I woke up the other morning to hear a scratching noise coming from inside the wall (exterior). It sounds as if a wee mousie has decided to may my home a place for his family as well. I examined the walls inside pretty closely and did not find any holes, not even tiny ones. I examined the outside of the house less closely (due to spring snow and mud) and do see two spots where it might be possible for a mouse to make his way into the house but I cannot get at them until things dry out.
How can I catch/kill a mouse that is in my house walls?
Honestly though, as long as you have no toddlers or pets, I’d get some of these Snap Traps. See how they used peanut butter, don’t do that, use Snickers. They can reach in and lick the peanut butter out without setting off. Something wedged and stuck in there like Snickers requires them to get their whole body in there and pry it out. Also, I use the bigger rat trap ones, even for mice.
Anyways. Set a few on your first floor, a few in your basement (along the walls) and see if you catch a mouse after a day or two.
ETA, be really careful not to step on them. Do that barefoot and those rat trap one will probably break a toe. If it’s in an area that you walk around in, you might even un-set it while you’re home.
Also, seal up the holes on the outside of the house with some Great Stuff. I hate to tell you to do that with live mice in the walls because that means you’re probably going to end up with dead mice in the walls, but I’d rather have one or two dead mice in the walls than 10 live ones if more come it. Remember, they’re ruining your insulation and they’ll get at your wiring soon too.
If you have cats skip the snap traps since they’ll catch the mice/mouse and the trap will hurt them. Seal up the holes and I’ll bet the mice die after a few days or a week with no food.
I don’t know if you want to do that unless the OP is absolutely certain the mice aren’t still in the walls. If they die in there they will stink.
Try using those traps that are kinda like roach motels where the mouse goes inside to get the peanut butter (and peanut butter is indeed an awesome bait for mice) and once they go inside it’s like a snap trap that instantly kills them but the little door shuts their bodies inside so a cat or whatever cannot get at them. If you see the door is closed after you bait the trap, you throw it away. No mess, no fuss.
Like I said, it’s a tough call. Do you want one or two dead mice in the wall or open holes on the outside of your house where you know, almost for sure, more will get in…like over the next few hours. This isn’t something you can think about for a few days.
if warm spring is approaching then they may not stay long if they are outdoor mice wintering. they don’t like indoors if there is lots of human and cat activity unless there is lots of food.
don’t patch the holes until the mice are out or dead.
Something else you can do is get some hardware cloth and place it over the hole, but only attach it at the top, loosely and with a piece much bigger then the hole. If you attach it in a way that it pivots away from the house, it may (in my head this works) let mice that are inside get out when they claw/push at it, but outside mice won’t be able to get back in.
I’d use a piece almost exactly like this…
Get some screws with big washers at the top, leave them about a quarter or a half inch off the house and it may just work. Might not, but might. Experiment.
My house is old, so it’s nigh on impossible to keep the mice and roof squirrels out. I was skeptical, but these ultrasonic thingies actually work. I’ve had them running for three weeks now and no skritchy in the walls anymore.
And the dog doesn’t care about it. I was a little concerned about that.
Thanks for the ideas but my issue is that I don’t think the mice are coming in for food or the cats would have made mouse meat out of them. Despite all the glue traps I have inside, I only caught one mouse and that was the day after I left a door open for a while. I think they are getting takeaway from all the local bird feeders (including mine), entering the walls from the outside and using them as public housing.
I’d much rather lure them outside then have them die in the walls. If they have to die in the walls, I will just live with it. What I don’t want is to have them chewing on electrical wiring in the walls or eating holes into the house.
I have to wait for the ground to firm up to go about inspecting and plugging holes from the outside. That gives me a few days to figure out how to lure them outside. Or do I just let them make holes in my interior walls and let the cats at them or use poison traps?
A mouse doesn’t really have that much meat on it - the rot smell is not like a snake behind a dashboard. Your thumb probably has more meat than the house mice I’ve seen.
I wouldn’t worry about them dieing in the wall.
The “Great Stuff” mentioned is an aerosol foam in a can - insert the tube in the hole and push the button for a second or two - if you can get a hand to the hole, you can plug it with the foam.
Don’t know if a mouse would try to eat urethane foam.
But yeah if its in the wall , the smell won’t get out so easily.
Put bait in via a power point or light switch, or via the ceiling space or levering a skirting board off the wall, etc
I was quite surprised. My grandfather tried one years ago to try to get rid of the pests in the old farmhouse to no avail. But I got tired of emptying the Haveaheart a couple times a week, ( I took them across town, so I know they weren’t just coming back in.) figured at $20 it was worth a try.
Good idea. The point that I hear them at is near a power point. I have been assuming that they are following the conduit when they move around. Thanks!
Thanks for that. If the ground dries up substantially or refreezes, I can do that. Right now, I can’t get at the possible entry points that I see. I’ve also been told to cram in metal scrub pads because the mice steer away from biting the metal (just like humans!).
