Ugh

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
We all know what this winter's weather has been like. Well it seems to have driven every field mouse within a 20 mile radius into my home. I think word is out that Bruce hoovers at mousing........

Currently I'm doing snap traps and peanut butter.......and jello. It's not making a dent.

husband went out and bought a couple of fancier traps......you still load it with peanut butter but it traps the mouse/mice inside, you open and dispose. (ewww how many days until they die??) Saw some decon ones on tv that were made the same way......only with decon (at least they don't take days to starve to death) but betting they're not cheap. Right now I need effective and cheap.

husband did not aide our battle with the rodents by leaving the dog/cat food bins located by the back door in the family room wide open......and a few "empty" cans of dog food near them. I was livid. I told him he might as well as hung up a welcome sign. omg

Poor Bruce tries to catch them.......actually he's usually exhausted from the effort. He just stinks at it.

We're considering bringing Minnie in from outside, setting her up with a litter box in the family room. She's an awesome mouser. Trouble with that is she has always been outside so I don't know that she'd use the litter box....and I may never get her outside again. lol

I'm getting worried though. The last 2 days I've taken Molly out she's spotted something in the family room she wanted to go after. I doubt a mouse is going to be close enough for her to spot........I'm worried about barn rats. *shudders* We get those and it's the decon for sure. I just do NOT want to use that due to the other pets in the home....and the other outside cats.

Does calling an exterminator work? Is it outrageously expensive? I have no clue as my mother always used decon and 5 kids with hammers. (don't ask, but this is why I'm not afraid of rodents)

I hate hate hate bad winters due to this. I had this issue about 15 or so years ago due to a really bad winter. Had only 1 dog.....put out decon. Watched the dog like a hawk. Got rid of the problem rather quickly and no issues with the dog. But now I have 3 dogs and cats.....and too chicken to risk it after watching shadow die an agonizing death due to a poisoned mouse.
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
You have my sincere sympathy but if I had the answers, I wouldn't have so many of the pesky little devils myself! I have several outside cats but honestly, I think the cats have the mice barracaded inside the house! I confess that, even though they're awful, I have used sticky traps before when they were on my kitchen counters. They're horrible but it was getting to the point where it was either them or me! If you have inside pets you really can't use any kind of poison, especially the little pellets. The mice will scatter them to where the dogs can get them. Two of my dogs are very dedicated little mousers. They don't eat them but they carry them around in their mouth for a while like trophys and I don't want them catching a poisoned mouse. Ragan and Katy are wonderful little mousers. My little guy, Trace, is very interested too but he has only one eye and his vision just isn't good enough to zero in on a mouse.

I still have a couple but nowhere near as many as were here before. The dogs got quite a few of them and I've had to start being super vigilant about leaving anything out that they could possible eat. I bought heavy locking bins for the dog and cat food, and I have to make sure there's not a speck of food on anything they can get to. I rinse every last particle of food off of the dishes before I can get them washed. And if there's even one little grain of rice or something stuck in your sink drainer or scrubbing pad, they will find it and eat it, also anything boiled over on the stove, and my trash can is put up where they can't get in to it. And even after all that, they will still sneak out and snatch pieces of dog food out of the dog bowl!
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
Ummmmm... I can bring Squirrel and Possum down there? Once I can drive on my road, that is.

Sorry... I have no other answers...
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Well then I guess we'll bring in Minnie and give her a chance. I just hope to heaven she uses the litter box. ugh And continue using the traps we have, plus the jello. husband did pick up some of those sticky traps but I really hate to use them as I've seen far too many mice chew a leg off to get off the darn things. So far have not caught one on the counter. One attempted but Molly got it first so it never made it that far. All food is in sealed containers. Trash is taken out every night. Pet food uneaten is returned to the bin and sealed up. (eat when served or else is the new motto) That way it's not out for the buggers to snatch. Which is why I was so mad at husband over the dog food bins. ugh

Just remembered, I need to have him put tons of traps in the basement too. That's where they're coming in.

Bad winters drive them inside every time. I mean every winter we get a couple............but this is horrible.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
I think the traditional traps with pnut butter or regular butter are your best bets. Put one behind the couch, under kitchen sink, next to the fridge, anywhere your other pets can't get to them, but the little critters can.

Before we had cats, I always had good luck with a regular wooden mousetrap and butter.
 

1905

Well-Known Member
Call an exterminator! He can put out something that if the mouse eats it, he gets thirsty and leaves to look for water. They die away from your house. Our guy was $100 the first time (about 6 years ago), but every time after that it's $30. I only call him once or twice a year and I pay the $30. I'm scared of mice, spiders, anything like that.
 

JJJ

Active Member
I'd call an exterminator. They have all sorts of tricks to get rid of the mice and keep the pets safe.

But I have to ask, what do you do with the jello????
 
H

HaoZi

Guest
Using a bait that gets sticky, like jell-o, peanut butter, and lemon drop candies, holds them long enough for the trap to spring properly.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Jello powder when eaten in large quanities, like with a mouse.......then swells when in contact with moisture......pop goes the mouse. Similar effect as decon, only non poisonous.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
I hesitate using any toxic stuff. The anticoagulant baits are the ones that make them thirsty and they eventually bleed out. My concern is if another animal eats the poisoned critter. Then you've done a lot more damage than planned. We used them as a very last resort when we had rats in our attic. It worked. But I had to be sure I picked up the carcass immediately and toss it in the trash.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
We are battling them too. husband is a horrible packrat, and once he brings it home he will NOT do anything with it for years. About 7 years ago I cleaned his dresser out and found over 20 YEARS worth of old church bulletins - totally useless and he refused to throw them away. I am at the point that I just cannot pick up after him the way I did for years and our house is a disaster. The mice are making me push myself until I get sick to try to clean. Then I end up unable to move my legs and back for 4-5 days, which puts me in a NASTY mood. He doesn't realize that he has a frimpin' week of computer time left before he loses it until he cleans this pit. He spends 12-15 hrs a day online right now, doing I know not what. The kids and I are going nuts. I don't see why it is MY job to go through all of HIS **** (he will take a box and fill it halfway at most and then shut it and never open it, but if I throw it away he has a COW unless he doesn't realize it is his. I didn't used to care if he had a fit, but now I cannot move the boxes.

Anyway, the mice are driving us nuts too. Our cat does NOT mouse unless they are just right in his face. Of course, it does involve letting his feet touch the floor and Capn Morgan thinks that is a sin. He believes his feet should be at least 2 feet up off of the floor except in the kitchen where he gets in such HUGE trouble for it.

Exterminators will put out poison for them pretty much like you get from decon or the other mouse poisons. If cheese wasn't so expensive I would put that out. It is so high in sodium it kills them. My gma used to put it out and she would end up iwth quite a few dead ones around. Why she even had mice was a mystery as she never had fewer than 4 cats, but she did a few times.

husband wants another cat, one who will mouse, but I don't know how to tell if a cat is a good mouser before we get one. We cannot afford on anyway, and with all the gritching about the litterbox cleaning that he and thank you do, no way are we getting another animal now!

Sorry you are having the problem we have.

If you have peppermint oil, try putting some on cotton balls at the entrances of your home and anywhere they are coming in. Mice HATE peppermint oil!

by the way, do you use flavored jello? with or without sugar? How do you keep it from getting everywhere and inviting ants?
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
A good mouser cat usually comes from a mama cat who is a good mouser. When I used to have inside cats we had a couple that would actually teach their kittens to catch mice! We had one that would catch mice and kill then, then let their kittens play with the dead mouse. And it sounds gross and cruel but some of the mama cats would catch a mouse but not kill it, just "damage it" enough to slow it way down, then they would let their kittens play with it and eventually kill it. It really brought out that hunter instinct in them.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
We havent had the little mice in quite a while but we had those big rats. Let me tell you, they had to go. We tried a trap once or twice but the stupid things would drag them with them. Not good. We found the best kill them dead pellets at the farm store. They arent small like decon pellets though. They are about the size of a quarter and we would just put one or two in places that none of the pets or kids could get to them. Such as behind the fridge, stove, down in the ducts, on the counters at night.

It was nasty to be sitting at the computer late at night and see a rat climbing out of your heating vent. Cute little thing but nope...had to go. It took about 3 or 4 weeks of setting out these pills and then no more rats. I think they also sent out a memo to all the other rats in the woods that our house wasnt a good food source because none have come back...lol.
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
Knock on wood...we haven't had mice since they finished building the house behind us about seven years ago. With Hubby's hoarding of large crapola that has completely filled the side yard (the yard he created by putting a fence between the house and the garage), I'm surprised we don't have them. Maybe having six indoor cats has something to do with it!
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Susie the jello is flavored and has sugar.........I use it to attract them. Not sure if anything else would work?? I've never had an ant issue..........but that could be cause I only have a mouse issue in the winter, and only if the winter is bad do I get them to the point where I will resort to something other than ordinary traps.

Janet first rat I see I'm going to go for those pellets! As a kid my mom had us whack the railroad rats (the size of small/medication dogs) over the head with hammers! Brings back some very gruesome memories, and quite a few nitemares. *shudder* I will NOT tolerate a single rat in my house........I'll just have to risk the other animals and watch them like mad.

We got 3 in the span of an hour. OMG! Just an ordinary snap trap set with peanut butter (they seem particularily attracted to peterpan, believe it or not) This was in my pantry........where I suspected they were traveling to and from the kitchen. Placed the trap in the spot I thought they like to come from as that is where Shadow used to catch them all when she was alive. To this day I can't find a hole.........but my pantry is actually a large closet with shelves........and where they're coming in at it's very hard to get in and see or I'd stuff sos pads in the hole.

I'm sure if there were 3 there are more. Yet tonight I'm hearing no scratching sounds AT ALL. None. Traps are reset.........jello is out. Traps in attic, behind washer and dryer (they like to come in dryer vents), pantry, and family room near the pet food bins.

These snap traps are mighty touchy. I don't remember them being so touchy as the last batch I've gotten. With 2 of the mice I heard the trap go SNAP! But when we waited about 5 mins to make sure it was dead and looked........mouse was like 6 inches away from the trap, dead of course.........but still..........odd. Only 1 actually got caught in the trap itself. Not sure how it's killing them when they don't remain in the trap, but I am NOT complaining.

What hoovers is................my family room. I might as well call it a storage room as it hasn't been used as a family room for years, at least since I went to school. First yard sale stuff wound up stored there because easy child would be too tired after the weekend to fool with taking it home........then it never got taken home and would be put out for the next sale, process would repeat itself while things were added via new yard sales. That was bad enough. Then mother in law declined in health and moved out of her house......we got probably 99 percent of her belongings. My girls each got quite a bit........but neither had places for the china and silver so it's still here. Some did get donated. Most is still waiting for easy child and Nichole to have bigger places to live to take them. ugh Now add in katie and families junk........the clothes they can't take to the shelter alone with xmas toys have added to the heap.

Although right before katie arrived Nichole and I had cleaned the family room and had it organized...........except for husband junk, which yes he's also a pack rat, that takes up 1/3 of the room......phht it didn't last thanks to katie and family. The room isn't heated so it's been too cold to force husband out there to clean it up again.

And now both husband and I have caught a nasty respiratory virus that Travis brought home. ugh Can't win.

Soon as it's close to 40 degrees husband will be out there cleaning that family room. Soon as I can move more than 12 in without coughing my lungs up, I'll be giving the house another huge spring cleaning type thing.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I have just about given up on the cleaning thing until I can actually get someone to move the heck out of here myself. I am going to attempt to get my room clean again...sigh...if I can get myself to ever actually get some normal sleep ever again. For some very odd reason, I fall asleep right around on time at 11 to 11:30 and then something or someone wakes me up around midnight to 1 am and then I am done for. I will be up till at least the time Tony leaves for work at 4 or even 5or 5:30 before my body winds down again and then I sleep till at least 11 or so. It just is killing me.

I am so irritated with the state of my house because I really need to get people out here to get estimates on the heating and air systems but I just cant do it with the shape its in. Also as soon as I can get Cory and Mandy out I have to turn one of their rooms into Keyana's room which should eliminate much of her toy stuff that is cluttering everywhere. Gosh I will be glad when I can do that!
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
As someone who actually catches the mice and does not kill......(i know I know) it will do you NO GOOD - to continue to bait for them if they have a food source. EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING in your house that is edible has to be COMLETELY mouse proofed and removed FIRST. If they can get food from a cheerios box, they aren't stupid - they won't go for the pnut butter in the trap unless they are juvenille. (most likely difficult child mouse)

That means that the adults and 2 week old mice will be breeding - yes 2 week old mice breed. It takes no time for a litter to be born - and they have anywhere from 1 to 13 in a batch. They are sexually active at TWO weeks - and will be incestual. (sp) So - You will have a HUGE problem in not time flat - like a month and a half you will be besieged.

If you aren't willing to tupperware or tub up everything you eat and stay that way? Call a professional. The difference in their traps? NOTHING - the difference in the bait? Lots. Some have pheremone(Sp again) attractants and this will lure the sexually mature ones to the traps - while there? They may as well get a nibble and WHACK. Then the professional will come out and reload the traps and keep coming until the problem is taken care of - IN THE MEAN TIME - you HAVE TO - get rid of the mouse urine - this is how they "trail" - and their urine is EVERYWHERE so you may as well do your Spring cleaning NOW and AFTER the problem is over. AND the professional will tell you where they are coming in at BY finding the urine trails. BLOCK IT UP. Mice can get through holes the size of their heads - if they can get their nose in it? The rest can get in - and they are excellent climbers, and jumpers. They are NOT - repeat NOT just staying in your kitchen. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE. TOP TO BOTTOM. in your house.

As far as bringing the mouser in? If you have already put bait out? And she eats that mouse that ate the poisoned bait? She'll die. I'm not sure about eating a Jello mouse. But the other thing about DeCon mice is that they die? They stink. I'm not happy with stink. I'd just be snap trap happy. In your attic? Mice don't like static sounds or peppermint oil smells. It made my rats jump - like WOW. Put some peppermint oil on cotton balls and repeat - MOTH BALLS DO NOT WORK - it will just STINK UP YOUR HOUSE TO HIGH HEAVEN - (tell that to husband again - REPEAT) OMW did our house STINK...like for months - like my Aunt Elizabeths entire wardrobe.....p.u.

As far as the glue traps? Well - I've personally seen them eat their legs and arms off - and pull their skin and coats off to get off the traps. Then you have a diseased mouse running around in your house. Not the best of plans - but if you are monitoring them every few hours - then they are affective, but get LARGE ones. Like for .....ah....well....(don't let Wynter see this okay) r.a.t.s.

Best of luck......but seriously make sure any and everything in your house gets a good washing with bleach - mouse pp is bad stuff. And anywhere they have gone? They have ....gone.

Sorry -
 
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