We live out in the Middle of Nowhere, NE AZ. Yes, there are mice. In this part of the country, those beasties are deer mice.
Deer mice are NOT normal mice. They are aliens, with big eyes. (Go ahead, Google. I’ll wait. Google “field mouse” and then Google “deer mouse.”)
It got to the point where we were overrun with the little shits. I swore that while we were in SCal, every juniper tree in the 4 Corners area had a paper plate stapled to it, “Party at the VOW House.”
Deer mice, aside from looking like aliens, carry the Hanta virus in the Southwestern US. It’s a fun disease, you feel crappy one day, then you go to bed that night and die. I’ve got asthma, so I’m particularly leery of Hanta.
We got an exterminator. Don’t screw around with looking for all the ways a mouse can enter, don’t waste time with traps. Every mouse you successfully trap, there are a gazillion more out there, breeding.
Torture, anyone who uses them is cruel. Just use snap traps. Instant kill. Do NOT use poison.
Once you get a cat or two- problem is solved.
We live next door to brush and hills- there is always mice. They get into the garage, and I use snap or live traps (hint, put a tiny piece of carrot in there also, so the mouse wont get thirsty before you empty the trap). But they never, ever venture into the house. The half life of a stupidly brave mouse coming into our house would be measured in seconds.
Yep. Not that they will never ever go into a house with cats- but if you have cats and your next door neighbor doesnt- they choose the safer option.
Peppermint spray on the wires, etc will keep them from chewing.
They also make good pets, except they have a short lifespan.
They will use poison. Poison that yes- kills the mouse- painfully and slowly, but then poisons anything that eats the mouse- cats, raptors, dogs, skunks, etc.
I talked to the exterminator extensively about their method of annihilating mice. Yes, they use poison, it’s placed in bait stations that are locked so enquiring little minds and fingers don’t go poking around in the stations. I asked about domestic animals, and the risk of the poison to our pets. He told me they use a “third generation” poison that will not jeopardize our pets.
The cats I’ve had for the past ten years or so have been too stupid and/or lazy to go after the mice. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if a mouse actually ran across one of our cats.
The exterminator’s bait is designed for the mouse to take it back to the burrow, and share. They all then die in their beds. We’ve had no heaps of mouse corpses rotting anywhere in or under the house, so I feel comfortable saying the professional exterminator is the best method.
Well. You know as a denizen of the top of the food chain, I’m not real sure I care if they die horribly.
I’m not cruel by nature and if you went and paid top dollar for a clean, disease free pet rat or mouse I heartily wish it a good long life. I don’t think the nasty wild things should be anywhere near them if you want to keep them disease free and uneaten.
Yep. Keep your pet rodents. And I mean keep them. Don’t decide to let them loose in a neighborhood thinking they’ll find good homes.
Sorry, it don’t work like that.
Municipalities and homeowners use gallons of poison.
(Side note, don’t get a guinea pig if you have an aversion to nasty odors. There’s a reason they’re called pigs. Trust me on this)
Thanks for that link. Now I know that the rats may have come down from the roof vents instead of up from the sewer. So I can get up there and put some mesh over the vents.
We get mice in our house, but are kept at bay by our 2 cats and strategically placed mousetraps.
Then just last week, the cats were engrossed with something we thought was a mouse that was foolish enough to venture into the open. But it turned out to be a chipmunk that had gotten in the house. One of our cats almost got ahold of it, but it jumped or was flipped by the cat more than a foot in the air. Seemed to still be alright though.
I, and my wife and kids, didn’t want to snap-trap and kill it like a mouse, so I got a small Havahart trap I happened to have handy. I left it in the last place we had seen the critter, with a blob of peanut butter and a cashew on the trigger plate. Well, the next morning the darn critter had eaten the cashew and peanut butter without springing the trap! So I’m basically just feeding the little guy.
Frustrated, I took a bathroom break while plotting my next move. Then I detect movement in the bathroom. He’s in there! I go get the Havahart trap and go into the bathroom, closing the door, so I’m basically trapped in a small room with it. I haven’t really planned anything out at this point. I’m trying to flush it out from various spots like behind the hamper and a little dresser thingy we keep bath supplies in. It is freaking out, running and jumping all over the place, including between my legs at times, which freaks me out because I don’t want it to run up my pantlegs. At one point it gets up to a high shelf and is running around above my eye level. It is crazy quick and I wonder what the hell I have gotten myself into.
Since it seems to like hiding behind the small dresser thingy, I set up the Havahart trap at one side of the back of it, and bang something on the other side to flush it out. It takes a few tries, but then SNAP I hear the trap shut and I got it! Took the critter outside and let him out on his merry way.
Yeah, now imagine that part happening at 6 am and you’re wearing nothing but a loose bathrobe and a fitbit. That was first time with the rat and the reason I got fully dressed the second time.
Woah, I missed that story initially. Yeah, I would definitely want to be wearing something more than a robe when trapped in a bathroom with a rat! What was the top heart rate your fitbit measured during all that? Bet it was up there.
Went to make myself a sandwich for lunch yesterday. Pulled down the loaf of Pepperidge Farm bread (only four slices left) and noticed a huge chunk missing from two of the slices. Pondered this for a moment, bitched to myself how nobody makes a decent product anymore, then observed the little hole in the bag that was facing the wall. It was obvious goober had had himself a meal during his stay at Chez burpo. Also obvious: he was a lazy little bastard as several boxes of pasta were close by and untouched. Fortunately, all other food was in cans, glass jars or Tupperware containers. Nothing else seemed to be molested. Perhaps this will deter his returning. Maybe this gets us a bad rating on Yelp.
From my long years of experience with pet rats, rats (and presumably mice) love bread. That’s one of their favorite foods (after banana). They also like pasta (cooked more than dry) but not as much as bread. Although it’s very cute when they hold a piece of spaghetti in their little hands and eat it from one end. If there’s a nice tasty loaf of bread available, there’s no need to look any further.
