We live in the woods, and recently some field mice have found their way into the house. We need some advice on getting rid of them without danger to pets.
Linda from NJ
There are many solutions but forget the mothballs. Mice just move them out of the way and are not really a deterrent as are some other solutions listed. If you use steel wool to close the hole use the copper or stainless type because the steel ones will rust out. But closing the hole from the inside doesn't solve the problem. Mice can still get in to the house and make new holes.
By Harry
Sprinkle cayenne pepper around outside foundation area. You can buy it in a dollar store, mice and insects hate it. Re-apply a couple of times. They are smart and remember it was there and go away. (10/08/2008)
By joseph basto
We had mice in our basement and caught about 5 of them a night for two years in live metal traps and took them far away and released them. It never slowed down and we could not find an entrance anywhere. Finally we noticed that our electrical box was pulled away from our house about 4 feet up the foundation and they were actually climbing up every night and coming in and seemed to be leaving in the daytime. We would catch them at exactly 9:15 every night until about 5 AM.
We had an electrician come and caulk around wires in box (there was a huge gap and they could just walk right in) and also reattach box that had not been reattached when we had new siding put on. This problem was driving us crazy. We also filled small top gap of electrical box with steel wool. No more mice.
We would have never thought that they would climb that high on a nightly basis. It was like they were following each other in. Also the wind up traps do not work at all. One other thing is to make sure all brush and especially compost pile is not close to house, as ours was actually touching back of house and they were living in there too. We probably caught 2000 alive before finding the source of entry. Hope this tip helps someone find there problem. I know we spent hours looking online for an answer. (10/08/2008)
By NYer
If you live in the country, this will be a constant problem. Just get a cat, or maybe two, as some are better hunters than others. Cats are not poisonous, dispose of the corpses, are environmentally friendly, self-sustaining, and will sit on your lap and purr, besides. (10/09/2008)
By Louise B.
Peppermint oil on cotton balls scattered behind and in spaces. If it is growing around your place bundle some of it up and stash it around. (10/10/2008)
By MaryBelle
First you get some SOS scrubbing pads, then you put them under each of your sink and kitchen drains. Make sure you cover the pipes that have an opening from underneath your home. The mice do not like the smell of the soap pad, or the mice will not chew through the wire of the scrubber. The mice will not be able to get into your home through any opening while these soap pads are in place, over the openings of your home. (10/13/2008)
By MTNMAMA1 Claudia
Throw a couple of black rat snakes in your basement. Works great! (10/23/2008)
By Snake Lover
We suspect a mouse but do not have any droppings as evidence. Every day something comes into our house and takes tassels off of our comforter and piles them in the floor but does not eat anything or leave any droppings. What could this be? (10/27/2008)
By Margaret
Reading about the missing tassels on your comforter spurred me to tell about our mouse problem. When we moved to NC from Florida, we found about 50 pieces of round dog kibble in one of the speakers of our stereo. Truthfully, we thought one of the movers was playing a trick. Then I found some inside my grand piano, and I knew it hadn't been there when the piano was moved in and re-assembled.
Since then, we return the dogs' uneaten dry food to the plastic storage container, and put bread and similar food into the microwave at night. We also had the fringe removed from an Oriental rug -- my husband found it when he located the mouse nest (made from the fringe, inside the drawer of an unused bureau). Now we have a bunch of Victor snap-traps which we bait each night with peanut butter and one raisin each. We are slowly eliminating the mice. Nancy in NC (10/27/2008)
Last November I moved into a nice 2nd story apartment and had no mouse problems, even after my girlfriend and her Cockatiel moved in a month later.
This year however, I started hearing scratching in the walls around September, which by the beginning of October led to me seeing the southbound end of a northbound mouse in the kitchen. So after buying some cheap wooden snap traps, which were so poorly made they fell apart on me while setting, I ended up buying 4 humane traps per request of my girlfriend. The little buggers would just crawl in, eat the bait, usually smooth peanut butter, sometimes mixed with American cheese, and crawl out. I ended up only catching one in the humane traps, and releasing it down the road on a walking trail.
After that I bought 2 packs of the D-Con spin traps, and all 4 traps did their jobs while I was out of town for 3 days, as well as stink up my apartment. I bought 2 more, re-set them in the same place, under the kitchen sink and they sat there untripped for about a month and 1/2.
Cut to the other night, I'm sitting in here on the computer, in my bedroom and I hear this loud chewing sound coming from behind the open bedroom door. I look over just in time to once again see another mouse booking it into the kitchen. That made me oh so jumpy, even at one point thinking the mouse had crawled under the sheets when my girlfriend got up to get a glass of water.
So I replaced the 4 traps, scattering them around the kitchen. Tonight my girlfriend saw it once again run into the bedroom and run out, than a few hours ago I saw it do the same thing, but managed to follow it's path to find just how it was getting in. It crawled into a small gap between the dishwasher and the cabinet.
Needless to say I tossed the 4 traps which had old bait in them, after trying to re-bait them with no success and bought 3 new packs which I'm about to bait. I also for the time being plugged the hole with some tin foil, until I can buy some steel wool tomorrow. I've also called the landlord to send someone out to properly take care of this problem, and am planning on asking for reimbursement for all the traps I bought (the spin traps were around $4.00 each). I'm just grateful it wasn't rats. (11/26/2008)
By still fighting battle mouse and losing
I've seen one behind my canisters on kitchen counter and heard them/it in my trash can. We've been very careful to wash out every can or bottle which contained food or drink and I've still heard them/it. I've put undiluted lemon ammonia into a spray bottle and at night I've lightly sprayed along the counters at the base of the wall and generously into the trash can and on the floor behind the trash can. I've not heard or seen any recent activity and I'm hoping this has been a solution. (01/18/2009)
By anne
It started with my cat staring at the bottom of a kitchen cabinet. Then I heard scratching one night and three of my four cats (ones just too much a princess to a be a real cat, I guess) zipped in there and stared at the source of the sound. I'm a lover of all things fuzzy so no way I could kill it. So I bought one of those humane traps where he steps on this see-saw platform then goes into a chamber where he can't get out.
At first I had the trap in the basement as I thought he was going up inside the wall and under the cabinet. But the other night Percy the Persian - who's most obsessed with this critter flew into the back room and I heard the scratch, scratch of little feet under the dryer. There's a gap where the hoses for the washer come into the room so he must have come through there.
So I moved the trap upstairs and today I decided to pick away at this little hole by the cabinet base that I'd spackled over awhile back. Poked a butter knife and broke away the spackle and a nose poked out at me - LOL! It was this tiny little mouse and he was just like, "Well hello there!". But then my cat dove at the hole and he disappeared. I left the hole open and moved the trap right in front of it. I just found it so funny that the mouse was like, "Yeah I'm in your house - so?". Gutsy little things, aren't they? (02/06/2009)
By Laura H.
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