Mice, Mice, everywhere

[dex_millie]

Most apts I have live in I had to deal with them. But this time this is crazy. We live in a basement apt. Mice is in our kitchen cabinets that we keep our pots and pans, evidence of their poop is everywhere: . They are on the self of a steel table we have in our kitchen that has our provisions and other material on it, I am always cleaning poop off, they get on the stove, more poop, in our living room, more poop, in our bedrooms, more poop: . We found a dead one in a big fan we have. I am a very organized, clean person, I hate this. I don’t even like to put bags on my couches because they may have bacteria on them and we lie down on the couch. OH…. Yea my husband said there was a mouse that ran on top of the couch two nights ago. WTH!!!

We are trying to find a place of our own, but it seem like only rich, famous, and “people who know people” survives in this place: . What can a nearly one salary couple w/ a baby afford. We are looking for forclosure places. And moving to a cheaper state right now is not do-able. This also drives me up the wall but that is a next rant.

Does anybody know of a way to keep these mice from running all over. We do the sticky traps they work sometimes, and we do have periods when we don’t see mice and then all of a sudden they reappear. I thought I heard someone talk about clove oil, not sure how that works. But can someone plz help us with this situation. I have a 9 month old that crawls all over. I would literally have to clean all the floors and any touchable thing every morning to keep the place clean(not do-able, considering I have to take my SIL to work every morning, while my brother takes DH to the train station).

Geez, this was long, hope I got my point across. Help…

[incorrigible]

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[dex_millie]

I'm anxiously waiting too. Anybody, HELP....

[tibdoml]

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[maryeliz]

My solution is labor intensive but cheap and effective.

Go to the hardware store and buy a couple bags of fine steel wool-not the scrubbers with soap, just plain steel wool.

Go over every inch of your apartment and plug up any hole larger than a nickel. Mice seem especially fond on coming in through gaps around pipes, so you need to check around radiators, under sinks, and behind your stove. Personally, I crawled around the perimeter of my apartment and checked every inch that was at ground level. (Can you tell how much I dislike rodents?). Look in your closets (I once found a small hole in my closet behind a dresser that mice were coming in through), and make sure there are no gaps in your baseboards. Mice can also get in through the sides of window frames if the are wooden and have holes.

and Edit. I forgot to say that when you find any holes, fill them with steel wool.

Good luck!

[shelbean91]

We had what we thought was a mouse in our garage. Turned out to be a lot more. We tried to be nice and humane to get them to go, didn't work. I finally put out dcon and they died. Haven't been back as far as we know. We were getting worried about the kids getting bitten or diseases, etc.

[Lisa Lubner]

I had this problem. They were in everything. Poop in the stove. They even chewed the plastic spigot off of the baby oil on the changing table. :

We tried humane traps. Didn't work. Glue traps are too greusome for my taste. We ended up putting down snap traps right under the places they would come running out of, because baiting didn't work. We killed A LOT that way, but the only thing that kept them from coming back was adopting a cat. I think after a few of them died, the smell of the cat kept them in my neighbors apartment instead.

[jennnk]

If you're renting, you need to let your landlord know, in writing, and inform him/her that s/he has the amount of time allotted by local tenant law to remedy the problem, or you're going to call an exterminator and take the cost out of the next month's rent.

ETA: Maryland landlord-tenant law is here, and special tenant code for Baltimore County that specifically states dwellings must be free from rats and mice can be found here

ETA again: rent escrow guidelines are here, and rat/mice infestation is specifically stated as a condition under which you can use rent escrow.

[pinksprklybarefoot]

I shivered just reading the title of your thread. Mice are a deal breaker for me. I can not do it. I'd be in a motel or at someone else's house. *Shudder*

I second the steel wool suggestion. It worked for me many years ago.

Also, ITO that it is your landlord's problem, not yours.

If all else fails (and I am not a cat person AT ALL), get one: : Heck, could you just borrow one?

[AngelBee]

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