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Valued Contributor
Posts: 667
Registered: ‎12-04-2011

I posted on here a while back about having an invasion of mice. After trapping 2 adults and 8 babies and having gone now for a little over three weeks without any more sightings or trapped one, I thought I was finally free of this. But NO!!!!!

 

All of a sudden last night, they appeared in the living room again and scurried all around. Mind you, I have a ton of traps out. Checked today, and not one has been trapped. My relative who have been helping me with this came down and reinspected everywhere. Couldn't find any signs of them, nor could he find any other entry points. I'm about to lose my mind. Just don't know what else to do. I have different kinds of traps out as well as the poison bait that Orkin left. They're not even touching that stuff. I absolutely don't know what else to do. Just wish I could leave this house!

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,809
Registered: ‎12-24-2010

Years ago - discovered mice climbing the copper pipe that comes up from basement to under the kitchen sink.  Found droppings there.

Right now - have vent pipe (basement) that was installed for a prior hot water tank that the new tank couldn't use. Occasionally a mouse crawling in garden finds that open pipe - I keep a loaded trap there = with success.

If you have garage doors - mice can squeeze under doors or any slit of an opening.  Bird seed:  keep in metal can.

Call an exterminator..........................

Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,938
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

Re: Well, mice again!

[ Edited ]

They are getting in some place. It could be hard to find since they can squeeze thru just about anything. You will have to find it to stop them from getting in.

We had one in the living room that DH tried to catch. LOL!!! We were moving furniture trying to get it when it went out the corner of the living room wall at the baseboard to the outside. DH said there was a small hole in there. He stuffed it with steel wool. 

We had another one that I guess was stuck in the wall & could not get out. I kept hearing what sounded like something moving up the wall than falling. A few days later it smelled horrible so I assume it was now a dead mouse.

Those are the only 2 times we had a problem.

 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,206
Registered: ‎08-08-2011

Oh no - I can sympathize since I also hated when I had mice in my house three years ago.   I called a critter control company (not Orkin) and they went around my house and plugged all holes they could find plus put six poison bait boxes around the outside of my house (they attach to my foundation wall) in order to possibly get them before they tried to come in the house. The guy also crawled into my attic and put some poison bait boxes up there. We’ve been free of mice since then. I have the guy come out once a year to replace the bait in the outside boxes and they were pretty much empty this year so I know the mice are eating them. 

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,788
Registered: ‎08-18-2016

   @qualityshopper 

You have my sympathies!!!

It's likely those were already born inside, when you were trapping their elders.

 

Try spreading a thin film of peanut butter on the outside of the bait block. That peanut smell will draw them, so hopefully they'll make a meal of the bait.

 

My 'yard cat' BabaLou is just 6 months old, but he's proving to be quite the hunter.

 

I've seen him chow down on 4 mice, and 2 bigger rodents.  Whereas my inside cat, a true pet, probably couldn't catch any mouse that managed to get into the house.

 

So I'm relying on Baba to grab them while they're outside. It's amazing how tiny a space they can squeeze through. I've seen a mouse flatten out and go from one room to the next under a closed door.

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 16,837
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Well, mice again!

[ Edited ]

I'm sorry you're still having to deal with this.  You've just got to find out where they're coming in and plug the hole.  Where are there the most droppings?  When I had them, the droppings were in my bathroom cabinet.  The pest control guy found a teeny tiny hole in there and plugged it.  Then he put poison (bait in boxes) in the back of all of the cabinets and in the air return vent.  I never saw a mouse again.  I would have never found the hole on my own.


The Bluebird Carries The Sky On His Back"
-Henry David Thoreau





Honored Contributor
Posts: 30,238
Registered: ‎03-12-2010

Get yourself some good old fashioned traps.  Put cheese on it but press it down so it isn't easy to pull out.

 

If they don't prefer cheese, try peanut butter.  I've had mice that prefer one over another.

 

I'd tell you my cat (Jack the cat) story (it involves a mouse) but I don't want to mess up your thread.

 

Let me know if you guys want to hear it........

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,392
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

They come in my dryer  vent.  Some years are worse than others.   Basement is the worst area for me and up they go to the kitchen.  Annoying especially when the bait is gone and the mouse also

Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,019
Registered: ‎08-08-2010

I don't want to discourage you, but the battle with mice can be endless! I have no issues, as we have a couple of cats, but my mom lives right next door and cleaner than clean, and we battle them at her place something awful. 

 

I don't know where you live, but as the weather changes, just a couple of degrees drop will send them looking for inside space. They find ways in you can't even see. They can get up and under tiny spaces hidden under things like siding and trim. 

 

In my opinion and experience, being kind and trapping isn't going to get it. You have to either get cats that will hunt and keep them out, or use chemicals that kill. 

 

Investing in a pest control company that comes out and puts bait traps on all levels of your home, and then maintains them every 30 days by refilling them is the initial thing that will make a difference. 

 

So many people try to do it themselves, or to be 'kind' and not destroy the animal, but in reality they will just keep coming if you have a true problem (as opposed to finding just one mouse in the house in a decade kind of thing)

 

They carry disease, they poo and pee on everything they crawl on, they can get up and into anyplace (not just on the floors or in cabinets), and they are destructive, and can chew through wiring which can be very dangerous. 

 

I don't want to scare you, but definitely to get it done and gone, hire a pest control company. They aren't always cheap, and it can be an ongoing expense, but when you have dealt with it like you have, getting them gone is top priority. 

 

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,019
Registered: ‎08-08-2010

@qualityshopper wrote:

I posted on here a while back about having an invasion of mice. After trapping 2 adults and 8 babies and having gone now for a little over three weeks without any more sightings or trapped one, I thought I was finally free of this. But NO!!!!!

 

All of a sudden last night, they appeared in the living room again and scurried all around. Mind you, I have a ton of traps out. Checked today, and not one has been trapped. My relative who have been helping me with this came down and reinspected everywhere. Couldn't find any signs of them, nor could he find any other entry points. I'm about to lose my mind. Just don't know what else to do. I have different kinds of traps out as well as the poison bait that Orkin left. They're not even touching that stuff. I absolutely don't know what else to do. Just wish I could leave this house!


 

@qualityshopper 

 

keep trying other pest control companies. Orkin really isn't all that good. Sometimes local companies will go the extra mile. It took big multiple bait traps under my mom's house to do the trick. And she lives in a small house but has probably 10 traps total places throughout and under. 

 

Make sure they have lots of them, get them under or in the basement, garage etc.