# Mouse-proof food storage needed (need answer fast) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 1, 2016, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-proof-food-storage-needed-need-answer-fast/741884 "2016-01-01T05:13:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-proof-food-storage-needed-need-answer-fast/741884/21 "2016-01-05T16:55:28Z")
> [@Whatever4](#): > > First, you need a bucket, plastic will do just fine. It has to be taller than the wee mousie is. Fill the bucket with water so that the rotten little rodent has to swim, but can’t reach the rim with it’s little pink paws. > > Cover the surface of the water with sunflower seeds. Make a ramp from a paint stirrer or piece of 2x4. > > Scatter a few sunflower seeds on the ramp, especially at the top and sploosh! **mousie is sleeping with the fishes**. They.never.learn. Sploosh, sploosh, sploosh. It’s an interesting extra touch, putting fish in the bucket. Aesthetics? (Wee little koi pond?) Maybe something to eat up the dead mousie to save cleaning it out of the water? (Though I’d be leery of anything carnivorous enough to skeletonize a mouse in a few minutes.) Yes. I’m kidding. I’m going to assume you’re not being literal. But the idea of a bucket trap/aquarium combination was too intriguing to leave alone. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-proof-food-storage-needed-need-answer-fast/741884/22 "2016-01-05T17:41:14Z")
We had issues with mice getting into our garage every fall when the weather started to turn. We sealed and caulked and did everything possible to secure the garage, but to no avail. Finally, someone suggested that we leave fabric softener sheets out all over the garage where we’d found evidence of the mice. Mice apparently find the scent of the dryer sheets appalling and will leave. To our surprise, it worked. We replace them every summer and now in the fall the mice go elsewhere. And our garage smells dryer-fresh! lol ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-proof-food-storage-needed-need-answer-fast/741884/23 "2016-01-05T19:06:52Z")
> [@quiltguy](#): > > DO NOT make the mistake I did and store food in the oven. I assumed an oven would be a closed system, what with having to deal with insulation, temperature control, etc. Not so, my friend. I had wrapped up several recipes of Christmas cookies, and put them into the cooled oven. When I went to retrieve them 2 days later, I was greeted with additional “toppings” on my baked goods, and mouse teeth marks everywhere. Everything was ruined, and I was grossed out. When I think of what I spent on all those ingredients, I wanted to wring me some little mouse necks… Plus the mice piss in the insulation, making it stink whenever you use the oven. And they use the insulation for nests, too. ---
**Author:** ![NVME702-redux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a183cd/32.png) [@NVME702-redux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NVME702-redux)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-proof-food-storage-needed-need-answer-fast/741884/24 "2016-01-06T04:41:43Z")
> [@race\_to\_the\_bottom](#): > > Growing up in rural Minnesota in the 1950s, I heard about a farmer who used this technique to get rid of rats. So this works for rats too, because my daughter alerted me to one in our kitchen this evening on my drive home? I am FREAKED OUT. We are in the process of re doing the kitchen pipes that lead outside and I’m certain that is how IT got inside. My husband said he was disappointed that our yorkies have not harkened back to their predecessors traits and annihilated the vermin, but I would panic if I knew my citified pups where shaking a rat in their jaws! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-proof-food-storage-needed-need-answer-fast/741884/25 "2016-01-06T05:05:44Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I suggest a few cats. That is a great idea. I have read the real problem with mice is that they urinate constantly. Apparently, they have no urinary bladder or a different kind of bladder and they just keep urinating small drops everywhere they go. That urine carries disease and so, I would call a professional pest control company and pay them anything they wanted to remove the infestation. They can get rid of all the mice and ensure that no more of them will ever come around again. I don’t know how they do that. But it seems to me that protecting all your food is very important. But even if you do, they can still come and visit your property for a long time to come. This link contains some info that may be of help to you. [http://www.rentokil.co.uk/mice/signs-of-mice](http://www.rentokil.co.uk/mice/signs-of-mice) ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-proof-food-storage-needed-need-answer-fast/741884/26 "2016-01-06T05:13:06Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I was over run with mice and rats back in Aug, Sept, and Oct. Caught nearly ten in sticky traps and 3 in spring traps. > > I finally called an exterminator. He went to the source (the attic) and put out poison bait. He said there were obvious trails in the insulation where the rodents were traveling around. He put some bait around the exterior of the house too. > > So far I haven’t seen or heard a rodent since. Getting a pro’s help was worth every dollar I paid. The pros can get high strength bait that isn’t sold to consumers at retail. > > I still keep the dog food in plastic containers. Pancake and cornbread mixes are inside tupperware in my cabinet. Anything that might attack rodents is inside a container. Sorry. I missed this post. But it says it all. A cat is also great. I would guess that once mice can detect a cat is on the premises, it would discourage them from visiting. Wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-proof-food-storage-needed-need-answer-fast/741884/27 "2016-01-06T05:35:22Z")
> [@Whatever4](#): > > First, you need a bucket, plastic will do just fine. It has to be taller than the wee mousie is. Fill the bucket with water so that the rotten little rodent has to swim, but can’t reach the rim with it’s little pink paws. > > Cover the surface of the water with sunflower seeds. Make a ramp from a paint stirrer or piece of 2x4. > > Scatter a few sunflower seeds on the ramp, especially at the top and sploosh! mousie is sleeping with the fishes. They.never.learn. Sploosh, sploosh, sploosh. This is a similar concept, works quite well. [http://gentlemanhomestead.com/diy-five-gallon-bucket-mouse-trap/](http://gentlemanhomestead.com/diy-five-gallon-bucket-mouse-trap/) Although I do sort of like the idea of cocoa mixed with cement.:o ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-proof-food-storage-needed-need-answer-fast/741884/28 "2016-01-06T14:36:42Z")
My cats are of no use whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-proof-food-storage-needed-need-answer-fast/741884/29 "2016-01-06T15:56:39Z")
I spent Christmas at my parents’ house in suburban Connecticut, where they have rodents of some sort in the attic. I spent one night awake because I could hear a mouse or worse scratching at the drywall ceiling above me. I had this nightmare of the creature breaking through the drywall and landing in my bed. My brother’s dog is a West Highland Terrier, which was apparently bred to hunt small rodents, but is useless at the task. I’d like to think that I could put her in the attic for an hour or so and have the rodent problem resolved, but I suspect she’d just find a soft place to curl up and nap. She’s very good at barking at squirrels in the backyard, but only from the other side of a picture window. And she’s great at guarding the top of the sofa back, in that she spends most of her time there. But actually hunting rodents? Useless. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-proof-food-storage-needed-need-answer-fast/741884/30 "2016-01-06T16:16:23Z")
We occasionally have mouse problems. The last thing they gnawed open was a bag of mouse poison packets… I actually was a little pissed when I noticed it. Then I thought, “Wait a minute…” ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-proof-food-storage-needed-need-answer-fast/741884/31 "2016-01-06T16:23:29Z")
> [@Whatever4](#): > > First, you need a bucket, plastic will do just fine. It has to be taller than the wee mousie is. Fill the bucket with water so that the rotten little rodent has to swim, but can’t reach the rim with it’s little pink paws. > > Cover the surface of the water with sunflower seeds. Make a ramp from a paint stirrer or piece of 2x4. > > Scatter a few sunflower seeds on the ramp, especially at the top and sploosh! mousie is sleeping with the fishes. They.never.learn. Sploosh, sploosh, sploosh. I disagree with this, mice do learn and they learn very fast. That would work for a couple mice, but they’d catch on to it fast. ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-proof-food-storage-needed-need-answer-fast/741884/32 "2016-01-06T16:27:07Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > Sorry. I missed this post. But it says it all. A cat is also great. I would guess that once mice can detect a cat is on the premises, it would discourage them from visiting. > > Wouldn’t it? Yes and no, I grew up on a farm and we had barn cats that were bad ass and would give any animal pause to think. I had a pet cat in the house, who would invite a mouse in an hold a tea party for it. Some cats are not good hunters. I’ve seen sweet gentle loving kittens turn out to be terrifyingly good hunters and I’ve seen mean old alley cats which couldn’t be bothered to take on a mouse or anything else. It depends on the cat. And mice and rats are very quick to catch on which animal is or isn’t a threat to them. ---
**Author:** ![NVME702-redux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a183cd/32.png) [@NVME702-redux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NVME702-redux)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-proof-food-storage-needed-need-answer-fast/741884/33 "2016-01-06T18:54:40Z")
> [@Carryon](#): > > I disagree with this, mice do learn and they learn very fast. That would work for a couple mice, but they’d catch on to it fast. Would there be a memo, though? or up training to advise them of the ruse?? 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-proof-food-storage-needed-need-answer-fast/741884.md?page=1)