O/T Mouse in House

On three different occasions, we have seen a mouse in our kitchen--caught two. Our house is pretty tight.
How do they get in? Wife is blaming tractor parts I receive!

They get in anywhere they want!!! I run a trap line every winter, no market for the pelts though.

No such thing as a mouse proof house. If there is a crack, they will squeeze in. I have killed 9 already this winter.

I start the count on 1 October every year. 121 last year. A little ahead of schedule this year at 31. But i'm just running the one trap. Now that the cold weather is here they will start coming in so I'll get my 4 trap line going.
When you start losing traps you know you have a rat. They come and get the mouse in the trap and take it to a den to eat it. Don't ask how I learned this.
Two types of mice, the little grey house mouse, and the somewhat larger, white bellied, brown backed field mouse.
Gordo, the rodent expert.

They may have chewed thru the drywall.

I you have a clothes dryer with the cheap plastic vent, vented to the outside near the ground, they hop up into it to keep warm then chew through it and they are inside. Now I use metal ducting.

I haven"t noticed a single mouse yet this winter.
apparently I fed "em too good last year. Setting traps is a waste of time. Buy a bucket of those blue chunks at the farm store, put "em where only the mice can find them. They"ll chew off little pieces and take "em back to the nest.

Haven't seen a mouse in 2+ years now.

Ever since we got a cat and she had babies (well you know the rest of that story) we had her and 4 others fixed, thank goodness.

They all stay outside and haven't seen a mouse since, haven't seen them catch any either, but still a fact I haven't seen a mouse or a sign of a mouse in the house in 2 years.

They walk in.

I've read they can go through a dime-sized hole. My personal belief is they can get through a hole the size of a small marble.

When one gets in, my wife acts like I invited it personally. She's on my case until I can produce at least one dead one in a trap (hint: keep a few spare cadavers in the freezer in the milkhouse).

I can recommend poison only if you can control where the mouse dies. We had one die inside a wall once, right next to an electrical outlet. Whenever the furnace fan came on, it somehow produced a little air current past the mouse and into the bedroom. We didn't know if we had black mold, or what. We finally found the mouse by removing about 20 square feet of siding. Since then I've used only traps -- even in the outbuildings.

Mark W. in MI

I found a shed snake skin in the basement this summer, thought that would keep the mouse population down. Wife doesn't think much of the plan.

Keep the grass cut short near the house, mice don't like to cross open areas. Once they get to the house theylll find a way in.

we live in the woods so we have have mice aplenty. The favorite way for them to get in is get caught by by cat and brought thru the cat and doggie door. Then the whole house start shaking as all four dogs chase the poor mouse until it has a heart attack.Then two of the dogs fight over who will take the body out. It a circus and of course is all my fault foe some reason. Of course most every thing is my fault around here, even when wife cant find shoes or glasses or keys. Henry

They don't eat to much,and they're kinda cute.Dave H had it right.There is no mouse proof house. Try bats once in a while(like 2:32 in the AM. That'll wake you up in the mornin'.

She needs a basic biology course in the local high school. There is no such thing as "spontaneous generation" or "spontaneous evolution" with tractor parts rapidly evolving into mice. The DNA is just all wrong! But maybe she'd feel better if you told her that you had seen a brand new "in the box" distributor cap miraculesly evolve into a 4 footed mouse with a 3" tail. "Dear, It's a Miracle!! I just saw it happen!! You were completely right." Maybe that will take care of it, and you will get a nice Christmas present. Show her pictures of the new tool(s) you want and be sure to leave the catalog out where she can see it, like on the kitchen table. She will appreciate your understanding of "the gift delema". And she feels so much better that you agreed with her understanding of how mice are made. You will be her hero!!

I was just told by a friend who's wife is a pediatrician that she told him that guys are only good for 3 things: making Babies, giving Backrubs, and taking Blame for everything (the 3 B's). As the years have progressed in this marriage, she has forgotten about the first 2 B's. So there you are, professional high cost advice from a real doctor, and I passed it on at no cost to your medical plan, and no co-pay needed.

Guys who don't understand these fundamentals end up getting divorced, making the lawyers dance with glee at all the trouble they have created (more trouble = more $$$$). And the poor guy has to sell off his favorite tractors and tools to pay the wife and lawyers. So for sake of "happy tractoring", you've got to take blame for everything....now isn't that easy?? I was a slow learner, but figured this out about 25 years ago after 13 years of difficult marriage when I didn't understand this simple fundamental. Now it is "yes dear, it is/was all my fault" and then I go off to the barn shop and play with my tractors and tools until dinner time.

PS. Get a cat, a working cat, not a big fluffy old lazy lay-on-the-living-room chair kind of cat. And don't feed it too much or it will become the big old fluffy kind.

Of course this is exaggerated for humorous effect, but there might be some small element of truth in it. You be the judge.

LOL

Paul in MN

Several times I have caught the cat bringing one into the house to play with. And I was at the stove one evening and looked down and their was the dog, the cat, and a chipmunk. In a row. I found a dead chipmunk in the living room a couple days later.

(quoted from post at 20:03:45 12/15/08) Of course most every thing is my fault around here, even when wife cant find shoes or glasses or keys. Henry

Click to expand...

We may run across each other at a family reunion sometime............... :roll:

Gordo have you ever tried making a trap out of a 5 gallon plastic bucket, first take a beer can, pop can might work but why chance it, poke a hole in the center in the bottom and the top just big enough for a piece of baling wire to go through. Next put the baling wire through and make a loop on each end of the can so it can't slide up and down the wire. Now poke a couple holes in the top edge of the bucket across from each other and wire in the can so it's in the middle of the bucket. Now put peanut butter on the can, just a narrow stripe in the middle of the can. Pour about 2" of windshield washer antifreeze in the bucket. Okay now the tricky part, you need a stick that you can lay up on the edge of the bucket that will get the mouse close enough to the can and the peanut butter, like a piece of lath, you might have to bend it to get it close enough to the can. The idea is to get the mouse to get out on the can then fall in. It takes a little tweaking of the board to get it to work but when you get it right it will catch mice like crazy. You don't have to reset the trap just dump out the mice every week or so. Good luck PUTTER

We have never had a mouse in the house problem. This fall I went around and filled all the holes in the foundation. Then I had mice everywhere. In the walls, under the sinks, coming in thru the heat ducts.
I guess I plugged up the transportation highways.

When I was a kid my upstairs bedroom was not heated. I would put coats, blankets and whatever I could on my bed to keep warm at night. One morning I opened my eyes and there was a small mouse about a foot away from my head shivering like mad. So I thought what the heck and let him crawl under the far edge of the covers and I went back to sleep.

Ok this mouse thing......

Not having a problem in the residence to speak of. Tonight I was out doing errands and stopped for gas. It's a bit nipply here right now so I grabbed a glove for the hand that couldn't go in a pocket. It's all chewed to hell! Further inspection reveals another set SAME HAND has been ruined also. This is on top of finding a nest in the glove box of my wifes vehicle.

Ruining 2 sets of good gloves is the last straw. Traps are going in the vehicles.