# Mices



## ocoee (May 31, 2007)

The only way to guarantee no mouse problem is total exclusion
Every hole bigger than 1/4 inch has to be sealed

Failing that a year round program of exterior baiting may help

Weather will definitely drive them in
They are the same as us when it gets too cold, to wet, too hot or too dry they are coming inside


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## mcvane (Mar 19, 2007)

*minor mice issues (compared to Rick)*

I am just adding to the original post of Rick. I have had about 4-5 mice hide out in my garage this hot, humid summer. I feel sorry for Rick, but I'm new to the mouse catching thing!

I just in fact saw one today as I was going to the car...he kind of greeted me and then hid away.

I setup 2 traps to see if I can catch him, but what I have to do is prevent mice from coming in the garage in the first place.

I believe it is sneaking in through a small gap very close to the ground, on the sides of our double door garages. Also, there is a part where the concrete is uneven (or the garage doors are uneven to the ground where there is a minor gap.

My question is: I don't think I can seal off the bottom parts of the garage doors because they need a bit of space in order for the doors to close. What can I do to cover these gaps? I will try to go out and take some pictures so you know what I mean.

Thanks for any help in advance.


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## Rick Bruner (May 13, 2007)

OCOEE....
Thanks much - you confirmed what I suspected - going back tho - do you have any experience with the ultrasonic (?) devices.....? otherwise year 'round baiting is really the only alternative....
MCVANE.....
I've had a mouse in the garage once in a while but it was only when the garbage bag or an empty soda can was accessible......just a thought....good luck....

Thanks,
Rick


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## KUIPORNG (Jan 11, 2006)

I would say you go for the ultra-sound device anyway if it works it is a life saver for you... if it doesn't work... you lost $20 bucks.

for the garage... I think you need to make your garage so nicely organize that there is no place to hide... then mice will find a better home...

for Rick, may be you have not married... because 90% of wife will force to sell the house immediately with such condition... not to mention live there year after year...

problem with mice is they are party animals... they don't mind sacrafice a few of them as they sure know how to reproduce... what is better than a warm roomy basement ceiling... I agree with one of the above post.. the only way to stop this baster is to seall all the cracks... if the ultra-sound thing doesn't work....


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## Rick Bruner (May 13, 2007)

KUIPORNG....
Thanks--I spend most of my time in the finished basement after about 9pm- wife does not come down here except to do her laundry during the day....my sanctuary so to speak....you are right most women do not want to share a home with man let alone mice - only kidding (NOT).....
I will buy one of those ultrasound devices tomorrow - maybe a couple - and to find holes in the basement is really going to be difficult at best.....
Talk about a never ending project......
Thanks,
Rick


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## KUIPORNG (Jan 11, 2006)

there shouldn't be any hole big enough for mouse to get in below grade... otherwise your basement should be soaped with water at rainy days... so the hole must be above grade and visible ... did you look at all the pipes/cables/wires which go through your external wall see if they need to be caulked as mice can enter from gaps there.... I would really want to find out where the hole is.... you have a brave wife... who dare to go downstair to wash cloths knowing there may be mice running on top of her head... to be honest... both me and my wife consider mice being the scariest creature on earth...


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## mcvane (Mar 19, 2007)

Kuiporng

Honestly, I'm not a fan of Mickey Mouse or his extended family (which seem to bug us every so often), but my wife (who is brave) has convinced me that they are usually scared, furry friends who are not looking to hurt you, but they just want to live with you.

They certainly make a mess, but I've learned to not be scared of them. After putting a few of them in garbage cans and cleaning their mess in the garage, it might be dirty, but when we found a dead racoon in our back yard last summer, I love mice!! That racoon was brutal and to get him into a bag was a big job. He was so heavy!!

Anyways, whoever reads this post, seal off what you can. I'm in the process of sealing my garage door rubber part with extra foam as that is where our mice were sneaking in...


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## KUIPORNG (Jan 11, 2006)

I wish I can link Micky to the real mice as you do... when I saw them... I am so scare and my feet got lumb.... I scare them more than they scare me... if one drop onto my head... I might be dead because of heart attack... with Raccoon... at least I can hold up a big strong stick and battle with it and probably hit his head and get satisfaction... but with mice... I don't think I can do anything with them as they are so small and running around...


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## ocoee (May 31, 2007)

I have never had any personal experience with the sonic devices

Every expert I have ever talked says they don't work
Every customer that I have talked to that has used them says they do

Who do you want to believe?
I consider them chicken soup.

Mice are hard because the holes size is so small
Don't limit your search the the basement go out side with a can of foam or steel wool or both
You probably wont get all the holes the first time

Mice typically have a range of about 25 feet or so and don't smell to awfully bad when they die


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## Rick Bruner (May 13, 2007)

Ocoee....
In reading about the sound devices they do not appear to work....consensus is that they work for a short time but then the mice get used to them and ignore them.....I also read that 60 of the companies who produce/advertise these units are being sued for false advertising....so perhaps they work for a week and then that's it.....I am going to start looking around the basement windows for cracks - the cinder block and mortar in the open spaces looks new despite the fact that the house is going on 69+ years.....problem being there is so many shrubs everywhere.....tough to get to those sections.....will suit up and dive in.....much appreciate all of the feedback and comments....has been quiet up in the ceiling since I reloaded all of the traps and am about to do so again - it is easy to tell where they have been - one bait trap in the front of the house moves almost every day - it is empty of bait in two days....
More fun....
Thanks,
Rick


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## Big Bob (Jul 27, 2007)

CATS :yes:


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## Rick Bruner (May 13, 2007)

Big Bob.....
Thanks...!! I have a 22lb cat - if I put him up in the ceiling he would fall through the ceiling tiles....but that thought has crossed my mind - having had cats over the years - most did not give a .... about the mice running around - need to stop feeding the cat - THEN it works....make 'em hungry.....it has been 7 days without the pitter patter of little feet so fingers are crossed....! Have spent $24+ on bait.....maybe it is slowing down the reproduction cycle....
Thanks....
Rick


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## KUIPORNG (Jan 11, 2006)

At least your ceiling is not drywalled like many others... otherwise... the situation will be much worst...


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## mcvane (Mar 19, 2007)

I've never had a cat, but would the animal cruelty activists say something if we setup a cat-house for a 'trained cat' in our garage? It's generally warm there throughout the summer but can get chilly in the winter.

Maybe he will keep Mickey on the run...?


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## Big Bob (Jul 27, 2007)

No, you will be a hero. rescue one from your local shelter/ spay or neuter/

You can build a little insulated and heat with a light bulb cat house in the garage for most chilly nights. Have a spot inside for the long very cold spells.

Ask the cat for a resume'.. not all are good mousers.


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## justdon (Nov 16, 2005)

*Best cat,,,*

Best mouser cat in the world is a good old mother cat. If she has babies she will hunt almost 24 hours a day. MOST tom cats are lazy and stand between the mother cat and her babies and 'steals' the baby food.

ONLY way to make a house mouse proof is to seal all cracks,,,if you can get a pencil eraser in the crack,mice can get in!! Big cracks are best sealed with steel wool first and then smeared with calking. IF you have this many large cracks,,,your heat bills must be atorcious. It will pay you back three fold!!

Those wind up repeating traps are good for ceiling spaces or garage areas. Put some popcorn inside or cheese for bait,,,they work great,,,just take them outside to empty them,,,most are still alive,,,drown them in a bucket of water first .

Besides mice carry fleas and ticks,,,of which some can be REAL life threatning let alone the haunta virus stuff. Ever hear of Lyme disease?? Dont make it a personal problem,,,get RID of those mice!! AND keep them OUT!!!


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## ocoee (May 31, 2007)

Rick Bruner said:


> Ocoee....
> In reading about the sound devices they do not appear to work....*consensus is that they work for a short time but then the mice get used to them and ignore them....*
> Thanks,
> Rick


That is what the experts I spoke of tell me
It's called a scarecrow method

If you get a cat don't feed it but maybe once a day in the early afternoon and just enough to keep him from starving or wondering off

My step father used to pick up stray cats to put down in his barn
He always kept an automatic feeder filled, then he complained that the rats and cats would sit there sharing the feeder

When I told him to quit feeding the cats he looked at me like I was an ogre

When he died we had to deal with about ten fat cats and a hundred heart broken rats


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## jkrodger (Jul 10, 2007)

lol! It's true, to get a mouser to catch the mice, you need to force them by decreasing the food you give them. However, if you get them young enough, you can train them to be mousers and just kill them for fun and praise. And I agree with pp, usually it's the Queens that are the best mousers.

Finally, I can understand how the mice would be deterred by the sound devices, but what about spiders (see my post asking about the black and decker ones), any thoughts?


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## Rick Bruner (May 13, 2007)

As an update - I have an area next to the steps to the front door that seemed kinda suspicious as the soil was depressed compared to the other areas - so I added topsoil to grade it higher and I just noticed that a small animal had dug down toward the foundation....so I will dig it out and look for a hole in that area of the basement wall...
Much appreciate all the cat stories.....what an easy answer that would be.....!! The cat I have does not run after food....no need to "chase" food when it comes in a bowl......
Thanks all....
RIck


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## jimc48 (Sep 12, 2007)

Mices in your ceiling are better than mooses, I guess!:laughing:

I rented a house once where each winter river rats would make the basement their home. Got some .22 shotshells and had a lot of good target practice in the basement - moving targets even. Those suckers were big and my only worry was that someday I would open the door to the cellar and start down the stairs and one would drop on my head. Probably would have shot it anyway (and maybe myself at that point). 

Rubber snakes will supposedly scare squirrels out of your attic, but don't think mice care. Like the others say, try the ultrasonic - I'd say you have a 50-50 chance of it working.

JimC


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## robut (Aug 22, 2007)

mcvane said:


> I've never had a cat, but would the animal cruelty activists say something if we setup a cat-house for a 'trained cat' in our garage? It's generally warm there throughout the summer but can get chilly in the winter.
> 
> Maybe he will keep Mickey on the run...?




Just use De-con the mice eat it go out side drink water and die.

da da da that's all folks


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## Jeekinz (Jan 29, 2007)

deck hand said:


> Just use De-con the mice eat it go out side drink water and die.
> 
> da da da that's all folks


De- Con and a can of Good Stuff spray insulation worked for me. The only drawback is you'll have a few dead mice in your house withering away to dust. But after that, as long as you sealed it up godd, you won't have anymore of those critters.

Like someone else stated: Check all over the foundation where gas lines, conduit aor cable lines may be installed. Also check bilco doors and windows.


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## ocoee (May 31, 2007)

> Just use De-con the mice eat it go out side drink water and die.


That is a myth started by pest control guys to get you to let us put poison inside your house

They will die where they die, usually where they are nesting
There is nothing in D-Con or any other rodenticide that makes them thirsty

The active ingredient is coumadin, an anti coagulant

It simply thins their blood to the point that they are hemophiliacs and causes massive internal hemorrhaging


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## Rick Bruner (May 13, 2007)

Ocoee....
You know I thought that the discussion had come to an end - until you said "coumadin"....so if I (hypothetical) go the pharmacy to fill a prescription for coumadin and pay $80 - it would be better just to eat some rat poison - obviously depending upon equivalent dosage...I don't take coumadin but I know several people who do and we also have a coumadin clinic in the local hospital.....wow.....so I could sell coumadin at cut rate...?
Sorry but you certainly got my attention - everyone always told me over the years that the poison drives the mice out of the house looking for water to satisfy their thirst and then bloat and die.....this qualifies for a 60 Minutes piece.....
Thanks,
Rick


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## ocoee (May 31, 2007)

Rodents can not regurgitate so rodenticides have Ipecac added to prevent misuse or accidental poisoning


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## NateHanson (Apr 15, 2007)

jkrodger said:


> lol! It's true, to get a mouser to catch the mice, you need to force them by decreasing the food you give them.


That's not my experience. Our cats (always indoor/outdoor cats) all catch mice, shrews, even red squirrels (!) regularly, without training, and they have open access to food in the house. I don't think you need to starve a cat to make it hunt. 

For your garage, you really need a barn cat, IMO. Any shelter cat isn't necessarily going to be able to adapt to living in an unheated space, and be a good mouser. If you're close to a rural area, put an add in craigslist, or call around, and you'll be able to take a spare barn cat off someone's hands. (People rarely fix their barn cats, so they usually have more than they want). It'll be used to living outdoors, and it'll likely be a great mouser. Get yours fixed, and then put it to work! As long as a cat is being fed, it is not considered to be neglected. (That's the rule around here. You don't need to be providing indoor, heated space for your animals - you just have to be keeping them fed. So guard dogs on pasture-land are fine, and barn cats are also fine. No problems with animal rights or animal protection officer.)

If your cat is living in the garage, you can feed it in there, and it should do a fine job of keeping mice from eating it's food. Just keep the food near the cat's "house". I'd also put a cat door in your garage so you don't have to clean litter, and so the cat can hunt around your perimeter too.


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## Jeekinz (Jan 29, 2007)

Nate, have you recieved a live bird as a gift yet?:laughing:


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## NateHanson (Apr 15, 2007)

Occasionally, but the birds seem easy to kill, so they're usually dead before they come in the house. The squirrels are our most common "live gifts". I once found one clinging to the door casing into my daughters room. It was nighttime, and the hallway was dark, so I had to get really close to see what my daughter had apparently stuck on her door frame. I had my nose about 12 inches from this thing when it suddenly ran further up the door and I nearly jumped up and hit the ceiling!  

Our best gift has been a bathroom with nothing but feathers everywhere, and blood streaked on all the walls, mirror, toilet, tub, floor. It was truly disturbing. Looked like a horror film.


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## tcameron (Nov 14, 2007)

Check the site below. Your mice are getting in somehow. Find the holes and plug then with copper mesh that you can buy at the below site or other sites. You can use the mesh along with expandable foam or caulk to seal the holes. Also look into getting bait stations for outside your house at the link below to knock down the mouse population outside.
I have had the same problem. Even with tons of poison the mice still get in. I had to crawl around in the dirt and seal up around the foundation where they were getting in. Depending on the poison used the mice can live up to 4 days after consuming a lethal dose. There are faster acting poisions but they can also cause other problems like poisoning dogs cats etc if not used correctly. Good luck.

http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/


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## Dutch1962 (Oct 5, 2007)

Just curious--(if you're still reading this thread)-did you eventually solve the problem? Hope so. I lived in Baltimore for several years and we would sometimes have to deal with some real 'nightmare' mouse problems.

One quick note. Try sprinkling talcom powder outside around the areas you suspect they're coming in. If you see little footsie marks..you can at least narrow down your search for an entry point.

http://www.pestcemetery.com


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## robut (Aug 22, 2007)

How I solved the mice entrance problem !

" Peppermint oil " used for candy and / or baking A good drop here and some over there . Cotton balls in a bottle poor in the oil let them suck up the smell and oil 
Toss them into your attic or where ever. My results were "the very next day "
no more noise???
Please don't ask me WHY??? A friend heard this from a friend and passed it on to me. 

Good Luck
Deck Hand


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## Rick Bruner (May 13, 2007)

All....
This certainly has been a great forum - a lot of laughs for sure.....I think I solved the problem (fingers crossed) - the area next to the front door steps which I suspected was the point of entry probably was - I built the ground up with dirt about 4" in that corner - and also unloaded a can of insulation expanding spray on both the outside next to the concrete and stone steps to the front door and as well on all spaces in that same area on the inside.....I did see a little dig hole (2" deep) outside - apparently who or whatever tried the "dig" was without success - because I kept a close eye on the inside ceiling with a ceiling tile down for three months and four peanut butter baited traps - no catches - previous years I used to catch about 12 mice a season....of course that area is now covered with about 16" of snow....and no pitter patter of little feet....I think the entry hole was just at grade but with the extra dirt made the hole inaccessable - and the snow should keep 'em out at least until the spring thaw....It is quiet and peaceful at night - by the way the cat can't get out of his own way most of the time - so he was not gonna be a help.....again thanks all....I will update in the Spring.....Happy Holidays....!!:thumbup: 
Rick


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## Rayce (Dec 31, 2007)

I just want to suggest that you keep the poison fresh inside your house even if you think you've solved the problem because: 1) mice will find a way in, especially if you live next to a field and they're hungry and 2) if you had a lot of mice visiting, then more than a few probably set up house. Keep the bait fresh and the population boom won't get out of hand.


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