Problem .... Mice ..... HELP !

I've heard that you don't want to use the poison because when the mouse dies and decomposes that can create a whole another problem. We've used the glue traps and have been successful.

We live in the country- mice are a constant- unfortunately. Ugh! I HATE it!
Anyway, sticky traps, for IF they get in.
Use the spray foam along ANYWHERE they may get in. Pipe openings for water pipes, dryer vent, air conditioner vents.
They do not like the peppermint smell. I got peppermint extract and soaked cotton balls and put them anywhere I absolutely did not want them around. This was around by baby's toys, pantries, countertops, under stove, you get the point. Refresh these every so often. I could not put actual peppermints, because then there would be ants. ;)
Find where they may be nesting. Is your house set up on blocks or is it on a slab. Make sure there are no boxes, pilings, etc. outside your house, this could harbor them. Get the piles out of the inside of your house. They will turn to these for food when they can't get into your pantries.
Cedar shavings keep mice and other pests away. Line your flower beds or simply layer it all around the outside of your house.
Finally, remember what eats mice. Yes, snakes. If you do not get them under control, these critters will surface soon. We had this happen, yes, a snake in our bathroom. 3.5 foot, not something you want to see with four kids in your house! I do good when I use a combination of everything above. It is annoying to have to freshen up everything every few months, but, it is part of the cycle. The only time I have one on a sticky trap now is when someone brush-hogs their pasture that hasn't in a while around us or does their yearly mega-cleaning.
Outside cats are great, but, no, don't use poison if you have a mouser. There are outside animals, not all are inside pets. We have outside dogs that are our family and love us. We play with them regularly, but, they also protect us. Everyone has their role, even the pets we love. :)
I really would not use poison though, because they can and will get in the walls and possibly die there- and they smell horrible when that happens! Who wants that?
Good luck!

Did you get one of the special "vermin" control companies to come out? There are companies that specialize in "non bug" problems -opossums, squirrels in attics, mice, rats, etc. I feel your pain! Our last house was relatively new -built in 1999 -and we kept it very clean (especially before kids!). When I was pregnant with our first, we started having a mice problem. I would find droppings in the pantry -and the chewed on food containers. SO gross! We would set traps, catch some and still -more! My cat was ancient at the time, but he would wake me up in the middle of the night howling. He saw them and would try to get them, but they would get away. We even had a nightmare incident involving a family cookbook of my grandmother's recipes and a larger French cookbook falling on it during a mouse incident -and, uh, yeah -both cookbooks had to be thrown out. Since the house was newer and we had COMBED it for entrance points, we called a "varmint" control guy who told us we HAD to have a hole, crack or something. We finally pulled out the fridge and where the ice maker connected was a hole to the crawl space under the house! My advice is to get someone to do it or do it yourself, but they're getting in somewhere -a large crack or hole near a connector pipe or the HVAC. Look around!

I want to stress what BD said. If you put out poison the critter will go somewhere to die. I've actually had this happen years ago. I had pest control come, they assured me they use a poison that "makes them seek water" so they leave the house to die... BULLSTUFF! We had ONE die in our wall and you have never smelled something so awful. It stunk out the entire house. It was awful and it takes a LONG time to go away. Trust me when I say you do not want to go through that smell while pregnant.

Get rid of the boxes and other stuff they can be using for nesting. Switch to hard plastic containers like the Rubbermaid sealed storage containers. Make sure you're not providing them with nesting materials -- books, papers, cardboard, clothes, cotton, old stuffed animals. Put all food and grains into sealed containers as well. Check your pantry for signs of chewing, droppings, etc. Make the house as uninviting as possible.

Here are some more ideas:
http://www.grandmashomeremedies.com/home-remedies-for-get...

This does not address your question...

Just wanted to mention that the reason that you shouldn't change kitty litter when pregnant is because they may have picked up the parasite toxoplasmosis. Cat's don't carry that naturally - they get infected by killing mice or other vermin or by eating infected meat. So really, it's the mice and vermin that are the original and main concern. If a cat is and has always been indoor and has not been exposed to pests, its not a high risk.

At least that's what my midwife told me.

Hi S.,

J. B. had the best advice. Mice get into the house through very small openings. A good, professional pest control company will do a check for you and seal the cracks and openings. You can try yourself, but unless you know what you're doing, you may miss a crucial area, and if you have a recurring problem, it is best to leave it to the experts. Being pregnant, you don't want to have to worry about this, and you certainly don't want to be dealing with this when the baby comes.

One other note--please do not put poison around the house. It is too easy for babies, toddlers, and young children to get into. When professionals use poison, it is generally in locked containers that have a very small hole to allow the rodent to enter the box.

If you seal up the points of entry, and eliminate sources of food and nesting, you should be on your way to a mouse-free house!

Best of luck to you and your family!

J. F.

Get cats and let them be a little hungry.

You just have to keep on top of it...good suggestions with plugging holes and such. Getting a cat? OOOOOHHH...I am so sorry that our society STILL doesnt see WHY you get a cat. They are pets. Not exterminators. Lets just say you DO get a cat...not all cats are mousers. What if that cat you DO get EATS that mouse that you have already laid out poison for? Hmmmm? uh, vet bills?
I asked this question a couple of years ago. Got the same "get a cat" response...it puzzles me.......and bothers me, all at the same time.
A cat is a household family member...not pest control....especially when laying down rat bait.

Funny thing...I am NOT a cat person...never had one...but if I did, I wouldnt get it because I had mice.
Good Luck in you endevour....

i agree with the others who said to seal up the holes, and to continue to put out trap or poison bait (if you use poison bait, a lot of times you won't see/find the dead mice, because they crawl away to hide and die.

Also, as I'm sure others have said, seal up or get rid of places they can nest, and get rid of or seal up any possible food sources (if you keep cat food in the garage for example, or grain in the barn, or food in boxes or bags in the pantry--you need to get rodent proof containers to store the food). Also, keep the grass cut short around your house and garage, and keep all litter/debris removed (no piles of sticks or leaves, etc. left around to give them a place to hide).

Cats can be a small deterent (sp?), but won't take care of the problem, and if you use poison bait, that can be a possibly be a danger to the cat or your kids).

Snakes, particularly the black snake, I believe are much more effective than cats, because they can get into the places where the mice hide and nest and root them out. And they are harmless to people....

Trim back your trees that reach the roof, they climb the trees and jump on the roof, trim the shrubs on the bottom so they don't have place to nest. Also get rid of the boxes you mention, that is nesting material. Cats are good, but if you poison the mouse and the cat eats the mouse =[

One more suggestion: you could always borrow a cat who is a good mouser. Ask around. Ask neighbors. I bet s/o knows a good mouser. We grew up with a cat who loved to catch mice and we lent her out to neighbors during the day.

if you're pregnant, don't get a cat. you shouldn't change kitty litter pregnant.

sorry, i feel for you! good luck, i wish i had some good advice beyond mouse traps...!

Seriously, get a cat!! We have had a very minor rat problem in the garage during the summer seasons. We have put out decon and they havn't taken the bait. We're fostering a mama cat and she has (in the last 2 weeks) brought us a rat and a mouse. :)

decon mice love it or get a cat. put sos pads anywhere you might have a hole around pipes in the sink or whatever. my suggestion is heavily a cat. its getting cold and they are looking for warmth. good luck

I agree with the steel wool...we had a mouse once getting to our kitchen via the kitchen pipe hole...filled that with steel wool and no more mice in kitchen. There's a battery operated mouse trap called the rat zapper. You put in cat food and it zaps them...a light lets you know there's one in there so you don't have to see it...the glue traps and snap traps gross me out.

I love animals but I hate mice! Just continue to bait & set traps and you will catch them eventually BUT you need to find out where they are getting in. Seal all openings, etc. This is the time of year, when the weather turns cool, that they really try to get in.
When you use poison, it drives the mice to find water...so they either go back outside or crawl into a wall & die & stink! (Which is why I prefer the traps!). Good luck!

Get a kitty... They are great family pets (As long as none of you are allergic) and they take care of the mice problem... Unless your cat happens to be my cat... In which case you're screwed.

Have you cosidered getting a hairless cat or two? I've heard that cat allergies are caused by cat dander. Hairless cats look strange, but they have no dander to be allergic to. Of course, they have to be kept indoors as they have no fur to protect them from the elements. Check with your doctor to confirm, but I'm thinking a hairless cat may be the solution to your problem. Females, hungry or not, are better mousers than males. Be sure to get your animal fixed or mice will be the least of your problems. Rat Terriers (dogs) were bred to seek out and destroy vermin. Of course, you need to get rid of all poisons before you unleash any other animal on the mice. Electronic devices are available that supposedly drive away bugs and vermin, but I've never used one, nor do I know anyone who has used one. I can't say how well they work. A word of advice, if you seal up a hole inside, they'll just make another. Finding where they are coming in at and sealing that hole is a great idea. I don't see how you can get rid of any place they may nest as they love to nest in insulation. It would be silly and expensive to remove all of the insulation from your home. But they do love cardboard and textiles so I wouldn't hesitate to remove any of that I could. As someone has suggested, if you don't mind snakes, a black snake is a natural preditor for mice and rats and they aren't dangerous to humans. Good luck.

We had a mouse in our house and found the traps didn't work. This little guy would eat the bait but not trigger the trap (and I have to add we try every trap out there. The old fashion snaps traps up to the new spinner ones). We also put poison out without any luck. We called a pest company who put out more toxic poison and that didn't work. This went on for two weeks. Finally one early morning my husband walked into our kitchen and that mouse was up on my counters. I had enough. I went out and bought those sticky traps. I really didn't want to as I hated the idea of the little guy still being alive but just stuck. But everybody told me from the beginning those worked the best and I just couldn't deal with it anymore. Sure enough the first night with the sticky traps out we caught him. I say if you really want to get rid of them keep putting poison out and lots of sticky traps. Good luck!!!

This is the time of year that they come in the house. They don't get in your house because you are dirty. You have to try and find out first of all where they are getting in and close that up. We had them one year really bad they get in around the kitchen sink pipes. If you put steel wool in the openings they can't chew threw it since it cuts their mouths. They can come in through the smallest places if they can get their nose in it they can get it. Just keep putting out traps where you see the droppings, near the doors, pipes etc. and put out poisen. Block all openings under doors too. Check the spots often where you put the steel wool (brillo pads is what we use) since they can sometimes pull it away so pack it in solid. I hate them and am really afraid of them. Just keep catching them and find the source is about all you can do. Good Luck.
Kay

We had a mouse problem in our old house and we also had cats. My hubby set out traps baited with peanut butter but the cats ended up getting more mice than the traps did. We did not do Decon...hubby did not want the mice dying in the walls somewhere and making the place stink, and it's too easy for pets or small kids to accidentally get poisoned as well.

Keep in mind that a cat may help with the mouse problem, but I would only get a cat if you really want one for a pet and you are willing to be committed to it and responsible for it for the rest of it's life. Not all cats are great mousers. My cats were already my beloved pets, the fact that they caught the mice was a bonus.

I would also make sure you don't have any containers of food or bird seed that is easy of them to get into. I had kept an open bag of bird seed in the garage and that's what started attracting them to our house in the first place.

Try putting some traps in and outside of your garage. We had none in the house but plenty in our detached garage and that freaked me out ! My husband put several bait traps outside the garage and that helped before they could get in and when they did get in there were traps inside also. Those nasty little buggers can get into the smallest of holes so go around the outside of your house also and fill any small hole in the foundation with caulk and fix any spots where the siding may have pulled away. Good luck !