# Mice in Flex Duct



## boondocks95 (Apr 2, 2015)

Long story short, we have mice and I'm 99.9% positive they're living in the flex duct. They have managed to leave a mess behind in literally every room in my home (albeit small only 1100 sq ft). An exterminator came out on Friday and put poison down, found no evidence of them getting into our crawlspace and couldn't figure out how they entered the home b/c we have it sealed so well (pipes coming into home, electric lines, etc). He put some poison in the crawlspace and one in my water heater closet b/c the walls are accessible so we gathered they live somewhere in there. I finally figured out last night they are in the ducts. I found droppings in at least three of the shoots. 

I'm not sure if they're living in my flex, or just using it as a highway. We just replaced all of it in November b/c it was so degraded and nasty and I'm heartbroken at the thought of doing this again. A week before I found droppings a noticed a couple TINY pieces of insulation around a couple vent registers. 

One HVAC person told me NO poison, yet the pest control companies insist they'll be so thirsty they would leave and probably aren't living in the ducts b/c of the constant air flow. 

Do I need to get the poison up and if so do I just place traps at each vent? I can't leave them down during they day b/c I have a three year old. What type of traps? Any other options?

What I've read online says to replace the lines. I can't imagine doing this AGAIN since we just did it in November. Is it super nasty and unsanitary to just rid myself of the mice and then do nothing else? I assume you can't clean them. Maybe an HVAC tech could determine the extent, if any damage. One tech told me the droppings/urine would dry out quickly and is no big deal and if they had done major damage (I don't want fiberglass blowing around my house) that I would see a lot of insulation.

I have a 3 year old and I'm 4 months pregnant if that matters. Ready to get rid of the suckers!


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