Well, then, that would solve the problem of what to do with the snake, wouldn’t it? 
Seriously, the snake idea is to borrow the snake from someone who already owns it, then when the mice are gone (either eaten, or scared off by the smell), you give the snake back to its rightful owner. That was my hubby’s idea for my Mom’s house. His father already had the snakes.
I know what you mean about animals who don’t love you back. I don’t love snakes in the “c’mere you little sweetie-face” kind of way. It’s more of an interest than a relationship.
Back in my youth, I had one-night stands that were a lot like that. . . 
That’s beautiful. And truer than I’d like to admit to!
Most, but not all. The rough green snake, for example, feasts on insects and spiders insead.
Thanks for that tidbit! I could use one of those in Mr. Basement – where spiders rule.
They might enjoy a trip in the cat carrier out to the garage, and a few hours to explore that new environment (with the possible extra treat of a few mice to catch). You could either stay there with them, or leave them for a few hours (assuming the garage is closed so they can’t get out.
A few trips like that, and, even if they don’t catch any mice, they will leave enough cat smell behind that mice will tend to move elsewhere. But you’d have to continue doing this every week or two to keep the smell fresh. But if they like this ‘treat’, your cats may have you doing it more often than that!
Try reading Vogon poetry to them?
Oh good, another snake-oil salesman. :rolleyes:
That’s an idea. I do have one cat who wouldn’t freak outside (the other three would) and she’d love exploring all the spider-webby places out there.
Nuke them from orbit, it is the only way to be sure.
(Somebody had to say it)
All I have to add is that mice can chew thousands of dollars of damage to a car in a fairly short time.
You might have a different attitude after you get a $2000 repair estimate for the damage they have done to your car.
Do not store dry pet food in the garage. This is a huge attractant to the mice. They will often take dog kibbles and store it for the winter in a nice dry place like the climate system of your car, or the air cleaner assembly.
The reason it’s hard to tell is because they don’t work.
You need 1 old wellington boot, 1 broom, and one kettle of water.
Place the boot along the edge of the wall. Chase the mouse with the broom until it runs into the boot - a nice dark hideyhole. Pick up the boot and fold over the top (so the mouse can’t get out). Boil the kettle. Pour the boiling water into the boot. Death for the mouse is instant. Allow the water to cool and empty the boot. Set boot to dry.
Build a better mousetrap step one.
Take a tall bucket cover the inside with Vaseline and fill about1/2 full with water.
Build a ramp up to bucket.
Get an empty pop can, pierce a hole through the bottom and feed a stick through the can.
Cover the can with peanut butter.
Secure the stick to bucket just far enough away from the ramp for the mouse to have to lean over to get at the treat.
When the mouse tries to get the treat, the can spins making the mouse fall in the bucket and the water drowns.
Alternately, if you don’t want to kill darling mouse skip the water and add a lid of sorts to prevent him from climbing or jumping out.
If this doesn’t work we may need to go to plan “B”.
We will need 100’ of rope, two candles, a rolling skate, and do you happen to own an anvil?
A bucket half full of water and some sunflower seeds. The seeds float on top and the mouse will go after them never to return.
I’ll second what Finagle and others have said about sealing off entrances and getting rid of any attractants.
I went through a period of illness and my house fell into a little disrepair. I also have pet birds that throw seed everywhere. So the mice were able to get in and they found something attractive to get them to stay. I am still in the process of repairing things and cleaning out my garage and the bird’s room.
Initially I was squeamish about killing mice. Poison is definitely out because I do have other pets. I tried a humane trap but I didn’t want to take the mice elsewhere to release them because that’s actually just as cruel as killing them because a) they are house mice, not field mice and b) other mice already living there may fight with them over territory and c) you may as well just put them on a cracker for the predators. So I took it to my clinic and humanely euthanized it. It had been in the trap for a day and it was rather stinky. I had to stick the trap in our anesthesia box and knock out the mouse with inhalant anesthesia and then inject it with the euthanasia solution after it was unconscious. That was a lot of trouble and I realized it was even more stressful to the mouse than instant death. (The same goes for releasing them into the wild - it’s stressful and they death is imminent.)
I then realized that if I was going to kill them I may as well kill them. I also read up on all the health dangers of having vermin and that convinced me to use kill traps. So I tried an electrical trap that shocks and kills them instantly - didn’t work. I still had mice, so I said to hell with being nice and bought a set of the jaw clamp traps. They work and they work quick. You don’t have to bait them and risk your fingers setting them, just squeeze the jaws open and set it in the mouse paths. When you kill one just squeeze open the jaws and drop the corpse into the garbage. I haven’t seen any live mice lately.
I work with animals so getting over the killing animals thing was hard but these are vermin. They can spread disease to me or my pets. They may be cute up close but they are disgusting in the long term and they are not welcome in my house. I got over my squeamishness. In your case they are risking you lots of money by possibly damaging your car.
By the way, I doubt taking your cats out to the garage will work. I have several cats in my house and the mice would sometimes leave the closed bird room or garage and come into the main part of the house. The cats killed those ones but it didn’t keep the mice from coming in occasionally, and probably left only the smart mice in the gene pool. I also had a couple old, used litter boxes in the garage, they hadn’t been cleaned so they still smelled like cats. I found mouse spoor in the boxes. And you don’t want your cats to kill and eat mice because they can carry parasites (tapeworms) that could infect the cats if they ate them.
The snake idea would be nice if it worked but I don’t think anyone would want to risk their pet snake getting lost in the garage or run over by your car. If just the snake or ferret smell worked that would be great though.
What about other types of snakes? Would they work as olfactory deterrents?
I’m dubious about the snake thing. I have milk snakes that live in my (fieldstone) foundation and probably prey on the mice. But the mouse population remains.
Well, they don’t want to eat all the prey, then who will make more prey?
