Ugh, Caught a Mouse

[DAGTA]

cages don't work. at least i have never had any luck with them.

sticky pads seem far worse to me. so its stuck on a pad still alive. you can't get the fucker off without hurting it so what's the other option? let it starve?

use the snap trap and kill it fast.

olive oil poured on the sticky pad will negate it. I used that to free a lizard stuck in a trap in my garage last year.

 

[momeNt]

Pee around the perimeter of your house. Does nobody do this?

 

[mvbighead]

my house butts up to a large wooded field. I have mice problems like you wouldnt believe.
When we moved in, we gut the basement. It was liveable at one point down there and had ceiling tiles. We ripped them down and durring the entire process it was a constant shower of mouse poop. we found 7 mummyfied mouse corpses and 24 nests.

Then we redid the counters in the kitchen. One of the corners of the room is an empty void under the counters. huge pile of dog food and mouse poop in there. They are comming in somewhere along that wall of the house. under the sink started to get mouse poop. filled the gaps with steel wool, havent had a problem under there again yet.

The saga is still ongoing, had 2 just a couple weeks ago. Its bad enough a snake even found its way into our basement. I have no idea where it came in, and if i could find out, its probably the same place the mice are comming in.

The garage has them something fierce. Ripped out an old workbench that ran the length of the garage and it was nothing but poop and blow in insulation nesting. Already found one dead one when fall started this year. Need to put traps out there.

My old house was almost as bad. had a couple get in the house and were dispatched by the cats. The garage was detached and really bad. House was built in 1949, so it had plenty of gaps fo the little guys to get in. Even had a couple Black Birds get into the basement. Those were good times.

Now that really sucks. If that were me, and I had a problem that severe, I'd probably do a combination of 3 things:

1) The Snap-E traps all over the house.

2) The bucket dowel trick that was posted in the garage and in storage rooms of your house where you can get them.

3) Pickup cats at a local humane society when they're giving them away. Nothing declawed, just good old farm cats. Get about 2 or so, and keep them fed and just let them roam the outdoors.

I thought we had it bad with about 5 one winter, but we've rarely seen a mouse in a trap in a long time. But with a problem like you're talking about, you need to take several approaches most likely.

 

[mvbighead]

my cats are so useless. in fact, i only started getting mice in my house after we got our cats. they are attracted to the smell of our cat food. found out that there's this huge gap in our drywall behind the oven that they are coming in and out from. also there was one kitchen drawer where i found mouse poop that they are climbing into from the drywall area behind the oven. gross.

Yep, this is the other side of mouse problems. Finding those spaces and filling them. I've been told that steel wool is one of the best things to stuff them with because the mice can't chew through it.

 

[HydroSqueegee]

Now that really sucks. If that were me, and I had a problem that severe, I'd probably do a combination of 3 things:

1) The Snap-E traps all over the house.

2) The bucket dowel trick that was posted in the garage and in storage rooms of your house where you can get them.

3) Pickup cats at a local humane society when they're giving them away. Nothing declawed, just good old farm cats. Get about 2 or so, and keep them fed and just let them roam the outdoors.

I thought we had it bad with about 5 one winter, but we've rarely seen a mouse in a trap in a long time. But with a problem like you're talking about, you need to take several approaches most likely.

we have 4 indoor cats (two of which are decent at mousing) and theres about 6 stray cats that roam around the yard since our neighbors feed them. I'd LOVE to take off the siding and see exactly how bad the wood is underneath, but thats not going to happen. Way too much work. Our "new" place was built back in 1952.

The second to last mouse was caught by one of the cats in the basement, who ran upstairs and let the mouse go! stupid cat. I almost caught it, but i took my eye off it for a fraction of a second and it vanished into thin air. I could not find it anywhere.

Not sure if it was the same mouse, but a week after that the cats injured another/same mouse and i was able to scoop him up.

 

[BladeVenom]

Feed them to the hawks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VyQipO4miw

 

[Broheim]

my cats are so useless. in fact, i only started getting mice in my house after we got our cats. they are attracted to the smell of our cat food. found out that there's this huge gap in our drywall behind the oven that they are coming in and out from. also there was one kitchen drawer where i found mouse poop that they are climbing into from the drywall area behind the oven. gross.

many cats will catch mice, bring them inside, get bored and then let them go.

 

[mvbighead]

many cats will catch mice, bring them inside, get bored and then let them go.

Who lets a cat in their house that is carrying a mouse? Cat door maybe?

In any case, I would think of farm cats as outdoor cats. Indoor cats are entirely different, likely depending on breed and I am sure each has a differing demeanor.

I am not a cat guy, but we did have them growing up. Didn't really see many mice around our house. My aunt is a cat person, but her cats are indoor cats that have been declawed. I've seen more mice at her house (less than a mile from my folks) and I (obviously) have spent far more time at my parent's place.

All that said, the traps mentioned in this thread when used over time should minimize the population, and eventually you'll have a mouse (or relatively) free home. Just plug the holes and keep an eye out for any entry points they may find.

 

[Murloc]

If you had some chickens, catch the mouse in a live trap, throw the mouse to the chickens, then watch nature take its course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGcgDO_pe2M
like this?
They sure evolved quite a bit from dinosaurs but pack hunting instincts are still the same.


I had a previous home which was above a forest full of wild animals but I didn't get rats, only those carried by the cat (rare, they usually ate them). Actually there was one once that nested in the low floor (probably got in through the door that was open all the time) but that was it. The momma rat just fell off the terrace and died, while the pink sqeaking pieces of meat were eaten alive by my cat. I could hear the bones crushing while they were still squeaking.

There are no light wooden suburbia houses here so it's unusual to have rats inside houses. It's all rock, brick or cement with foundations and no gaps or entrances.

I think the effectiviness of cats depend on the kind of cat.
Indoor domestic cats (life span: 14+ years): they're kids forever, they're well fed so it's just predatory instincs and play, they care about you so they want to bring you gifts.
Farm/outdoor cats (life span: 4-7 years): semiwild, don't have much of a relationship with the owner, they don't always have food available if other cats ate everything already, they will hunt for food.

 

[Red Squirrel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGcgDO_pe2M
like this?
They sure evolved quite a bit from dinosaurs but pack hunting istincts are still the same.

lol wow did not figure chickens would eat that.

And I don't know what's worse, a vertical video, or a vertical video that's not even uploaded the right orientation!

 

[lord_emperor]

I think the effectiviness of cats depend on the kind of cat.
Indoor domestic cats (life span: 14+ years): they're kids forever, they're well fed so it's just predatory instincs and play, they care about you so they want to bring you gifts.
Farm/outdoor cats (life span: 4-7 years): semiwild, don't have much of a relationship with the owner, they don't always have food available if other cats ate everything already, they will hunt for food.

Disagree about the domestic cat. Mine is a bloody murderer. I think he was less than 3 months old when he caught his first mouse which he killed brutally and ate. A bit later he killed another mouse and gave it to me as a present.

He also killed a pigeon that got into our apartment while we were out, but I don't think he could figure out how to eat it through the feathers.

There are no mice where I live now, but he eats moths and spiders and flies.

He's not allowed outdoors and was bought as a kitten from a craigslist ad.

 

[lupi]

Agree with that, I've had cats that stayed in doors for years and then suddenly they managed to sneak out a couple times, and while they don't really eat the items due to being well feed there is still a collection of mammals and reptiles at the back door.

 

[thegimp03]

Feed them to the hawks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VyQipO4miw

That's hilarious. I had to watch it twice to see the mouse running across the strip of pavement right into the hawk's clutches.

 

[mmntech]

I don't feel bad about killing the buggers. They breed so quick you can never seem to make a dent in them. My house used to back onto a field and they'd come pouring in every time they ploughed it. They key is finding out where they're getting in and plugging the holes. They can get through a crack the size of a quarter.

 

[Doppel]

I read this first as moose and was very impressed.

 

[lxskllr]

I read this first as moose and was very impressed.

My elation of capturing a moose would change before I even thought of making a thread here :^D

 

[jumpncrash]

I smashed one with a shoe the other day, I felt kinda bad

 

[Wag]

In Soviet Russia mouse catch you!

 

[n7]

Well-fed cats tend to be lazier about catching mice.

When i was growing up, i saw so many of our cats torturing mice.

They'd catch them and injure them (or maybe the mouse is kinda paralyzed with fear), and then play with them.

If they aren't hungry cats often don't eat them, as has been mentioned.

The bucket trap is pretty awesome.

 

[MustISO]

We use those hockey-puck style traps and they work well. You place the bait in the center and the mouse has to go all the way inside to get to it. At that point it closes and I assume snaps their neck. We've caught at least 4 this way. They come into the garage when the weather gets cold and two got in the house in the past but we have no idea how they made it inside. I've sealed up the drywall in the garage as much as I could using foam and molding/caulk.