Mouse Proofing

[jwnge]

Now those pictures are just to cute. Looks like the little critter found a nice big fluffy bed to sleep on.

Shucks, our cat is the area school crossing guard for the mice in our neighborhood..

 

[quicksandfarmer]

There are two kinds of mice that are common in houses, and your tactics change a little depending on what kind you have, house mice or deer mice. House mice have gray fur, eat anything people eat, and can't live in temperatures much outside of room temperature. They normally only live in occupied buildings. Deer mice have brown fur, but immature ones have gray fur which sometimes makes it hard for me to tell them from house mice. They eat only nuts and seeds. Deer mice can survive sub-freezing temperatures so will live in occupied or unoccupied buildings.

For both kinds, the basic strategy is the same -- kill the ones in the house, and block their entry to keep new ones out.

House mice normally live their whole lives inside. They won't go outside unless they are looking for a new home. So blocking access isn't quite as crucial, unless you have a neighbor who has an ongoing problem. Since they eat the same things as us, you can trap them with the same things that we like, the smellier the better -- bacon and cheese are the classics.

Deer mice live on wild seeds and nuts, so they normally go outside to feed every day. Access is hugely important to them. They are not attracted to most human foods, but they willl eat peanut butter and it's a good bait because it has a strong smell. Often your best bet is to find their access point and trap them there. If you do not block the access point you will get a fresh invasion every fall.

I have found this site invaluable for a number of pest questions: bugspray dot com

 

[Dusty]

I know of a person that stomps them with his foot every time that he sees one run across the floor. I have actually seen him do this in the garage. He is faster than a cat when it comes to killing mice. I just put poison out in bate boxes around the buildings and hope to keep the population down.

 

[slowrev]

The best thing about the electronic devices is that you provide income for the people who build them, I bought them from Home Depot, brand says, made in China for Weitech, Inc. Sisters, Oregon..paid $30 for 2 and put them right above the drawer, less than 1 foot, the mice like to invade, Not a bit of difference, the mice still invaded, I now use the steel live traps that several mice can get in, have caught 3 at a time twice. The bad part about poison is that they may crawl into a wall and die, and can be very stinkyThey are all but impossible to keep out. We get the country mice, the big eyed, brown furred ones, almost too cute to kill, so I just toss them out and let the Jack Russel have some fun..

Hmm I bought 3 packs of 5 of the weitech repellers at Sams for $20 per pack. I use them in my house, shop and a camper trailer and no mice problems. all other buildings have mice problems.
Of course I know I am the only one those things work for
Ben

 

[slowrev]

The best thing about the electronic devices is that you provide income for the people who build them, I bought them from Home Depot, brand says, made in China for Weitech, Inc. Sisters, Oregon..paid $30 for 2 and put them right above the drawer, less than 1 foot, the mice like to invade, Not a bit of difference, the mice still invaded, I now use the steel live traps that several mice can get in, have caught 3 at a time twice. The bad part about poison is that they may crawl into a wall and die, and can be very stinkyThey are all but impossible to keep out. We get the country mice, the big eyed, brown furred ones, almost too cute to kill, so I just toss them out and let the Jack Russel have some fun..

Hmm I bought 3 packs of 5 of the weitech repellers at Sams for $20 per pack. I use them in my house, shop and a camper trailer and no mice problems. all other buildings have mice problems.
Of course I know I am the only one those things work for
Btw you need whole house coverage if you put them in only one room they won't work.

Ben

 

[JimMorrissey]

Sean,

Don't believe mice don't eat each other....rats do eat mice though...Likely they are roof rats that are eating the mice caught in the traps. Definitely nasty.

 

[JimMorrissey]

That sure looks like a small rat to me.....

 

[Paddy]

jwnge,

I have two dogs, one will find the critter but for some reson won't kill them. My Jack Russle hears the barking and within a few seconds he has it dead!
Tag team!

 

[midlf]

Sean,

Don't believe mice don't eat each other....rats do eat mice though...Likely they are roof rats that are eating the mice caught in the traps. Definitely nasty.

Mice do eat each other. I have a Tin Cat live trap. Last time I emptied it there was one whole mouse and two devoured mice. Only thing that could have eaten the two was the one who was left. Other areas in the garage, where we have no evidence of rats, have had mice devoured. The mice will eat anything that could be considered as food. Fortunately they also seem to love the special "mouse food" I put out for them.

 

[Captinjack]

I've owned my deer camp for 25 yrs. and mice have been a problem without solution until I spread Habenero dust around the perimeter of each room.

They get the dust on their feet and when they lick it off (mice are actually clean animals) that's the last time they will come back! They have extraoridinary sense of smell and the hot dust will repell them for a year or so until you need to treat again.

This worked really well with rats in Florida.

I also sprinkle it on my riding lawn mower engines to keep them from nesting under the cowling.

A tin cat that catches multiple mice also works well outside. You wind it up and when the mouse enters the tunnel, it throws them inside a compartment and resets for the next one. I've caught up to four at one time. Now I hadly ever get one and the mouse poop is gone.