Getting Rid of Mice in the Kitchen

[lindag]

13 hours ago, ChocoMom said:

If you have some Bounce dryer sheets handy, lay them around the area where the mice are frequenting. They HATE those dryer sheets.  Or, those super-sticky trays do wonders at trapping the little buggers. 

Although.....we placed a few trays out in the barn, and one of them just disappeared. Not sure what stepped into it, but it must have been big! 

Check the cows' feet?

[Martin Fisher]

On 11/12/2017 at 9:29 AM, DiggingDogFarm said:

Try this! 

Approximately 2/3 Tootsie roll and 1/3 peanut butter.

Microwave for a few seconds then stir, repeat until the deadly—BWAHahahahaha!—mixture bubbles.

Let cool enough so it can be kneaded into a ball around the snap trap trigger—dab a tiny amount of plain peanut butter on top of the ball.

Works VERY well in my experience! 

 

 

 

I've tried a few new methods/baits lately.

NOTHING works as well as the above!

 

[gfweb]

5 hours ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

 

 

I've tried a few new methods/baits lately.

NOTHING works as well as the above!

 

Peanut better is great, but easy to pull off.  I’ve got to add the tootsie roll. Brilliant. 

[lindag]

Don't have the problem indoors but have had an issue with them entering through the furnace exhaust which is outside and about 8 inches above ground.  Apparently they can jump.  Furnace man found evidence inside my furnace of nesting materials this Fall when he came for service.

A couple of years ago they had got inside the furnace and chewed some of the wiring which then had to be repaired.

This time I bought a couple of these bait stations  and placed them near the exhaust pipe.  Within a week all the bait was gone so they seem to be working.  I'll keep refilling them as needed.

 

[Nyleve Baar]

Oh please please don't use those sticky traps for mice or anything else. The poor creatures get stuck and die a long painful death - it's not ok. Use a snap trap. Disgusting but quick. Those little mice were just looking for a warm place to spend the winter. They don't need to be tortured for that.

[heidih]

Mine (# unknown) has/have a path of travel....around the snap traps. Apparently has a peanut allergy. First the ants were all over the bait. Cold enough now the ants are scarce but it/they must have a food source outside and are "smarter than the average mouse". Still have not had the guts to open the nesting cupboard. Got up super early and must have disrupted the dawn routine venture. scared it - what a dash it made for the dryer vent I think. 

[kayb]

This bit of doggerel comes to mind:

 

"Loves to eat them little mousies

Mousies what I loves to eat

Bites they little heads off

Nibbles on they tiny feets."

 

I cannot for the life of me remember what that's from, nor do I have any idea why I remember it.

 

True story. A girlfriend called me in hysterics one day, screaming there was a mouse in her oven she found when she removed some fish sticks she had baked. When I took the call, I was standing in line at Victoria's Secret, waiting to check out during their semi-annual bra sale. My side of the conversation: 

 

"Hello."

...

"You baked a MOUSE?"

 

I swear, every head in the place turned to look at me. It was worse than one of those "When E.F. Hutton talks..." commercials.

 

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, kayb said:

This bit of doggerel comes to mind:

 

"Loves to eat them little mousies

Mousies what I loves to eat

Bites they little heads off

Nibbles on they tiny feets."

 

I cannot for the life of me remember what that's from, nor do I have any idea why I remember it.

 

It was a Kliban cartoon of a cat, playing guitar and singing that catchy little tune. I remember it well! May even still have the book.

 

I'm with @Nyleve Baar on the sticky glue traps. Years ago I went through the process of trying to de-mouse my kitchen (and the rest of the rental house). I began with live traps and relocating the mice about 10 miles up the road. Friends and family laughed, of course, and assured me that the critters would be back. I never knew whether those particular mice made it back, but it didn't make a dent in the population and I assumed it was because I didn't have enough live traps. I added sticky traps, thinking I'd be able to free the mice from the glue. Not a chance. They clearly died a horrible, slow, terrifying death. I stopped for a while, until they went beyond the pale and got into my Girl Scout cookies. Then it was war! I moved on to snap traps: quick and deadly. I don't remember what bait I used, but I got rid of the little devils.

[Katie Meadow]

I thought you were supposed to run after them with a carving knife. At least scare them enough to give them heart attacks.

[IowaDee]

I think that only works if they are blind.  😉.  Another vote for snap traps.

[palo]

Regarding glue traps, yes they are gross and inhumane, but if you have scissors they can be reused.

 

p

[Maison Rustique]

No glue traps and no poison. The problem with poison is that the mice will go out after consuming it and then be eaten by a predator--possibly your cat--who will then get terribly sick and also die. Snap traps seem horrible but that or live traps/re-locating are the safest, most humane way to go.

[Martin Fisher]

Three nights.

Three mice.

Same trap.

Same Tootsie Roll/Peanut Butler bait ball.

[Spork]

A cat, that is a hunter, is worse than all of the methods previously offered. Feral taught, they can dispatch an incredible amount of wildlife. 
 

It’ll kill indiscriminately, likely the young, birds, squirrels, rabbits, etc. Kill the cat first. 
 

Next, clean your act up. You may get some stragglers from the neighbor. 
 

The tootsie roll suggestion is good, but cleanup is hard. Peanut Butter with the trigger wrapped in a small piece of cling wrap, wrapped with a small rubber band will trip even with the lightest lickers. 

[boudin noir]

Mouse cubes on Amazon. Release a mile away.

Edited January 5, 2020 by boudin noir (log)

[Martin Fisher]

On 11/26/2013 at 4:16 PM, DiggingDogFarm said:

The secret that I learned from my grandmother is to tie a piece of butcher's twine on the metal bait area—trigger—of the trap letting the ends of the string extend out about a 1/2 inch.

By working some peanut butter into the ends of the string the trap is made much more effective due to the mice tugging on the string and easily springing the trap.

Trap placement is also important, the metal bait tab should face the wall.

Doubling up on traps at each location is also a good idea.

The above is the second best method I've used.

 

The Tootsie Roll/Peanut Butter ball is like hard candy—there's no difficult clean-up where I live.

 

FWIW—our cats are indoor cats.

[Spork]

2 hours ago, boudin noir said:

Mouse cubes on Amazon. Release a mile away.

 

A very rude approach. 

[kayb]

I would advise most any method over that employed by my ex-husband, when we had moved into a new house built in what had previously been a soybean field. Mouse came in through the fireplace vent. Cat, ex-husband and I watched this process, cat merely looking quizzical, as in, "Huh! That's a mouse!" Ex-husband chased mouse into the kitchen, where it took refuge in the drawer below the oven where the cookie sheets live; he cornered it there and beat it to death with a fireplace poker (please imagine sound effects. They were worse than that.). Then he proceeded to curse the cat, who had watched the entire proceeding with some amusement.

 

Next day, I'd gone to work. He was working nights. He called me about 2 p.m. "I'm going to kill your damn cat." Cat, it seems had not been so blase' about the NEXT mouse to come inside. Killed it, and brought it to our bed, placing it carefully on the pillow beside ex-husband's face.

 

I told him if he hurt my cat I'd throw him out in a heartbeat. He didn't. I should have, anyway.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Pretty John Watts

We are troubled with rats,

Will you drive them out of the house?

We have mice too in plenty

That feast in the pantry,

But let them stay and nibble away,

What harm in a little brown mouse?

 

[lindag]

Mice in the garage.

I store my potatoes and onions in the garage.

of course right now it’s pretty darned cold outside.  When I went out to the garage to get a potato I noticed a yam that had been chewed on and there were droppings underneath the wire shelf it was on.

This really grosses me out!

i ordered some more indoor bait stations right away...

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Manager note: This and the foll0wing 3 posts have been moved, to keep forum topics focused.

 

On 7/20/2020 at 7:05 AM, heidih said:

This is hilarious!    Husband has an ongoing war with mice who miraculously snatch the acorns, chunks of fruit, walnuts, peanut buttered crackers, you name it, from traps.    He even WIRES down the lures.    We only catch the dimwits and clumsy.  

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

The old wood and wire traps aren't as good as the ones that look like big clothespins, but even though can be defeated by clever mice. We tried everything--cheese, peanut butter, nutella in case they were chocoholics, bits of crackers, apple chunks. Either they ignored the bait or stole it without triggering the trap. We finally had to resort to poison, which neither of us was happy about. Part of our concern was the whiff of dead mouse in certain corners. Not a huge smell, but noticeable, and it didn't last very long. I can now say we are mouse-free, but for how long?

Edited July 23, 2020 by Nancy in Pátzcuaro
clarity (log)

[heidih]

All we had was a bunch of the ones like the comic. Worked. Mouse had been here for weeks. I don't like to kill critters but it was a family issue. Never a dull moment. Rats on the  other hand....not my home issue but I have seen some hilarious contraptions in greenhouses. They like tender new growth! Hard to see your work destroyed. Poo by the coffee maker not pleasant either. Snacks were kept in microwave.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

In the country, we have seasonal mice indoors.   Or "a mouse".   We have found that they like fruit.   Blenheim apricots a favorite.   We leave a baited trap when we close up the house.   

 

In the city where we have rats.   They eat windfall Golden Delicious apples from our tree, and strawberries, given the chance, i.e., when they beat us to them.    But they are well fed city rats, really rather beautiful little animals.   Lush and fat.    Fit for a Disney movie.    We don't trap them.   Certainly don't poison them with the number of birds and neighbors' cats who wander through our yard.   

[chromedome]

I'm not at all laissez-faire about rodents, however charming, because of a former co-worker who lost a healthy 20-something cousin to hantavirus. That stuff's no joke. I draw the line at glue traps, despite their effectiveness, because that's a miserable way for any creature to die. The next most-effective thing, in my experience, as been the old-fashioned wooden snap traps (YMMV). I use them frequently (or at least, as frequently as one needs to in a household containing three cats) and always with near-immediate results. I've found that I get best results with a tiny schmear of peanut butter or other nut butter on the trigger pad. If they can lick it off without triggering the trap, I know I've used too much and I'll clean the trap and start over.

I also use gloved hands when I bait and set the trap, to minimize the telltale human scent.

 

I'm sure I don't need to tell you my feelings when one of the farmer's markets where I was a vendor chose a cartoon mouse (drawn, completely by coincidence, by the market manager's son...) as its mascot. Because nothing symbolizes agriculture in the abstract like a pestilential, crop-defiling rodent, right?