Egad, what a ton of mice! One other thing you might do is put your cat food someplace where your cats can get it but your mice can’t. Mice are pretty good at climbing stuff, but maybe if you have a tall table with smooth metal legs (and away from all walls and other furniture), you could try that – your cats should be able to jump up there to get their chow but the mice will have a very tough time.
I use what are called “live traps” in my sheds. These are a wonderful little metal box with spring loaded trap doors that only lead in.
I initially bait the trap with lunchmeat, and after the first mouse goes in, eats the lunchmeat, calls his buddies, they eat each other(not having any other food in there).
After a week goes by, I go out to the trap, and have one mouse (dead or living) to dispose of, and a pile of mouse bones mixed with patches of fur. I haven’t the slightest idea why more mice go in the trap after the lunchmeat is gone, unless they like the smell of butchered mouse (the one being eaten).
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“Moderate strength is shown in violence, supreme strength is shown in levity.”~~G.K.Chesterton 1908
The bucket trap will not work without the water. Meeces can jump amazingly high, and will escape from the bucket w/o the water. Same goes for the bucket trap in the winter, water freezes and allows the little darlings to jump out. For winter use, the bucket trap works well with light machine oil substituted for the water.
Depending upon where you live, the mice may be the “white footed” variety which are the reservoirs for the deer ticks to acquire the lyme disease. Contrary to common belief, the deer tick is merely the vector for the lyme disease, and the white footed mouse is the source of the spirochete that causes the disease. Be careful disposing of any freshly killed mice as you may inadvertantly transfer a lyme bearing tick to yourself.
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“Moderate strength is shown in violence, supreme strength is shown in levity.”~~G.K.Chesterton 1908
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Stop reading old Beverly Cleary childrens’ books.
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Buy mousetraps. Set them. Eventually they will work. Unless you just leave your cornflakes lying around.
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Your cats aren’t as useless as you think they are. Trust me. The presence of cats reduces the population of mice. You may not see the dead mice but they happen while you are asleep. Normally dead mice are consumed by your cats, bones and all. However, your cats may occasionally have a dead mouse to spare. You will find this out one dark night when one of your cats leaves a dead mouse by your face as a special favor to you so that you can have it for breakfast. I know. I have experienced this. A cat’s idea of what might be a tasty snack is very different from a human’s.
Direct quote from “Stuff” magazine (from the makers of MAXIM)
Under “Rid your home of Vermin”
“Rats and Mice”
A few cotton balls doused in peppermint extract stuffed in cracks and crevices will make Fievel and pals raid the cupboards next door-- the smell drives 'em crazy"
“People must think it must be fun to be a super genuis,
But they don’t realize how hard it is
to put up with all the idiots in the world.”
– Calvin and Hobbes
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the peppermint idea + ultrasonic device + presence of cats sounds the best; i have a question about cats and peppermint: will the cats mess with it? the last time i used a heavily mentholated muscle rub, my cats went bananas and licked my legs through my sweats and continued licking the chair beneath me after i got up.