natural mouse control?

[lauren]

Hi--Looking for ideas that work for mouse control. I read that peppermint/spearmint oil is a strong repellent, dryer softener sheets, etc. They are gettting into my utensil drawer and I'm disgusted!!

Any ideas welcome, before I resort to getting out traps!

[cottonwood]

We are using traps, but the mice are too smart and usually get the bait out without getting trapped. I am thinking, next, of trying the sticky strips -- the mice walk on them and get stuck, and then you take them far from your house and loosen the adhesive with vegetable oil. If you find something non-trap that works, please post it. I have tried lavender oil with no success.

Today I'm going to go around the house and plug up any crack I can find with caulk.

[sun-shine01]

We bought one of those electronic things a few years back that is supossed to deter bugs and rodents. You just plug it into any outlet. We have one for up stais and one for downstairs. It seems to work except for spiders. You can get them at the drugstore for about $20.

We also have a cat so I guess that it the most "natural" that you can get. HA!

[lauren]

My cat is lazy and sleeps at night! He does catch them when they come out in the early evening. I have tried plugging up holes, but I can't for the life of me figure out how they are getting inside the drawer space and up the totally smooth surface into the drawers. We had new kitchen cabinets put in 3 years ago, and for 3 years they haven't been able to do it. Now it seems some Einstein mouse has figured it out!!

[3bees~1flower]

for those smart little stinkers that can get the bait without tripping the trap, a freind of ours tied a piece of bacon on to the trap, when they tug on it a little...WHAMMO! HTH! haven't tried it yet myself.

[Michelle Leigh]

WE BOUGHT LIVE TRAPS/MICE BOXES

We have caught 3 mice during the past week or so in the live traps/mouse boxes that you can find lots of places. They're sold right next to the mouse traps.

Put the box out.
Check it often!
We used a few pieces of cereal for "bate."
They go inside the door, but can't go out. It swings only one way.
They'll die if in there if you don't release them.

The great thing is:
cost less than $2.00
reusable
the mouse is alive
dd loved seeing the mice up close
released them in nature far from the home

I tried putting spearmint on cotton balls and towels near spots they'd been sited.

I tried putting steel wool in and around all plumbing, etc.

I tried asking them with my heart to live in our barn or in our woods.

I tried killer traps, but this didn't resonate with me. And, one night while I was on the phone with a friend, my toe was killing me. It was really hurting. Then, while walking through the kitchen area, I saw a mouse dragging a mouse trap behind it! Only it's foot area had gotten trapped. This was quite an experience.

The downfall of the live trap/mouse box is that they poop in there, and you have to wash that out if you want to reuse (I do). I do that outside with a water hose.

The other downfall is that I feel a little bit like I'm taking mouse friends/members away from their clan/families. But, I'm planning to take all of the boxed mice to the same place for release. Then, maybe, they can find each other. ?? I hope so. It's the intent that counts in my book.

[kaje62]

you all sound so relaxe
i am losing my mind

we have caught 12 with glue and regular traps
but dh wants to use poison, called enforcer

we tried this

http://www.garagelogic.com/mousetrap.htm

but no luck and here are a few other things

http://www.critter-repellent.com/mouse_repellent.htm


http://www.robharvey.com/rat-poison.html

i do know figuring out how they are getting in is the best thing to do

[lauren]

I bought two live traps and there is a mouse in there right now! I just caught the one in my utensil drawer! Problem is, it's night and I'm not driving him/her anywhere til morning. I hope she doesn't get out and wisen up!

Wow.

I also bought the thing you plug in the wall. We'll see.

[AahRee]

I spent a summer working at a camp in a really remote area in BC, and we had a huge mouse population. (They would crawl on us in our sleep... ) Anyway, we would catch 10 or more per night, in a really basic, homemade trap. However, it's not a live trap, and it's not for the faint of heart.

If you're desperate, you can try it.

Basically, we (meaning the guys... I stayed far away from the mouse traps...) took a 5 gal. bucket and stuck a wire across the top with a soda can threaded through it. The soda can had peanut butter on it to attract the mice. A little piece of wood would rest against the side of the bucket, to make a ramp for the mice to walk up. And the bucket would contain several gallons of water. The mice would walk up the ramp, attracted by the peanut butter, and then try to step out onto the can to eat it. The can would spin on the wire, and the mice would fall into the water and drown.

Effective, yes, but not for the faint of heart.

[lauren]

Well I found out the live traps I bought are basically useless. The mice walk right out of them when caught. Somehow they are too smart. My husband actually rigged something up like mom2katie described last night, (minus the water) but didn't catch anything!

Also might try the glue traps.

We'll keep trying. Any other ideas welcome!

[kaje62]

actually my first link on my post above to garage logic shows the picture of what you are describing and so far we have had no luck

why should i not do poison? i am going nuts. I see them all the time. poop on the counter every morning.

we hava a dog, two and a half year old and a newborn.

[lauren]

One reason not to do poison (if the killing doesn't bother you) is that they die in your walls and stink really bad for about two weeks. My nose is too sensitive to endure that especially if more than one.

I am also really grossed out, like you are. I mean they are crawling on my utensils and I have to wash everything each time I get something out. I'm putting all the utensils in the dishwasher everynight (might as well), but they do it in the daytime sometimes too, or early evening before I get to it.

My next stop is for glue traps. They are relentless this year.

[Daffodil]

The glue traps sound like the least humane alternative to me. I would imagine it would take a while before the mouse would die. Snap traps usually kill them immediately, and are probably actually more humane than live traps. A mouse released in an unfamiliar area probably doesn't have a real good chance of surviving very long, and it will be stressed while it's in the trap. The average mouse doesn't live a very long life anyway.

If mice are getting the bait without getting caught in the trap - either a live trap or a snap trap - it doesn't have anything to do with how smart they are. It just means they aren't heavy enough to trip the trigger in the trap. It can be really hard to get it set so it takes a light enough touch to trip it, but it won't trip on its own. With a lot of snap traps, it's nearly impossible. I've had the best luck with the kind that have a piece of plastic "cheese" as bait. Those seem to work really well compared to the typical snap trap. (They claim you don't need bait, because the "cheese" thing has a mouse-attracting scent, but I've found that it only works if I put a little peanut butter or something on it.)

[kaje62]

when you say plastic, do you mean the better mouse trap? or is there something else with a cheese scent

glue traps? i have heard of mice chewing off their feet to get off? ick

[chevy974]

dh uses Peanut butter on the traps usually works well. I hear one this morning to after dh left in my oven it sounded like YUCK so out with hte traps tonight. My neighbor just cut all his brush down and did his fields so i am guessing that why they ran here.
yuck

[lauren]

My understanding of the glue traps (never having tried one) is that you release the mouse by adding some vegetable oil. I plan to release them near an old barn where there would be shelter and something to eat. I also plan to check them frequently enough that I hope the mouse doesn't have time to chew its feet off (that is a horrible image!)

I do know that it will not work to have them continue to run around on my utensils!

[Daffodil]

I can't remember what the brand with the fake plastic cheese is called.

I'm skeptical about the idea of releasing a mouse from a glue trap with vegetable oil - kind of hard to imagine that really working very well. I personally think it's more humane just to let a snap trap kill them than to make them suffer while stuck in the glue, then get even more stressed out while you try to get them unstuck, then get released in an unfamiliar area with glue and oil on their fur - then die somehow in the next few months (or days) anyway. Most wild mice certainly don't live to be even a year old.

[kayjayjay]

I have much more experience in this area than I would like to admit. Here is what I've found:

If you actually find a mouse on a glue board before it dies, the process of removing it with vegetable oil will almost certainly kill it. I think they actually die of fright. Yes, we have tried this! I really think these are less humane than traditional traps.

The better mouse traps often catch the mice, but they don't hold them. We've had several get away.

I've never actually been able to catch a mouse in a live trap. I wish I knew how.

The electronic repellent things don't work worth a darn.

Poison scares me because we have pets and kids and also because we've had mice die in places where we couldn't get to them and that really smells BAD.

The good, old-fashioned snap traps are the only thing that has ever worked for me. They usually kill quite cleanly, not always, but more often than anything else I've tried. It's a dirty business killing the poor little things and I hate it, but I just can't live with them in my house. I also hunt down the cracks where they come in and stuff them with steel wool. I used to bait the traps just with peanut butter, but I actually had some mice eat the peanut butter clean off without setting off the trap. Now I use a pretty good-sized piece of bread with a bit of peanut butter on it. I've also found that certain traps are more trigger-happy than others which means a cleaner kill...when I find a good one I hang on to it. I really hate to admit it, but I've killed a huge number of mice in the last five years.

The other thing I've found is that you have to get them quick, when you first find the droppings, before they have time to reproduce or invite their friends in.

We would have a cat if we could, but my husband is very allergic to them. I don't know if that would actually help or not. In college I had a ferret that used to kill mice in my apartment. Just an interesting fact.

HTH

[kaje62]

oh gosh I just hate this

first of all two got in one of our glue traps under our stove
and dragged it all the way into our dining room where ds found them under his tool box station. he said daddy look a mouse. I thought he was making it up cuz of course we don't put traps near his play area etc...I am thinking one was trying to help the other out or something, yes it is sad but i can't stand them. I found 23 new terds on Monday and an exterminator told me that would mean we have like 7 mice. I am so close to using poisons. I will when we go on Christmas vacation if they are still here. We will be gone more than 10 days.

I don't know why but we got like 12 mice a few weeks back like 1-2 everyday and now we have not gotten any in a few weeks. I am thinking they saw the others get killed so they won't bite.

I am trying bubble gum on the traps tonite. Someone gave me that idea. The peanut butter with bread sounds like an idea. Also peppermint is suppose to deter mice.

I cannot stand them. Oh and I had a dream that I was walking into a building and a man grabbed my foot and would not let go. I was so upset and could not get away. I swear it was like the glue trap.

[Jocelyn]

We are struggling with this right now. Yes, electronic things don't work. Snap traps are most humane IMO. The guy who sold us ours said to smear reeses peanut butter cups on there really well to the mice have to exert their weight. We just put out traps last night. Nothing yet. We feel soooo invaded, but I also have sympathy for the little buggers. Still, not in my house. Sorry.