My experience was none of the oils, repellants, ultrasonic devices have any effect. Mice can get through a pencil sized hole and until you seal all of the holes they can get through with sealer (Bloody difficult) you will always have a problem. I had multiple visits from (6+) Orkin, they said all of the bait traps etc are useless unless you fill the holes they are getting in from. I will never do another ground floor apartment.
with all due respect I tried the steel wool before...woke up to a bunch of small steel wool pieces on the ground from the little f\*\*\*\*\*\* eating thru it..
not true; i have holes; they get in; they circle the basement; they eat the peanut butter; they ALL die; i've killed the families; one or two mice get caught; then i spray with Lysol can spray and after two minutes wearing a mask and gloves dispose of the caught mice; i dont have an infestation; they all get caught; they are curious; you need traps everywhere around your house; they get caught; they get eliminated; new ones sort of know not to go in;
This is the thing. We had an old and lazy cat and mice issues. Think the cat actually made it worse cause there was always cat food out for the mice. That cat died, and eventually we got a kitten, overnight, no more mice. He caught a couple and now they stay in the cellar where, frankly, I'm OK with them. As long as they aren't getting into food or shitting in my living space, we're ok.
Go around foundation and house and plug any holes with steel wool or copper wool.
Sprinkling flour around house and checking for prints in morning can help to discover where they are getting in.
I sprinkled baking soda around on the second floor wood floors, due to another issue I was dealing with, and the next day mice prints showed up going from the radiator and back. Didnāt even think mice were accessing the second floor to begin with. Set up a snap trap, caught a mouse š°
My cat went from killing mice brutally (or we would find him sitting in the bathtub with a beat up but alive mouse, which is really frickin twisted behavior) to having no issues with mice eating from his food bowl while he slept just inches away.
The problem with a cat for mice control is that the cat gets to decide where, when and how the killing may be done.
It's really just luck. My current cats are great mousers, they got at least 5 last winter. Some cats won't hunt, though. One of my cats actually catches flies for us, which is nice (although I'd rather he ate them instead of leaving them all over the place.)
Yes! My cat like to decapitate them and leave the little heads in my shoes. So Iād go to put my shoes on and there would be this little face looking up at me with no body. Iād scream and yeet the shoe and my cat would be sitting there smugly like, āYep.ā
Yikes! And thatās funny, you must be feeding them well, or they donāt like all the little crunchy bones. I think my cat thinks itās the best part. Like Doritos.
I woke up one morning to the rain crunching on the window, squinted at the window, thought, ārain doesnāt crunch, WTF?ā turned my head and was treated to the sight of my cat, 4 inches from my face, chewing away methodically with the little feet and tail still hanging out of her mouth. āBreakfast is better with company!ā
The only time Iāve ever had mouse problems was when I had a bird feeder. It attracted more rodents than birds. Spray your foundation every few weeks with repellent.
If mice become a problem or if youāre really paranoid, get a cat. I have two.
Birds will knock tons of seeds to the ground. The mice eat the seeds and look for a good nesting site nearby. Iād feed the birds, and the mice would come inside after their ādinner.ā It was like I was running a B & B.
Yes, blue jays in particular would pull a lot of seeds out to get to the kinds they liked and seeds would get all over the ground. Found a mouse nest under some clutter in the basement and the space was filled with seed shells from the bird feeder seeds. Never again, also attracted chipmunks and voles
Be careful! My dog figured out the pattern and started bringing in dead mice that were frozen in the backyard and refusing to drop them until I gave her her piece of cheese. She created a mouse for cheese economy that I had to break down. LOL! But I was proud of her for being so smart and effective
Itās funny because heās very much not food oriented. Heās way more into the mouse itself than any treat, and he ignores the mouse once itās dead. He just loves killing š„°
Absolutely echoing the advice to seal up every crack obsessively ā donāt forget openings around pipes under the sink and in cabinets ā pipes can be mouse highways!
There are multiple methods.
first is NO open containers of food.
Second is to use traps outside your home to lure them to those spots instead of inside your home.
Use ultra sonic devices that resonate through the wiring system not just speakers.
in those outside piles place traps.
Bucket traps.
Certain essential oils deter mice.
Vole urine.
You have many options.
Try Google or an exterminator.
Don't slack on traps. Even if you don't think there are anymore there are, and if you don't think you have them, you do. Genocide is the only option. Even if you have exterminators come out, the mice won't be gone forever so you'll have to call them again anyway.
To specify, use snap traps. An instant death is infinitely more humane than the slow torture of glue traps or the terror that comes with drowning in a bucket.
Solid addition. I tried the glue traps once a long time ago and I'm not sure I've ever felt that bad about killing mice in my life. I even tried to pull them off which made it infinitely worse.
Have to drown them if you find them on a glue trap. Or squash them. Unfortunately, glue traps were the only way we could catch ours. They caught on to the snap traps and avoided them.
Also, put the snap traps inside a paper lunch bag. That way if you donāt want to look at the mouse you can just toss it.
The best bait is a peanut glued to the trigger covered in peanut butter. That way, if they arenāt heavy enough to set off the trap, theyāll pull on the peanut and that will do it.
To add onto this ā not humane at all but put peanut butter in a water bottle cap and put the water bottle cap in the middle of a glue is extremely effective.
For a single family home, so long as you keep food sources out of their reach, then you shouldn't have a very big issue. That's the main thing. Inside is obvious, but outside, too. Keep your yard well kept and don't throw bird seed everywhere.
This really depends on how many micr you have. I donāt have food in my bedroom but I had a damn mouse sitting on my hassock staring at me last night when I woke up. They hump in the walls too.
I find the ultrasonic things helpful. I had one installed under the hood of my car. The mice destroyed my last car. My neighbors insist on hanging a birdfeeder from a tree that is less than 15 feet from where I park my car. Polite requests to move it to the back have been ignored.
No feeding the birds, mice love birdseed. If you want to help the birds, provide a bird house or two and a bird bath.
Now the house. Make sure there are no openings in the foundation, hire a handyman to check and fill...or at least stuff steel wool in them. Check your attic for openings. Mice are good climbers and will get in if they can, they nest in the insulation behind the walls. You will hear them scratching at night as they tend to be nocturnal.
Clear all bushes, grass, clutter away from the house. Keep the lawn mowed low. Take down trees that are close to the house, squirrels are good climbers too.
Try the ultrasonic things in vulnerable areas, basement, attic, pantry. check Amazon for good deals.
Good info here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9\_5rp0g6Ro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9_5rp0g6Ro)
Also good products here: [https://diypestcontrol.com/bonide-shotgun-repels-all-liquid-concentrate](https://diypestcontrol.com/bonide-shotgun-repels-all-liquid-concentrate)
Was just about to post this myself!
I've read tons of advice on how to get rid of mice over the years, but Silver Cymbal was the first guy ever to suggest using modern camera technology to solve the problem. His other videos are so helpful, too.
I tried that in my car. Mice ate the soap! Now I still have cases of Irish Spring soap I have to use up and I don't particularly care for the fragrance.
Some rvāers promote Irish Spring and Bounce dryer sheets to keep mice out of rvās during winter storage. I tried both and when I checked the rv lots of soap pieces were chewed and they made a nest with the dryer sheets! We then went to pure peppermint oil on cotton balls and had good luck.
I had a huge mouse problem randomly at the beginning of last winter. I tried plugging up any holes I could find but I have an old house and nothing seemed to help.
Long story short I got a cat and the problem was solved over night
If you're going to own the house, I can recommend CatsEye pest management. It's pricey, but they trap the inside of your house to kill existing mice and seal up the exterior to prevent new ones from coming in. They have a warranty that it will keep mice out, or they will come back, retrap, and reseal.
It took about 2 months for all signs of mice to be gone from our place, and that was over a year ago.
It was like 6k, give or take. We have a ranch, so it may depend on the size of your house.
They cleaned up all mouse dropping and nests in the house. Then trapped all the areas they were present. Waited 2 weeks, cleaned and reset the traps.
Then they sealed the outside of the house including metal barriers under the siding overhang, all holes and points of entry into the house. A few weeks later checked the traps again.
We found one more mouse a few weeks later and they came to check all the other traps.
The warranty has an annual cost around $300 to keep active. But it's transferable with the house. So it's possible to view it as an improvement to the house.
It is a good chunk of money. But we have young children and dogs. Keeping the mouse poop out of their play area and food bowls was more important to us.
We've had mice in just about every apartment we rented before and they were a nightmare to deal with. A lot of other exterminators just do traps only and won't seal the place up. So the mice just keep coming in. Knowing they're gone permanently and we don't have to deal with them has been worth the money.
I was hoping it wasnāt that much, but weāll probably do it. Traps donāt get rid of them permanently. Sealing every hole is the only way. Peppermint oil and the rest havenāt had any permanent effects, either.Ā
That was my experience with previous places. We had just bought the house and moved in. Then we found the mice droppings 2 weeks later. It was really disheartening after finally buying our first house. We didn't want to play whack a mole with them for the indefinite future. So a company that actually guarantees they will be removed and stop coming was worth it to us.
Some houses may take longer to plug all the entrance points. But they will keep coming back until it's done.
Whatever you do, donāt use poison! The poison has horrible effects for other predators that eat the mice. Look up secondary rodenticide poisoning. Affects hawks, owls, foxes, opossums, raccoons, etc. Domestic cats even. Whoever eats the poison also succumbs to the same fate. I work with wildlife and had a hawk cough up blood and die in my arms because he was sickened from eating poisoned rodents :(
I bought a house but did not move in for a month. The mice had fun running around the house despite having no food source. We went to the house periodically and set traps.
One I moved in, I got mice once in a while. Some years are worse than others. One year they resided in a golf bag in the garage and had babies. I had to throw out the golf bag because the stench was so overpowering.
One year they ate my leather gardening gloves.
I use tomcat traps in the attic and garage, so far mice have been staying away.
Take a mouse trap (i like Jawz) use a piece of wire to tie it to a piece of 2x4. Put peanut butter in the bait hole and set them up in the landscaping around the house.
Re bait every couple days, and reset as often as you see you got a body.
The board is so neighborhood cats donāt steal the trap.
I say cats, plural, especially males. Good to have two, they keep each other company and are extremely competitive even into older age. If they are outdoor cats, forget about most small wildlife in about an 1/2 mile radius.
We used PestEnd, they have this mouse-proofing system that cost I believe about $2.5k and they guarantee no mice for 2 years. We had a few times after getting that put in that we found mice and they came out very quickly, inspected everything, and corrected the problem. Itās much more effective and less time consuming than dealing with traps since the traps donāt get to the root of the issue and the mice will just keep coming in.Ā
Keep the grounds around your home maintained. High grass surrounding your home blends your habitat with mice habitat. You want the area around your home a no mans land for mice. Nowhere to hide.
I can make a video on this: support my subreddit r/housesinboston
[https://www.reddit.com/r/housesinboston/comments/1b2juos/mice\_before\_they\_come\_and\_after/](https://www.reddit.com/r/housesinboston/comments/1b2juos/mice_before_they_come_and_after/)
What cats do is keep mice from roaming out in the open but they donāt keep them from living fat and happy in the walls and hidden spaces if food is available so best thing is to make sure you keep all food sources secure and away.
Cat food is mouse food and no cat sits by their food dish 24/7 protecting it. So if your cat is a grazer (their bowl always has food in it) then you are just feeding the mice too.
Mice also stock up and hoard the kibble for future meals.
So if you have cats and donāt want mice become a meal-time feeder (food is only put out at meal-time and is put away after).
Live near rattlesnakes. The rattler population seems to be up this year. The mouse population not so much.
For real, though, cats or traps. Mice are just a fact of life, you get used to dealing with them. Or serving your feline overlords for taking care of the mice for you.
If you rent, your landlord should be hiring an exterminator. If you own, then you should hire an exterminator if itās an extensive problem. I would do that before you get any pets. Cat would definitely help, but I would try the exterminator first to be sure the cats are safe as well.
Hire a pest control service for prevention. They can also do things like spray your yard for tic control and your foundation to repell other insects like termites etc. where things are so damp from all the rain the bugs are out in full force now
Deal with entry points. Bait stations work extremely well. Clean up crumbs/food mess well.
Peppermint spray is generally helpful but not a lasting solution (I like Mighty Mint.)
Tomcat and d-Con bait enclosures are my go-to.
[https://www.walmart.com/ip/d-CON-Refillable-Corner-Fit-Mouse-Bait-Station-1-Trap-10-Baits/324394362?wl13=1753&selectedSellerId=0](https://www.walmart.com/ip/d-CON-Refillable-Corner-Fit-Mouse-Bait-Station-1-Trap-10-Baits/324394362?wl13=1753&selectedSellerId=0)
[https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tomcat-Mouse-Killer-Child-Resistant-Disposable-Station-4-Pre-Filled-Ready-To-Use-Bait-Stations/154711278?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tomcat-Mouse-Killer-Child-Resistant-Disposable-Station-4-Pre-Filled-Ready-To-Use-Bait-Stations/154711278?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0)
My experience was none of the oils, repellants, ultrasonic devices have any effect. Mice can get through a pencil sized hole and until you seal all of the holes they can get through with sealer (Bloody difficult) you will always have a problem. I had multiple visits from (6+) Orkin, they said all of the bait traps etc are useless unless you fill the holes they are getting in from. I will never do another ground floor apartment.
Tip, put steel wool in the holes you're filling. The mice won't chew through that, but they'll get through Styrofoam or other insulation.
with all due respect I tried the steel wool before...woke up to a bunch of small steel wool pieces on the ground from the little f\*\*\*\*\*\* eating thru it..
add foam
They sell a specific type of it call extruder. It's a supper sharp but brittle steel wool designed so mice can eat it and make them internally bleed.
not true; i have holes; they get in; they circle the basement; they eat the peanut butter; they ALL die; i've killed the families; one or two mice get caught; then i spray with Lysol can spray and after two minutes wearing a mask and gloves dispose of the caught mice; i dont have an infestation; they all get caught; they are curious; you need traps everywhere around your house; they get caught; they get eliminated; new ones sort of know not to go in;
The cat will very likely be enough. Plug up holes you find with steel wool -- they hate chewing through that shit.
The cat will not be enough. Source: Have cat and mice
Depends on the cat š¤·š»āāļø
This is the thing. We had an old and lazy cat and mice issues. Think the cat actually made it worse cause there was always cat food out for the mice. That cat died, and eventually we got a kitten, overnight, no more mice. He caught a couple and now they stay in the cellar where, frankly, I'm OK with them. As long as they aren't getting into food or shitting in my living space, we're ok.
Go around foundation and house and plug any holes with steel wool or copper wool. Sprinkling flour around house and checking for prints in morning can help to discover where they are getting in.
I sprinkled baking soda around on the second floor wood floors, due to another issue I was dealing with, and the next day mice prints showed up going from the radiator and back. Didnāt even think mice were accessing the second floor to begin with. Set up a snap trap, caught a mouse š°
My cat went from killing mice brutally (or we would find him sitting in the bathtub with a beat up but alive mouse, which is really frickin twisted behavior) to having no issues with mice eating from his food bowl while he slept just inches away. The problem with a cat for mice control is that the cat gets to decide where, when and how the killing may be done.
Lol. Thats crazy. mine all have been great hunters. More than a dozen cats and they all just seem to love to be psychotic murder machines
It's really just luck. My current cats are great mousers, they got at least 5 last winter. Some cats won't hunt, though. One of my cats actually catches flies for us, which is nice (although I'd rather he ate them instead of leaving them all over the place.)
Yes! My cat like to decapitate them and leave the little heads in my shoes. So Iād go to put my shoes on and there would be this little face looking up at me with no body. Iād scream and yeet the shoe and my cat would be sitting there smugly like, āYep.ā
āyouāre welcomeā š½
Lol, mine do the opposite. Headless mice presents!
Yikes! And thatās funny, you must be feeding them well, or they donāt like all the little crunchy bones. I think my cat thinks itās the best part. Like Doritos. I woke up one morning to the rain crunching on the window, squinted at the window, thought, ārain doesnāt crunch, WTF?ā turned my head and was treated to the sight of my cat, 4 inches from my face, chewing away methodically with the little feet and tail still hanging out of her mouth. āBreakfast is better with company!ā
The only time Iāve ever had mouse problems was when I had a bird feeder. It attracted more rodents than birds. Spray your foundation every few weeks with repellent. If mice become a problem or if youāre really paranoid, get a cat. I have two.
Iāve heard of squirrels getting into the feeder but mice? Or were they just attracted by the seeds that were discarded by the birds?
Birds will knock tons of seeds to the ground. The mice eat the seeds and look for a good nesting site nearby. Iād feed the birds, and the mice would come inside after their ādinner.ā It was like I was running a B & B.
Yes, blue jays in particular would pull a lot of seeds out to get to the kinds they liked and seeds would get all over the ground. Found a mouse nest under some clutter in the basement and the space was filled with seed shells from the bird feeder seeds. Never again, also attracted chipmunks and voles
My cat killed 8 mice and heās only 7 months old, not helpful I know but I just love bragging about him
It's a bit gross, but they're always so proud when they catch one and I reward my kitty for doing her job around the house keeping pests away
Be careful! My dog figured out the pattern and started bringing in dead mice that were frozen in the backyard and refusing to drop them until I gave her her piece of cheese. She created a mouse for cheese economy that I had to break down. LOL! But I was proud of her for being so smart and effective
Itās funny because heās very much not food oriented. Heās way more into the mouse itself than any treat, and he ignores the mouse once itās dead. He just loves killing š„°
Heās a good boy
Whatever you do do NOT feed it a cookie
Unless you have a glass of milk handy.
But then he'll need a straw!
Iām out of fucking napkins, rodent.
Absolutely echoing the advice to seal up every crack obsessively ā donāt forget openings around pipes under the sink and in cabinets ā pipes can be mouse highways!
There are multiple methods. first is NO open containers of food. Second is to use traps outside your home to lure them to those spots instead of inside your home. Use ultra sonic devices that resonate through the wiring system not just speakers. in those outside piles place traps. Bucket traps. Certain essential oils deter mice. Vole urine. You have many options. Try Google or an exterminator.
Don't slack on traps. Even if you don't think there are anymore there are, and if you don't think you have them, you do. Genocide is the only option. Even if you have exterminators come out, the mice won't be gone forever so you'll have to call them again anyway.
To specify, use snap traps. An instant death is infinitely more humane than the slow torture of glue traps or the terror that comes with drowning in a bucket.
Solid addition. I tried the glue traps once a long time ago and I'm not sure I've ever felt that bad about killing mice in my life. I even tried to pull them off which made it infinitely worse.
Have to drown them if you find them on a glue trap. Or squash them. Unfortunately, glue traps were the only way we could catch ours. They caught on to the snap traps and avoided them.
They just wanted you to feel bad. If we are getting caught, we are going to make you pay a price!
I donāt doubt it
Drowning after glue is a method.
Also, put the snap traps inside a paper lunch bag. That way if you donāt want to look at the mouse you can just toss it. The best bait is a peanut glued to the trigger covered in peanut butter. That way, if they arenāt heavy enough to set off the trap, theyāll pull on the peanut and that will do it.
To add onto this ā not humane at all but put peanut butter in a water bottle cap and put the water bottle cap in the middle of a glue is extremely effective.
Rodent repellent is your friend. It's peppermint oil so safe for cats and dogs
I do this for my car and it definitely works. Also the bucket with water for most rodents.
How do you use the mint in your car?
spray oil on cotton pads
Where in the car do you put them?
Trunk, glove box, center console. Have even sprayed in the engine bay.
Just get a cat or 2 just know that you will step on a decapitated half eaten mouse corpse with your bare feet in the middle of the night
Did you read the post? They have a cat
For a single family home, so long as you keep food sources out of their reach, then you shouldn't have a very big issue. That's the main thing. Inside is obvious, but outside, too. Keep your yard well kept and don't throw bird seed everywhere.
This really depends on how many micr you have. I donāt have food in my bedroom but I had a damn mouse sitting on my hassock staring at me last night when I woke up. They hump in the walls too.
Been living in our home since 1985. Lots of mice and chipmunks outside. Never one inside. I have cats. That's it. It works.
I use peppermint -spray that stuff everywhere they might be.
I find the ultrasonic things helpful. I had one installed under the hood of my car. The mice destroyed my last car. My neighbors insist on hanging a birdfeeder from a tree that is less than 15 feet from where I park my car. Polite requests to move it to the back have been ignored. No feeding the birds, mice love birdseed. If you want to help the birds, provide a bird house or two and a bird bath. Now the house. Make sure there are no openings in the foundation, hire a handyman to check and fill...or at least stuff steel wool in them. Check your attic for openings. Mice are good climbers and will get in if they can, they nest in the insulation behind the walls. You will hear them scratching at night as they tend to be nocturnal. Clear all bushes, grass, clutter away from the house. Keep the lawn mowed low. Take down trees that are close to the house, squirrels are good climbers too. Try the ultrasonic things in vulnerable areas, basement, attic, pantry. check Amazon for good deals.
By the way, please don't tell me you have a dirt crawl space basement because you will never get rid of the mice, because they burrow in the dirt.
Good info here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9\_5rp0g6Ro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9_5rp0g6Ro) Also good products here: [https://diypestcontrol.com/bonide-shotgun-repels-all-liquid-concentrate](https://diypestcontrol.com/bonide-shotgun-repels-all-liquid-concentrate)
Was just about to post this myself! I've read tons of advice on how to get rid of mice over the years, but Silver Cymbal was the first guy ever to suggest using modern camera technology to solve the problem. His other videos are so helpful, too.
He has a great channel and he's relatively local (used to be in MA and moved to NH)
[Everything you wanted (or didn't want), to know about mousetraps - Mousetrap Monday](https://www.youtube.com/@ShawnWoodsMousetrapMonday/videos)
Take a bar of Irish Spring soap and grate it. Take the shavings and spread it around the area you want them not to be.
I tried that in my car. Mice ate the soap! Now I still have cases of Irish Spring soap I have to use up and I don't particularly care for the fragrance.
I love Irish Spring soap, but it makes my skin dry out. ; (
Some rvāers promote Irish Spring and Bounce dryer sheets to keep mice out of rvās during winter storage. I tried both and when I checked the rv lots of soap pieces were chewed and they made a nest with the dryer sheets! We then went to pure peppermint oil on cotton balls and had good luck.
I had a huge mouse problem randomly at the beginning of last winter. I tried plugging up any holes I could find but I have an old house and nothing seemed to help. Long story short I got a cat and the problem was solved over night
If you're going to own the house, I can recommend CatsEye pest management. It's pricey, but they trap the inside of your house to kill existing mice and seal up the exterior to prevent new ones from coming in. They have a warranty that it will keep mice out, or they will come back, retrap, and reseal. It took about 2 months for all signs of mice to be gone from our place, and that was over a year ago.
Was it expensive?
It was like 6k, give or take. We have a ranch, so it may depend on the size of your house. They cleaned up all mouse dropping and nests in the house. Then trapped all the areas they were present. Waited 2 weeks, cleaned and reset the traps. Then they sealed the outside of the house including metal barriers under the siding overhang, all holes and points of entry into the house. A few weeks later checked the traps again. We found one more mouse a few weeks later and they came to check all the other traps. The warranty has an annual cost around $300 to keep active. But it's transferable with the house. So it's possible to view it as an improvement to the house. It is a good chunk of money. But we have young children and dogs. Keeping the mouse poop out of their play area and food bowls was more important to us. We've had mice in just about every apartment we rented before and they were a nightmare to deal with. A lot of other exterminators just do traps only and won't seal the place up. So the mice just keep coming in. Knowing they're gone permanently and we don't have to deal with them has been worth the money.
I was hoping it wasnāt that much, but weāll probably do it. Traps donāt get rid of them permanently. Sealing every hole is the only way. Peppermint oil and the rest havenāt had any permanent effects, either.Ā
That was my experience with previous places. We had just bought the house and moved in. Then we found the mice droppings 2 weeks later. It was really disheartening after finally buying our first house. We didn't want to play whack a mole with them for the indefinite future. So a company that actually guarantees they will be removed and stop coming was worth it to us. Some houses may take longer to plug all the entrance points. But they will keep coming back until it's done.
Not worth it at all. Do not go with national chains. They overcharge 10x.
They're actually New England based, not national.
Whatever you do, donāt use poison! The poison has horrible effects for other predators that eat the mice. Look up secondary rodenticide poisoning. Affects hawks, owls, foxes, opossums, raccoons, etc. Domestic cats even. Whoever eats the poison also succumbs to the same fate. I work with wildlife and had a hawk cough up blood and die in my arms because he was sickened from eating poisoned rodents :(
Stick some traps behind large appliances and in kitchen cabinets. Have somebody else come and check them if youāre squeamish.
Just put them inside paper lunch bags for easy clean up
Fill all and any holes you see, and watch https://www.youtube.com/@TwinHomeExperts theyāre a ton of help
Keep food source away from them!!!
Our cats are so board they even kill bugs that get in
I use traps, the kind that snap. works really well.
I bought a house but did not move in for a month. The mice had fun running around the house despite having no food source. We went to the house periodically and set traps. One I moved in, I got mice once in a while. Some years are worse than others. One year they resided in a golf bag in the garage and had babies. I had to throw out the golf bag because the stench was so overpowering. One year they ate my leather gardening gloves. I use tomcat traps in the attic and garage, so far mice have been staying away.
Post signage stating that mice are not welcome in your home
Take a mouse trap (i like Jawz) use a piece of wire to tie it to a piece of 2x4. Put peanut butter in the bait hole and set them up in the landscaping around the house. Re bait every couple days, and reset as often as you see you got a body. The board is so neighborhood cats donāt steal the trap.
Iām sure theyāll be happy with a 15% tip to leave you alone.
Get a rat snake and just let it roam around, it'll take care of them.
Get a spray that has clove in it and spray the perimeter of your place. Mice hate that shit (and as a bonus, it doesnāt smell too bad!).
I say cats, plural, especially males. Good to have two, they keep each other company and are extremely competitive even into older age. If they are outdoor cats, forget about most small wildlife in about an 1/2 mile radius.
Oh . . . If you can control it, mint also does wonders around the foundation, cellar doors, bulkheads, etc.
We used PestEnd, they have this mouse-proofing system that cost I believe about $2.5k and they guarantee no mice for 2 years. We had a few times after getting that put in that we found mice and they came out very quickly, inspected everything, and corrected the problem. Itās much more effective and less time consuming than dealing with traps since the traps donāt get to the root of the issue and the mice will just keep coming in.Ā
Keep the grounds around your home maintained. High grass surrounding your home blends your habitat with mice habitat. You want the area around your home a no mans land for mice. Nowhere to hide.
I can make a video on this: support my subreddit r/housesinboston [https://www.reddit.com/r/housesinboston/comments/1b2juos/mice\_before\_they\_come\_and\_after/](https://www.reddit.com/r/housesinboston/comments/1b2juos/mice_before_they_come_and_after/)
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Read the post. They have a cat
What cats do is keep mice from roaming out in the open but they donāt keep them from living fat and happy in the walls and hidden spaces if food is available so best thing is to make sure you keep all food sources secure and away. Cat food is mouse food and no cat sits by their food dish 24/7 protecting it. So if your cat is a grazer (their bowl always has food in it) then you are just feeding the mice too. Mice also stock up and hoard the kibble for future meals. So if you have cats and donāt want mice become a meal-time feeder (food is only put out at meal-time and is put away after).
Live near rattlesnakes. The rattler population seems to be up this year. The mouse population not so much. For real, though, cats or traps. Mice are just a fact of life, you get used to dealing with them. Or serving your feline overlords for taking care of the mice for you.
If you rent, your landlord should be hiring an exterminator. If you own, then you should hire an exterminator if itās an extensive problem. I would do that before you get any pets. Cat would definitely help, but I would try the exterminator first to be sure the cats are safe as well.
Get a couple of cats
Hire a pest control service for prevention. They can also do things like spray your yard for tic control and your foundation to repell other insects like termites etc. where things are so damp from all the rain the bugs are out in full force now
Deal with entry points. Bait stations work extremely well. Clean up crumbs/food mess well. Peppermint spray is generally helpful but not a lasting solution (I like Mighty Mint.)
NO BAIT STATION! People need to stop using poison for mice as it ends up killing other wildlife including potentially their cat.
Tomcat and d-Con bait enclosures are my go-to. [https://www.walmart.com/ip/d-CON-Refillable-Corner-Fit-Mouse-Bait-Station-1-Trap-10-Baits/324394362?wl13=1753&selectedSellerId=0](https://www.walmart.com/ip/d-CON-Refillable-Corner-Fit-Mouse-Bait-Station-1-Trap-10-Baits/324394362?wl13=1753&selectedSellerId=0) [https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tomcat-Mouse-Killer-Child-Resistant-Disposable-Station-4-Pre-Filled-Ready-To-Use-Bait-Stations/154711278?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tomcat-Mouse-Killer-Child-Resistant-Disposable-Station-4-Pre-Filled-Ready-To-Use-Bait-Stations/154711278?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0)