How many mice is too many mice?

[heymama1plus1]

I'm a (relatively!) good housekeeper, but on occasion mice have gotten into our house... maybe 3-4 in the last 6 years. Now it seems I have a mouse hotel in, of all places, under my kitchen stove. In the last 5 days we've caught 5 mice!

When do I call an exterminator? My snap traps (sorry any PETA people ) are working fine. Can't figure out where they're getting in, unless there's a hole under my stove I don't know about.

I'm not squeamish about them so that part doesn't bother me. It's just the principle of the thing...

TIA!

[Gray's Mommy]

We've had a few mice this year also. We put some really bad poison cubes down & haven't seen them back. I don't feel bad either--I don't want rodents in my home. We are looking for the source of entry & haven't found it yet.

[almadianna]

find the source of entry because if it were me, 5 in 5 days would have me going up the wall. at this point I would call an exterminator if this doesnt stop soon.

we have had rodents in our house, its an old house and we live in a woodsy area so it happens.... but as soon as we get some droppings I put out traps and go to town.

We also keep a have a hart trap that we always keep up because that is safe for the kids and pets, yet if we catch one it lets us know that they are running around again.

[almadianna]

oh and there very well might be a hole under your stove. a couple months ago our dishwasher stopped working. it was just a year old so we pulled it out and found that a rodent had eaten through one of the water tubes, we also found a HUGE hole that they had eaten through our sheetrock. they can and do eat through that and when we had a drought last summer they must have been desperate for water and came into our house that way.

[kerc]

I'm LOL because I don't think this belongs under decluttering! One uninvited mouse is too many mice, in my opinion!

[texmati]

for me....one!

[fullofgrace]

Hiya!

I'm going to pop this into The Mindful Home where home maintenance questions go.

[mom0810]

One. One mouse is too many. One.

If you have one, you have many, and five in five days is WAY too many. They surely have pups somewhere nearby, and you need to kill everybody before they *really* give you a problem.

Call an exterminator. Now. Trust me, I've been down this road and you don't want to have an infestation of mega-proportions, which you will because the way mice reproduce is... amazing. Call. Today.

[Shellie]

Yes, for me, one is too many cause they can carry disease. I'd find the entry so I could stop them and stop killing them?

[4evermom]

Maybe you just had one or two mice but they had a litter that is now grown enough to roam, rather than having 5 or 6 having come from outside. They start breeding at only 2 months old or something. One mouse is too many because it will find a mate and you'll suddenly have a half dozen.

[luckygreen713]

Yup, we're dealing with an infestation now. Ours are roof rats though, and are similar to mice. They look just like mice but are a tiny bit bigger. They come in off of trees and get into our attic. We have many and it didn't take long at all. They are dangerous in several ways--they care nasty diseases, they carry fleas which they can transmit to pets and people, and they can chew wires insise your walls which is a fire hazard. They are capable of damage of all sorts. Trust me, they're bad. I LOVE animals, and I find these nasty little rodents to be sooo cute, and I'm sorry they have to die, but I do not want them in my home with my family!! We actually have an exterminator coming tomorrow.

[Magelet]

1 mouse is too many. I've dealt with mouse infestations, and 1 mouse quickly turns into 15, and they're leaving droppings everywhere, and bringing fleas and they will eat your food and it is a gross problem.

[HeatherAtHome]

Ok, I hate to say this, because whenever I do, it changes! So, *knock on wood* we had a couple mice this winter, set out some snap traps and that was the end of that. I've seen mice outside the house but haven't heard them inside for about 2 months now. The problem only lasted for about a month, during the coldest part of winter. HTH

[Caneel]

Originally Posted by 4evermom

Maybe you just had one or two mice but they had a litter that is now grown enough to roam, rather than having 5 or 6 having come from outside. They start breeding at only 2 months old or something. One mouse is too many because it will find a mate and you'll suddenly have a half dozen.

Yep, that has been my experience. Mice came into our house after living there more than 10 years without a mouse. For several days, I was setting new traps faster than I could clear the "full" traps. That took care of the problem until the weather got cold. Now, a trap goes down at the first sign of a dropping. So far, so good.

[heymama1plus1]

OK, no mice in 5 days... am I out of the woods? No mousey "evidence" either...

[alaskaberry]

Rodents hate peppermint oil. So your house may smell like a candy cane for awhile, but if they come back, set cotton balls soaked in the essential oil around the places they are coming in and they should vamoose!

(imho, *one* mouse is too many, and it's time to get a cat! )

[pauletoy]

I agree, One is One too many!

[-Grace-]

Have you thought about getting a mouser? I like rodents. Love them. Have a problem with snap traps (not a PETA member, I detest PETA). But have no problem with a cat killing and eating one. Food chain at that point. Also the scent of a cat can be a deterrent from mice returning. Our girl killed 3. The rest haven't come back.

[noobmom]

Originally Posted by -Grace-

Have you thought about getting a mouser? I like rodents. Love them. Have a problem with snap traps (not a PETA member, I detest PETA). But have no problem with a cat killing and eating one. Food chain at that point. Also the scent of a cat can be a deterrent from mice returning. Our girl killed 3. The rest haven't come back.

We have two cats. Over 6 years they have caught and killed 2 mice that we know of. In our case I don't think we had an infestation, just one or two random mice that came in from outdoors in bad weather. We tried traps, never caught anything, but our cats took care of the problem for us anyway.

[littlehawksmom]

Please, please don't ever use poison! Our cat died of D-Con poisoning last summer (most likely from eating a recently poisoned mouse).

It could be the most horribly painful and full of suffering way to die.

Hope you find something that works.