Mice that are smarter than we are...UPDATE in post #12

[Cam&Clay]

So we have mice in the garage AND in the pantry. I got lots of ideas from this board for what to do. We set snap traps with peanut butter in both places. First night, snap! We got one. The other traps? The peanut butter was missing but the traps didn't snap. This has gone on now for 3 days. No peanut butter AND no mouse.

Are we doing something wrong or is Mickey smarter than we think?

[infomama]

I hate that. Try adjusting the setting on the trap to make it more sensitive to the pressure.

[Piglet]

Dh did a one-two punch - he laced the PB with mouse poison so that even if they got it off the trap it would still kill them. My friend's DH smeared raisins in PB and used that as the bait. The raisins were harder to remove from the trap. Ultimately though, we just got an exterminator and were thrilled with how fast the mice went away - money very well spent!

[gatorsmom]

I consider myself to be a mouse expert having had to fight them now for the past 4 years. :( We catch TONS of the little buggers by using RAT size glue boards. The mouse size don't work- they can drag themselves off the board. The rat size is usually fool-proof. If you put the peanut butter in the center of the glue board, they have to really get several feet on there and then can't get off. We set them on the floor where we see turds along the edge of the wall. They are known to stay as close to the wall as possible when they are running, so they'll run right over the glue boards.

Btw, I do NOT recommend using poison. We've had them eat poison and then crawl off somewhere to die. If you can't find the carcass (sp) then you get to enjoy the smell of them rotting for several weeks. Also, you just don't know where they are going to drag that poison- you certainly don't want it in your pantry. jmho.

Oh, just wanted to add that the best way to stop them is to use steel wool to plug up the holes they are getting in through. They can squeeze through a hole the size of a pencil eraser.

good luck!

[JElaineB]

We do use poison. We use child-proof bait stations that the mice can get into and out of but you can't get them open or the bait out of them without a special key. We had a small infestation at our old house and they worked there and we have had evidence of one mouse here at our new house, so we set out the bait stations. DH heard it nibbling inside one of them one night and we haven't seen evidence of it since.

[jacksmomtobe]

Btw, I do NOT recommend using poison. We've had them eat poison and then crawl off somewhere to die. If you can't find the carcass (sp) then you get to enjoy the smell of them rotting for several weeks. Also, you just don't know where they are going to drag that poison- you certainly don't want it in your pantry. jmho.

Oh, just wanted to add that the best way to stop them is to use steel wool to plug up the holes they are getting in through. They can squeeze through a hole the size of a pencil eraser.

good luck!

I second Gator's Moms advice regarding poison. We had mice in our basement and our exterminator recommended against doing that due to the reason she mentioned. After returning from vacation we learned the hard way how stinky a dead mouse can smell. We had one trap in a closet that I didn't check often and there was a dead mouse there. Oh boy did it smell awful!!! It was pretty hard to get rid of the odor. Hard to believe a small mouse could stink so much. Our exterminator also recommended steel wool to block holes so I have since fixed the entry to the closet from our basement. In regards to baiting the trap you don't want too much peanut butter just a smear or they will pick it off without getting trapped. GM's idea of large sticky traps sounds like a good one based on my experience.

[Cam&Clay]

In regards to baiting the trap you don't want too much peanut butter just a smear or they will pick it off without getting trapped.


I think this may be the problem. DH probably put on a huge GOB of peanut butter. We now have very well fed mice, no doubt.

The issue now is if one of them actually catches one. My DH is stationed about 6 hours from here and is only with us on weekends. I am not looking forward to dealing with this alone...

There's always my neighbor, I suppose!

[gatorsmom]

The issue now is if one of them actually catches one. My DH is stationed about 6 hours from here and is only with us on weekends. I am not looking forward to dealing with this alone...

There's always my neighbor, I suppose!

I agree this is NOT my favorite job to do. At least with the larger glueboards, there is enough room on there that you can usually find a free corner to grip on there where there is not mouse remains. I know, :barf:. I've heard it's best to make their death quick and painless so I put it in a ziploc baggy and run over it with the car, if they are still alive on the board. But if you do that, make sure you don't look at the glueboard once you run over it. Again, I know, :barf:.

[Piglet]

I'm sorry but that is just gross on so many levels. Just wondering - if you have been doing this for so many years why not call on a pro? We had the exterminator out once and then he came for a follow up. We never had to deal with a single dead mouse and thanks to the follow up he found the hole. We plugged the hole and never had a mouse problem again.

[Carrots]

We live near a marsh and get mice every fall and in the spring. They like the eve above our bedroom and the roof over our den. We did the snap and sticky traps and had success, but the mice never fully went away. I finally called an exterminator and they baited the house with child/pet-proof poison traps and they have worked perfectly for the past 2 years. The traps are in places where DD or my dog could never get to anyway, so they don't worry me.

According to the exterminator, the mice eat the poison and go searching for water - usually outside the house. I have yet to find a dead one in the house (or smell one). In fact, the week the house was baited, we had water in the basement from lots of rain and high tides. I was expecting to find 1,000 dead mice down there. I did find one in our driveway.

Good luck! I can't stand mice in the house.

[gatorsmom]

I'm sorry but that is just gross on so many levels. Just wondering - if you have been doing this for so many years why not call on a pro? We had the exterminator out once and then he came for a follow up. We never had to deal with a single dead mouse and thanks to the follow up he found the hole. We plugged the hole and never had a mouse problem again.

LOL. We get them in our camper which we leave at my dad's hunting land every summer. We've tried everything to plug that camper up and can't figure out where they are getting in. We get field mice in there after everytime we camp and I am RELIGIOUS about not letting my kids eat food in the camper. At all. I also thoroughly vacuum it between camping outings and wipe down all surfaces. And I wash and shampoo all the upholstery after every season. Doesn't matter, they come in. We did get them in the basement of our house one season and it was bad. We had exterminators come and now rarely get them in our house, but still sometimes. We live in a very wooded neighborhood backed up to a nature preserve so the wildlife are abundant here.

Last weekend DH discovered 2 living mice on our glueboards in the camper and we had a 10 minute argument how to dispose of them. He wanted to throw them in the campfire (it's a really big firepit) and I thought that burning them alive was way too cruel (not to mention the stinky burning plastic-yuck). So, we came up with the idea of running them over. good times.

[Cam&Clay]

UPDATE!!!

I deserve some applause! :applause:

Found one in the garage this morning. DS1 had been "trained" by DH (his stepdad) on how to remove the mouse. He totally wimped out on me! Ended up doing it all by myself. I threw the trap away, too. At 50 cents apiece, I wouldn't dream of reusing it!

All of the other traps are missing the bait now, so I will redo them tonight. I told DH that maybe it was just an old retired mouse couple who moved in, but just to be sure...

Thanks for your advice and support!

[gatorsmom]

:bighand: Good for you! Never a fun thing to do. As for the retired mouse couple, haha, I wouldn't bet on it!

[dcmom2b3]

Last weekend DH discovered 2 living mice on our glueboards in the camper and we had a 10 minute argument how to dispose of them. He wanted to throw them in the campfire (it's a really big firepit) and I thought that burning them alive was way too cruel (not to mention the stinky burning plastic-yuck). So, we came up with the idea of running them over. good times.

OMG, the first time my dad used glue traps poor Mickey got stuck and tried to gnaw his leg off to get free. Mom and I couldn't come up with a way to kill him quickly but neatly (my dad was on a business trip at the time). We considered drowning him in the toilet but that seemed cruel, tried to hit him with a broom, but the trap stuck to the broom :duh: and it didn't kill him anyway. Finally, we put him (still stuck to the broom) out in the snow to freeze to death. We both were bawling by this point. Dad dealt with it when he got home, just shaking his head over how his two tough minded independent women had been brought to tears by a mouse. I miss him so much.

Sorry for the hijack -- but that brought back memories!

[gatorsmom]

OMG, the first time my dad used glue traps poor Mickey got stuck and tried to gnaw his leg off to get free. Mom and I couldn't come up with a way to kill him quickly but neatly (my dad was on a business trip at the time). We considered drowning him in the toilet but that seemed cruel, tried to hit him with a broom, but the trap stuck to the broom :duh: and it didn't kill him anyway. Finally, we put him (still stuck to the broom) out in the snow to freeze to death. We both were bawling by this point. Dad dealt with it when he got home, just shaking his head over how his two tough minded independent women had been brought to tears by a mouse. I miss him so much.

Sorry for the hijack -- but that brought back memories!

:hysterical: I can picture you and your mom standing at the back door screaming and shaking that broom with the mouse and glueboard attached.

Actually, i think freezing is one of the more painless ways to go, if I had to choose one.