How Does the Mouse Get In?

A handful of peanut butter flavored rat poison and a dish of water keep my under/in the house population of mice to zero.

Reply to
Jimmy
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Yep.

After 11 years in my house I've found ALL the thumb-sized holes and blocked them and taught my teenaged son not to leave ANY food around that would sustain a mouse (mebbe a crumb a day..)...

NOT

:)

Although I done what I can, and continue the effort, to keep the mice down. I have a feline mouse-trapper that works pretty good. It's 15 years old now, though, and needs oiling.

Cheers, Banty

Reply to
Banty

They can come in a hole the size of your thumb or less or dig under the foundation or climb the foundation wall and squeeze in under a gap in the siding or...

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

My sig says it all. perhaps they were born there...

Reply to
CL (dnoyeB) Gilbert

Mice get into the area under our house. We think we've blocked all entrances, but I guess not. It's tempting to surround the house with a 6" bed of sand to see if I can detect mouse tracks, but that's a lot of work. Any ideas on how to find out where the little buggers get in? I've killed nine of them in 2 months. The area below the house is about 800 sq feet and has a dirt floor.

Reply to
W. Watson

Two amazing facts:

One: mice can get through incredibly small holes and have teeth that can enlarge a hole/space in almost any building material.

Two: You think you got a pretty tight fitting house. It is amazing just how many spaces and holes there are in there that you cannot see that amount to a Mouse Autobahn.

Mice are all around you. You can trap and trap and trap, but those little promiscuous mices are out there making more mice in the meantime. You can take millions of them in traps, and there are billions left.

Get lots of traps. I like the glue traps because they are easier to set. Just a little sad when the little boogers are screaming with their faces glued down ................

Steve

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

"SteveB" wrote

The poisoned peanut butter idea sounds good, too. And cheaper. And easier. And more humane.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

For sure! I once watched one get into my basement through a gap in the mortar between blocks. The mortar seam was a -bit- wider than normal but not by much. I would have sworn there was no way for the skull to pass through but he went through like he was greased.

Harry K

Reply to
Harry K

Duane Bozarth wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@swko.dot.net:

Yeah, I have ones doing that by the foundation. I happened to see one this morning about 5am. It was very small. Perhaps only 1 or 2 inches long. It was scurrying on the front step having a lot of fun. So being so small they can get in just about anywhere.

Reply to
Marina

"Harry K" wrote

For sure! I once watched one get into my basement through a gap in the mortar between blocks. The mortar seam was a -bit- wider than normal but not by much. I would have sworn there was no way for the skull to pass through but he went through like he was greased.

Harry K

I have heard it said that if a mouse can get his nose into something up to his ears, he can get his whole body through. As you said, I have seen them get through some very small holes.

And if you've ever wrecked out a house, taken off drywall and exposed studwork, toeplates, and top plates, you know there are holes in there big enough to stick your thumb through with plenty of clearance. Lots of extra holes drilled by workmen for pipes, vents, drains, conduit, and such that were never backfilled.

Lots of room for a slick little mouse.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

lol, now your sig says it all. Smoke bomb? Your looking for an adventure :)

Reply to
CL (dnoyeB) Gilbert

I believe it's in a recent science magazine that talks about finding the migratory path of some birds over a swamp. They put out food near where the birds roosted that contained some luminous trace element. After six weeks or so, they could easily see the route of the birds from the glow of bird droppings at night. I suppose another trick might be to close all the holes that are obvious, and then set off a smoke bomb (or insect bomb), and see where the smoke pours out.

Reply to
W. Watson

Mine seem to come in right under the door. All the vinyl thresholds have either worn away or been eaten away leaving the tiniest of cracks.

Reply to
Jmagerl

Not really.

Have you ever been around a house where poision was used and the mice die in the walls or some other space where you can't readily find them . Mmmmmm the aroma is something else, especially in hot humid weather.

The little buggers not only will get in around the base of the house, they can climb right up two floors and go in through the roof eaves too.

It may help to clear ALL debris away from the house for at least 500' and keep the grass trimmed low.

And use traps with the springs, that break their cute little necks

But the only real solution,.....get a cat or two.

Reply to
Amun

I second the cat idea. Lived in my house for 5 years. 1st year caught 69 mice in the house. 2nd year caught 52. 3rd year I lost count at 55. 4th year

  1. 5th year caught 9 mice. Which year did I get a cat? 6 of the 9 were caught before we got the cat. I don't believe he has ever caught a mouse but its his odor that the mice sniff and steer clear.

Otherwise, this is the best mouse trap ever made:

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Reply to
Jmagerl

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If you get a cat, don't use poison. We lost a great cat because she ate so many poisoned mice.

Ken

Reply to
NapalmHeart

Only problem with a cat --- and we have two --- is that when they catch a mouse they like to bring it to you, often at 3am. Look what I caught mommy... Aren't I wonderful... As far as dead mice, we had one die in our heating system. There was no way to reach it without taking out ducts. Just had to put up with it. Somewhere in there is a tiny mouse skeleton... ds

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Reply to
DS

so? What a wonderful, pussycat, that it brings fresh meat to share with you.

Fire up the bar-b-cue and get out the buns mother, we're eating good tonight.

We used to have a cat that would hunt all night, and every morning the "booty" was lined up in a neat row outside our back door . Mice, rats, rabbits, moles, shrews......it was funny to see what that cat could "take down". The cat would sit behind it meowing proudly Wife got to the point she wouldn't open the door until I went out first to clean up the "gifts"

But neither we, or any of the neighbors for miles around ever had varmint problems

And during the warm weather we never had to buy one can of cat food.

AMUN

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Reply to
Amun

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