I am so sick of mice

[hearts and roses]

We are up to about 46 mice caught and released. Of course, many of them could be the same danged mice! H is only taking them down the road. I just want to kill them, which I know sounds horrible and mean, especially for a vegetarian, but I hate them, hate them! I just want them to disappear from our home. And I'm very disappointed in our dogs. They are supposed to be ratter dogs - they are too fat and spoiled.

Vent over. I hate mice. I once thought they were cute. I don't anymore.

 

[donna723]

Oh, tell me about it! I've got them too and they're driving me crazy!

I'm not quite as nice as you about because I use the little sticky traps because it's the only thing that will really get them! I figure it's either them or me! My dogs will usually get them if they run across the floor, but I can hear them up in the ceiling, behind the cabinets, etc. The dogs have gotten at least a dozen in the last few weeks.

I don't know what else to do. I don't want to use poisons because the mice would be in the walls and ceilings and die up there and smell. And if I used the little pellets they would scatter them where the dogs might pick a piece up ... or the mouse could eat the poison and then one of the dogs might catch the poisoned mouse and be carrying it around in their mouth. If you figure something out, let me know!

 

[gcvmom]

Ummm... maybe you can borrow a neighbor's cat for a few days. I bet that will solve your problem! Our Harley once caught 6 mice in a span of two hours in our kitchen. Turns out they were living under the sink cabinet. No idea how they got in there.

 

[donna723]

I have a whole little herd of cats outside ... I think they have the mice barricaded inside the house! They're afraid to leave! My dogs would have a field day if I brought one of the cats inside!

 

[witzend]

I'm all for the traps. A little peanut butter along the edge of the wall where they are traveling, and there you go!

Tell your husband that mice are filthy! They are known carriers of salmonella, bacterial food poisoning, rickets, and mites. Female mice reach sexual maturity at 6 weeks old, and have a gestational period of 19-21 days, and birth an average of 6 - 8 young. One female can have 5 - 10 litters a year, so, you can figure that if only half of the litters are female, each one having at the low end 30 mice a year are going to be a problem.

If he won't get rid of them because he doesn't want to hurt the mice, tell him to get rid of them so you and your family won't be sick. Anyone had diarrhea lately? That could be why.

 

[mrscatinthehat]

I went to war once with the mice in my house. They were blatant about the things they did. I won the battle with cats. They worked well with the dogs. Good luck.

beth

 

[Hound dog]

Tell ya what.........I think they're cute until they come inide. grrrr

Bruce took care of our last resident. Now it seems we have a new one. This time I'm giving him some help. I bought the darn traps and I'm setting them around the house.

I don't want mice this winter. *snarl*

 

[Abbey]

I had mice about a year ago. It took months to get rid of those buggers. I finally had live traps placed nearly everywhere in the house then released them many miles away. It was a daily ritual. I don't envy you.

Abbey

 

[goldenguru]

JoG -

Get some old fashioned wooden traps. They are humane -

As far as being vegetarian I would suggest that there is a difference between not wanting to eat mammals and allowing them to infest your home. Supporting the inhumanity of beef industry - and the swift snap of a mouse trap are in a whole different league in my humble opinion.

 

[trinityroyal]

We just cleared up an infestation of mice using the old fashioned wooden traps. I agree with GG...they are humane.

Mice are carriers of so many diseases. They are filthy. We had colonies of mice in our house at one point. For some, this was the only home they'd ever known. We have trapped and killed ALL of them. I agree with the others that poison pellets might injure pets. As for the sticky traps, I've seen them with a foot left behind on them. The wooden traps with the bar are a sure, instant kill.

If you catch and release the mice, they WILL find their way back. With the cold weather, they will nest and breed in your house. YUCK!

 

[SearchingForRainbows]

Jo,

I HATE mice too!!! We used to get alot of them before we moved to the house we're in now. Our old house was built on a field that used to be used for farming. Luckily, there were lots of cats in my old neighborhood. I had a very special cat too - She made sure no living mice got anywhere near our house. Of course it was pretty disgusting when she decided to leave us "presents" on the back porch

Now, we live an area that is populated by coyotes. Not many people leave their cats outside. I definitely won't let my difficult child cat out. When my "favorite sanity saver" was a puppy, she came in from outside and immediately threw up a dead, crushed mouse... I've NEVER screamed as loud as I did then... I'll never forget that day... WFEN

 

[hearts and roses]

In a moment of desperation I suggested filling an old garbage bucket halfway with water and just tossing the darned things in it every morning. I really and truly know they must die in order for us to be rid of them. H bringing them down the road is not good enough. I took a couple far away and so did H in the last couple of days and we only had one this morning, so maybe...

I do not think I could do the sticky pads as that to me just seems cruel. However, I am all for snapping their little necks in the old fashioned wooden ones. I was eyeing them at the hardware store yesterday and then H led me away...hahaha. And I do think they are directly under our kitchen sink cabinet also! That flooring is right next to the bathroom as well, and that's a possibility too! Also, one of H's workers told him they like to be live in the insulation under the dishwasher because it's warm and in close prximity to the kichen cabinets.

What I find strange is that there were no droppings in the pantry cabinet. Only in the cabinet where I keep the tupperware and serving bowls, etc. And under the kitchen sink too. I would have thought we'd see more evidence of their occupation in the cabinets with foodstuff. Interesting. Anyway, now that they seem to be dwindling, I will continue to use the traps we have and just take them farther away.

So glad I'm not alone, but sorry you all have had to deal with this nightmare too!

 

[Star*]

If you don't take mice at LEAST 1 mile away - they will find their way back - really!

I like the vaccum they use in the dessert to get prarie dogs out of their burrows - they S(uck them up with a hose - they fly into a padded box truck and away they go. Kinda like warp speed right out of bed at 6AM into a mattress truck.....fun.

Witz is right - Pnut butter is a fav....and you dont want me to do the mice math for you - they can breed successfully at 2.5 weeks and have litters of 13 .....(EACH mouse)......You need more traps......and find out where the poop is - and just set the trap in there - PLUS if they are anywhere NEAR your kitchen make sure you wash and bleach your pots and pans.

Now would be a good time to adopt a cat.

 

[hearts and roses]

Thanks, Star. We have the bait and traps down pat...45 mice have successfully been caught and released. Up until Saturday, however, H was letting them out in the woods down the street. Now he's taking them far away into the mountains.

I stripped, bleached and relined all my kitchen cabinets. It needed to be done anyway, but now they are especially cleaned and organized! And everything has been cleaned well. Yippee. Some good came out of having mice. I have clorox wipes to wipe down the inside of the two cabinets they frequent twice daily and the traps are cleaned out very well also.

The mice we're catching are deer mice, which means they could be carrying lyme disease. If we continue to catch them, I already have an exterminator on call.

I wish I had me one of them vacuum trucks - that sounds awesome!

 

['Chelle]

You have to release mice miles away or they do just come back. You should also go around and try find all the places they may be getting in and try seal them up, or you just get more. We had a mouse a couple times a few year ago. husband hates them, and went nuts sealing every tiny crack and hole he could find in our place LOL. We have the 2 cats now, so maybe that will keep them away if he missed a crack.

I saw a program on TV about vermin in the house, and part of it they set up a "kitchen" and put a couple mice in there for "overnight". Mouse pee will flouresce under certain light and when they turned the light on, there were pee trails EVERYWHERE. On the counters, table, all the appliances and the basket of fake fruit on the table. It was quite gross, and made me feel a little less bad about killing the one that came in our house.

 

[hearts and roses]

Oh my God, 'Chelle, I am so sick to my stomach now. My hands are so raw from cleaning and using bleach. Now I feel this strong compulsion to go home at lunchtime and strip everything down again. Yuck, pee everywhere???????? As if the puppy peeing on my floors was not bad enough.

We have 3 dogs that are supposed to be ratters and only the oldest one made notice of the mice...after they were trapped. They are too fat and lazy to be of any help. And I am deathly allergic to cats. I would LOVE to have cats instead of dogs - so much easier and helpful.

Thanks all for the great advice...not that it's nothing I haven't heard before...this is just so frustrating. Someone told me to use the poison, but at our old office we did that and the mouse ran under the fridge for water and died. After about a month of thinking we'd finally eradicated the darned thing, the office reeked...we found it's mostly decomposed body weeks later. It was the MOST disgusting smell ever. I will never use poison...plus I wouldn't want to chance my dogs getting into it. I am going to buy some more rubber gloves to wear when I clean everything out. Yeesh. Pee. Ew.

 

[Star*]

thought I would share (add) my mouse story.

When DF and I decided to live in the same house - we all helped him move from his MAN cabin. (OMG are you serious) was a good batch of my thoughts walking through his house. In one spare room in a small shoe box a Momma had given birth to 7 baby mice/rats. OMG they were SO adorable. (Note I have pet rats) they're clean, litter box trained and very very intelligent.

So I told Dude "LEAVE THE MICE THERE" don't take them with. And of course difficult child that he was - I got out of my car only to find a box full of mice....er Rats - sans the momma. At 12:00 we were at the grocery getting goats milk and a bottle...and yes we bottle fed around the clock and wiped butts and they got to be about the size of your thumb - about 3 weeks I guess - and DF said THAT IS ENOUGH! NO MORE RATS - EEEEECCCH. So figuring they were old enough we walked into the woods near our house and left them go one by one to forage for themselves. The neighbor kids went with us on our nature walk - I loved that.

That night when Df came home around 8:00, by the tail he held up a baby rat - and said "IS THIS ONE OF YOURS?" and there was only one that looked like him - and we had let him go in the woods NEARLY a mile (or so we thought) but it was him and there was NO WAY humanly or rodently possible unless he followed us immediately - or could smell our shoes or seomthing.....but it was THAT baby rat with the spot ......OMG it was too much.

So yes - they WILL and CAN find their way - back "home" lol

Sounds like you're doing everything possible to do the rid o rat thing.

Good luck - LOVE that you are catch and release - lol.....we did too one year and I took an entire aquarium full to a release site MILES away.

 

[hearts and roses]

I just wish we could live in peace together without all the violence and ostrasizing and casting them out into the cold. You know, it would be cool if they didn't carry lymes and other diseases and leave their little mice turds around or crawl in my cabinets and flatware drawer. If only I could put a little bowl of water and food out daily for them like I do my dog. Heck, easy child's little puppy is only slightly larger than some of them -lol.

Star, I cannot believe that little rat baby followed you back home. Obviously they have strong senses to know how to get back 'home'. Hahahahaha - it's just too much!

 

[gcvmom]

Oh, and remember HANTA VIRUS? This deadly infection is spread by those cute little DEER MICE.

I have NO QUALMS dispatching wild rodents of just about any type. I went to move a towl that was left outside the other day and a baby mouse was hiding in it. I just dropped the corner back down and let my shoe do the work. Good thing the kids weren't around.

We were infested with ground squirrels one year. Must've had a whole colony living in our back hillside, and they were eating EVERYTHING in the yard. Plus, those buggers carry fleas that are known to have BUBONIC PLAGUE. I used a Have-A-Heart trap to catch them and then plunked the trap in a large trash barrel filled with water for a few minutes. I think I netted 14 squirrels over a three day period. The carcasses were chucked down the hill to feed the local turkey vultures and coyotes

 

[hearts and roses]

Jeepers, GVC, you are my new HERO!!!!