Old House w/Mice & Finch Seed

[finchandlovebird]

Timely topic....tis the season. I had a mouse this a.m. next to my dog's crate & she couldn't wait to get out to chase it She chased it into the guest bathroom & I set 2 traps in there & another in the living room. Hope we have success.
I'm going to Wally World later & might pick up some glue traps to try.....never used them before.
I HATE MICE

[Sally]

I had a serious mouse problem when I had birds in a small room off my porch but attached to my house.

The best trap I found is called Kness Snap-E. It is easy to use, you rarely snap your own fingers, unlike some traps. Put some peanut butter on it (correct, cheese doesn't work), and you will be amazed at how many you will catch.

I HATE glue traps, they are a horrible way to die, and the mouse can drag the trap off to some hidden place to die. As Debbie said, a rotting mouse corpse is not something you want.

Poison is out with dogs, I would worry with mine that he just might decide to taste one of the dead mice and get poisoned himself. Plus, you still have the problem of the mice then going back into your walls and dying.

Peppermint oil didn't work for me. I put some on cotton balls--the mice used the cotton balls to make nests!!

Here is a list of various traps I found, but I still would recommend the Kness traps. They aren't expensive, are reusable (you don't touch the mouse when releasing it from the trap), and they far outperformed any other trap I had tried before.

https://wiki.ezvid.com/best-mouse-traps?id=bng

[slwatson]

The town I live in is currently experiencing problems with norway rats due to a very dry summer. It's currently raining, so I'm really hoping this helps with the problem. However, due to the neighborhood I live in, and the tons of trees and bushes in our front and back yards with open fields and a golf course nearby, we've always had problems with rats.

They've only occasionally gotten inside the house, but yesterday, after hearing squeaking and seeing beady eyes behind our dresser, I decided to open the bottom dresser drawer. Two, or possibly three, norway rats scared the life out of me and came jumping out of that drawer. They ran behind the dresser and proceeded to use the other bottom drawer, and I opened it and they jumped out again. I keep my parrotlets in my bedroom, so I'm sure the rats have been feasting on the daily mess.

My husband and I were up off and on during the night trying to catch these things! The dogs even helped at one point, but it looks like we'll have to resort to traps I don't like the thought of killing any animals, but they've got it coming!!! I can't risk them getting to my birds.

[finchandlovebird]

Sally, I have #7 in your list (among the more standard snap traps, & I did buy some glue traps today

[Stuart whiting]

End of the day no bird keeper wants to have Micky mouse anywhere near to there birds and I'd do literally anything that will eradicate them, harsh words maybe but I won't mess about with em, a lot of people I've noticed don't like the glue boards as some seem to think that the boards can be dragged,

When I say glue boards I use glue rat boards, these are much bigger and stronger than mice boards, I also place 2 house bricks on eaither side of the board or even drive 2 tent pegs through em if placed on dirt / grass or whatever,

Don't get me wrong yes I do use the normal Spring traps but I've caught far more on rat glue boards, not Micky's from my place I may add but other people asking for my assistance to eradicate whole families of mice,

Incidentally I was shown how to professionally catch mice by a good freind of mine Who is a qualified pest control technician from rentor kill UK

[slwatson]

Well, my dog Otis has taken care of one rat

[Babs _Owner]

slwatson

Good puppy!!

[finchandlovebird]

Victor V Tin Cat is the name of this mouse trap; I caught the little bugger right away. That's my dog's nose sniffing where the mouse is in the trap. There is an opening like that on both sides of the tin box; mouse can go in, but can't come out. I had just put a piece of bread in it. Top of the box opens up for "disposal".

[haroun]

i just delete a picture from my mobile , I was ashamed and can hurt somone , we can see cleary 14 mice ( they were not rats)are Caught in the trap of adhesive; this happened in pet store oh my good , after that i ask any new victims he sayd yes only 5 this time

[camorrow]

I'll chime in here since this is something I have a good bit of experience with, though luckily only once in a house. First of all, the mice really aren't this horrible source of disease, but I understand that nobody wants mice in the house, especially the kitchen. I'm a bit of a germaphobe, so that was the real kicker for me.

Glue traps are absolutely horrible things. If you have any affinity for any animals, no, you shouldn't use them. Pest or not, mice are just a part of nature. They're just doing what they do, and they shouldn't suffer through a horrible death because of it. If you're going to use kill traps, use the quick methods versus taking the easy way out.

I would never, never, ever use poison in a house with dogs or cats. I was a vet tech for years, and I saw numerous cases of a cat or dog either eating a poisoned (dead or not) mouse/rat or getting into poison that the owner was SURE was not accessible to the pets in the house. Some of these pets died, others recovered, but it's nasty business and there aren't any guarantees even if you realize what's happened quickly.

If you don't close up all of the ways INTO the house then you will almost never eradicate the mouse problem. Even if you stop catching them where you think they are, they've just learned to move elsewhere. They're smarter little buggers than most people realize.

At work we use humane, live-release traps, and, yes, we have a significant mouse problem, as we're in the desert and it's an animal rescue (lots and lots of food sources). They're not for everyone, but it's my preferred method. Once you spend much time around the critters you don't really want to kill them. There are multiple versions, and if you have an interest then I can find links for the specific types. They do require regular monitoring, but releasing them is very easy. You just have to relocate them at least a bit of a distance away or else they'll come right back in the house (remember the above - they all know where the entrances are).

[Paul's Amazing Birds]

I'll try that one too...but over the years it's been a constant battle against rodents and predictors of all kinds here.
I live on a water way with thousands of acres of seed crops and marshlands all around. The wildlife here is amazing! My aviary was built like a fortress with all these outside critters in mind but outdoor aviary design is another subject altogether.

I have a good mouser dog but I need to be careful about the use of poisons because of his curiosity and also because of a healthy owl population that actually help him keep the rodents and snakes under control at night. I do use a block type bait placed in strategic dark places hidden around the house...particularly near the compost bins, spa area, in the crawl spaces etc.; mostly because snap traps for rats and mice attract wild birds like robins and finches... and even when bated with peanut butter they don't work all that well here.

The dog hates the taste of a dead rat but he's happy to point them out to me. He's always attracted to a storm drain out in front so that spot gets an extra poison block or two....out of his reach of course. I also have a few old finch nest boxes placed along the foundation (rodent run ways) that work great as exclusive rodent bait boxes. Dealing with an occasional dead rat or mouse is just part of the house maintenance around here,

So it's kind of up to you to design your own defense system to keep mice and rats under control. If not, families happen.
Good Luck!
Paul

[Stuart whiting]

I'll try that one too...but over the years it's been a constant battle against rodents and predictors of all kinds here.
I live on a water way with thousands of acres of seed crops and marshlands all around. The wildlife here is amazing! My aviary was built like a fortress with all these outside critters in mind but outdoor aviary design is another subject altogether.

I have a good mouser dog but I need to be careful about the use of poisons because of his curiosity and also because of a healthy owl population that actually help him keep the rodents and snakes under control at night. I do use a block type bait placed in strategic dark places hidden around the house...particularly near the compost bins, spa area, in the crawl spaces etc.; mostly because snap traps for rats and mice attract wild birds like robins and finches... and even when bated with peanut butter they don't work all that well here.

The dog hates the taste of a dead rat but he's happy to point them out to me. He's always attracted to a storm drain out in front so that spot gets an extra poison block or two....out of his reach of course. I also have a few old finch nest boxes placed along the foundation (rodent run ways) that work great as exclusive rodent bait boxes. Dealing with an occasional dead rat or mouse is just part of the house maintenance around here,

So it's kind of up to you to design your own defense system to keep mice and rats under control. If not, families happen.
Good Luck!
Paul

Interesting read there pual, seems like you've got it all under control,

a lot of the time keeping rodents at bay is just down to basic common sence as you've clearly described

[608duj]

The first winter in my 120 year old house in the country I caught over 300 mice in peanut buttered snap traps. Previous owners, facing foreclosure, had just piled trash in the basement. By the time I had emptied the last of my 20 traps in the morning there were already more mice in the first traps I had emptied. The house has a stone foundation and the mice entered through tiny cracks between the stones ( or chewed through the old mortar ) eight feet underground ( they only need 1/2 " ) or squeezed under the siding where it meets the foundation. Catching those early mice was the easy part. I started using glue traps and bait as well. Got another couple hundred that way. Once a mouse discovers the bounty of seed, egg food and water in bird cages, they go back and get their friends. They reproduce every three weeks. They climb walls. They easily squeeze through the wires on commercially made cages, and spook the birds at night. I made my flights from 1/2" square mesh which keeps them out. There is an unlimited supply of mice in the agricultural fields around me. These mice I have now do not take any bait, are not lured by peanut butter, and run around or jump over the glue traps. The typical mice are long dead but the very smart ones are still here. You get creative, get lucky, and adapt a Zen approach, refusing to give in to the frustration, but realize it will be a matter of containment rather than elimination. When they start to run over you in your sleep you will get over any hesitation about killing them. Once I grabbed one reflexively out of the air as it tried to jump away from my flashlight.

[Stuart whiting]

When they start to run over you in your sleep you will get over any hesitation about killing them. Once I grabbed one reflexively out of the air as it tried to jump away from my flashlight.

Blow that mate, I'd definitely kill em no matter what it takes, I've got some very good freinds who are in the main pest control company here in England " Renta kill UK " and have been shown how to professionally catch mice, I've got a few hundred commercial traps sitting out in me shed now but luckily haven't had to use any for a very long time

[Sojourner]

I've lived in a vermin infested house, relatively recently in fact, and regardless of where you think you are seeing the mice now, they are everywhere in the house. They happily crawl around through the walls upstairs, downstairs, they don't care. They will tend to be seen less often in the most active rooms, but they're still there. There will be no room anywhere in the house that is "safe" from them.

I agree about glue traps. The kindest thing to do with a glued-on mouse is drop the entire trap in a bucket of water and drown them, and that's not exactly kind. I'm sorry, but the glue traps are too horrible and I won't use them. The mice suffer for hours or even days before you find the trap sometimes, and drowning, while less cruel than letting the mouse slowly starve to death, is still not a quick painless death.

As for the idea that being electrocuted doesn't hurt, that clearly comes from someone who's never had a shock. I guarantee you it is painful, though relatively quick. I make no value judgments about using them, but don't think they're painless because they are pretty dang painful. At least its pretty quick.

There are live traps but then you're still faced with the problem of how to euthanize a crowd of mice. Letting them loose somewhere just makes them someone else's problem - and still YOUR problem if you just loose them in your yard. They'll just come right back in.

I won't use poison even though *I* have no pets who would be endangered by scarfing down a dying mouse - because neighbors do have cats and dogs who would be put at risk.

Poisoned mice are also a hazard to raptors such as owls and falcons. I live in the middle of a fairly big town and we have an owl that roosts on the house at night. I've also had a red-tailed hawk perch on the backyard fence. Our wild birds are already more than sufficiently endangered.

Snap traps are the quickest way to kill a mouse and the most painless as once the spinal cord is severed - which is what a snap trap does - its impossible for pain signals to reach the brain. However keeping pets away from them can be a problem. Dogs love peanut butter too so even if they're not trying to dismember and gulp down a dead mouse, they'll probably go for the bait themselves.

I would block off any area where you're putting traps down to keep the dog(s) away from it both pre- and post- mouse-catching.

Also - be prepared. Occasionally one of these will snap down so hard it beheads the mouse, which is no problem for the mouse given that's about as close as one can get to instantaneous death in a household trap, but could be a problem for you or your kids when you come upon unexpected gory (though tiny) death.