Mice?

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Fri Mar 06, 2020 7:40 pm


You should still be able to use a small amount of peanut butter inside as a lure in a live trap. Use the traps along baseboards, which mice have a tendency to run along.

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Sat Mar 07, 2020 12:23 am


They also love candy. At a former employer I had mice in my office. At first I thought it was the wise guy down the hall from me coming in and eating candy and leaving the wrappers by my computer keyboard. Then I saw the droppings.

We had a contract with a pest control company so the pest guy showed up with sticky traps. I told him I didn’t want those in my office, so he set up live traps with special bait. Then he used powder to track where they went and told me how they travel along the walls from room to room. He never caught a mouse.

I knew they were in one of my desk drawers where I had candy, so I put candy in the live trap and put the live trap in my desk drawer. Every morning I would have a mouse and I would take it across the street and let it go.

Others heard about my catch and release program and one guy asked me how I knew I wasn’t catching the same mice over and over. I told him I marked their ears with White Out. 🙂

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sat Mar 07, 2020 6:16 am


And apparently coffee. We had a mouse at work who would chew on the Kcups.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Mar 07, 2020 9:59 am


That is funny (marking their ears with White Out).

I think that stuff can flake off though and would recommend instead black magic marker (or are they really dark already?).

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Sat Mar 07, 2020 3:19 pm


Mice are very prolific at just about everything they do. Getting into places they shouldn't go, destroying things and especially breeding. You can't help but admire their resilience and tenacity. At the same time, they can carry infections disease and are very difficult to get rid of.

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Sun Mar 08, 2020 3:08 am


The lady across the hall from me was terrified of mice so when she came back from vacation I told her I got rid of the mice in my office by making a line of mini marshmallows across the hall to her office.

I still don’t understand why I was one of the first ones out the door when they started laying people off.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Mar 08, 2020 9:20 am


That is so funny!

I take it you were joking (says the person who is not quite sure...)?

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Sun Mar 08, 2020 11:39 pm


Well, I was joking when I told my coworker I lined up the marshmallows to her office. And I was in the first wave of layoffs when the company was in dire straits. That turned out to be a good thing. Five months later when I was already at a new job, the plant where I worked had an explosion and caught fire. One employee was killed, several others were injured. Three months later the plant closed down, so I'm glad I missed out on the accident and shut down. I felt so bad for everyone who was still working there.

rjespicer

Post   » Tue Mar 10, 2020 4:11 pm


Still haven't been able to track down any sign of them other than catching movement out of the corner of my eye. Starting to wonder if I am seeing things or being haunted by our deceased Hammies.

As for marking them maybe you can make them color coded waistcoats out of felt? ;)

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Wed Mar 11, 2020 3:36 am


Well, if they dressed up like Beatrix Potter characters I wouldn’t mind them being around the house!

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Wed Jan 12, 2022 7:47 pm


I have problems with mice in the garage and basement. Haven't seen any in the upstairs part of the house so far. I suspect the 3 dogs and 2 cats have a lot to do with that. In the garage, they get into the stuff we have stored for bedding. The only food source out there is the pet food and guinea pig hay, which are all kept closed in tightly closed 5 gallon buckets for the dog and cat food and a garbage can with a hinged lid that latches down tightly for the guinea pig hay. I think they're just in the garage to get out of the cold and hunt for food elsewhere.

In the basement, which is finished and being used as a living space, there is a gap between the upstairs floor and the drop ceiling tiles which makes a perfect habitat for mice. They pretty much stay up there and bring in acorns and food items from outside to store up there, since there isn't any food source down there. I have to get rid of them, or at least minimize their population as much as possible somehow.

Poison is out of the question because of the danger to the other pets. It would be bad if one of the dogs or cats got ahold of one laced with poison. Even worse if the guinea pigs came in contact with it or the poisoned mice. Those electronic devices that supposedly repel mice are out too for obvious reasons. That leaves trapping them. I tried the glue boards, but with the chill in the garage, the glue hardened to the point where the mice don't stick to it. Haven't tried it in the basement yet, but I think it is warm enough for them to be effective.

We got up into the basement ceiling and found some empty boxes of decon and several carcasses. Looks like they have been up there for quite a while because the boxes were empty and had been chewed up pretty good. I'm going to put several traps up there along with some glue boards and see if I can get rid of them. Being in the country, mice are something that will always be a problem since there are literally millions of them around here. I read about using steel wool to fill the holes they come in through. Finding said holes is not going to be easy. Most of them are in places that are inaccessible.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Jan 12, 2022 8:31 pm


Yes, a thorough assessment and tightening of your home can work. You might look into some of those "have a heart" traps that you can put a little peanut butter in to trap them.

But then there is always what to do with trapped mice. Relocate or drown. Getting rid of mice is not fun. I wish there was a nearby owl rehabilitation center they could be donated to.

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