 exocet_cmI am the law - Judge DreddPremium
join:2003-03-23
New Orleans, LA
kudos:2
1 edit | Mice in attic I've had a problem with mice for the last two weeks. I've put out enough decon to kill a small nation but the bastards keep comin back.
I'm typing this listening to one right now. Here is the problem:
We got a dog to get rid of the bad guys (worked).
The dog brought fleas (we got rid of those in another thread).
The dog scared off the cats (by-product of scaring off the thugs).
The lack of cats brought the mice.
I'm not into that humane crap either. If I can't eat peanut butter neither can the mice. Do I call an exterminator? What do I do?
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"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons..." - T.S Eliot
"I have often regretted my speech, never my silence." - Publilius Syrus
Ma blog: »www.johndball.com |
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 CylonRedPremium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County | Why not use spring traps....? With a bit of peanut butter. Find out their paths they take and put them in the path.
Else - call an exterminator - might have to be done if they have nested there.
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Brian
"It drops into your stomach like a Abrams's tank.... driven by Rosanne Barr..." A. Bourdain |
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BobAccount deleted
join:2012-07-22
New Jersey Reviews:
 ·Optimum Online
| reply to exocet_cm
I've found these traps to be extremely reliable and effective. Get two or four. Follow the instructions carefully and bait with a pea-sized piece of peanut butter. |
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 ChinaboundPremium
join:2002-12-21
Antioch, IL
kudos:3 | reply to exocet_cm
You can vacate them immediately by setting off a bug fogger or two in your attic (contaminating the oxygen). |
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exocet_cmI am the law - Judge DreddPremium
join:2003-03-23
New Orleans, LA
kudos:2 | reply to exocet_cm
Thanks. Will give those a shot.
Thanks |
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 Doctor OldsI Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me.Premium,VIP
join:2001-04-19
1970 442 W30
kudos:18 | reply to exocet_cm
How are they getting in? Do you have trees touching the roof and open paths to inside the roof? |
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| said by Doctor Olds:How are they getting in? Do you have trees touching the roof and open paths to inside the roof?
I feel your pain. It's not sleep-inducing to lay in bed at night and hear them scurrying around overhead. When a trap was sprung, I'd roll out of bed to face a sometimes half-dead foe.
Look around the entire exterior of the house and ignore no holes or gaps. Here's my story ...
I hired an exterminator to come out for a half hour and look around my brick-faced house for problems. He more or less said everything looked good. Which was true at ground level, since I'd already made sure everything at that level was sealed up.
However I later noticed a lilac brushing against the gutter and nearby to that I had a warped trim board leaving a gap of about 1/2" by 2". In addition my awesome powers of observation (probably while doing the mind-numbing task of water plants) revealed that chipmunks and mice have no problem scaling vertical brick and mortar, moving almost as fast as on the ground.
When I cut back the lilac and removed the old trim boards, I found a mouse skeleton or two and a whole lot of old mouse poop in the soffit. New trim boards seem to have taken care of the problem.
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I found the feta cheese to be working best for traps. Success ratio was probably 5/1 vs peanut butter.
I use the classic pedal traps and squeeze some cheese into the pedal. Makes it a bit more sensitive too due to the extra weight.
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exocet_cmI am the law - Judge DreddPremium
join:2003-03-23
New Orleans, LA
kudos:2 | reply to Doctor Olds
said by Doctor Olds:How are they getting in? Do you have trees touching the roof and open paths to inside the roof?
I haven't found an open gap into my roof after checking twice. I do have LOTS of oak trees having over my house but nothing touching and no plants around the house.
The only thing I can think of is somehow from underneath the house but the last time I was under my house repairing some footings I didn't see any gaps.
I truly don't know how they are getting in.
Edit: Ahh, you know what? Can they get in via the dryer vent? I have a vent to the outside for dryer exhaust but no cover on the vent (has been on my "to do" list for months). This would probably explain the droppings in the washroom leading to behind the oven which had a small gap in the baseboard and drywall.
Hmmm....
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"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons..." - T.S Eliot
"I have often regretted my speech, never my silence." - Publilius Syrus
Ma blog: »www.johndball.com |
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BobAccount deleted
join:2012-07-22
New Jersey Reviews:
·Optimum Online
| reply to ArgMeMatey
said by ArgMeMatey:When a trap was sprung, I'd roll out of bed to face a sometimes half-dead foe. That's why the Dcon covered traps are the best. The mouse can't get the bait without spring the trap; And if the trap springs, the mouse's neck gets crushed. No stolen bait. No false trips. |
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| reply to exocet_cm
said by exocet_cm:Ahh, you know what? Can they get in via the dryer vent? I have a vent to the outside for dryer exhaust but no cover on the vent (has been on my "to do" list for months). This would probably explain the droppings in the washroom leading to behind the oven which had a small gap in the baseboard and drywall.
Hmmm....
Did I mention the time I was in the basement one afternoon a few summers ago, and I heard scurrying overhead? Didn't realize what it was until I was out in the garden and saw a chipmunk headed up the wall to my high efficiency furnace air intake. I found the furnace full of seeds.
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After we moved into our present abode I had a year long odessy of mouse traps and finding and plugging holes. During that time there were two clever mice that could lick any trap clean. I resorted to a drug overdose on both. I took some of my wife's blood pressure pills ground them up and then mixed the powder into the peanut butter. I put a ball of the mix on either end of our kitchen counter, about 11ft apart. They both enjoyed the first ball and died on their way to the second. Why on the counter and not the floor? I didn't want them crawling under something where they'd be hard to find and stink the place up after they were dead.
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Gadgets |
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| reply to cowboyro
said by cowboyro:I found the feta cheese to be working best for traps. Success ratio was probably 5/1 vs peanut butter.
I use the classic pedal traps and squeeze some cheese into the pedal. Makes it a bit more sensitive too due to the extra weight.
I don't think you need to bait those. I just set them without bait and sometimes within hours they've been set off.
I had snakes in my garden shed. I set a few mouse traps in there to kill their food supply. Mice are gone and no more snakes. |
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1 edit | said by fifty nine:I don't think you need to bait those. I just set them without bait and sometimes within hours they've been set off. You don't need to bait if you have a bunch of mice and you just expect them to walk over the trap by mistake.
However I tried bait/no bait setups and the ones with bait caught the mice. There was a time when I was catching 1-2 every day -always on the traps with cheese. Maybe my mice arewere more picky than others... |
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 HRMGod Bless AmericaPremium,MVM
join:2002-02-03
Darien, CT
kudos:1 | reply to exocet_cm
Google five gallon mouse trap.
Itis a wayto catch many at once.
This time of year Iset traps too. 100+ year old house = mice. |
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 tmh
@comcastbusiness.net | reply to ArgMeMatey
said by ArgMeMatey:I found the furnace full of seeds.
I found a dead bird jammed in the intake blower one time. It either got sucked in, or otherwise flew 50 ft in the wrong direction. It was a royal pain to get the blower out and replace. Needless to say, all my gas appliance intakes now have a grill. |
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| When I lived in an apartment, I got home one day to find no hot water at the tap. Went to check the water heater and diagnosed the pilot light was out. When I relit it, all hell broke loose. A small bird had apparently fallen down the flue. His initial flailings while I was at work likely extinguished the pilot light. When I relit it and the regular flames lit the burner, he went nuts. The flames killed it before I could get the gas turned off. Sad, but nothing I could do to save it since I did not know it was there.
As for the mice in the attic:
The Rat Zapper
I have the ultra model. If you order from amazon.com then it is cheaper and with free shipping. There are videos of it in action on youtube if you like snuff films.
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nohup rm -fr /& |
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 nunyaWho is John Galt?Premium,MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
kudos:8
·Charter
 ·surpasshosting
| reply to exocet_cm
Nothing beats the good old standard mouse trap. I prefer to use peanut butter. Apparently they can smell it from pretty far off.
I have one trap in my garage we call "old reliable". It is HAIR TRIGGER and has a great spring. It's difficult to set, but it's claimed well over 100 rodent souls. A lot of the time it decapitates them. You wouldn't believe how blood stained this thing is, but the mice still keep going for it. I think I've gotten my moneys worth out of it.
Just remember to check your traps daily, or they will get real stinky and nasty.
I only get mice in outbuildings. Fortunately I haven't had any in the house (knock on wood).
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If someone refers to herself / himself as a "guru", they probably aren't. |
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| I have never had luck with blood stained traps. It seems as though these mice here are smarter than yours down there and don't touch blood stained traps (even with bait). So I buy the cheap victor traps and once they snap I throw them away, mouse and all.
I only have traps in the basement, shed and barn.
I have two cats in the house. |
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 mix
join:2002-03-19
Utica, MI | reply to exocet_cm
I always chuckle when I hear about people baiting mouse traps with cheese. Someone watched too many cartoons as a kid I imagine... perhaps they also believe Swiss cheese gets it's characteristic holes from mice? |
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