Need help with MICE - not Mickey or Minnie

[rapriebe]

Please do tell - what are hedgeapples

 

[ladydancer]

I have had mice problems in the past. I am absolutely terrified of mice. I don't mean afraid, I mean the most terrified you can imagine. I can't look at pictures of mice, can't watch movies that have mice in them.

When I was growing up as a child we lived in a old farm house and it was over run with mice. Mom would put out that poison. Dead mice everywhere. Hated it!

I called an exterminator when I saw my first mouse here in our home. All they did was come over and put out poison. I could have done that myself.

The only thing that works is traps. I have all the time 24/7 rather I think I have mice or not at least 20 traps set in my house. If your going to catch them a couple of traps isn't going to get it. "Peanut Butter" is the best thing to put on the traps.

At one time we pretty much suspected they were somehow getting in from the garage. I had dh put sheet metal about 6 inches from the floor up the wall all along the wall that attaches to the house. I do however put poison in the garage and under the spa outside.

Of course dh has all the mouse duties and in all fairness I have bees, wasp duties.

One of my mouse stories, as I have many.....

Once I had a trap set just under the lip of the dishwasher. I was laying in bed one night and thought I heard the trap snap. I yelled to my son who was watching TV to check. He said he didn't see the trap. I kept telling him where is was located and he said "no Mom it isn't there". So I made my dh get out of bed to go check. He said the mouse had took off with the trap behind the dishwasher. I asked him to please pull out the dishwasher and find him! He refused saying it was to late but he would do it in the morning. I pleaded for him to do it NOW because I knew the mouse would chew off his own leg or tail to get loose. Then I would have a mad mouse on my hands. My dh just laughed at me!

Next morning when my dh removed the dishwasher sure enough there was a trap with a leg still in the trap. Of course NOW he says "I'll be darn, you were right". I didn't find the humor in this at all. He finally did catch a 3 legged mouse.

 

[poohlover]

Glad to see there are others with mice problems...we are surrounded by woods & when my DH found mice nests in his car air filter 5 yrs ago he had a fit!!

He is not a cat person...but he knew it was time to invest in one. We now have NO problem with mice & the cats are very happy! My DH even has found he can love the cats...at least his "choosen" one.

My DH also found a mouse the "hard" way...driving on the highway he opened his glove compartment for something...out runs a mouse...without thinking he grabs it by the tail, opens his window & out it went!! Glad it wasn't me.

 

[stacilee]

Just for future reference on the use of the sticky traps.

If you don't want to let the little furries die and would rather prefer to release them into the wild, gather these supplies.

A deep Bucket - a kitty litter tub or 5 gal paint can works great!
A pair of work gloves so you do not get bitten
two pencils -not sharp ones(or a pair chopsticks you don't plan on using again)
A bottle of vegetable oil
A helper


Directions:

have your assistant hold the trap sideways, down in the bucket
Slowly dribble a little veg. oil on the sticky surface near the frantic little kritter- he WILL get messy, but it won't hurt him.
use the pencils or chopsticks to gently work the animal off of the trap.
Make sure you catch the rascal in the bucket!
Put a secure lid on the container and drive them to the nearest park for release.


For those that use snap traps to take care of the problem once and for all, My grandmother used to smear a tiny dab of peanut butter on the trap where you would normally bait it with cheese and then sprinkle the whole thing lightly with flour. She always said that it masked "our smell". Worked every time.

 

[sjh801]

Ladydancer!!! Ewwww!!!

I put out three traps last night. Two had peanut butter and one had a piece of a Hershey Kiss. Well, I caught one mouse, but it wasn't the one I saw yesterday in the garage!!! Different shade of gray. And to make matters worse, I apparently served a buffet! The other two traps were empty of the peanut butter and the Hershey Kiss - but the traps were not sprung.

Oh, by the way, the "deceased" had peanut butter for her last meal. Hope she didn't leave any grieving relatives behind!

 

[ladydancer]

Another mouse tale....

My daughter and her family were staying with us last year while building there new home. It was late summer and they were leaving there shoes on the back deck. It was the first cool night we had and my dd was going outside to get something out of her car that morning. Apparently she put her foot in her shoe and somehow the mouse ended up on top of her foot and bit her. She called me on my cell phone as dh and I had gone out to breakfast with friends, crying hysterically. At first I couldn't understand what she was trying to tell me. She said it really hurt. She didn't know what to do. I told her to call her friend who is a nurse and ask her if she has any suggestions. As this was on a Sunday and the drs. office is closed.

When I got home, there was a circle on the top of her foot about the size of a quarter that was red and turning black. So I told her to call a vet.LOL I figured they would know about mice. They adviced her to go to the hospital and get a tetnus shot.

I just had to tell everyone who said "I was over reacting" when it comes to mice because they would say "why, are you afraid of mice? They don't bite. HA! YES THEY DO!

 

[cybrarian]

We started having a mouse problem for the first time a few weeks ago. They run all over my kitchen countertops at night and leave their droppings. Really gross. We went out and bought a reusable mouse trap that traps them in a little plastic box and so far have caught two. The exterminators wanted a minimum of $100 dollars to come out and many required that we set up a "program" of visits.

Will see how it goes.

 

[kimbac3]

My worse mouse story was when I was moving out of a really dingy apartment building. We knew it was mouse infested (found out after we moved in-only stayed a month or two). My mom was moving my nightstand and came across a nest of baby mice!!! She screamed and took off out of that room leaving me and my new baby standing there wondering what her problem was. We left the mice till my Dh came home. He disposed of them and I won't tell you how.
We had another place we rented - an old house. We had them all over so we filled a 5 gallon bucket with water, taped a piece of brown grocery bag on top and cut an x in it . Then we smeared peanut butter on the top. We left it near the workbench, mice climb up for a snack and fall in.
Most recently we had a mouse in this house. I was laying in bed one night and I could hear it right next to my bed! I said "It's over here, next to my bed taunting me". DH got up turned the light on, looked for it, of course it left. Light went out it came back..I said "That's it we are switching side!" and we did! Caught that little rodent the next day. We like the sticky traps, the others don't seem to work for us.

Kimba

 

[petula]

Everyone says peanut butter is the best. Mice must have different tastes, because I took that advice and didn't catch a thing until I started using cheese. (Of course, they were coming into the house for the Swiss Miss envelopes!)

Did anyone ever say what a hedgeapple is? We used steel wool.

 

[CindysGusGus]

Mouse story here...last Feb. my lovely mouser cat Nick Nack left me a present under my pillow....It was days before I slept on my bed again. Lysol works wonders for the mind.