Mouse in My House !

[Uncle_Feist]

I use have a heart traps with peanut butter. Zeus, thanks for posting pictures of the ones you use without the bodies. If you say they work, I will believe you, even if you don't show a dead body in it.

I'm sorry if I offended you, @Sue_CT ,or anyone else. But where I came from in eastern ky we didn't trust anybody but the preacher, and only trusted him half of the time. Around here it was pictures or it didn't happen..

I've heard of catching fish on a bare hook, but always assumed, of course, with righteous discord, it was hyperbole. Never heard of anyone catching a mouse in an unbaited snap trap until now.. not calling @zeuspaul a liar or anything, just never heard of anyone saying they caught a mouse in a trap without bait and bragging about it.

If I told everyone that I grew a 13 pound mortgage lifter but didn't have a pic, for example..

[Sue_CT]

I wouldn't say I was offended, I just don't enjoy looking at them. So now I just scroll on by.

[zeuspaul]

just never heard of anyone saying they caught a mouse in a trap without bait and bragging about it.

Was I bragging? Maybe I was just relating my experience.

It cost me about $1500 last year to repair damage on my car due to rodents eating wires.

I caught two this past week. Usually about one or two per month. I might catch more using bait but then I am concerned about attracting them. Bait by definition is an attractant.

[Uncle_Feist]

just never heard of anyone saying they caught a mouse in a trap without bait and bragging about it.

Was I bragging? Maybe I was just relating my experience.

It cost me about $1500 last year to repair damage on my car due to rodents eating wires.

I caught two this past week. Usually about one or two per month. I might catch more using bait but then I am concerned about attracting them. Bait by definition is an attractant.

Sorry to hear about your car. Some say the manufacturers coat the wires in peanut oil and nobody knows why..
I know I'd sure be braggin if I could catch mice without bait.. just figured you were doing the same.

[MissS]

My car used to be a mouse house too. I took the car in for service and the mechanic brought me into the garage for a look under my hood. I had dog food all over the engine. One place that they were living in was the air filter behind my glove box for the interior of the car. I set traps and caught quite a few from under the hood. I also started putting the dog food into a plastic garbage can.

[zeuspaul]

I have had pack rats store all kinds of things in various places under the hood. I have repaired gnawed wires a couple of times but it can be a pain depending on access. The fifteen hundred bucks was for damage under the car. The engine light came on and I didn't have a clue so took it to a dealer. Somewhere under the car the rats made a home and gnawed a few wires. They fixed the wires but also placed some protective material around them.

From Google

People also ask

What attracts rodents to car wires?

Why Do Rodents Chew Car Wires? Rodents may be drawn to car wire insulation made of soy, peanut oil, rice husks, and various plant-based materials. The insulation can produce a faint vanilla aroma when it is warm, which may make car wires appealing and appetizing for rodents to chew. Jun 19, 2020

https://www.google.com/search?q=automot ... nt=gws-wiz

[greenthumbomaha]

The traps were empty earlier this evening. It's 2 am and its strangely quiet upstairs in the computer room. I was reviewing an Excel class which I have access to for thirty days after each lesson. Studying like a college kid makes me want to snack all night but going downstairs to the kitchen is a hard pass.

Another outdoor spot that attracted mice was my former gas grill. I found a whole family when I pulled off the cover and lifted the lid. Decided I didn't need a gas grill anymore. No problems with a Weber charcoal kettle stored uncovered. They must not like the wind. The windchill is a crazy cold and dangerous -40 tonight.

- Lisa

[Tormahto]

I use have a heart traps with peanut butter. Zeus, thanks for posting pictures of the ones you use without the bodies. If you say they work, I will believe you, even if you don't show a dead body in it.

I'm sorry if I offended you, @Sue_CT ,or anyone else. But where I came from in eastern ky we didn't trust anybody but the preacher, and only trusted him half of the time. Around here it was pictures or it didn't happen..

I've heard of catching fish on a bare hook, but always assumed, of course, with righteous discord, it was hyperbole. Never heard of anyone catching a mouse in an unbaited snap trap until now.. not calling @zeuspaul a liar or anything, just never heard of anyone saying they caught a mouse in a trap without bait and bragging about it.

If I told everyone that I grew a 13 pound mortgage lifter but didn't have a pic, for example..

I've caught many a fish on a bare hook, bluegills on small gold plated hooks. The flash attracts them.

[greenthumbomaha]

Half way there!

I heard a sound coming from where a trap was laid in the seed room on the outside wall where the vent is. It was more of a squishy wet sound than scratching. Mid morning and it was pretty quiet in the house. What could that be, not something I have heard before. Still alive, ugh.

A few minutes later I heard scratching coming from the floor register in that vicinity. It's not over yet.
Steel wool to be picked up @Lowes tomorrow. Seeds good so far in their plastic shoe boxes. I'll pick up a few more holiday themed tins tomorrow. What awful timing as the Christmas section isn't getting marked down a day or two early like in year's past.

Thank you to everyone for getting me through this!
- Lisa

I went out front to shake and clean a Permanest 10X20 and it flash froze when I sprayed it with a water bottle! Have a safe holiday even on your porch !!

[Tomatina]

Sticky traps are my preferred method of revenge in living spaces.

I understand, that it is not desireable to have mice in your seeds/food/house.
But please, try to see it from the mice perspektive - she is just looking for food and shelter, like every living beeing, she does not want to harm you.

There is no need for this inhumane glue trap, you can use life traps and if you catch one, set them out further away from your house.

Just try to imagine yourself caught in this glue, desperatly trying to free yourself and dying slowly.

Today is Christmas, a perfect day to develop more compassion and love for all beeings.

[Danny]

I admit that I have no compassion for mice or rats, especially in the house or the feed areas. Yes, the mice are just trying to live and so am I. I do not use glue traps, though, I prefer to use the snap traps and remove dead ones.

[greenthumbomaha]

Tomatina,
I understand what you are saying, and I wish more people had compassion and spoke up for others like yourself. However, when it comes to the health of my family at home, I need the problem to be corrected as soon as possible without risk to myself. I am not the type of person to go spraying insecticides so my plants can look more perfect, or shoot to kill wildlife for annoyance. I feel this was necessary to prevent illnesses and asthma. I've tried ultrasonic devices, peppermint oil on a cotton ball, snap traps, and one way traps all with no success. A glue trap is not the ideal solution, but it works quickly for a health hazard that has to be remedied. I picked up steel wool today so hopefully future entry points will be excluded.

- Lisa

[Tomatina]

@Lisa
I understand, that you wanted a quick solution.
We have different small buildings that are not miceproof and we had to adjust them, in order to keep them out or, where that is not possible, to protect our things in containers etc.

Sure my compassion for them got stressed out a couple of times, when we found chewed up things combined with stinking urin..

Probably the funniest episodes:
We heard sounds from our expansionbuilding, where we store some of our food - we looked around, nothing, than this sound again - we had some tetra packs with oatmilk there - one brave mice chewed a hole in the upper side of the pack and went in, diving in the milky ocean - she was paddeling around in there, probably waiting for her friends to join the fun:)

Another micegang, we met in India, where we're living in small, very basic mudhouses in the jungle - as there were no ratproof boxes, we stored our food in plasic bags, hanging from the ceiling.
But somehow they managed to get there and chewed on our food. The flour for chapati was one of their favorites.
So my boyfriend took the flour under his mozzienet at night, protecting it with his life
The mice were not that impressed and sneaked in his bed to get to their desired feast.

We have lifetraps here and they work very good.
I hope your steelwool will work, if not, please consider to catch them alive or at least kill them quickly.

When I read here about this glue traps, I looked it up, cause I never heard about them - here in Germany they are forbidden cause to animal cruelty.

I heard as well, that it is supposed to be unhealthy to inhale the dust of their droppings, well, there are so many potential "risks" in life - a human visitor could be an equal potential risk to your health and you wouldn't glue trap them, would you?

In my opinion it is up to us to protect our food/belongings good enough & sometimes it is just fair to share

[worth1]

A mouse in the house is better than a rat in my hat.
Say what?
A rat in my hat.
Its a big fat rat.
Long tail
Sharp nails.
A rat in my hat.
That's where it's at.

[zeuspaul]

The live animal traps can be as cruel as the glue traps. I have lost critters including unwanted kill in live traps due to exposure. If I can't get down to the garden for some reason I sometimes find critters dead. Snap traps don't always give an instant kill. Many times I find a mouse with just its leg trapped and it has been there for a while. Also I get unwanted kill such as lizards and birds. About half the time the trap has been sprung with nothing in it. Maybe the mouse broke its leg or smashed its nose. Sometimes the trap is missing so it has been dragged away while attached to the mouse or? I have never used glue traps but maybe they would be useful under the hood of the car. Maybe they are more humane than a trapped mouse with a broken leg? But I do need to do whatever is necessary to protect my car. I am down to one car so I don't have a backup.

My concerns are property or crop damage. As I noted before property damage can get up into the thousands of dollars. Many many hours and dollars go into my tomatoes as well as other things and I am not willing to just sacrifice the crop to rodents. I do my best, I don't like to kill but I do so for the reasons stated.

[MissS]

I would not use glue traps under the hood of your car. Plenty of times the critters have struggled themselves out of those traps here. I would be afraid of them tipping the trap over and that glue getting all over your engine.

There is the homemade bucket trap and it works well or you can buy one. You can use it as a live trap or fill it with water. Your choice.

[bower]

Some years ago I had the pleasure of managing a rental home. We ended up with an epic fail one year, could not get mice under control. Even one mouse surviving a round of traps, and here comes another wave of mouse babies, safe indoors for the winter.
Calling an exterminator was the best decision ever made. These professionals really know the score. I followed him around the exterior, and I learned their pro tricks for spotting mouse holes. Discovered I wasn't even looking in the right places.
Another pro tip: it's not really enough to stuff with steel wool. For best results, use a spray sealant into the stuffed steel wool as well. The one recommended iirc is called "Great Stuff" gap sealant which fills all the air spaces in the steel wool, then they really can't worm their way through. This is for exterior sealing.
The last thing about exterminators, they are licensed to use a more potent bait (poison) which works faster and more effectively than the ones you can buy in a store. I am against poisons! But it was the only solution for an attic rollicking with mice. The professional bait works faster ie it kills them fairly quickly. This is IMHO way more merciful than some crap that slowly kills over two weeks. And since it is an attic and a sealed space, there's no issue about non target organisms. They also provided bait stations which mice get into but pets cannot, for inside the home. We put those around but tbh there was never any sign they did get into them, the stuff that was put out free and clear in the attic did the job.
So it cost around $200 for the residential consult, but it was well worth it in comparison with months of wasted effort repeated over and over to no avail. The three prong attack that is, bait, trap, and seal, was effective long term.
We used the same Victor traps made of wood, as Uncle Feist.

I did have the unpleasant experience on one of my visits there, of finding a mouse on a glue trap which the tenants had put out themselves. It was really gross and so much worse even than finding a dead mouse.
I don't have a problem with traps that kill effectively and fast.

During those months of mouse frustration I discovered "Mousetrap Monday" on YouTube - a series of videos that tested every trap ever invented. Really a great piece of work, but only if you don't mind seeing the traps in action.


That's a gorgeous pic @Tomatina of mouse on a dandelion! I remember finding a mouse nest under a tree root when I was five or six years old. It was really cool. I don't bother shrews and voles around the garden, having their share. I would rather mice never get into my house, because I don't want to kill them, but I would have to... house rules.

[Danny]

@Lisa
a human visitor could be an equal potential risk to your health and you wouldn't glue trap them, would you?

Well......there are some I could think of that a glue trap might be useful for.