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mouse infestation
On Wed, 9 Dec 2009 14:19:52 -0500, "Mike"
wrote: "brooklyn1" wrote in message .. . On Wed, 9 Dec 2009 09:24:21 -0800 (PST), Frank wrote: On Dec 8, 9:11 am, "Mike" wrote: "Ohioguy" wrote in message ... Actually, I'm dead serious about killing mice. It seems like mice have moved into our 92 year old home with a vengeance. It started about 2 months ago, as it got cold outside. I was able to use traditional mousetraps to kill a lot of them, but then that petered out as the remaining ones seemed to keep to the walls more, and not bother with the traps, no matter what tempting morsels I might put in them. About a month ago, I finished installing clear plastic panels over the open joists in the kitchen ceiling. I had installed tube fluorescent lights up there. Now I notice that in just the past week, there are probably 60 mouse droppings up there on top of the plastic, and I can also see yellow where they have been taking ****. This is right up above our kitchen stove. I'm wondering if our mice could be numerous because my sister, who lives on the other side of our duplex, is a packrat. She tends to leave things lay around, including food, which probably gives them a perfect breeding ground. They finally got into her foodstuffs so bad that she was forced to make some changes, though. Still, I believe they have plenty of hiding places in the boxes piled up over there. Obviously, this is a serious problem. I want the mice dead. I've been thinking of either fumigation or poison of some kind. Anyone have experience with this sort of thing? I'd like to get something that I can put all over in hidden areas, which will eradicate these things. I had same problem. I would go with the extermination route because the problem doesn't go away for good and the mice will keep coming back. The exterminator will place the appropriate traps both exterior and interior and can get into places you can't. Mice were gone very quickly. The exterminator comes back every 3 month to refresh the traps. Problem solved. Mike- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Exterminator coming back every three months is just as annoying as mice coming back. My neighbor is visited monthly by his exterminator for bugs. Cannot imagine costing much less than $100 per visit. Mice are far easier to eliminate than bugs... all Mikey need do is to STOP feeding the mice... sure mice are looking for warmth but 99% of them are there because Mikey and is sister have provided a rodent restaurant. Well, I'm not sure where you live but here in the winter, fields, woods and old house mean mice (and chipmunks and flying squirrels). They borough into any crack, crevice or hole they can find (which you should address first) and eat wood, wires you name it. I am sure they are they are searching for food and water, but I suspect that any little crumb will do and eliminating all food isn't much of an option. I think the service cost around $300 a year. Works for me. Mike I live in a very rural location surrounded by hundreds and thousands of acres of fields, woods, and wet lands... every critter imaginable lives here but I find very few rodents in my house because I don't leave unsecured pet food around, and I have six cats... with their food properly secured they very rarely catch a mouse and they patrol constantly. As long as there is a food source critters will congregate, remove the food source and they will move on, even humans. And it's very easy to remove all food to sealed critter proof containers... all one needs is to exercise reasonable hygienic living habits... own a vacuum cleaner, a cleaning rag, a broom, and use them. Applying poisons is a million times worse than a few mouse droppings, don't you shit too... how'd you like to be executed for pooping. |
#2
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mouse infestation
"brooklyn1" wrote in message ... On Wed, 9 Dec 2009 14:19:52 -0500, "Mike" wrote: "brooklyn1" wrote in message . .. On Wed, 9 Dec 2009 09:24:21 -0800 (PST), Frank wrote: On Dec 8, 9:11 am, "Mike" wrote: "Ohioguy" wrote in message ... Actually, I'm dead serious about killing mice. It seems like mice have moved into our 92 year old home with a vengeance. It started about 2 months ago, as it got cold outside. I was able to use traditional mousetraps to kill a lot of them, but then that petered out as the remaining ones seemed to keep to the walls more, and not bother with the traps, no matter what tempting morsels I might put in them. About a month ago, I finished installing clear plastic panels over the open joists in the kitchen ceiling. I had installed tube fluorescent lights up there. Now I notice that in just the past week, there are probably 60 mouse droppings up there on top of the plastic, and I can also see yellow where they have been taking ****. This is right up above our kitchen stove. I'm wondering if our mice could be numerous because my sister, who lives on the other side of our duplex, is a packrat. She tends to leave things lay around, including food, which probably gives them a perfect breeding ground. They finally got into her foodstuffs so bad that she was forced to make some changes, though. Still, I believe they have plenty of hiding places in the boxes piled up over there. Obviously, this is a serious problem. I want the mice dead. I've been thinking of either fumigation or poison of some kind. Anyone have experience with this sort of thing? I'd like to get something that I can put all over in hidden areas, which will eradicate these things. I had same problem. I would go with the extermination route because the problem doesn't go away for good and the mice will keep coming back. The exterminator will place the appropriate traps both exterior and interior and can get into places you can't. Mice were gone very quickly. The exterminator comes back every 3 month to refresh the traps. Problem solved. Mike- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Exterminator coming back every three months is just as annoying as mice coming back. My neighbor is visited monthly by his exterminator for bugs. Cannot imagine costing much less than $100 per visit. Mice are far easier to eliminate than bugs... all Mikey need do is to STOP feeding the mice... sure mice are looking for warmth but 99% of them are there because Mikey and is sister have provided a rodent restaurant. Well, I'm not sure where you live but here in the winter, fields, woods and old house mean mice (and chipmunks and flying squirrels). They borough into any crack, crevice or hole they can find (which you should address first) and eat wood, wires you name it. I am sure they are they are searching for food and water, but I suspect that any little crumb will do and eliminating all food isn't much of an option. I think the service cost around $300 a year. Works for me. Mike I live in a very rural location surrounded by hundreds and thousands of acres of fields, woods, and wet lands... every critter imaginable lives here but I find very few rodents in my house because I don't leave unsecured pet food around, and I have six cats... with their food properly secured they very rarely catch a mouse and they patrol constantly. As long as there is a food source critters will congregate, remove the food source and they will move on, even humans. And it's very easy to remove all food to sealed critter proof containers... all one needs is to exercise reasonable hygienic living habits... own a vacuum cleaner, a cleaning rag, a broom, and use them. Applying poisons is a million times worse than a few mouse droppings, don't you shit too... how'd you like to be executed for pooping. I imaging the cats help too. I am not there that often so food isn't really left around at all, but the house is very old with crawl spaces and is very difficult to sealup completely. They don't spray chemicals just place traps mostly around the perimeter and in the crawl spaces. |
#3
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mouse infestation
"Mike" wrote:
"brooklyn1" wrote: I live in a very rural location surrounded by hundreds and thousands of acres of fields, woods, and wet lands... every critter imaginable lives here but I find very few rodents in my house because I don't leave unsecured pet food around, and I have six cats... with their food properly secured they very rarely catch a mouse and they patrol constantly. As long as there is a food source critters will congregate, remove the food source and they will move on, even humans. And it's very easy to remove all food to sealed critter proof containers... all one needs is to exercise reasonable hygienic living habits... own a vacuum cleaner, a cleaning rag, a broom, and use them. Applying poisons is a million times worse than a few mouse droppings, don't you shit too... how'd you like to be executed for pooping. I imaging the cats help too. Cats help, but only if the cats have access to where mice are likely to be... I leave many closet doors open, pantry and wherever pipes/wire pass, especially at night when cats do most patroling... I have one of those pet doors on my inside basement door too. Cats rub up against everything to mark their territory with their scent, mice can smell cats and stay way. Cats can smell mice too but mostly cats have excellent hearing, much better than dogs, they can hear the high pitched mouse sounds from a long distance... you only think a cat is asleep, but they have their radar booted up 27/7. I am not there that often so food isn't really left around at all, but the house is very old with crawl spaces and is very difficult to sealup completely. They don't spray chemicals just place traps mostly around the perimeter and in the crawl spaces. Baited traps will lure mice, even long after the traps are sprung and gone mice will continue to come for food, you've trained them to consider that a feeding station. Do a better job of sealing up openings, there are all sorts of materials at hardware stores, in fact hardware cloth is your best friend, mice can't fit through a 1/4" hole. Wadded up chicken wire works very well stuffed into oddly shaped holes (wadding it closes the openings in the wire). Coarse grade steel wool works well too, and it's dirt cheap... just remember to check it occasionally and replace it as it rusts and disintergrates. Metal barriers are much better than those expanding insulation foams and caulking compounds, mice can chew through those, in fact they consider those food... use metal... and then if you want fill the space around the metal with calk to keep out draughts. There are many very old houses around here that have laid stone foundations with many spaces between the stones, but a lot of people have built a wood lathe frame all arond the interior and staple on hardware cloth to keep critters out, including snakes... you need to employ a little imagination, there is always a simple, safe, and inexpensive solution. And it helps if your cat has access to your crawl spaces. One good mouser is worth a thousand exterminators. I have one cat that is so fearsome to mice that she only needs to stare at them and they die of a coronary... she's so good that the Pentagon wants to study her locking on mechanism for missle control. Mice meet Mooch and die: http://i48.tinypic.com/244w1lz.jpg |
#4
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mouse infestation
"brooklyn1" wrote in message ... "Mike" wrote: "brooklyn1" wrote: I live in a very rural location surrounded by hundreds and thousands of acres of fields, woods, and wet lands... every critter imaginable lives here but I find very few rodents in my house because I don't leave unsecured pet food around, and I have six cats... with their food properly secured they very rarely catch a mouse and they patrol constantly. As long as there is a food source critters will congregate, remove the food source and they will move on, even humans. And it's very easy to remove all food to sealed critter proof containers... all one needs is to exercise reasonable hygienic living habits... own a vacuum cleaner, a cleaning rag, a broom, and use them. Applying poisons is a million times worse than a few mouse droppings, don't you shit too... how'd you like to be executed for pooping. I imaging the cats help too. Cats help, but only if the cats have access to where mice are likely to be... I leave many closet doors open, pantry and wherever pipes/wire pass, especially at night when cats do most patroling... I have one of those pet doors on my inside basement door too. Cats rub up against everything to mark their territory with their scent, mice can smell cats and stay way. Cats can smell mice too but mostly cats have excellent hearing, much better than dogs, they can hear the high pitched mouse sounds from a long distance... you only think a cat is asleep, but they have their radar booted up 27/7. I am not there that often so food isn't really left around at all, but the house is very old with crawl spaces and is very difficult to sealup completely. They don't spray chemicals just place traps mostly around the perimeter and in the crawl spaces. Baited traps will lure mice, even long after the traps are sprung and gone mice will continue to come for food, you've trained them to consider that a feeding station. Do a better job of sealing up openings, there are all sorts of materials at hardware stores, in fact hardware cloth is your best friend, mice can't fit through a 1/4" hole. Wadded up chicken wire works very well stuffed into oddly shaped holes (wadding it closes the openings in the wire). Coarse grade steel wool works well too, and it's dirt cheap... just remember to check it occasionally and replace it as it rusts and disintergrates. Metal barriers are much better than those expanding insulation foams and caulking compounds, mice can chew through those, in fact they consider those food... use metal... and then if you want fill the space around the metal with calk to keep out draughts. There are many very old houses around here that have laid stone foundations with many spaces between the stones, but a lot of people have built a wood lathe frame all arond the interior and staple on hardware cloth to keep critters out, including snakes... you need to employ a little imagination, there is always a simple, safe, and inexpensive solution. And it helps if your cat has access to your crawl spaces. One good mouser is worth a thousand exterminators. I have one cat that is so fearsome to mice that she only needs to stare at them and they die of a coronary... she's so good that the Pentagon wants to study her locking on mechanism for missle control. Mice meet Mooch and die: http://i48.tinypic.com/244w1lz.jpg Thanks for the tips. Mike |
#5
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mouse infestation
Mike wrote:
"brooklyn1" wrote in message ... "Mike" wrote: "brooklyn1" wrote: I live in a very rural location surrounded by hundreds and thousands of acres of fields, woods, and wet lands... every critter imaginable lives here but I find very few rodents in my house because I don't leave unsecured pet food around, and I have six cats... with their food properly secured they very rarely catch a mouse and they patrol constantly. As long as there is a food source critters will congregate, remove the food source and they will move on, even humans. And it's very easy to remove all food to sealed critter proof containers... all one needs is to exercise reasonable hygienic living habits... own a vacuum cleaner, a cleaning rag, a broom, and use them. Applying poisons is a million times worse than a few mouse droppings, don't you shit too... how'd you like to be executed for pooping. I imaging the cats help too. Cats help, but only if the cats have access to where mice are likely to be... I leave many closet doors open, pantry and wherever pipes/wire pass, especially at night when cats do most patroling... I have one of those pet doors on my inside basement door too. Cats rub up against everything to mark their territory with their scent, mice can smell cats and stay way. Cats can smell mice too but mostly cats have excellent hearing, much better than dogs, they can hear the high pitched mouse sounds from a long distance... you only think a cat is asleep, but they have their radar booted up 27/7. I am not there that often so food isn't really left around at all, but the house is very old with crawl spaces and is very difficult to sealup completely. They don't spray chemicals just place traps mostly around the perimeter and in the crawl spaces. Baited traps will lure mice, even long after the traps are sprung and gone mice will continue to come for food, you've trained them to consider that a feeding station. Do a better job of sealing up openings, there are all sorts of materials at hardware stores, in fact hardware cloth is your best friend, mice can't fit through a 1/4" hole. Wadded up chicken wire works very well stuffed into oddly shaped holes (wadding it closes the openings in the wire). Coarse grade steel wool works well too, and it's dirt cheap... just remember to check it occasionally and replace it as it rusts and disintergrates. Metal barriers are much better than those expanding insulation foams and caulking compounds, mice can chew through those, in fact they consider those food... use metal... and then if you want fill the space around the metal with calk to keep out draughts. There are many very old houses around here that have laid stone foundations with many spaces between the stones, but a lot of people have built a wood lathe frame all arond the interior and staple on hardware cloth to keep critters out, including snakes... you need to employ a little imagination, there is always a simple, safe, and inexpensive solution. And it helps if your cat has access to your crawl spaces. One good mouser is worth a thousand exterminators. I have one cat that is so fearsome to mice that she only needs to stare at them and they die of a coronary... she's so good that the Pentagon wants to study her locking on mechanism for missle control. Mice meet Mooch and die: http://i48.tinypic.com/244w1lz.jpg Thanks for the tips. Mike Having had cats and now having none, I'd say they make little difference. We kept the cats in the house and out of certain areas because of problems, e.g. a family room with a Berber carpet which the cat raised fibers by clawing. Cat could also not get at mice in walls and rafters. Cat would sit for hours watching wall where mouse was scratching. In a few cases, I drilled hole in the walls and dumped in poison. Poison, traps and sealing entries are solution. I've recently been stymied as to how mice are getting in a certain area of the house and trapped a dozen but have seen none for a week. PITA but not a serious problem. |
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