In December 2007 MY roomie and I found out we had a mouse in out apartment, In the cupboard that hangs on the wall. We caught it and haven’t had a problem since. Right now theres mouse shit in my cupboard again, How the heck is this mouse getting there?!
The cupboards hang high off the wall, theres no way a mouse could just jump into them. the fridge and stove are close to the cupboards but I do not see how the mouse would be able to make it inside…
We are also baffled as to how the mice are arriving in the first place, me and the roomate keep a pretty clean house live on the second floor of a building and once we found the first mouse we sealed up every possible entry point. Anyone have any ideas how we can solve this once and for all!!!
Short answer is probably “through a tiny hole” which I’m sure you’ve guessed.
Mice can fit through amazingly small openings - I’ve read 1/4" is enough. Empty the cabinets and go over the interior with a flashlight. Seal up every single opening with something like a bit of steel weel plus a dab of expanding foam, or 1/8" hardware cloth tacked over bigger openings, or even a block of wood nailed in place. If you can stick a pencil through it, a mouse may be able to get through it.
Check that the doors shut snugly as well - if there’s a crack when they are shut your little friends may be able to find their way in from the top of the cabinet by shimmying down like wee furry commandos.
I’d guess that you have older cabinets that are not individually built boxes hung on a finished wall - my post-WW2 construction was built into the existing wall so there are openings into the stud cavity and so on. Probably not intentional, just shoddy construction. A modern cabinet box (the carcase) should be opening-free aside from the doors - no big gaps, etc.
Valgard is absolutely correct as far as the size of the hole they need.
FYI - I assume you want to try and catch the one that is in the house. I have had the most success with a regular mouse trap baited with peanut butter. Gets them every time.
At a former residence of mine, they came from under the sink around the pipes in the walls. My ex put steel wool in the openings, then bondo. Never had a problem again.
We removed a mouse from the cupboards a few weeks ago. Regular mousetrap, baited with peanut butter. Little bugger chewed into taco seasoning, dried soup packets, tea, and myriad other grocery items. Poor wee beastie, though.
we think hes getting in through the fan over the stove, Which goes outside, and passes through the wall and insulation to get there…How in gods name can you remedy that??
We had that problem with our first apartment after we got married. We were on the second floor, too. I recalled the old adage “There’s never just one!” with horror. Turns out, it was just one little brown field mouse from the woods behind our apartment. We got rid of it and never had another problem, so you never know. It was coming in from where the stove was hooked up, because there was a small gap in the wall. I’d give up trying to keep it/them from getting in, and go on the defensive.
ETA to address this directly–while I agree in principle, it’s a more urgent matter when pests are nibbling into your bread and pooping in the coffee cups. I’d just deal with it yourself.
We got rid of ours with a snapping trap, after the complex’s “guy” and his DCon was absolutely useless. (Yes, it was his full title. We called them, and they said “Oh, we have a guy. I’ll send him over.”) I mean, you know how when mice poop, there’s also sometimes a little puddle of dried pee? (ew!!!) Well, the poison was blue. The damn thing ate the poison, and then peed blue. Time for stronger stuff, I said.
I can’t find a link for the trap we used, but I’ll try to describe it. It wasn’t like the normal wooden based trap–it had a plastic body, and a little “cave” the mouse went into for the bait. The trap was a loop of metal, bent 90 degrees and on a hinge that snapped down on top of it. When it was tripped, you just pushed the end of the hinge sticking out of the top casing back and slid the mouse out the hole to dispose of it. Much less traumatic to get rid of that way. I recommend peanut butter because it’ll stick to the trap better.
If you insist on live traps, I’d dump the mice far from your house, or else they’ll just come right back in.
Beanpod , I am not sure why the DCon didn’t work, but it certainly should. Maybe do some label checking, because the powdered mouse poison should contain warfarin, which is a powerful blood thinner. I don’t use that inside however because the mice die very quickly because their blood leaks out, and… I’ll leave it at that. I never use poison anywhere but in the garage because they get very thirsty and go on a search for water, then … die. The OP definitely wouldn’t want to go that direction in any event.
I get mice under my sink every year or so. They were particularly bad this year for some reason – I think I’ve caught 10 or 12. 5 of them in one 24 hour period. I’d reset the trap, then peek under there in an hour and find another poor victim. After a few days they either ran away, or I’d killed them all.
Rascal’s Mom–yeah, I’m actually not sure if it was DCon or what. I knew most mouse/rat poison works that way, so it was really strange that it didn’t work. Little blue pellets? Maybe it was something else. At any rate, I was worried about having poison all over my kitchen, and it was taking forever.
Also, I retract my suggestion to not worry about how they’re getting in. Trying to stop up the holes is probably a good idea, too.
Mousetraps are like putting a bucket under your leaky sink. Catch one every night and there are a boatload more to follow. You have to seal the hell out of everything like many posters have said.
If you think it is the stove fan, seal it up yourself and then bill the landlord. When he doesn’t pay, post a thread it the Pit. You won’t get your money, but you won’t have mouse shit in your coffee. A fair tradeoff? I would think so…
The SO is in charge of mousetraps and he’s allergic to peanuts so he uses those Brach’s caramels instead–works even better than peanut butter because it sticks to the trap more firmly and the mice are gaga for it.