The mine field idea was funny until it actually caught a mouse. Then it was just sad for the mouse. This is what my wife woke me up this morning to "solve".
Needless to say it was very much alive.
I think they came from one of these.
If you don't, you are wasting your time. How many mice do you think are out there? Every house I've ever lived in is mouse tight.
Once the mice got in through a break in the dryer hose. Recently the mice got in when a screen on a drainage hole on the screened porch got dislodged.
Hit with a hammer then pry it loose.
Seriously, you have to seal the house and stop trying to kill every animal in the great outdoors.
I found a way that seemed to work but it took a few hours and the mouse was covered in both vegetable oil and flour before it was finally free to live with the rattlers in harmony.
I improved the wife's olive-jar trap with a cap and a smaller hole which I hope works because it's the most humane of all the traps.
I've lived here for many years with nary a mouse dropping in the kitchen.
There have been mice in the crawl space, and in the garage, and in the heater room, etc., but not in the house proper.
Given there are a half dozen attics and multiple crawl spaces, I'm going to respectfully disagree that all the holes can be plugged sufficiently to keep a mouse out.
I just don't think it can be done.
They probably ate the poison already but just in case they didn't, I covered him vegetable oil and flour and nudged him and then put him and the trap in the bottom of a large garbage can with a lid.
Then when he got almost free, I pushed him loose with a pencil and dropped him off at the same place that I drop off the rattlesnakes, about a mile away from any homes.
I doubt he'll live but I didn't have it in me to kill him, even though if he's poisoned, something else might eat him.
That's one thing the marketing on the packages doesn't talk about.
Must be a California thing. If your house is open to the outdoors, there is no way to keep animals out. Get a cat.
Stop poisoning the wildlife.
You say you had a chunk of dCon disappear. That does not make any sense unless your house is so open to wildlife that they can just walk away with food. In which case, using poisons is irresponsible.
The mice didn't come back last night.
I understand your point that you think it's possible to close all possible holes in a multi-level home built into a hillside, with a half-dozen separated attics and crawl spaces - but I don't think it's even close to possible.
We will have to see what others think to arrive at a better answer as to whether it's possible or not.
Of course it is possible. Not all that hard, actually.
"Danny D." wrote in news:oc8h2f$5tr$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
Beats hell out of me. Post a picture with a ruler or a coin next to them, to give something to compare to for size.
I keep telling you, as long as that stuff is there, they WON'T touch the traps.
"Danny D." wrote in news:oc8mmj$pc2$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
Why the hell are you heading to the hardware store? You already have 8 spring traps, what do you need with more? You need to be heading to the *grocery* store to buy a box of raisins.
"Danny D." wrote in news:ocbd6r$efe$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
Especially if you don't try.
And I can see that you're still using the peanut butter/pine nut concoction that you've been told repeatedly to get rid of. Bait your traps with raisins.
Yep, that's why sticky traps are a bad idea. They're inhumane.
It's also stupid. You'll wind up catching, and releasing, the same mouse over and over and over.
Get that pine nut crap, and the threads, off of your spring traps and put raisins on them instead. Then leave nothing else edible in reach. You'll have a dead mouse by morning.
"Danny D." wrote in news:oc9l6u$bb2$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
I'm beginning to think that you don't actually want to get rid of the mice. You're having too much fun with your juvenile Rube Goldberg schemes to be bothered with methods that might actually *work*.
Well, I guess, if it's possible, then at least the *procedure* is simple.
I agree that the glue traps are a bad idea, if not only for the fact that the mouse is very much alive but not in a position to save it easily but also because they're single-use contraptions, which doesn't make sense.
The good news is that there was no mice activity last night.
We have, in effect, a huge raison in the glue trap, since we replaced the poison with a big dried apricot (which is what the mouse went after in the glue trap and which is what they completely stole in the bottle trap so we know they love the apricots).
Glue traps are a good idea. As the mouse cools, the fleas, ticks, and other parasites that infest it begin to leave and lurk, waiting for another warm blooded host (YOU!!!) to come near. The glue traps at least some of them.
You drive a mile to release a mouse? You should surrender and move. The mice have won.
Thanks for the ideas, but I think the problem has been solved.
I learned a lot about how best to get rid of the mice that get into the house.
The proof is that they haven't returned for another night, even with their favorite fruit (apricot) lying in wait.
Since I often have grand kids (and sister's kids) at home, I trap and release snakes and black widow spiders at a certain spot where there is good parking, it's a mile from anyone else, and there is a good drop off (just in case my aim is bad) in the mountains.
Mice are just another "captive prisoner" to release on good behavior.
Anyway, I'll see if I can paint that Scarlet A on them for next time since my mice problem seems to have resolved itself (but we'll keep an eye out for them moving forward).
Thanks for all the advice. I learned a lot, and I think I can react quicker next time due to the helpful advice (even if I am not going to close every hole since I don't think that's even close to feasible given the number of attics and crawl spaces involved and how inaccessible they are for an old big fat guy).
Do you have mice in the attic? No, I didn't think so.
You seal the living space. Not the crawl spaces, attics, or eves.
So, look around your plumbing as suggested before. Check that exterior doors seal. Check under sinks and in closets. This is stuff you should be doing anyway. Mice need actual openings to the outdoors to get in.
You've probably killed a lot of mice with that dCon, but if they could get in before they will come back.
Sorry to hear about your weight issue.
Don't eat any mice you find outdoors.
Danny D. wrote: ...
if you close up the gaps into that particular room it may help keep them from the food...
next time you have to trap a mouse do not use bait cubes and other gadgets to distract them from the main event.
and go back and read my previous note about how to load a trip pan for a snap trap. it works very well.
songbird
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