Mice have moved in... wife declares WAR

Yesterday, my honey showed me a bowl of some dog food she found in the soap dispenser tray on our washer. We had a good laugh and chocked it up to her just being half asleep first thing in the morning....

She just shrieked and got me to come take a look. Tray was full again and she hadn't been anywhere near the dog's food. Giz has been on patrol lately too. A mouse or 3 have moved in. She just shrieked again... ... she's down in the basement and there's bird seeds all over the floor and inside a shirt she just got me.... Giz is having the most fun she's had in a while... she's got another shrieker to make noise with...

Is it too early to start drinkin'...

 

OMG!!! We;re going through the same thing. It started a couple weeks ago when we noticed the tell-tale sign that mice are around. A couple days ago I was in the basement and noticed a large bag of grass seed had been torn open. Last night AuntJoe saw a mouse on the stove. That was it. She set at least a half dozen traps around the house. It's War. Take no prisoners!

 

One trap downstairs where they may be coming it. Gonna tie a chunk of Giz food to another one tonight and empty her bowl... and set it right there. Gotta put up a gate so Giz doesn't git her nose slapped.

 

Same thing at my farm, happens about same time every year.....

 

Yep... always had em every year at our old farm too.

 

Kill em all with whatever means available! I set traps with peanut butter slathered on a cotton swab and tied to the trap, do the poison cube thing since I don't have pets, and occasionally when I notice a significant rise in the population, I'll lay in wait with a pellet rifle. It takes a lot more than a mouse to make me scream.

I had a friend who used those live traps. Then she would transfer the mice to a separate cage and keep them until spring and then release them 50 to 100 feet from the house. I finally convinced her to use the pet proof poison containers in the basement and to keep that door closed at all times since she has several cats and dogs. Then also do the mouse trap thing to reduce the population. I think what was happening was the mice would all go back into her house because if they were caught, they were put in the safety of the cage and have all the food and water they could ever need. Even fresh bedding from time to time.

So she would keep complaining about so many mice in her house. Kill em all, kill em all, take no prisoners!

 

Caught a few of them the last few weeks but not as many as years past. We had a bumper crop of garden snakes this summer and it seemed to help. Also saw a weasel out by the shed a few times as well. I hear they're really good mousers.

Funny thing about the shrieking over seeing a mouse. It's me and three girls and the little one has a hamster that they all love and carry around without it bothering them. But..... see one mouse somewhere and it's time to find some earplugs.

 

I got two in the last week. There's probably more, but the "signs" have gone away for the moment.

 

Never thought about using soup to clean clothes! How does it work out pricewise?

Gary

 

we keep all the stuff they like in the shed, and even leave a little bird seed out daily for them when we feed the birds in the morning. have not seen any in the house or attached garage.

must be working.

 

I've got 2 cats, so I haven't seen any mice in the house. My shed on the other hand is at the edge of the woods so it almost always has d-Con laying around to help control the populaion. Earlier this fall I found a nest on the battery of my garden tractor. Then found a live one stuck in the wheel barrel a few weeks later. The ol' Fiskars took care of him.

 

Well, there's your problem right there.
Mice absolutely love dog food mixed with soup........

 

No tell tale signs yet this fall. Last fall found a nest in the air breather on one of the snow machines. We sometimes have one come in somehow but use the little white plastic traps that sort of look like a set of false teeth all the way open. They have a hair trigger and usually have to keep trying to set it down without triggering it. We dab on a bit of peanut butter and set it on a newspaper in a couple spots and ... bingo ... never had one escape. Those things close hard and fast and you can hear them go off. We got one last fall and haven't seen any sign of them since. Touch Wood!

 

At least a couple years ago, we bought one of those thing-a-ma-bobs you plug into an outlet that gives off some sort of alien siren sounds (which we humans can't hear), which drives the meeces out and keeps 'em out. We haven't had mice in the house since.....that I know of.
Hope I didn't just jinx myself.

An addendum: Bought ours at Wally's for about $20.

 

Gary... chicken soup works great... PapaDave's right... well no wonder, the mouse likes keeping some dry crunchy nuggets right next to the soup dispenser...

 

"some sort of alien siren sounds" ... I always thought that was what Giz was makin'...

 

I have 12 mouse traps out in the sheds, the garage, in my trucks. After they chewed the main wiring harness in my Tundra I'm a mouse killing machine. Our cat died last year, he was a great mouser!

 

Six cats inside. I haven't seen any mice this year inside, but outside they are being caught as often as we can set and clean out the traps. I won't use poison. I use to hear them in the ceiling, but no more. They have done tons of damage to stuff stored in the garage and to the car. I have some live traps that work, and an electric one. The live traps can hold a few mice at a time. Just drop it in a bucket of water for a while then clean it out and reset it.