Mice...........
 

.........and not the computer kind............ following on from the tips about how to keep spiders away in another thread (we have brown recluse and black widows here)

I have recently discovered that we have some friendly mice living somewhere in our house. Great!! So short of calling an exterminator is there anything that I can do that might get rid of them and cost a lot less than an exterminator? Traps, poison etc

We have a 1 year old and so I want to not only get rid of them, but also do anything I can to prevent them coming back. Since we moved into the house in April I have cleared piles of old wood from the back of the house, and also dumped loads of rubbish that was in the basement. Which should hopefully be a start in preventing them, but any tips will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Re: Mice...........
 

Plain old fashioned mouse traps, along the walls where they run, behind stoves, cabinets, etc...place them parrelell to the wall; bait the trap with penut butter or the chewey PB candy (the love PB, but a smart mouse can licl it off the trap sometimes, hence the chewey candy) packed into thebait end. As you say, clear junk, rubbish, brush etc away from house, and clear any areas where they can bed indside- old crap in basement, newspapers, boxes.

Don't use poison unless you are prepared to smell dead mouse in your walls for weeks/months.

Re: Mice...........
 

Mice love chocolate too. Mind you I wouldn't waste Cadbury's but Hershey should do the trick. ;)

Do not leave external doors open, including garage doors. Seal any gaps, holes etc that a mouse could squeeze through....remember if you can push your little finger in....a mouse can get through. Don't forget to put bait/traps in the loft, basement and garage. Try those plug-in thingies that are supposed to repel nasties from inside the wals.

Get a cat.

Re: Mice...........
 

Mice are fairly easy to get rid of. Use poison in combination with traps. Put the poison in the same place every time and try not to handle is too much (the smell of humans will dissuade the mice).

Probably most importantly, inspect the outside and inside of of your home carefully and plug any gaps larger than 1/8th of an inch with steel wool (mice will chew through most anything else).

Re: Mice...........
 

Steel wool is an excellent idea, I had forgotten about that.

I did use poison, and regretted it, as the mice tend to die within wall cavities and such and stink for a long time.

Jersey's cat idea is also tops.

One other think- for both mice and cockroaches- the best way to be rid of them is to starve them out- in other words, fanatical cleaning...never leaving anything for them to eat (crumbs on floors/counters, garbage, dirty dishes left overnight).

Re: Mice...........
 

Mice hate Van Halen.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d4...n_Halen-cd.jpg

Hang this up at the mouse's eye-level. Problem solved.

Re: Mice...........
 

Good point. Try to keep as much food as possible in containers with tight fitting lids, ie. cereal, biscuits, crisps etc. once the packet has been opened. Empty the kitchen waste bin at least once a day...always before going to bed. I spray my kitchen bin and outside bin with Lysol anti bacterial spray so it doesn't smell too bad...washing both out with a bleach solution every week or so. Never leave pet food lying around...especially outside. I never put anything that contained food for recycling, ie pizza box, orange juice container, I always put it in the outside bin. Make sure the lid on the bin is a tight fit.

Re: Mice...........
 

Ahh, memories.
Lessons learned in buying and re-habilitating a 115 year old house.

Re: Mice...........
 

As I am phobic about bugs...I don't mind mice in someone else's house not mine...I will only live in a brand new property. God knows what's crawling around the walls in these crappy houses.

Re: Mice...........
 

Yep, definitely starving them out is the best way. I hate killing anything and find whenever we have had signs of a mouse in the house I just clear out all the cupboards and anything that can be chewn and the mouse soon leaves. Also make sure your bins are away from your house. Mice will travel short distances to their food source but not too far.

don't bung the holes up until you have done this though - they need to be able to leave. Once all trace of them mice have gone, bung the holes up and you shouldn't have anymore problems :)

with a child around, I wouldn't use anything like poisons.

Re: Mice...........
 

Speaking as a parent with small kids who had a mouse problem after we renovated the house, I would go with an exterminator as quickly as possible. You dont want the kids to get into the mousetraps or find the droppings...its not only dangerous but poisonous as well....why take a chance with the lives of your kids!

Re: Mice...........
 

......flamethrower?

Re: Mice...........
 

Ah yes- new construction.... full of formaldehyde and a thousand other poisonous vapors emanating from the adhesives, wood preservatives, carpet, plastics etc used in construction, let alone the fact that a good stiff wind will blow it into smithereens vs a stately old home made from real 2" x 4" hardwood timbers and bricks. My old house might have needed a new roof after hurricane Andrew, maybe some new windows, but it would have stayed put.

I'll keep my old creepy crawlies TYVM.

Re: Mice...........
 

Terminex comes around every 3 months (or whenever I call them) to keep critters out of my house.

Re: Mice...........
 

While I agree with those that have mentioned removing the food source is critical....rats, mice and roaches will eat anything to survive....paper, soap, furnishings.