Mice in the Walls

[WLJ]

The last time I saw a (fake) sticky trap used was outside a Lowes. It was about 4'x6' and had a scantly clad girl wearing mouse ears lying on it and making the most god awful screaming noises. I offered to get her a burger because lying there in the cold screaming she needed to keep her strength up. Who knew those PETA types were so anti-beef eating. :)

bob

Should have had someone distract her while someone sprayed contact glue on the "tape" 

[Brad Johnson]

With poison your walls are going to have a bunch of dead mice in them and with winter coming up airing out the smell may be a problem.

This. The little pests won't be considerate enough to die outside. They'll find the single most inaccessible place to expire, then proceed to make your place smell like dead mouse for a couple of weeks.

Brad

[Kingcreek]

This. The little pests won't be considerate enough to die outside. They'll find the single most inaccessible place to expire, then proceed to make your place smell like dead mouse for a couple of weeks.

Brad

Yep, agree.
Poison outside, traps inside. Keep pets safe.

[Ben]

Okay. Ixnay on the oisonpay.

[RoadKingLarry]

https://thefactsource.com/1882-invention-from-texas-gun-powered-mousetrap/

[bedlamite]

Detcord and fire.  It's the only way to be sure about getting rid of mice.

No. The only way to be sure is to take off and nuke the entire site from orbit.

[Jim147]

We have pack rat problems. I was just feeding the rats with the poison. Wife went to extract oils. No more gallon buckets of gravel under the car hood.

[Kingcreek]

I use Jaguar bait bars but not safe for dogs so you want em in bait boxes or use my free redneck bait boxes. (2 same size soup cans with a 1” hole in one can bottom then add bait and knock one can top into the other open top.)

[Ben]

Well, that stupid mouse had been making noise in the same wall since I wrote the OP. Doing some interneting, it was suggested that if you hear the scratching continually in the same place, and especially during the day vs night, the mouse has probably trapped himself in the wall and will die there.

I heard no scratching last night or this morning, and coincidentally just popped the hatch to the crawlspace and saw a mouse in the trap that I set there yesterday. So maybe that's the mouse, or it might be another one. It flipped the trap and I'm only seeing it from the bottom, but it looks like a light colored mouse with a white tail. Unlike the mice I catch in the garage and shop. I despise my crawlspace, so won't be going down to reset the trap until before my evening shower, but I'll be curious to see what kind of mouse this is right side up.

[Kingcreek]

I’ve posted before about my deceased father and his hatred of mice in his shop around his antique cars. He used glue traps baited with a small bit of bacon or peanut butter. And he re-used glue traps.
One time I stopped by to visit and found him standing over the trash barrel with a glue trap in. One hand and snips in the other. He was snipping the mouse off at the ankles and leaving his feet in the trap and preparing to re use the trap.
I said something about being just a little bit cruel.
Dad said something like, “ This trap is still good and he ain’t gonna need those feet anymore anyway.”

[charby]

Well, that stupid mouse had been making noise in the same wall since I wrote the OP. Doing some interneting, it was suggested that if you hear the scratching continually in the same place, and especially during the day vs night, the mouse has probably trapped himself in the wall and will die there.

I heard no scratching last night or this morning, and coincidentally just popped the hatch to the crawlspace and saw a mouse in the trap that I set there yesterday. So maybe that's the mouse, or it might be another one. It flipped the trap and I'm only seeing it from the bottom, but it looks like a light colored mouse with a white tail. Unlike the mice I catch in the garage and shop. I despise my crawlspace, so won't be going down to reset the trap until before my evening shower, but I'll be curious to see what kind of mouse this is right side up.

Sounds like a deer mouse, they can carry nasty diseases.

[BlueStarLizzard]

Get the rat sized sticky traps for mice. You can usually get two before they figure out to use their dead comrades as stepping stones.

The sonic deterrents actually worked long term at the shop. It didn't get rid of the mice already in residence, but we haven't had a mouse problem in years once we killed off the squatters.

[gunsmith]

 the poison has a chemical that makes the smell go away quickly, when i lved off grid - i started off kind of hippie and left being for mice genocide.
they have hanta virus too, ... by the way - the bucket trap works great when done right, put water in the bottom and toss 5 or ten dead away every morning

[Pb]

I put out 6 snap traps last night.  This morning 75% were sprung, with no dead mice... 

[MechAg94]

I had someone tell me they once hung the spring traps on a string so they hung just above the floor.  Supposedly the rat had to grab the food to hold it still and that caught the rat they had.

[WLJ]

Well, that stupid mouse had been making noise in the same wall since I wrote the OP. Doing some interneting, it was suggested that if you hear the scratching continually in the same place, and especially during the day vs night, the mouse has probably trapped himself in the wall and will die there.

Mouse? You mean mice. For every one you're aware of there's 10-30+ more.

[Bogie]

Came home, had a double-header.
 
FWIW, I saw a mouse, so I pretty much... overreacted... because there is no such thing as overkill.
 
Victor snap traps, some other little plastic things, a rolling log with peanut butter above a water-filled bucket, and a "they check in, but they don't check out" box with a clear lid.
 
The snap traps seem to work. We'll see if there are more.

[RoadKingLarry]

We had a unusual mouse invasion this Fall. We'd occasionally get a few from time to time and either the odd trap or the dogs seemed to keep them either out or in check. This year it was wild. Set a number of sticky traps and snap traps with limited success but they just seemed to keep coming. Resorted to poison. a couple of child/pet resistant bait stations and a couple of open feeder type baits where there was essentially no chance of dogs or kids accessing them. Found several deaders the first few days but 10+ days now since putting out the poison and haven't seen sign of a mouse in over a week. So far no dead mouse stink bomb effect either.

[Bogie]

If you need a "safe" poison...
 
Mice LOVE regular sugary coca-cola.
 
Mice cannot burp.
 
We used it on the farm with some success. I confirmed the concept with a couple of the vets in the labs.

[Bogie]

Did you know that Amazon sells a 64-pack of Victor traps?

[cordex]

I had some issues with mice in my barn so I picked up a trap that snaps on top of a 5 gallon bucket. Bait (peanut butter) attracts the mice onto a platform that tips them into the bucket.  A little bit of water makes it lethal.

I emptied another four out of it today, and have gotten as many as six in a go.

[Ben]

Unwanted thread necro, and necro in general.

Dammit. I heard a scratching just now somewhere around the bathroom wall where my jacuzzi tub is. There is a 12"x12" hatch to some of the tub plumbing that opens from my bedroom. I had been placing traps in there just inside the hatch, would occasionally catch a mouse, and dispose of it, case closed.

When I heard the scratching just now, I figured maybe I caught a mouse that hadn't been killed right away. That's exactly what happened, only it looks like the trap got him by the foot, and he dragged the trap a good four feet past the hatch and in between some plumbing. There's absolutely no way for me to reach the trap, even with a stick or something.

Now it looks like he's gonna die there and start decomposing. I guess I'll have to make a note to spray nature's miracle or similar in the hatch every couple of weeks for a few months. Dammit. From now on I'm tying the trap to a string in that location. Live and learn I guess.

[Brad Johnson]

One of the long button-push springy snag things. Great for getting stuff out of relatively inaccessible places.

https://www.amazon.com/Cleaning-Flexible-Grabber-Reacher-Bathroom/dp/B0967XDWB2/ref=sr_1_2?crid=UWXGPH0VZGC9&keywords=extra%2Blong%2Bflexible%2Bgrabber&qid=1650289553&sprefix=extra%2Blong%2Bflexible%2Bgrabber%2Caps%2C90&sr=8-2&th=1

That, or 5-6 feet of bailing wire. Sharpen on end to a razor point then turn it back into a slightly-open J shape. Essentially a six foot long barbless fishhook.

Brad

[Ben]

One of the long button-push springy snag things. Great for getting stuff out of relatively inaccessible places.

Hey, that might do it. I would definitely need something bendy like that. I think I'll order it. I want the mouse to be dead first anyway so that when I grab the trap, he doesn't get loose while I'm pulling it out and go back into the walls. Amazon two day delivery should do the trick.

[Pb]

We are using poison in bait stations.  They are eating it, so hopefully it is working.  We only got a couple in snap traps.