Damn Mice

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

So DP went out to our new house the other day and there is MOUSE CRAP EVERYWHERE.
They had gotten into some dog biscuits left when we went to stay, they have been everywhere in the house.. DD1's room, the lounge, the bathroom and right through the kitchen.

SOOOOOOOOOo i had the wonderful job of going there Sat with DD2 and cleaning up and setting some traps and baits, before we left we had 1 already, another was playing games with me and running up and down the stairs.

We went again Sunday to check the traps and we had caught another THREE.

Do you prefer traps or baits?
What do people use that are not chemical as deterants for mice?
The previous owners have steel wool plugged into all the little holes in the house, does this really work?

I have also just found ON MY COUCH a mouse has been nattering away at a dead moth, so i vac'd the entire couch and as i put it back the cheeky little sucker ducked under the couch and disappeared, so NOW i have to go through and vac the entire lounge room AGAIN aswell as set some traps here....

Whats bringing so many in, is it the change in weather?

** Now i don't want to start a debate over if a mouse should be allowed to live, IMO it has ventured into my house and the places my children eat and sleep and it should be removed, i PREFER to do it as humanely as possible but right now i have no choice but to use traps and baits **

[Rainbow_Mumma]

We have mice here and MIL nor the real estate will do anything "living in the country you wont get rid of them" was the response i got!!

Rat sac doesnt work imo, ive tried the safe traps (long tube rather than a snappy one) and it worked ok but the mice soon wise up to it but for that i found peanut butter of all things to be a good bait inside the trap.
I've put everything and i mean vertually everything into plastic containers hoping to deter the suckers.
Sorry im not much help at all i have my own battle with them and getting very frustrated hopefully we can help each other out to get the mice out!

[Trillian]

Unfortunately it is that time of year when they are more likely to come inside. We use both traps and baits as this works best if you have a lot of them, otherwise you are emptying and setting traps all the time. Get some Racumin sachets as they wont make a mess like pellet poison and you can drop one behind cupboards and fridges etc away from little ones and pets. I've been doing a fair bit of cleaning today and found that they had actually started eating the hem of a dress stored in a place that I thought was mouse-proof!

Steel wool is good, but dont get the stuff that is really fine, because they can still chew through it, you need to get the stuff that is really shiney and like a tightly coiled spring, you will find it in the supermarket where all the dishcloths are. They can't eat through that one. If they are getting through vents, get your DH to cover it with some mesh and if there are gaps in the skirting boards, just get some 'no more gaps' and fill them in. Mice only need an 8mm gap to fit through and get inside.

ETA - Peppermint oil is supposed to deter them, but I can sprinkle the oil around a mouse trap and still catch a mouse in it or vacuum poo from where I have sprinkled it so I have come to the conclusion it doesn't work and just makes your house smell like the mother of all Minties LOL

[skybie]

Lol ZB love ur disclalimer!
We tried baits but they didnt do squat, so we use traps with PB.
Our infestation seems to be back for the moment, caught 7 over the weekend! 3 in half an hour

[ss_storm]

Ew yuck! we've had a bit of a mice plague the last couple of days..I think it's just because it's starting to get colder outside and they're looking for somewhere warm (but it's not going to be inside MY house!). I caught two last night in the space of about half an hour, and they were big FAT ones too! Unfortunately the 2nd one didn't die in the trap and DF took it outside attempting to fling it over the fence, but it started climbing up it's tail (he was holding it by the tail) to bite him so he dropped it on the verandah..freaked me out but afterwards it was sooo funny! He and the dog were racing around the verandah trying to find it..then it sky dived off the verandah and ran under the house

Got another one this morning, another big fat one only this one was almost black in colour. Not sure why we are suddenly getting big mice though, I've only ever gotten the little field mice which are still yucky but not as bad as a big mouse!

[ll80]

I find Talon works well if you want to bait them. Kills them within a couple days, and good if you can't get back to your new place to re-set the traps etc.

I went out side to turn a tap off that DH had left on (hose to the water tank) the other night and a mouse was on my back patio making a run for the open dooor! Luckily as soon as it saw me coming back it ran away and I made it in and slammed the door lol. WIll be super careful to make sure the doors are closed in the evenings.

We had them all inside last year but we have moved into a new house this year which has been built to keep the buggars out *fingers crossed* we don't get any!!

Good Luck!

[megs]

Hi Zavara,

I'm in the Wimmera and we are in the middle of a mini mice plaque here too.

We use baits and traps. I don't know how many times I've gone to the toilet (which is in the laundry) and a mice has run between my legs. (they were coming up through a gap between the toilet pipes.

I too use steel wool to try and cover up any holes. We had used poly filler but the little buggers have got through that.

I was given another tip you mix together cement powder and custard power 50 50 mix, just leave in a say aluminium tray, it works like bait, they are attracted to the custard powder, eat the mixture then the cement draws all the water out of them and kills them. They won't smell as bad as baited mice do when they die. (or so I have been told I haven't tried this one yet)

Good luck!

[luna moth]

** Now i don't want to start a debate over if a mouse should be allowed to live, IMO it has ventured into my house and the places my children eat and sleep and it should be removed, i PREFER to do it as humanely as possible but right now i have no choice but to use traps and baits **

I'm a vegan, so not all that into the killing thing, and I use traps! Some times you just gotta be drastic.

I just use the old-fashioned wooden ones. Ironically though, we only bait them with vegan food. Doesn't really make sense, but I'm not going to go out and buy cheese or meat just so I can catch a mouse. SO, yeah, we use peanut butter with some sesame seeds on it.

We have also used the humane trap once, but when we let the mouse go, it was caught by an owl a few minutes later, so we figure it's going to be killed anyway, let's give the owl a head start!

Last year we had one eat out the inside of DH's ski boot, and didn't realise until 2 days before we flew out to our ski holiday in Japan! He was not happy.