I found mouse poop in my closet today while reorganizing it. I also found two unused mousetraps under the kitchen sink. And some cheddar cheese in the fridge. (Gotta go with the classics!)
I'm happy to report that your standard mousetrap works as designed and advertised. And that I disposed of the carcass myself. And now the trap is rearmed (baited with the same hunk of cheese...I'm nothing if not frugal), and placed in the same apparent rodent superhighway at the back of my closet. Let's see if I have any more of the critters running around here, helping themselves to my dogs' food! Speaking of my dogs...WTF? They have been stuck in this room, thanks to the ringworm that I don't want them to give BACK to the kittens, yet they haven't been interested in capturing and/or killing the vermin?! Somebody needs to take their Canine Cards away!
11 comments:
I've been told by people who know this stuff that peanut butter is better. Apparently mice like peanut butter, and unlike a chunk of cheese, it can't be carried off.
Also, it's the smart mouse that lets the other mouse go first. Then, he ambles by, says RIP to his buddy, and take the cheese.
I'm confused. I thought kittens/cats took care of mice...
A.) Second vote for the peanut butter. The exterminators that deal with the kitchen at work (Seventy year old converted warehouse, it's a constant battle) use peanut butter.
B.) The black plastic traps are very effective while being easier to empty and reset.
Anon.
TOTWTYTR, there are these sorta spiky things you plant the bait on, so that cheese was still on there, even after I carried the trap all the way out to the fence line to dispose of the carcass. But peanut butter will work, too! Most excellent *rubs hand together gleefully*...
'Drea, my dogs are sequestered away from the kittens in my room, because of the ringworm one of the kittens gave THEM. The kittens are in the clear, and I don't want them to get reinfected. So the mice make merry while the cats are on the other side of a closed door. ARGH.
Anon., thanks. I used the cheap-o wooden traps because they were available. :)
Third vote for peanut butter. Works for us in Rivendell.
I have had good results with cheese, but most people I've talked to recommend peanut butter or chocolate as bait.
I currently have those black plastic bait stations all around my house (it is fall and we are in the country) and they're easy to set, easy to dispose of, and don't trap stupid cats' paws or curious dogs' noses. (Which could be a problem in my house.)
For what it's worth, I have two cats that are fully equipped with mouse-killing parts and don't kill them, either. They will catch and annoy them, but eventually just let them go. The dog could care less about chasing anything smaller than a cat and not even those so much since she met Skippy who turned out to be a skunk, not the black/white barn cat.
I put some sonic mouse repellent in a few days ago (plus into an outlet) and immediately saw a mouse hightail it from under the stairs to the door and out the house. I have not seen any since, nor caught any in traps, nor heard the cat chase them. So far, so good.
SCI-FI, I'll really have to switch, I suppose. So far, no other mice have emerged. We'll see...
M*G, wow, I need to check those out, at the very least to see if I even *have* any other mice in my room! It's a very small room, you'd think I'd see more than a few pellets of poop if I were overrun by the buggers!
We had a mouse invasion last fall. nasty buggers got into the insulation in my stove and made a real mess. With all the critters we were afraid of using poison till I found this. http://www.gemplers.com/product/167848/Agrid3-Rodent-Bait-Chunx-Organic-Producers We have been using it for over a year now and no problems with the pets. I will try to remember to bring you some next week.
We had mice a few years ago thanks to a too large dryer vent hole. Only one of the dawgs was interested in them, but only to the extent of barking at and chasing them. At least she alerted us to their presence.
We used the glue traps baited with peanut butter and they worked quite well.
The hole was repaired with a combination of heavy gauge fine mesh and heavy steel wool. Nary a mouse since.
We had mice some years ago, in another house. My Spitz was a champion mouser, but would tease them to death, covered in doggy saliva, in the center of the bed!
Had a 'cathouse', a plywood enclosure for the catbox, so the dogs couldn't access the kitty roca.
It had a false floor, about 2" off the deck. I pulled it out one day to change the catbox, and lo, 12 baby mice, in a nest! Under the catbox! So much for the cats.
One flat-bladed shovel later, they resided in the dumpster.
We've got a pair of schnauzers that have already proven their ratting blood lines on numerous ground squirrels, rabbits, and field mice.
Given their zeal at prosecuting a target I dread the day they find a mouse indoors. I'm not sure the house would survive.
Anon.
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