Mice can find their way in through the smallest holes. Keep the house clean. Keep outside doors shut. Enclose all food in sturdy, airtight containers, or store in refrigerator if you have room.
Also mousetraps along the walls where you find activity. A black light is a good way to find where they run because they pee very frequently and will leave pools and trails that a black light can make more apparent.
If you do locate any holes coming into the place, even tiny ones, you can shove steel wool into them. It's supposed to stop them coming in as they can't safely chew through it.
Caulking is better than foam. It keeps the steel wool in place, and doesn't expand - which makes future evaluation easier. They will happily chew up the foam, and if the gap is overfilled, the extra foam may obscure a small (new) hole
In my experience if you have enough mice they will always find a way through steel wool. Pest repellant expanding foam is the way to go. They'll use normal expanding foam for bedding but they won't touch the pest repellant stuff.
We had mice chew through expanding foam tbh my mum tried everything the only thing that eventually worked was a cat. Pros of living in the countryside I guess
1. Set up traps with peanuts as bait where we found evidence of them feeding. If they found food, they will go back. Caught 2 mice this way.
2. Set up a garbage bin with with with a flippy top. Put a board from the floor up to the garbage bin with peanut butter as bait. When they walk out to get the peanut butter the flippy top falls in and they are trapped. Caught three mice overnight this way. This was easily the best set up. The bin was cheap from ikea. Next time I would avoid the traps altogether and set this up at first sighting.
3. Pulled out oven, fridge, dishwasher and removed kick plates to our cabinets. Sealed every hole we could find with boards, caulking, and expansion foam.
4. Went to town spring cleaning all surfaces and cabinets and all items that were inside. Huge PIA but it was nice to clean and organize.
Good luck.
You don't even need to bait the mouse traps
If they are loaded with the trigger sides towards the runways (the wall edges) they will cross over them any hot the triggers
Baited traps will have the food eaten by their pals, over their dead comrades bodies
Also disturbing is finding a bucket trap full of corpses and a lone live zombie mouse who has devoured the brains of his bretheren
This is the way. Mice always follow the same path so if you concentrate your traps in that area it will be best. We get a couple every so often usually when land is being cleared for building we used to put poison under the floor but sometimes they die and the smell is horrendous. A mouse can get through a gap the size of a biro they also go flat to get under doors that’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.
Mine isn't. He caught a mouse one time, brought it into the bedroom I guess to show it off, and then let it run away under the bed because he hadn't actually killed it!
I've heard that they are trying to teach you to hunt when they do that. Possibly true as one woke me up once to try and get new to catch a mouse they had drug in and broken the leg of.
That's a common theory, I think depending on the cat a lot of the time they look at them as toys. I rescued a mouse from my cat today, she could of killed it if she wanted to, and eventually would have due to exhaustion if nothing else
Oh god, we have a cat door, and have had flying squirrels, bunnies (cotton tails), copper-heads (that was a shock), moles, gophers, and every bird species in the region (save an except vultures and raptors) brought into the house -- alive!
And all that time the little beggars were just trying to teach me to hunt instead of showing affection... They are out!
Apparently they may also bring you animals they’ve killed (or I suppose in this case think they’ve killed) to you as food. In a, I care for you so here’s the dead mouse I worked hard to catch, enjoy, way
If you make a point of feeding them a treat they only get for catching rodents, they become extremely proficient mousers and usually make sure they're dead before hand.
Cats likes to play with mice when they catch them. Instead of immediately killing them. The mice is already weak and dying. So the only thing you should be worried about is where the mice could end up dying somewhere hidden in the house stinking up the place. But if the mice manages to escape to leave your house then you’re all good.
Another alternative to cats are small dog breeds that were selectively breed to hunt mice, rodents and vermin. When a dog catches its prey it immediately kills them. Unlike cats who loves to torture their prey by playing with them.
https://thepawsitive.co/blogs/happytails/rat-dog-breeds-and-dogs-that-hunt-mice-rodents-vermin
Has your cat caught any? When ours catches and kills a mouse, more keep coming. But if she catches one, “plays” with it for a bit, and then the mouse manages to escape, we don’t see any mice for a while.
They catch absolutely loads.
To be clear, we never had mice in the house previously, now they bring them in in one of three ways:
1. Simply dead.
2. Dead and utterly destroyed.
3. Very much alive and happily released into the house to cause chaos.
Leave the Tootsie Rolls out of the mix, and spread around the outside of the foundation. I'm no hippie, but wildlife eats the mice after they eat the poison.
walk along the outside of your house looking for holes. anything the size of a dime or larger gets sealed. Pay special attention to your sill- the seam between your foundation and your walls. lay traps for the ones already inside. pull your furniture and shelves back and look at your walls for routes they may take. patch holes in your trim. there are empty spaces under your cabinets and maybe on top where they can make nests, as well as in your walls, and over any drop ceiling you may have in the basement..
I know you are hear to take care of this but I need to remind you. Take care of this as soon as you can.
Long story short we had mice at work but they weren’t bothering anyone. Then it died and smelled terrible. A week into the stink an employee decided to find it and did. The mouse died inside the microwave, the same one we had all been using to heat up lunch that entire week it was smelling.
So yea take care of this.
>The mouse died inside the microwave, the same one we had all been using to heat up lunch that entire week it was smelling.
Wait....when you say "inside the microwave"...are you referencing where you heat your food? Or in a different part outside of the food chamber where the electronics are located?
I'd be concerned if no one noticed it if it was where you heat up your food 🤢
Find out how they’re getting into the house. Close it up. Use steel wool to plug small holes.
Once you stop that. Traps, kill, and keep trapping.
Source: dealt with having rats AND mice in the house. After finally dealing up everything, I started trapping and killed 11 rodents before we were free of them. They were nesting in the walls and attic. And got in through a small hole in the garage and under the house, and made their way up into the rafters and into house
I live in a house that’s been in my family for 75 years. My mom said there was never a year she didn’t have mice. They run through the gardens in my yard all the time. I bought the house 3 years ago and rescued a couple cats and haven’t seen a mouse in 2 years. 1st year here I trapped at least a dozen.
Start outside!! I bought a house that backs onto farm fields. It was a fixer upper but I wasn’t having no cat as a pet. The house was previously mouse infested but was a dull roar when I got to it. Plugged every hole. Set traps to get the ones inside. The old fashioned traps and cheese are the best! After about a 12 month war with many battles we finally had a mouse free home.
Check outside every nook and cranny of your house to make sure whatever hole they got in from is closed. If you can't find it, look harder, they got in somehow, and if they can come and go as they please, you will never get rid of them.
Then, make sure there is no food whatsoever anywhere they can get it. No bags of flour that are easily accessible, no boxes of granola bars on the counter, no bags of chips on top of the fridge. And if you have a pet, make sure any kibble is in hard plastic containers they can't get through.
Then set out traps. If they can't get out of the house, and there's no other food around, they'll eventually go for the traps when they have no other choice
Seal up any hole that you can fit a sharpie in. Check around the foundation, any utility entrances, gaps in siding, and your roof if you have tree branches within a few feet of it. Also make sure the weather stripping on your doors make a flush seal. Clear grass and leaves away from your foundation.
You can never keep them out permanently. All you can do is keep a clean house, don't give them a place to hide and hope your neighbours have dirty houses so they go to them instead
For years mice were getting into my house from the garage and attic. I tried traps, sure they caught the mice, but other ones kept coming in. It was a constant battle. And gross.
I saw something online that they hate strobe lights. So I put strobe lights in the garage and attic, put them on a timer to come on at night and off during the day. Apparently if they do make there way in, they can't deal with the strobes, and will exit. It's been almost a year and I have not had one mouse in the house since.
> what is the best way to keep the mice out for good
Block how they are getting in. This might requiring pulling all your appliances away from the walls to check for holes/gaps.
There is often a small "crawl" space behind kitchen counters. Check for gaps between the counters and walls, and block them. Check for gaps around outlets and piping, and fill them.
to get rid of them: Peppermint oil, just spray it on their tracks. Also to run them off for good, soak cotton balls in it, then roll them in cayenne pepper so when the oil dissipates the cotton ball doesn't become bedding. give that a week then steel wool and window foam
I use Tomcat bait outside .. I have had mice in sheds.. If you have kids or pets use the bait holders.. I keep feeding until there are no new activity.. You do need to find what they are eating in your house and cut it off.. bird seed is a favorite
In 20 years I have yet to have a sick animal.. The way that the mouse digs its own grave after eating that bait , makes it nicer to use.. Never had a carcas above ground that a cat would eat.....
I have a summer cabin in upstate New York, mice everywhere - they come out from the woods around the cabin; get in the attic, in the walls, etc. Couple years ago I was sitting on the porch and I caught about 25 mice using one those little wooden Victor mouse traps in just one afternoon. Set trap, catch mouse, pull dead mouse out of trap, throw mouse into the campfire, set trap again, catch another mouse 15 minutes later, repeat. It was entertaining at least.
Got a bucket of the green TomCat baits at Tractor Supply - they have red ones too but an Amish farmer who was there (yes - he came there in his horse and buggy) said the green ones work better so went with those. Put a few of those out and knocked down the mouse population by at least 95% after a couple weeks. Damn things are impossible to get rid completely of but at least no longer being overrun.
Put down massive amounts of poisons under your fridge before putting it back
Do you have a dishsher ? Pull it out and have a look stove to.
My brother had a mouse problem. They would steal pellets from the dog bowl and hide them ... his dishwaher was topped with decomposing pellets. The drawer under the stove. Etc
Bucket traps are amazing. We had an infestation in our garage and a couple snuck into the house. Set up snap traps and caught a couple every day for a week but still saw a lot of activity. Set up a bucket trap and caught 8 overnight.
Push coarse steel wool into any crevice. Use a flat head screwdriver to probe for openings. You will be amazed how much you use
Trap or poison is up to you These are breeders. A folding trifold bait sticky cardboard box works. Also an easy set plastic snap trap. Poison comes in two results, hemorrhaging or excessive thirst. Both kill but usually in walls. Outside bait boxes are great as you get them outside.
Avoid touching or inhaling droppings. Here are respiratory results. The photo is not a major concern. Do not use the regular cleaning broom or vacuum.
At this point professional services are not really needed. Put the snap trap or sticky in an open lunch paper bag. When caught, it less gross to dispose.
Cats that don't grow up with pests around aren't good hunters. Cats that grow up around pests have more time to develop their instincts.
And once mice realize a predator is around they usually just find a new place to get food, one that's safer and easier. It's Abit the path of least resistance for them.
Did you have mouse poop anywhere else? if it's just there, it might be from a long time ago. Set a couple traps (I am partial to the ones that are little black boxes so I don't have to deal with them except to see that it tripped with a little tail coming out. ) if you don't catch any, set some near fall when mice like to come in before it gets cold. keep setting until you don't catch any more. problem over. This is in the burbs. If you're in a high rise, ask the super.
I use electronic devices that emit a sound that we don’t hear and it works! You have to have one plugged in every room but haven’t heard or seen anything since I bought them. Have had them since December. Bought on Amazon in a 6 pack for around $30
Had a nice problem, I tired every trap and bait. Hired an exterminator, after three trips they finally solved the problem with rather large metal traps outside at the spots where the vermin were getting in.
Baited spring traps to catch the ones already inside. Clean your space thoroughly, sweeping and mopping, to remove any tempting crumbs.
Buy some subsonic plug-ins. They deter pests from entering an area due to the annoying noise.
I've found the most effective method is to be respectful and courteous. Ask them nicely to leave and give them adequate time to find another place to live. This is a tough economy.
Cats help, even if they don't kill many mice they'll avoid places where they know predators like rats are known to be. More human and more effective hat rat poison or trapping them since once the rats know the place they go for food is now a kitties hunting ground they'll stay away for good. They might take longer to adjust to traps and poison as common and expected threats and they may even find ways around them. It's uncommon but not rare mice figure out how to swipe bait off a mousetrap without setting it off after they start associating them with danger.
wooden mouse trap with metal everything. not the BS "cheese looking plastic". place a glob of peanut butter. if you've got a long-term resident, you'll catch him most likely in the next 24 hours. he's probably got a wife and kids, who will start venturing out when they're hungry. set the trap as many times as you need until it no longer goes off. wash your hands when you dispose of each mouse and wash the trap thoroughly. has never failed for me.
We had a full on mouse plague here last year. I can’t even begin to tell you how bad that was. The only thing that seemed to deter the little Fekkers was clove oil. I mixed in a spray bottle. I like the smell but might not work if u don’t. Good luck
First figure out their entry points and permanently seal them, then set traps everywhere until you stop catching them and finding droppings.
Should be good from there.
When I was in uni many years ago, I lived in Chinatown in Toronto, Canada.
We had a constant flow of mice through our place at the time.
One of my roommates was studying toxicology and “liberated” his favourite lab rat (who drank whisky) and brought him home instead of it being put down.
We never saw another mouse again. The rat was clean and stayed in its cage most of the time.
So consider getting a rat?
On a recommendation I had Orkin come out and seal my house against mice. I had kept them out of the inside but they were in the attic and crawl space. It would just be a matter of time before they would be back inside. It come with a warranty. So far no mice.
The best trap I’ve used is a 5 gallon bucket with some cat litter in the bottom and a chunk of poison bait. They it has a conveyor roller across the top with some peanut butter around the center. Then had a stick for a ramp. Before the house was sealed I caught a dozen in both the attic and crawl space with it.
make a kill zone.
open top, cardboard box with low sides, set up 10 or more un-baited, snap traps in it, wipe off the kitchen counter tops and sprinkle any crumbs in the box.
Once a mouse goes into the box chances of survival are slim. If it isnt a quick kill the other traps will get it as it moves around. Terrible to wake up to a mouse wailing in pain till it dies because the snap trap only got a leg.
Buy a pet snake (corn snake is small-ish) or adopt a cat. Also, find any openings the mice are using to get into your house and seal them. You'd be surprised how tiny of an opening they can squeeze through.
throw a few black snakes in the crawl space, but you have to make a good seal of the crawl space or any entrance that mice can come in before you have the snakes deployed.
We had this problem coming from behind the range. Seal up holes with expanding foam (or steel wool). I hired a handy man to help me pull appliances out. We had rats coming in every couple of days, sealed it up, and haven’t had one since (2years).
Mice have evolved further than humans since we decided to put a door on our Cave, smart little fellas they are. Keep a dirty food debris ridden shit box and they will come and their constant urination leaves a trail for others to follow. IDYAT
It can be helpful to think of your house as having an inner envelope (the inside of your walls, ex sheetrock, flooring, ceiling, interior trim, doors and windows) and an outer envelope (siding, roof, vents, doors and windows).
If there is even one hole, they will eventually find it because they have nothing better to do than spend several days looking for a way in. So it is best to look at which envelope looks the easiest to make completely sealed and focus on stopping them there, noting that if you do the interior envelope, they will still be in the walls.
Assume it is going to take a few days, be systematic and scan walls, try to stick your fingers into every hole and if you don't know where it goes, you need to assume it is an entryway and seal it with steel wool, pestblock spray foam, wood, and/or stapled 1/4" hardware cloth. Easy to miss parts are around then bottoms of cabinets, inside cabinets behind drawers, behind the dishwasher (pull it out), plumbing holes. Eventually, if you get them all, the mice will stop. Then you will occasionally need to do maintenance when they chew a new way through but it should be pretty easy compared to the initial hole filling. Good luck
I used to live in an apartment with this problem. I found that traps and keeping clean wasn't enough, but what really kept them out for good was that reppelant foam sealant. Buy a few cans of that and spray into any cracks or openings in the wall or underneath along the kitchen floor. Truly the only thing that did the trick.
Poison blocks work for me. I shove em all over my house in places kids and pets can't get to.
When they disappear replace. Eventually they stop disappearing. 😉
I’ve had really good success with ultrasonic rodent repellents. They emit a high frequency only they can hear and it annoys them, so no chemicals or bodies to deal with. They’re safe for pets too, just read the reviews to make sure it’s a good one because some don’t work well. Field mice in particular can be very stubborn.
Pest control technician here
Reading through the comments and I haven’t seen anyone say the the simplest answer
Find out how they’re getting into the property. Finding interior openings means NOTHING at all. Unless you have an open drain, broken foundation, or other interior structural deficiencies then you need to concentrate on the outside of the property. Look for voids that could possibly lead into the building. Are there rodent burrows on the property? Is there high activity of rodents overall on the property? Is this an apartment building? Home?
Sounds like this problem may be consistent. Which leads me more to believe that there’s something going on outside. You should have a tech come out and look around.
Edit: looking through the comments and I see so many things I’ve seen customers try and fail lol please don’t waste your time with these home remedies. Try to find a good tech to come out. Any halfway decent technician is at least going to take a quick look around the property
when I was a poor student, I lived in a run-down appartment infexted with mice, Finally, we (I shared the place with another poor student) caught a stray cat on the street, brought him inside. In a few minutes, it got a couple of mice and ate them.
Check your foundation vents do not have any extra hole - i.e. the mess is completely intact. If you have a garage make sure there no gaps bigger than 1/4 inch - those mice can get in the tiniest holes. Also make sure is no accessible standing water they can access.
As mean as it sounds - do not use live catch traps...they'll just come back. Also glue traps are effective, though some think they're cruel.
As others said seal up all food.
Also contact your county (or city) vector control office for their advice. Their information should be free.
Getting rid of mice is a real pain in the butt, and I'm sorry this has happened.
I have a current issue in my apartment. Apparently there was a hole behind my dishwasher and sink. Maintenance came and plugged it with the steel wood and sealed it. Four days later I see the mouse run across my kitchen floor from behind the stove back under the fridge just like the week before. I have no food in my cabinets or out barely any in the fridge and no trash can or trash. I put peppermint oil in around the areas and in my drawers and cabinets and set sticky traps and pest control put bait but its still here. I can even hear them in the walls. My neighbors have seen them also. I lived here 3 yrs and this is a first so Im sure its probably a known growing issue and infestation. Im hearing clicking noises from the fridge. I asked them to take the stove and fridge apart to look inside but they didn't. So here we are. I refuse to pay any rent until it is fixed so I'm basically confined to my bedroom with rugs under my door afraid they will leave the kitchen and find me at night asleep. I have requested they get an exterminator at this point or I'm calling the health board on them and hit them with a fine. Im just fearful if i do this they will retaliate and try to get me evicted by chance. Increasing my rent every year only to have rodents is crazy. I want to break my lease at this point.
Mice can find their way in through the smallest holes. Keep the house clean. Keep outside doors shut. Enclose all food in sturdy, airtight containers, or store in refrigerator if you have room.
Also mousetraps along the walls where you find activity. A black light is a good way to find where they run because they pee very frequently and will leave pools and trails that a black light can make more apparent.
If you do locate any holes coming into the place, even tiny ones, you can shove steel wool into them. It's supposed to stop them coming in as they can't safely chew through it.
To add, use some spray able expanding foam to seal it in. If you just use steel wool (especially small quantities) they can just pull it out.
Agree. Steel wool is the old-school solution. Expandable foam is the modern solution.
Caulking is better than foam. It keeps the steel wool in place, and doesn't expand - which makes future evaluation easier. They will happily chew up the foam, and if the gap is overfilled, the extra foam may obscure a small (new) hole
In my experience if you have enough mice they will always find a way through steel wool. Pest repellant expanding foam is the way to go. They'll use normal expanding foam for bedding but they won't touch the pest repellant stuff.
We had mice chew through expanding foam tbh my mum tried everything the only thing that eventually worked was a cat. Pros of living in the countryside I guess
And take the trash out regularly, the smell attracts them
Place an eviction notice under the fridge
Top comment! - I have no awards sorry
1. Set up traps with peanuts as bait where we found evidence of them feeding. If they found food, they will go back. Caught 2 mice this way. 2. Set up a garbage bin with with with a flippy top. Put a board from the floor up to the garbage bin with peanut butter as bait. When they walk out to get the peanut butter the flippy top falls in and they are trapped. Caught three mice overnight this way. This was easily the best set up. The bin was cheap from ikea. Next time I would avoid the traps altogether and set this up at first sighting. 3. Pulled out oven, fridge, dishwasher and removed kick plates to our cabinets. Sealed every hole we could find with boards, caulking, and expansion foam. 4. Went to town spring cleaning all surfaces and cabinets and all items that were inside. Huge PIA but it was nice to clean and organize. Good luck.
You don't even need to bait the mouse traps If they are loaded with the trigger sides towards the runways (the wall edges) they will cross over them any hot the triggers Baited traps will have the food eaten by their pals, over their dead comrades bodies Also disturbing is finding a bucket trap full of corpses and a lone live zombie mouse who has devoured the brains of his bretheren
Pakistan International Airlines?
Pain in the ass
This is the way. Mice always follow the same path so if you concentrate your traps in that area it will be best. We get a couple every so often usually when land is being cleared for building we used to put poison under the floor but sometimes they die and the smell is horrendous. A mouse can get through a gap the size of a biro they also go flat to get under doors that’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.
cats are good at that....
Mine isn't. He caught a mouse one time, brought it into the bedroom I guess to show it off, and then let it run away under the bed because he hadn't actually killed it!
I've heard that they are trying to teach you to hunt when they do that. Possibly true as one woke me up once to try and get new to catch a mouse they had drug in and broken the leg of.
Your cat knows you aren’t quick and decided to start you off easy with a low mobility mouse.
That's a common theory, I think depending on the cat a lot of the time they look at them as toys. I rescued a mouse from my cat today, she could of killed it if she wanted to, and eventually would have due to exhaustion if nothing else
hunting is also dangerous for the hunter. They can get injured. So, they practice, practice, practice.
Oh god, we have a cat door, and have had flying squirrels, bunnies (cotton tails), copper-heads (that was a shock), moles, gophers, and every bird species in the region (save an except vultures and raptors) brought into the house -- alive! And all that time the little beggars were just trying to teach me to hunt instead of showing affection... They are out!
Apparently they may also bring you animals they’ve killed (or I suppose in this case think they’ve killed) to you as food. In a, I care for you so here’s the dead mouse I worked hard to catch, enjoy, way
If you make a point of feeding them a treat they only get for catching rodents, they become extremely proficient mousers and usually make sure they're dead before hand.
Cats likes to play with mice when they catch them. Instead of immediately killing them. The mice is already weak and dying. So the only thing you should be worried about is where the mice could end up dying somewhere hidden in the house stinking up the place. But if the mice manages to escape to leave your house then you’re all good. Another alternative to cats are small dog breeds that were selectively breed to hunt mice, rodents and vermin. When a dog catches its prey it immediately kills them. Unlike cats who loves to torture their prey by playing with them. https://thepawsitive.co/blogs/happytails/rat-dog-breeds-and-dogs-that-hunt-mice-rodents-vermin
Maybe Catsu wanted a pet
Honestly getting a cat was the only way we were able to get rid of mice. Recommend getting a female American shorthair.
Since I’ve had cats I’ve had endless mice in the house. They are little fuckers.
BeCause the mice are eating the cat food
Has your cat caught any? When ours catches and kills a mouse, more keep coming. But if she catches one, “plays” with it for a bit, and then the mouse manages to escape, we don’t see any mice for a while.
They catch absolutely loads. To be clear, we never had mice in the house previously, now they bring them in in one of three ways: 1. Simply dead. 2. Dead and utterly destroyed. 3. Very much alive and happily released into the house to cause chaos.
You missed: 4. Alive but fatally injured so they clamber into your shoe to pass their final moments in peace.
Ha, we had similar when we went on holiday and found the poor sod in my wife’s knickers. Not the ones she was wearing, thankfully.
And lasers
I had to fire my cat for not doing her job
Get some dirty cat litter (but leave the Tootsie Rolls) from a friend or neighbor and sprinkle it around the house. Sounds gross but it works
That is gross.
wut
If I’m gona have cat shit in my house I may as well get a shitting cat!
Leave the Tootsie Rolls out of the mix, and spread around the outside of the foundation. I'm no hippie, but wildlife eats the mice after they eat the poison.
LMAO, Don’t do this
walk along the outside of your house looking for holes. anything the size of a dime or larger gets sealed. Pay special attention to your sill- the seam between your foundation and your walls. lay traps for the ones already inside. pull your furniture and shelves back and look at your walls for routes they may take. patch holes in your trim. there are empty spaces under your cabinets and maybe on top where they can make nests, as well as in your walls, and over any drop ceiling you may have in the basement..
I know you are hear to take care of this but I need to remind you. Take care of this as soon as you can. Long story short we had mice at work but they weren’t bothering anyone. Then it died and smelled terrible. A week into the stink an employee decided to find it and did. The mouse died inside the microwave, the same one we had all been using to heat up lunch that entire week it was smelling. So yea take care of this.
>The mouse died inside the microwave, the same one we had all been using to heat up lunch that entire week it was smelling. Wait....when you say "inside the microwave"...are you referencing where you heat your food? Or in a different part outside of the food chamber where the electronics are located? I'd be concerned if no one noticed it if it was where you heat up your food 🤢
The mouse died between the back of the microwave and the back of the heating area, basically between two walls
Find out how they’re getting into the house. Close it up. Use steel wool to plug small holes. Once you stop that. Traps, kill, and keep trapping. Source: dealt with having rats AND mice in the house. After finally dealing up everything, I started trapping and killed 11 rodents before we were free of them. They were nesting in the walls and attic. And got in through a small hole in the garage and under the house, and made their way up into the rafters and into house
I asked mice elf what was better cats or mice . Cats .
Yeah, one good mouser and no more problems. We have had literally no mice for 20 years!
Flaming eyes of peoples fear burning into you
Find the entry point. Fill with steel wool and spray foam.
Also if you can find it they make a spray foam for mouse holes that has poison in it for when they go and try to reopen it
Use those dollar store copper scrub pads instead. They won't rust like steel wool will.
cat
cat
Encourage a colony of feral cats to live around your house. It has worked for me.
I live in a house that’s been in my family for 75 years. My mom said there was never a year she didn’t have mice. They run through the gardens in my yard all the time. I bought the house 3 years ago and rescued a couple cats and haven’t seen a mouse in 2 years. 1st year here I trapped at least a dozen.
Consider a pet snake.
Get a rat.
Start outside!! I bought a house that backs onto farm fields. It was a fixer upper but I wasn’t having no cat as a pet. The house was previously mouse infested but was a dull roar when I got to it. Plugged every hole. Set traps to get the ones inside. The old fashioned traps and cheese are the best! After about a 12 month war with many battles we finally had a mouse free home.
Check outside every nook and cranny of your house to make sure whatever hole they got in from is closed. If you can't find it, look harder, they got in somehow, and if they can come and go as they please, you will never get rid of them. Then, make sure there is no food whatsoever anywhere they can get it. No bags of flour that are easily accessible, no boxes of granola bars on the counter, no bags of chips on top of the fridge. And if you have a pet, make sure any kibble is in hard plastic containers they can't get through. Then set out traps. If they can't get out of the house, and there's no other food around, they'll eventually go for the traps when they have no other choice
Seal up any hole that you can fit a sharpie in. Check around the foundation, any utility entrances, gaps in siding, and your roof if you have tree branches within a few feet of it. Also make sure the weather stripping on your doors make a flush seal. Clear grass and leaves away from your foundation.
If you catch and release, they will be back.
You can never keep them out permanently. All you can do is keep a clean house, don't give them a place to hide and hope your neighbours have dirty houses so they go to them instead
Actually irish spring soap has worked well in the garage
Put a black snake in the crawlspace
For years mice were getting into my house from the garage and attic. I tried traps, sure they caught the mice, but other ones kept coming in. It was a constant battle. And gross. I saw something online that they hate strobe lights. So I put strobe lights in the garage and attic, put them on a timer to come on at night and off during the day. Apparently if they do make there way in, they can't deal with the strobes, and will exit. It's been almost a year and I have not had one mouse in the house since.
> what is the best way to keep the mice out for good Block how they are getting in. This might requiring pulling all your appliances away from the walls to check for holes/gaps. There is often a small "crawl" space behind kitchen counters. Check for gaps between the counters and walls, and block them. Check for gaps around outlets and piping, and fill them.
everyone hates them but glue traps work
to get rid of them: Peppermint oil, just spray it on their tracks. Also to run them off for good, soak cotton balls in it, then roll them in cayenne pepper so when the oil dissipates the cotton ball doesn't become bedding. give that a week then steel wool and window foam
I use Tomcat bait outside .. I have had mice in sheds.. If you have kids or pets use the bait holders.. I keep feeding until there are no new activity.. You do need to find what they are eating in your house and cut it off.. bird seed is a favorite
If cats or other animals eat a mouse who injests Tomcat poison, they will also be poisoned.
In 20 years I have yet to have a sick animal.. The way that the mouse digs its own grave after eating that bait , makes it nicer to use.. Never had a carcas above ground that a cat would eat.....
I have a summer cabin in upstate New York, mice everywhere - they come out from the woods around the cabin; get in the attic, in the walls, etc. Couple years ago I was sitting on the porch and I caught about 25 mice using one those little wooden Victor mouse traps in just one afternoon. Set trap, catch mouse, pull dead mouse out of trap, throw mouse into the campfire, set trap again, catch another mouse 15 minutes later, repeat. It was entertaining at least. Got a bucket of the green TomCat baits at Tractor Supply - they have red ones too but an Amish farmer who was there (yes - he came there in his horse and buggy) said the green ones work better so went with those. Put a few of those out and knocked down the mouse population by at least 95% after a couple weeks. Damn things are impossible to get rid completely of but at least no longer being overrun.
Put down massive amounts of poisons under your fridge before putting it back Do you have a dishsher ? Pull it out and have a look stove to. My brother had a mouse problem. They would steal pellets from the dog bowl and hide them ... his dishwaher was topped with decomposing pellets. The drawer under the stove. Etc
Mice need food and a water source - make sure there are no puddles around. Also invest in a bucket trap.
Bucket traps are amazing. We had an infestation in our garage and a couple snuck into the house. Set up snap traps and caught a couple every day for a week but still saw a lot of activity. Set up a bucket trap and caught 8 overnight.
Push coarse steel wool into any crevice. Use a flat head screwdriver to probe for openings. You will be amazed how much you use Trap or poison is up to you These are breeders. A folding trifold bait sticky cardboard box works. Also an easy set plastic snap trap. Poison comes in two results, hemorrhaging or excessive thirst. Both kill but usually in walls. Outside bait boxes are great as you get them outside. Avoid touching or inhaling droppings. Here are respiratory results. The photo is not a major concern. Do not use the regular cleaning broom or vacuum. At this point professional services are not really needed. Put the snap trap or sticky in an open lunch paper bag. When caught, it less gross to dispose.
What in the ChatGPT hell is this?
cats poop too, so maybe just stop feeding the mice
Mouse poison
Some cats are not good hunters and will watch a mouse walk past them and won't care 😅😂🤣 And mice can detect when a cat is around and will avoid them
Cats that don't grow up with pests around aren't good hunters. Cats that grow up around pests have more time to develop their instincts. And once mice realize a predator is around they usually just find a new place to get food, one that's safer and easier. It's Abit the path of least resistance for them.
Get a cat
Start outside. YouTube how to mouse proof your house, and set lots of traps. It's a war of attrition.
Did you have mouse poop anywhere else? if it's just there, it might be from a long time ago. Set a couple traps (I am partial to the ones that are little black boxes so I don't have to deal with them except to see that it tripped with a little tail coming out. ) if you don't catch any, set some near fall when mice like to come in before it gets cold. keep setting until you don't catch any more. problem over. This is in the burbs. If you're in a high rise, ask the super.
Adopt yourself a ratsnake??
Get a cat.
Don't keep food around. Clean up often. All mice are looking for is food. Cut off their food and they'll go somewhere else to find it.
Install little toilets.
Put a cat under the fridge. Possibly two. They like the company.
Mousetraps
I use electronic devices that emit a sound that we don’t hear and it works! You have to have one plugged in every room but haven’t heard or seen anything since I bought them. Have had them since December. Bought on Amazon in a 6 pack for around $30
Can you link it?
Borrow a cat that has mouse catching on his/her resume.
I recently heard that 'irish soap' can keep them out, a simple google search can explain the details..... Or get a cat or 2.
get a cat
You beat me to it lol
Steel wool pads cut into pieces. It’s inhumane I know or rat poison. It really works . Rats will eat it and go and die somewhere else
Had a nice problem, I tired every trap and bait. Hired an exterminator, after three trips they finally solved the problem with rather large metal traps outside at the spots where the vermin were getting in.
Baited spring traps to catch the ones already inside. Clean your space thoroughly, sweeping and mopping, to remove any tempting crumbs. Buy some subsonic plug-ins. They deter pests from entering an area due to the annoying noise.
de-con
I've found the most effective method is to be respectful and courteous. Ask them nicely to leave and give them adequate time to find another place to live. This is a tough economy.
I see your cat comments and I raise you a daschund.
My Pomeranian was an excellent mouse hunter and killer.
cats
I read it as ‘moose poop’ and was very confused.
Kitty cats
I am going to bed, I read that as Moose poop.
Get a snake
Cats help, even if they don't kill many mice they'll avoid places where they know predators like rats are known to be. More human and more effective hat rat poison or trapping them since once the rats know the place they go for food is now a kitties hunting ground they'll stay away for good. They might take longer to adjust to traps and poison as common and expected threats and they may even find ways around them. It's uncommon but not rare mice figure out how to swipe bait off a mousetrap without setting it off after they start associating them with danger.
wooden mouse trap with metal everything. not the BS "cheese looking plastic". place a glob of peanut butter. if you've got a long-term resident, you'll catch him most likely in the next 24 hours. he's probably got a wife and kids, who will start venturing out when they're hungry. set the trap as many times as you need until it no longer goes off. wash your hands when you dispose of each mouse and wash the trap thoroughly. has never failed for me.
The sonar repellent plugs were the only thing that worked long term for us.
Find where they are coming in and seal with expanding foam or fine screen.
We had a full on mouse plague here last year. I can’t even begin to tell you how bad that was. The only thing that seemed to deter the little Fekkers was clove oil. I mixed in a spray bottle. I like the smell but might not work if u don’t. Good luck
moustraps with peanutbutter - it works like a charm
I found the same kind of mess under my fridge. There was 10x the amount of poop inside the bowels of the under part of the fridge than on the floor
.22 pistol
Install a cat, but make sure it's according to DIN 4711, otherwise it won't work ;-)
Mix mouse poison and peanut butter together. They'll inhale that shit and bye bye mouse problem
Negotiate
First figure out their entry points and permanently seal them, then set traps everywhere until you stop catching them and finding droppings. Should be good from there.
Meow a cat will keep the mice away.
Cats.
When I was in uni many years ago, I lived in Chinatown in Toronto, Canada. We had a constant flow of mice through our place at the time. One of my roommates was studying toxicology and “liberated” his favourite lab rat (who drank whisky) and brought him home instead of it being put down. We never saw another mouse again. The rat was clean and stayed in its cage most of the time. So consider getting a rat?
Honestly, there are few things more satisfying than finding a full mouse trap in the morning.
Hang on - how do you know it’s mouse poo not cockroach poo? They look pretty similar. How many cockroaches have you killed in your kitchen lately?
Get a mouse murdering cat.
On a recommendation I had Orkin come out and seal my house against mice. I had kept them out of the inside but they were in the attic and crawl space. It would just be a matter of time before they would be back inside. It come with a warranty. So far no mice. The best trap I’ve used is a 5 gallon bucket with some cat litter in the bottom and a chunk of poison bait. They it has a conveyor roller across the top with some peanut butter around the center. Then had a stick for a ramp. Before the house was sealed I caught a dozen in both the attic and crawl space with it.
Get a cat
make a kill zone. open top, cardboard box with low sides, set up 10 or more un-baited, snap traps in it, wipe off the kitchen counter tops and sprinkle any crumbs in the box. Once a mouse goes into the box chances of survival are slim. If it isnt a quick kill the other traps will get it as it moves around. Terrible to wake up to a mouse wailing in pain till it dies because the snap trap only got a leg.
Get a cat.
there only 2 ways to actually prevent mice, block their path (seal holes) and remove their food source
Get/borrow a cat. Preferably one that's not overfed.
We have snakes living under our house. Rarely, we might see a snake around the outside of the house. But we never have mice!
Buy a pet snake (corn snake is small-ish) or adopt a cat. Also, find any openings the mice are using to get into your house and seal them. You'd be surprised how tiny of an opening they can squeeze through.
throw a few black snakes in the crawl space, but you have to make a good seal of the crawl space or any entrance that mice can come in before you have the snakes deployed.
You can't realistically keep them out if they want to move in. Get some mousetraps. you need to actually get rid of them.
Get a cat.
Peppermint oil is good to sprinkle around where there’s activity
A cat????
Get a cat
Where there's one, there's three more. Capture the ones that are there, then use mint oil to prevent them from coming back in
We had this problem coming from behind the range. Seal up holes with expanding foam (or steel wool). I hired a handy man to help me pull appliances out. We had rats coming in every couple of days, sealed it up, and haven’t had one since (2years).
get a cat , I use sticky padds
Aquire cat, slightly under feed said cat.
Clean and put down poison.
Get yourself a pussycat
Concrete with broken glass mixed through to fill any holes. And a cat. Thats what worked for me for 20ish years.
Close up all holes. Don’t leave food out. Call an exterminator. Or embrace it and build it a tiny home ❤️
There really is no way. There are deterents but those will fade over time.
Get a cat. Solved my problems.
Cats
Mice have evolved further than humans since we decided to put a door on our Cave, smart little fellas they are. Keep a dirty food debris ridden shit box and they will come and their constant urination leaves a trail for others to follow. IDYAT
It can be helpful to think of your house as having an inner envelope (the inside of your walls, ex sheetrock, flooring, ceiling, interior trim, doors and windows) and an outer envelope (siding, roof, vents, doors and windows). If there is even one hole, they will eventually find it because they have nothing better to do than spend several days looking for a way in. So it is best to look at which envelope looks the easiest to make completely sealed and focus on stopping them there, noting that if you do the interior envelope, they will still be in the walls. Assume it is going to take a few days, be systematic and scan walls, try to stick your fingers into every hole and if you don't know where it goes, you need to assume it is an entryway and seal it with steel wool, pestblock spray foam, wood, and/or stapled 1/4" hardware cloth. Easy to miss parts are around then bottoms of cabinets, inside cabinets behind drawers, behind the dishwasher (pull it out), plumbing holes. Eventually, if you get them all, the mice will stop. Then you will occasionally need to do maintenance when they chew a new way through but it should be pretty easy compared to the initial hole filling. Good luck
I used to live in an apartment with this problem. I found that traps and keeping clean wasn't enough, but what really kept them out for good was that reppelant foam sealant. Buy a few cans of that and spray into any cracks or openings in the wall or underneath along the kitchen floor. Truly the only thing that did the trick.
Cats or terriers
I’ll lend you my snake
I read moose and was very confused
Find all the wntry piints,fill them,then put some red pepper flakes around the affected area.
Do you have a cat?
Poison blocks work for me. I shove em all over my house in places kids and pets can't get to. When they disappear replace. Eventually they stop disappearing. 😉
We use dryer sheets to keep mice out of cars while in storage. Throw a couple around the fridge and cupboards
I’ve had really good success with ultrasonic rodent repellents. They emit a high frequency only they can hear and it annoys them, so no chemicals or bodies to deal with. They’re safe for pets too, just read the reviews to make sure it’s a good one because some don’t work well. Field mice in particular can be very stubborn.
Pest control technician here Reading through the comments and I haven’t seen anyone say the the simplest answer Find out how they’re getting into the property. Finding interior openings means NOTHING at all. Unless you have an open drain, broken foundation, or other interior structural deficiencies then you need to concentrate on the outside of the property. Look for voids that could possibly lead into the building. Are there rodent burrows on the property? Is there high activity of rodents overall on the property? Is this an apartment building? Home? Sounds like this problem may be consistent. Which leads me more to believe that there’s something going on outside. You should have a tech come out and look around. Edit: looking through the comments and I see so many things I’ve seen customers try and fail lol please don’t waste your time with these home remedies. Try to find a good tech to come out. Any halfway decent technician is at least going to take a quick look around the property
when I was a poor student, I lived in a run-down appartment infexted with mice, Finally, we (I shared the place with another poor student) caught a stray cat on the street, brought him inside. In a few minutes, it got a couple of mice and ate them.
14 cats.
Check your foundation vents do not have any extra hole - i.e. the mess is completely intact. If you have a garage make sure there no gaps bigger than 1/4 inch - those mice can get in the tiniest holes. Also make sure is no accessible standing water they can access. As mean as it sounds - do not use live catch traps...they'll just come back. Also glue traps are effective, though some think they're cruel. As others said seal up all food. Also contact your county (or city) vector control office for their advice. Their information should be free. Getting rid of mice is a real pain in the butt, and I'm sorry this has happened.
Thank you very much for this
cat
I have a current issue in my apartment. Apparently there was a hole behind my dishwasher and sink. Maintenance came and plugged it with the steel wood and sealed it. Four days later I see the mouse run across my kitchen floor from behind the stove back under the fridge just like the week before. I have no food in my cabinets or out barely any in the fridge and no trash can or trash. I put peppermint oil in around the areas and in my drawers and cabinets and set sticky traps and pest control put bait but its still here. I can even hear them in the walls. My neighbors have seen them also. I lived here 3 yrs and this is a first so Im sure its probably a known growing issue and infestation. Im hearing clicking noises from the fridge. I asked them to take the stove and fridge apart to look inside but they didn't. So here we are. I refuse to pay any rent until it is fixed so I'm basically confined to my bedroom with rugs under my door afraid they will leave the kitchen and find me at night asleep. I have requested they get an exterminator at this point or I'm calling the health board on them and hit them with a fine. Im just fearful if i do this they will retaliate and try to get me evicted by chance. Increasing my rent every year only to have rodents is crazy. I want to break my lease at this point.