These past months have been rough, mice have found their way into my home and are quite intent on staying, these suckers do not look like your typical mouse, they look incredible similar to ye-old kangaroo rat http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Kangaroo-rat.jpg without a long tail and are rather slender... I hypothesize that someone had let a kangaroo rat out nearby and it bread with the normal mice and now the abomination has run loose..
I have tried mouse traps, and these guys literally eat everything on them without setting them off, just amazing... what else should I do? (so far they have eaten 3/4 stuff on the traps without setting them off I assume the 4th trap, wasn't needed due to the fullness of the mouse..) And what kinda mouse is this!?
Posted by DSH (Member # 741) on :
Cats.
One (or more) each for inside and outside. Don't get kittens, get mature cats with some experience. I recommend finding some barn cats. If you live in the city, go to your local farmers market and ask around. If you live in a rural area, ask your neighbors. Also check with your local shelter. Try to avoid lap cats!
Don't give up on the traps either. Find a bait that sticks to the trigger (like peanut butter). If the mouse has to work at getting his "treat", he's more likely to set off the trap.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Peanut butter has always worked wonders for my family. Put the peanut butter on top of and under the trigger mechanism.
During two winters, there was a huge wood pile in our neighbor's yard where they kept breeding and then flooding into our house. I think we killed 50 or 60 of them one year with traps and peanut butter.
Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
My mom told me about one time her parents were packing their stuff in their mobile home in Wisconsin so they could stay the winter in Chicago with one of their other daughters. Grandma put multicolored popcorn kernels that were in their original bag, into another plastic bag and then into a coffee can with a plastic lid. When they returned, there were all these little multicolored things all over the floor. The mice had chewed through the lid and two plastic bags to get at the popcorn.
So, try to limit food sources. I know that's insane, since mice will eat about anything. And if it's that bad, you might want to call in an expert. Among other things, deer mice can carry Hanta virus.
Posted by JonHecht (Member # 9712) on :
But it's so cute! How can you want to kill such a cute thing?
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
That whole hanta virus is good enough reason to kill anything that might infect me with it.
Posted by Rawrain (Member # 12414) on :
I have a cat, he's a pussy, I believe he hears the mice, but as far as trying to kill them he only wants to play and not the deadly kinda-of play /: --- My girlfriend believes they are in fact the deer mice, I have been putting peanut butter on the traps, but these guys are so incredibly slick that they literally take everything off without triggering the traps, well I am going to try again but this time I will lube up the triggers.
As an added note, before I got in the shower I had placed a trap with peanut butter on it under the sink, by time I got out the peanut butter was gone, these guys work fast... /:
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
... Surround the the metal trap with peanut butter with glue traps? Couldn't hurt right?
Posted by DSH (Member # 741) on :
I just found this idea for a mouse trap. I've never tried it so I can't say how well it works (if at all), but it looks like fun!
Posted by Rawrain (Member # 12414) on :
These mice are potentially very dangerous and I have an infant in the house, I'd be much happier with them dead, knowing they ain't gonna come back...
I put corn syrup on the metal trap and peanut butter on top of it... now if the mice takes a while to get to it, the corn syrup with get really hard and sticky, making the mouse more likely to trigger the trap... hope this works, I think there are MANY mice.
Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
If you use the mousetrap that DSH recommended, put something under it that allows you to carry the whole thing outside.
Or there's this type of mousetrap. It's similar to a kind I've used before, that I think is easier to empty and somewhat cleaner to use, as far as what you have to touch after a successful use. It also looks like it's more likely to spring from even a light touch.
(edited to add) I guess I didn't ask what kind of traps you are using.
And it's really important to figure out where they are coming from and block it so when you get them out they don't come back.
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
If you use glue traps be prepared to kill the mouse yourself.
Posted by Rawrain (Member # 12414) on :
I am using ye-standard plank and coil trap.
Posted by Rawrain (Member # 12414) on :
OH MY! These mice are not just ordinary mice, they are freaking super mice....
Once again the trap was entirely cleaned, hardened corn syrup and everything!!! I tested the traps they do in fact go off just by touching the metal trap piece, how in the world are these mice doing this!
Posted by Anthonie (Member # 884) on :
Place it along the wall. The mice, who prefer to run along the wall, when they encounter the trap run through the little built-in tunnel. In the middle of the tunnel, they run over a trigger mechanism in the floor that is spring loaded. When it is triggered, the mice are flipped into a side compartment. They are alive and usually not hurt.
My family caught at least 100+ mice using one of these when we lived in an old farming community. Some nights there were half a dozen little mice in the trap.
Posted by Rawrain (Member # 12414) on :
My goal is to have them very much dead, being possibly virus carrying sort, I would just ignore them but they keep getting into the silverware drawer, and I have a 1month old child, I need a message to get through to these mice that I am not messing around, but apparently I am feeding the masses...
What kind of mouse could possible eat straight off the spring trap, without triggering it.... I made a joke that the hamster we have might be able to fly, I am starting to reconsider that idea... joking XD
Posted by Vasslia Cora (Member # 7981) on :
My understanding is that Sweet Potatoes are poisons to rats but they like the sweetness of it, I imagine the same would be true for mice.
Posted by Anthonie (Member # 884) on :
How about rat poison in the food? You could lace the peanut butter with it... No worries then about their dextrous ability to access the food without springing the trap.
If the poison doesn't work, you could euthanize them after you catch them in the mechanical tunnel trap. It's amazing how well those tunnel traps work! Mice can't resist tunnels! (Yes, I'm promoting tunnel traps, but I promise I don't work for or own a company that produces them.)
ETA: *Vasslia beat me to the poison idea.
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
I struggle with mice each and every year it seems like, usually twice a year. (Unfortunately, I've recently adopted a cat, so I'm hoping that the silver lining will be him keeping out the mice this winter!)
I typically use glue traps, and since I'm a cruel person who really doesn't care at all about the pain and misery of mice, I just dump them in a plastic bag, knot the bag, and throw it in the outside trash can. That's too heartless for most people though, so alot of people around here tend to keep a large rock outside with which to bash the little beasts.
If the infestation is large, however, traps rarely work by themselves. I've had to resort to poison twice. :-(
Oh, and about the food thing, I've had a mouse break into a tin can!!! They regularly will chew through plastic tubs. They're evil!
Posted by Rawrain (Member # 12414) on :
They have yet to get into anything but places they aren't supposed to be, drawers... mouse poop in every single drawer... besides that I don't see any cans or boxes tampered with and judging by their appearance they could potentially be carrying a dangerous virus....
Although I care little for rodents, besides my hamster... and bunnies oh my yes bunnies <3, I am not interested in a sick and twisted slow death /: I'd rather kill em fast and painless than make them suffer just for looking for a warm and cozy easy to break in place...
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: Peanut butter has always worked wonders for my family. Put the peanut butter on top of and under the trigger mechanism.
During two winters, there was a huge wood pile in our neighbor's yard where they kept breeding and then flooding into our house. I think we killed 50 or 60 of them one year with traps and peanut butter.
On the one hand, that sounds wildly successful. On the other hand, you killed that many and yet there were still more to kill, so...
Posted by Rawrain (Member # 12414) on :
SUCCESS, I decided to up the ante and added an additional mouse trap along side the peanut butter one, I put cantaloupe cut as a rectangle and made a t of it on the metal trap, woke up and the cantaloupe was gone and there was a dead mouse on the peanut butter....
I think the mouse finally got so fat from all the food it took from the traps, and that was it's downfall...
Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
1 down ...
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dan_Frank:
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: Peanut butter has always worked wonders for my family. Put the peanut butter on top of and under the trigger mechanism.
During two winters, there was a huge wood pile in our neighbor's yard where they kept breeding and then flooding into our house. I think we killed 50 or 60 of them one year with traps and peanut butter.
On the one hand, that sounds wildly successful. On the other hand, you killed that many and yet there were still more to kill, so...
I think that has more to do with their prodigious breeding than with our ability to commit wholesale mouse slaughter.
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