AACK! Rodent alert for the squeamish...

[BernardandMissBianca]

Do you know how much I hate living in the middle of nowhere?

I am sitting here minding my own business and a stupid field mouse is running around my house. Darting between the entertainment center and the wall vent for my fireplace. The thing is not bright! It couldn't figure out how to get into the vent, so it ran into the kitchen, still couldn't figure out how to squeeze under the dishwasher, so runs to the back door, I open the door and it can't figure out how to get out so it ran into the dining room.I lost it under the buffet. I really hate setting traps but I'm soooo tired of mice in the house.
Can you tell by the pattern I know where they hide?! So I'm sitting here armed with a bowl and a flashlight waiting for it to come back. DH went to the store so when he gets back we'll break out the Peanut butter and the traps.

When we had our dog the poor thing never got rest in the winter. He would lay at my feet and wait for mice. They would run back and forth and he would chase them. It was rather amusing. He also used to try to chase geckos up the wall when we lived in Hawaii.

 

[ddavis860]

So I'm sitting here armed with a bowl and a flashlight waiting for it to come back.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr... time to get a cat

What is the bowl and flashlight for?

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Flashlight to blind and paralyze it (like a deer) and the bowl to toss over it til DH can take it to the field. I think it's in the wall now, I heard scratching in the doorway.

I don't care for cats so we don't have one. We have neighborhood cats that roam the field and DH saw a hawk catch something today. They usually keep the mouse population down but the mice can't get into their homes because every crack and crevice outside is frozen over.
Oh the trials and tribulations of living in an old house. I love the fact that the house breathes but critters find their way in.

 

[ddavis860]

Mouse update? I never knew that they could be blinded with the flashlight...

My Dh hates cats, so when mine died, we didn't get another one. So far I've only seen 1 mouse in the house, and it was not of the living verity. I do however have a rat (or rats, only ever see 1 at a time though) that pops out under the bird feeders...totally gross! It must be living under our deck. Our house is built on former farm land...we have so many beasties and gross stuff...but we have the best soil for gardening...

We also have a hawk that works our yard. They are really cool! He was up on my deck the other day, but I missed a pic. I was too fast walking by the slider and he flew to the back. I tried to get a pic of him on the fence post, but it's too far for and details. I just wish he would get that rat....

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

We caught a mouse this morning, not sure if it's the same one but at least we took 1 out. We are going to set the trap again tonight. BTW FYI they like peanut butter, and they can't pull it out like they can cheese.

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

We have three cats that live in the barn who come up to the house and patrol the wrap-around-porch for us. Unfortunately they are scared of rats. Guess the rodents are too big for them. So in the same heated office area that the cats live, they have rats for company. Totally gross. Just bought some big traps, but have to wait for nicer weather as we will have to keep the cats out of the barn for a few days.

 

[kaddjr]

Buffy- do you have a basement? I have a really old house, too and to take care of this problem, we put de-con out in the basement at the start of fall. Takes care of the mice really well.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Buffy- do you have a basement? I have a really old house, too and to take care of this problem, we put de-con out in the basement at the start of fall. Takes care of the mice really well.

We do have a basement but unfortunately with the de-con they crawl up in the walls and die instead of going outside. We had a mouse die in the basement about 2 weeks ago and I couldn't even go down there to do laundry because we couldn't find it. Still can't! They fall off the pipes and land in boxes and they can't get out. We have been moving stuff around down there and tossing stuff so there are a ton of 1/2 full boxes everywhere. I didn't feel like rooting through boxes looking for dead mice, that's DH's job! LOL

 

[piratesmate]

Oh I hate mice of the "not Mickey" variety!! LOL We live in an old house on a working farm so we have that problem every year, but we can't have pets so no cat patrol for us.

When we were first married, though, we lived in a 2nd floor apartment in town and had a cat. It didn't do us much good on the few occasions when a mouse got inside. The cat was afraid to touch them! He'd chase them around for fun, but when push came to shove he just couldn't do it! LOL He'd pounce closer & closer until he finally landed on it & spring right back up like he was on a trampoline. Then he'd stalk off as if to say "I didn't really want it anyway."

And I can only wish that DH would have "mouse duty"! That's my job. He'll supervise but his suggestions stink! On time one died in the kitchen & there happened to be a pair of DH's pliers sitting on the counter. Since you're not supposed to touch them because of the diseases they carry, I used the pliers to pick it up & toss in a plastic grocery bag. DH had a hissy fit!! "Don't use my good pliers!! Use a paper towel!" Yeah, right....I'm going to pick it up by the tail and be able to feel it!?!?!?! But rather that than his good pliers! Sometimes men crack me up! (Or is it just mine??)

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

3 down, how many more to go??? Your guess is as good as mine.

 

[PrincessNancy96]

3 down..
OMG! I'm so glad for my cat.. even though the BRAT enjoys waking me up at 4:30am to go out.. or perhaps the times when he attacks my fight when I stretch at night.. what, like he owns the bottom of my bed.. great real cat!!
Seriously, since finding our cat and him NEVER leaving our home we haven't had any problem..

We had a problem a year ago.. I could hear the little skanky feet of that little mice run across my bedroom floor at night.. I was so not liking that and could sleep.. well, I managed to hear him in the wall.. of course DH couldn't hear the darn thing in the wall.. How can you NOT hear that??? Well, I went out got the stuff and caught them myself and got rid of it..because DH just couldn't seem to find them at night when they were running.. had I know about the flashlight I would have been up all night waiting for the patter of those little feet!

Oh, I have a story about my dad trying to smack one with a shovel.. My DD was on the table because she was all of 8 at the time.. Dad is running around the kitchen w/ a shovel.. I ended up on the floor laughing so hard at him!! So, now whenever we have a shovel digging stuff DD and I scream "mouse" to which my Dad will turn every shade of red!!

 

[maria34a]

OMG you guys are way too funny! I have the funniest mouse story, when I was younger and still living at home, we were living in Alabama at the time... We had this little mouse that would come out every night and watch tv with us and then go away when the show was over! I kid you not, we would be sitting on the couch watching tv and the mouse would come out and just sit in front of the tv and watch it for the entire show! Then when the show was over he would just run back to where he came from! My mother got such a kick out of it that she couldn't kill the mouse! It was a riot!

My second story is even funnier! You all know Stacy owns a store right? She sells Bath and Body stuff and she makes her own products and she recently started bringing in sweets as well so she could market suds and sweets tempt your senses! A really cool idea! Anyway, she had this great product from Africa, it was their unrefined Shea Butter and it actually had the nut from the karite tree tied on to the lid of the containers. Well one day, I went into the store and all the nuts were gone!!!! The hemp that was tied around the lid was chewed to shreds! I started laughing so hard!!! I had to call her up and tell her! She just wanted to die! She hates mice and couldn't believe they would eat her products!!!! I told her that the mice didn't know it was for sale and they were just hungry and it looked good to them!!!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

My second story is even funnier! You all know Stacy owns a store right? She sells Bath and Body stuff and she makes her own products and she recently started bringing in sweets as well so she could market suds and sweets tempt your senses! A really cool idea! Anyway, she had this great product from Africa, it was their unrefined Shea Butter and it actually had the nut from the karite tree tied on to the lid of the containers. Well one day, I went into the store and all the nuts were gone!!!! The hemp that was tied around the lid was chewed to shreds! I started laughing so hard!!! I had to call her up and tell her! She just wanted to die! She hates mice and couldn't believe they would eat her products!!!! I told her that the mice didn't know it was for sale and they were just hungry and it looked good to them!!!

OMG that is too funny!!!

 

[MissBubbles]

I had cats for a number of years, but as far as rodent control, my best defense is my 3 year old beagle, Molly. Her count so far this winter is 6 mice and one rat killed in my house. She's such a sweetie but one heck of a mouser. I can handle the mice - but the rat really freaked me out!

 

[PrincessNancy96]

Okay, now I have had it with this cat... The heck w/ the mice.. The dumb cat brought a bird into my house this morning.. Yes, the little brat had toyed w/ a bird and injured it.. Poor bird.. DH goes to leave for work..and lets the cat in.. in his mouth is the bird!! He realizes what the cat has a say "do you need me to stay and deal with this".. my response, "Of course, it's your cat!".. He responsed by saying "it's only my cat, when you are mad at it".. Well, Streaks runs down stairs and lets the bird go in my kitchen... bird is in a corner... because it's injured and DH decides he is going to capture it in the box of a 12 pk of cokes (emptied of course).. It took him 3 tries.. I was laughing..because DH would trap it.. and than darn cat would pounch on DH's hand.. DH would let go and comedy of errors would start all over.. Well, after 3 attempts DH finally succeeded in scooping little birdie into his hands (gloves on and diposed of afterwards) and released him back outside.. The cat is now down on my bed throwing a fit still that we took his toy away.. I'm just so glad my dboys were on the bus already because I think they would have been devestated.. They hate seeing Streaks chase after the poor chipmunks during the summer...

 

[hopemax]

We had one cat that spent 6 months lost in the wild, so she was really good at catching things. Mice, birds and BATS! She'd leave them on the stairs and look at you so proudly, "Look I made breakfast this morning!"

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

We had one cat that spent 6 months lost in the wild, so she was really good at catching things. Mice, birds and BATS! She'd leave them on the stairs and look at you so proudly, "Look I made breakfast this morning!"

#1 reason why I do not have cats!

 

[maria34a]

Okay, now I have had it with this cat... The heck w/ the mice.. The dumb cat brought a bird into my house this morning.. Yes, the little brat had toyed w/ a bird and injured it.. Poor bird.. DH goes to leave for work..and lets the cat in.. in his mouth is the bird!! He realizes what the cat has a say "do you need me to stay and deal with this".. my response, "Of course, it's your cat!".. He responsed by saying "it's only my cat, when you are mad at it".. Well, Streaks runs down stairs and lets the bird go in my kitchen... bird is in a corner... because it's injured and DH decides he is going to capture it in the box of a 12 pk of cokes (emptied of course).. It took him 3 tries.. I was laughing..because DH would trap it.. and than darn cat would pounch on DH's hand.. DH would let go and comedy of errors would start all over.. Well, after 3 attempts DH finally succeeded in scooping little birdie into his hands (gloves on and diposed of afterwards) and released him back outside.. The cat is now down on my bed throwing a fit still that we took his toy away.. I'm just so glad my dboys were on the bus already because I think they would have been devestated.. They hate seeing Streaks chase after the poor chipmunks during the summer...

 

[PrincessNancy96]

Yeah, laugh now... You should have seen my kids' faces when they saw a flying chipmunk past the window.... and than had to convenice them it was not Chip or Dale being hurt by our cat!!!!
Needless to say, Streaks will not be going on any family vacations to see Chip or Dale.. I'd be afraid he'd pounch and send them flying through the air!

 

[ariel & eric]

So glad we don't have mice in the house. Have seen a few in the garage though. We just set the traps and keep the dog and kids away from them.