that.

 

[Star*]

Seriously -

Get those live traps - Nothing is worse than seeing a mouse struggling on a glue trap with it's fur lying next to it - We too raised a nest of baby mice we caught when DF moved in with us years ago. This is a man who shuddered after looking at a mouse and NOW buys "blueberry yogies" as a treat for the boy rats. - Times sure do mellow you.

Glad you didn't like my mouse math. We've had field mice come in - they went to the back of my birdseed bag - and made a tiny teeny little hole - and practically drained it - I thought DF was throwing seed out - he thought I was. But when they got into the cereal and I had to wash and disinfect all my pots and pans and stuff before washing - THAT was war - but we still only did the live trap and release miles away -

We released one in the woods almost a mile from our house - and I am not kidding - it showed up at the door - DF bent down and grabbed it's tail and came in with "spot" and said "WOULD THIS BE THE MOUSE YOU SET FREE TODAY STAR??? I KNEW YOU DIDN'T" when all the neighbor kids backed up my story that we did let "spot" loose over a miles hike away - two days prior - we were all amazed at the intelligence of mice.

Six dinner Sensory Integration Disorder (SID)- (ROFLMAO) would be 10 dinner Tom if he had a penchant for field mice. LOL.

Hugs
Star

 

[DammitJanet]

We live in a field in a mobile home and the mice (and worse...rats) get in here whenever the weather changes. I didnt use to mind the mice until we had a snake come in after them years ago. Now it is all out war! It might not be politically correct but we get these great rat poison tablets at the feed store and they work wonderfully.

 

[Abbey]

We were told to release a minimum 5 miles away. I kind of chuckled at this as *IF* they didn't make it back 'home,' now they're in someone else's house.

Ok...I'm such a nerd that I actually calculated Star's rat theory.

Abbey

 

[susiestar]

I have a screen over the dryer vent. It is still in place, no holes.

This mouse was so small it could have boogied in a hole the size of a quarter with a girlfriend. It was icky to take it away from the cat, but I don't want her eating it. Too many diseases in kitties if they eat them.

She is on the prowl again.

I hate mice.

The ones that run around the house.

No foundation cracks, am putting things on the bottom of all doors so that they are sealed at the bottom when closed.

I hate mice. Esp when I have to clean them up. couldn't I make the kids do that???

Susie