Ultrasonic Mouse Deflectors??

[Hound dog]

Ok, so that's most likely not what they're called. lol But I'm sure at least some of you have seem them on tv or (hopefully) have tried them out. The ones you plug into the sockets of your home and they transmit an irritating frequency that mice hate....so they all run out of your house and stay out.

Now to me.......that sounds just too easy. Otherwise the old fashion mouse traps would not be selling. But I could be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time..........and heck I had no clue peppermint oil deterred mice either.

mother in law had them on all 3 floors of her old house. Seemed to work......and she did have easy access for mice via the basement. I will say she kept traps in the basement as back up. But I don't recall husband having to empty them after she got these things.

So husband goes out and spends 30 bucks on the things to try them out. He's sick of baiting and cleaning up traps. lol I'm not so thrilled with it either since the snap traps these days seem to send the dead mouse sailing across the room and you get to search for it to clean it up. eww (when did those things get so darn sensitive?)

To his credit he got a trusted brand. And there is a warranty.

But I told him we're still baiting traps......just in case.....like mother in law as back up. And any food they can get to is now sealed in plastic containers. Trash is emptied every night. No pet food left down.

Has anyone tried these things? And if you have, do they seem to work?

 

[pepperidge]

I looked into them because we have rodents or something in between our walls that are driving me crazy. From what I have read, the ultrasonic waves do not go through walls or furniture. They go in straight lines. I think they might work but only if you can place them in an area where the mice are likely to encounter the waves emitted by the device. Also it might be better to buy the kind that send out random variations in the waves as rodents can get used to them. Let me know if they work--I concluded that they wouldn't work for what we need.
Any ideas, let me know!

good luck.

 

[Andy]

We do have one and have used it (once). husband says it seemed to work. However, we can not use it all the time because we have pets in the house. The time we used it was a holiday weekend when the dogs were at the kennel and we were gone.

I would be willing to use it more often if the pets were not here, however, I also worry about risks of having it running too often/too long. What are the effects on our bodies? I think it says none but I don't trust that advise - there is still something there even though our bodies don't pick up on it. I would probably have it running when I wasn't home and see if that helped before using it 24/7 at times when I am home.

My husband has caught some mice in the old fashion trap (after he stopped putting the tiniest amount of cheese on it and wondering why they didn't work. after I told him to load the trap with peanutbutter - takes them longer to clean it off and as they work the trap triggers). He states in his mouse catching years, he has found that whatever gets rid of them, they will be gone for a while and then come back again.

 

[Marguerite]

My understanding is that they have been tested independently and they do not work. Our consumer organisation in Australia has tested them, I'm certain, and they were a dud.

Even if they did work, they are not socially responsible because it would just drive the problem from your house to your neighbour's.

What gets me about the ads for these - these gadgets are supposed to work brilliantly on all kids of pests, but are harmless for pets. So - how does a gadget distinguish between a wild mouse, and your pet mouse? Also, how come it affect mice and rats (mammals) but not cats and dogs (also mammals)?

My recommendation - the most effective way to eliminate rodents from your home is to get a python. We have wild Diamond Pythons here (aka carpet snakes). Most farms have at least one, they encourage them to literally hang around to clean up the rodent problem. Better than cats. We often find a large (3 metres plus) snake in the chook house, lying in wait for a mouse or rat.

Marg

 

[Marguerite]

He states in his mouse catching years, he has found that whatever gets rid of them, they will be gone for a while and then come back again.

I've got news for him. Once they're gone (due to traps) they stay gone. They don't come back once they're dead. The new ones are different individuals.

Eradication programs, to be 100% effective, have to be done comprehensively, cohesively, over a wide area. And it just doesn't happen that way, so the search for a better mousetrap continues.

Marg

 

[Hound dog]

Marg

As far as them going somewhere else............at this point? ........that's the neighbors problem. lol If it works that is.

This brand is supposed to be safe for other pets. I'm not noticing a thing with bruce or the dogs. If it's bothering them in any way I'm not able to tell via behavior. Otherwise they'd have gone back to the store last night. I don't have pet rodents, so I'm good there.

I guess we'll watch and see what happens. I'll keep baiting traps as if I'm not using this "system". That ought to tell me if they're hanging around anyway or not. If it doesn't work, I'll send it back in and get our money back. We still have a big rodent problem thanks to our winter this year........and forgotten grass seed in the family room. Shouldn't be hard to tell.

Marg I do have a question for you. Supposedly Decon has a poison formula that doesn't harm dogs/cats but kills mice/rats. I've not actually seen it myself. I have a vague memory of hearing about it on tv.....husband and Travis have been talking about it. So far I've nixed even looking to see if they sell it as I don't see how you can poison for one type of mammal and that same poison be "harmless" for another type of mammal. I'm thinking only way to do that would be dosage perhaps.......but if you have a cat who's mousing....eventually they could get a lethal dose. Or can they poison geared to a specific species now? (I know bio/chemical research is getting complicated....I just don't know how complicated)

The python isn't an option. I can admire a snake in it's natural habitat.........I don't want it in my home any more than a rodent. lol

 

[1905]

I've had great success with peppermint oil. Every winter we do have some mice, we live in the woods pretty much. This year- nothing. I poured the oil on many, many cottonballs and put them everywhere, hidden from sight. I don't see any, try that as a backup. Google it maybe,

 

[hearts and roses]

We tried them, they didn't work - we had them everywhere! Baited traps that KILL work great. I do not advocate the use of those sticky pads, to me that's just awful.

More recently, after the initial killings, I put little sachets of peppermint oil and I haven't seen any in a while (knocks on wood!). Good luck~

**Edited to add: My place of business used the Poison and one ended up under the fridge in search of water (the poison makes them thirsty) and it died there....the stench was unbelievable! And by the time we discovered what and where it was, the mouse had grossly decomposed, it was disgusting.

Truly, the killing baited traps and/or peppermint oil has worked wonders for us. We had a SERIOUS mouse issue last year. I thought I was about to go out of my mind.

 

[Hound dog]

My problem is I can't locate peppermint oil. Or everyone else is buying it up before I can. I'm betting I'm not the only person in town who saw their mouse issue greatly increase this winter. If anyone knows a cheap place to get it online I could have husband order it because I'd really like to use it in the attic especially.

Yeah..........I only use killing traps. Snap traps I had to stop with.......that going to hunt for carcasses was a bit too ewww for my taste. They were trapping them, just flinging them lord knows where while they did it. I like the kind we found that traps more than one at a time (up to 4 I believe) sprinkle a bit of decon on the peanut butter bait and you don't have to wait days for the darn things to die. Had to add the decon as just waiting for them to die wasn't working.......Minnie kept thinking we were giving her presents and it didn't take her long to figure out how to open the full trap and get at the mice inside. Problem was she can't kill 4 or 5 at once. ugh Sticky traps are just mean and non effective.

*Sigh* Leave it to husband to try an easy way that doesn't work. lol But I'll have to prove it to him before he'll let me return them. ugh

 

[Star*]

I had pet rats - and had one of these accidentally plugged into the wall - (forgot it was there) and um.....my rats couldn't have cared less.

What seems to work better for Mom is a radio tuned to a non-station - just static. But she's been using peppermint oil for years and I can tell you for sure - one whiff of that stuff and my rats were on the other side of the cage.

Also - worlds laziest cat ----hasn't caught a rat but DF did. I urged him to use peanut butter. He decided to go with his own "rat catch" brand of genocide food.

He used Cheetos. Go a head and laugh but the little buggers preferred it 3 to one. And (gross warning here) The mate to the one that got caught with Peanut butter?

Well I kept hearing it in the attic - skritch, skritch, skirtch-------So I told DF - better put the live trap up there. To "amuse me" he did. I didn't know that he also put up a wooden rat trap with a cheeto.

So I'm in my office and I hear - SWEAR to you - sounded like a rat dragging a row boat across the rafters. This went on for about an hour. I called DF into the office and said Shhhhhhhh.......Listen. (well he's nearly deaf, but you could not miss this WHACK.....drrrrrrrrrrraggggggggg Whack...draaaaaaaaaaaaag) and then he got this look on his face, like I've never seen. Well I'm so puzzled. Things are going through my mind because rats are really clever little buggers, and I'm trying to thing of what scraps of wood we've left out that they could have possibly drug up there???? So DF drops the attic stairs and gets all "Wrangled" up It's quite hillarious actually he has "mouse wrangling gear" forehead light, kneepads, tapes his jeans shut at the bottom, it's a sight. All the while I keep hearing..WHACK......drrrrrrrraggggggggg....WHACK.....draaaaaaaaaaaagggg. Then I hear "Go back in the house Star." Well you know I did. ;-) Then I see him come out of the attic and exit the house, then come back into the house, get a pistol and then I hear *BANG*.

Apparently he had decided to NOT use only the LIVE trap as asked - but he used a wooden trap and a cheeto in the attic. The rat had gotten caught but not died, and to end it's misery DF had to shoot it. I was VERY upset. Big game hunter on the other hand was somewhere between - Well they sure prefer cheetos over peanut butter, and I meant to tell you I put a snap trap up there - looking away from my glare for not using the live trap.

 

[Hound dog]

Omg.

I was torn between laughing and horror!

I can NOT do rats. It's a childhood trauma, one that I've never gotten over. I'll risk the animals with decon before I'll tolerate a rat in my house. I can't live in a house with a rat in it. I'd been insane within a week......if you could manage to get me back inside. Not afraid of them as much as they give me the severe creepy crawlies toss my cookies sort of thing. So one rat and it's all out war! Fortunately what I'm seeing is field mice........so far.

I have Nichole looking at the Flower Factory for peppermint oil. My kill traps are still out and loaded.

I won't do live traps for rodents. Ok well maybe a squirrel or racoon......but not mice nor rats. Their numbers are already off the charts and the way they breed they need no help from me.

I could do gerbils. I could do hamsters. I even managed to attach myself to Nichole's guinea pig. But when she asked if she could have a pet rat I said sure.......but it would be dead 5 mins after coming in the door. She never asked again.

Think I'll load some of the kill traps with cheetos. But is it mice that love them or just rats? lol

 

[1905]

Hound- I got my peppermint oil from a company called "Now". I saw it in the health food store, but found it way, way cheaper to order directly from the company. It's also good for ants. Rub the cottonball all around where you think they come in, and they won't come in- it really works! Plus your house smells like peppermint. If I ever saw a rat I would have a freakin' heart attack!!!! Star...LMAO!

 

[hearts and roses]

I bought the mouse oil sachets at a local hardware store. Cheap.

 

[AnnieO]

Lisa - I'm going to check at No Common Scents for you. It's not too far from me and I bet they have it. It just occurred to me. Besides, I need an excuse to visit HippieTown USA.

I did get peppermint oil last fall at Kroger... I don't know, could have been imitation. Was pretty pricey though.

Hearts&Roses? I got the most interesting thought from "mouse oil"... (EWWWW)

 

[KTMom91]

I've been lucky...no major rodent problems...but I did have a skunk living underneath the house for a while. After trying, and not getting any help from anyone, I finally put a radio in each room, all tuned to a different station, and going full blast whenever I left the house. He left.

 

[donna723]

Eeeeewwww! I'm so glad that I only have mice and not rats! I don't do rats either! When we lived in the country we were only a quarter of a mile from the Tennessee River. And every spring when it rained a lot and the river rose, we would start seeing rats outside. HUGE rats the size of cats! One of the dogs had one of the big ones cornered one time and my son shot the thing three times with a pellet gun before it finally died! Gross!

I was overrun with the little mousey boogers before I got super careful about not leaving anything out, every dish rinsed right away, pet food put up at night, getting rid of all the places they could hide. When they got really hungry they got very bold and then my two mouser-Bostons, Katy and Ragan, got them! And even though I know they're awful and cruel, I used the sticky traps up on my kitchen counters! It was to the point that it was them or me ... I'm now down to just one or two, one big fat one in the kitchen that I think is coming in from outside, and one very lucky one in the living room who has successfully evaded the dogs, but his days are numbered.

I've heard of those "sonic" mouse traps but I've never heard of anyone who said they worked for them. Maybe it's like snapping your fingers to keep the elephants away? And I'm not satisfied that the other animals in the house wouldn't be affected by them. I've got four dogs that live in this house! Bostons have BIG ears - they hear EVERYTHING!

 

[Jody]

This weekend, I heard something running across my ceiling. That would be the attic. I have never had an attic before. Looks like I may be trying some of your suggestions. Better be a mouse.

 

[Hound dog]

Thanks Step I appreciate it. I'm figuring Nichole will get to Flower Factory by the time we do lunch......which means I'll just wind up going myself and looking. lol I'm a tad addicted to that store and now that they no longer require membership......wow.

Jo I wonder if mouse oil sachets are filled with the peppermint oil....hmm. I'll have husband check hardware stores.

Our numbers are dwindling. Bruce is getting the hang of mousing. Traps are killing. Got one chubby one in the living room that is being stubborn/smart but either Bruce or Molly will get it eventually, if not them the traps. 99 percent of food is now mouse safe, The rest will be today.

So hopefully with peppermint oil I can get the rest out of here.

 

[AnnieO]

I had a rather horrible moment on Saturday - hips hurt and I was xanaxed, so I was a little loopy... Squirrel came in, yowing around a mouthful and I decided to chase her down and find out if it was a real mouse or toy.

Fortunately for me, it had a seam on the bottom... I sat down and started to laugh, realizing I probably would have vomited had it been real - husband came in and was ready to call 911, thought I'd had a bad reaction to the xanax!!!

 

[Star*]

Hearts and Roses ???? Well I think" Mouse Sachets" HAS GOT to be RIGHT UP THERE with KFLD's Fancy Schmancy trash can -

Next thing you know - Yankee Candle will be selling Rat Potpouri. (You know - just incase your NY Cobra gets out of its herpaterium again) ROFLM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~:-< Off