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MICE

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Mr_Yan

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Guess there's no more denying it. We've got mice in the house and my dog is useless.

As it I didn't have enough to do already now I have to run a rodent trap line too.
 
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Mr_Yan

Guest
Over the next few days I plan on moving my pantry stuffs into mouse resistant containers like lidded 5-gallon buckets and running traps.

I'll have to get creative with the traps as we have a two year old. I'm sure a mouse trap is strong enough to break a toddler's finger.
 

w_r_ranch

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Try the glue traps (they are what we use) as they do not contain poison & present no danger to kids or dogs. They are cheap & work good...

gluetrap.jpg
 

Mike

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I can confirm glue traps work very well. Much better than dogs and even some cats. :D
 
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ErnieCopp

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How do you kill them after you catch them? I have to trap the ground squirrels and then shoot them with a pellet gun, but the few mouse i have to trap are usually dead in the trap. Not tender hearted enough to let them go but tender enough to not enjoy having to kill anything directly that cannot be eaten.

Ernie
 
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Mr_Yan

Guest
Some of the glue traps have a contact poison in them but the amount is below a clinical dose for larger animals.

Right now I have four snap traps around the house baited with peanut butter. Two under the sink, one near my worm compost bins in the basement, and one along a wall in the basement. I plan on getting a few more snap traps and a few glue traps when I stop at farm and fleet this weekend.

We also got two more food grade 5-gallon buckets but we plan on returning the lids and getting some screw-on Gamma lids so my wife can open them too.
 
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Mr_Yan

Guest
Set out four traps last night and had two mice caught before I even fell asleep. Both mice were caught in traps in the same location. I take that ratio to indicate I have a strong mouse population so I bought 8 more traps today.

Note: While typing this I just realized I forgot to buy the glue traps too. Crud.
 
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Mr_Yan

Guest
The mice seem to be going for the kitchen trash which is under the sink and so far I see no evidence they've ventured out from that cabinet. Last night I set two more traps under there and got two more mice.

4 mice down. Untold hundreds remain.

After the traps were sprung and their comrades lie there dead the other mice continued to lick the peanut butter off the trap pan and leave droppings scattered over the bottom of that cabinet.

I plan on placing four traps under the sink tonight. The trick will be to set them far enough apart that when one snaps it will not trigger the next.
 
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Mr_Yan

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4 traps set last night and each within 8 inches of the other. Three mice down.



If I'm getting this many mice this easily the population must be huge.
 

w_r_ranch

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There has to be an entry point to the cabinet (around the waster/drain pipes???)... expanding foam sealant will fix that. Then find where they're getting in from the outside (any 1/4" gaps will need to be sealed)... You need to seal the borders to keep 'new' rats out & then get rid of the ones already inside or you will have a never ending job the way they breed. I hate rats & having to cleanup the messes they make.

One could draw a comparable analogy from that, I'm sure you know what I mean...
 
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Mr_Yan

Guest
I'm in denial but I have a huge job in front of me in sealing this house. This place is a 90 year old bungalow with vinyl siding - about the worst combination for sealing cracks. Block foundation to grade then red brick from grade to about +2 feet. Stick construction above that. 6 Basement windows that I am slowly changing from single pane to glass block (2 done so far). I have a sun room that kicks out from the house sitting between the foundation wall and pillars but the non-structural walls are single course brick not on a real footing.

I suspect that the mice and possibly the bat we had entered under the sunroom crawl space and found a crack(s) to enter the frame construction under the sun room. My plan is to crawl under the sunroom and start to seal off from there.

I also have a finished attic space upstairs with knee walls and gable ceiling. I plan on cutting entry holes through the knee walls. If I can get behind the knee wall I can gain limited access to joist and stud cavities and more places to set traps. The entry holes will then be covered with cabinet doors and four screws.

Both front and back doors are modern pre-hung steel entries. I trimmed the maple tree back this fall which took the canopy from about 3 or 4 feet away from the house to 8 or 10 feet away. But I still have a peach tree close to the eves and a fracynthia bush next the front entry.

Is 1/4" welded galvanized hardware cloth mouse proof?

I lent my staple gun to my brother three states away and he still has it - the bum.

In the last two weeks we've neither seen nor heard evidence of mice in the house but I still have the traps set.
 

w_r_ranch

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Is 1/4" welded galvanized hardware cloth mouse proof?

That should do it... Can you find 1/8"???

It amazing how they manage to flatten their skulls/bodies to squeeze through a 1/4" crack. Grandpa used to say that if they could get their noses in, that they'll just keep going...
 
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ErnieCopp

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Rats and Ground Squirrels can chew through it, but doubt mice can. Rats chew through battery cables, and heavy wires. A lot would depend on how badly they wanted to get on the other side of the mesh, or to get out.

Ernie
 
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Mr_Yan

Guest
That should do it... Can you find 1/8"???

It amazing how they manage to flatten their skulls/bodies to squeeze through a 1/4" crack. Grandpa used to say that if they could get their noses in, that they'll just keep going...
I'll see. Or I'll price out something like solid galvanized like used in duct work.

Thinking about it when running the sewing machine a few minutes ago and 3/4" CDx or TnG ply with liquid nails may be a good and cheap option.

I wish I had gotten the urethane spray foam insulation on all the walls when I had them open. Instead we just had the roof deck sprayed.
 

Rahab222

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Adopt a cat - female to avoid a male's spraying. Just the scent of a cat will keep mice and rats away. I grew up on a farm and now live in the suburbs. I have never seen either a mouse or a rat where there was a cat. My brother traps the ferrel cats in our section when they get out of control numbers wise. He takes them to friends who need them to keep down the critter populations in their barns.
 
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Mr_Yan

Guest
Well another one bites the dust. I've left the traps set for the last few weeks and trapped another mouse last night.

I'll avoid the cats. Frankly I'd rather have these rodents than a cat.

Over the last few weeks it has greatly warmed up outside and I bet the mice have been going outside, or staying out, to forage and feed. Today was the first I remember in a while where we've stayed below freezing.
 
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Mr_Yan

Guest
I plan on tackling some of the mouse proofing soon. My brother is sending my staple gun back but waiting for the Christmas shipping to subside.

Right now I am spending some time cleaning my basement.
 
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ErnieCopp

Guest
CATS.

Rahab and Yan, Pleased i can agree with both of you. I cannot abide cats in the house, but i do like them in the barn. A lot of those people that are too "kind hearted" to kill surplus kittens used to drive out and dump them on our road so they could either starve to death or be eaten by the coyotes, so there were always a good supply of fresh feral cats each summer. They seemed to do okay in warm weather, but when winter came, only a few had survived. I had warm hay stacks in my barn for sheep feed, and i kept water thawed for the cats and some feed out, and they kept the mice out of the barn, so some had a good life there, but never became pets. Field mice was more of a problem than house mice, as they will chew the bark off young trees under the snow, killing or scarring them.

Ernie
 
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Selma Richard

Guest
Mice are very annoying and unfortunately they live where human lives. Its quite difficult to get rid of them. We had a terrible mice problem. Those mice caused a billions of dollars of property damage. And then after trying many of the household methods, we finally have to call upon an exterminator to get rid of them.
 
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ElviraBaldwin

Guest
Mice are usually attracted to clutter, debris, and old food. Rodents can infest just about any home at any time. However, a dirty home is much more likely to be infested than a clean one. My friend too faced the problems on rodents infestation and at last they have to also contact the experts like from rat exterminator rocklin and they helped her out to get rid of them
 
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