Rodents

[krux]

Hello,

Mice are getting in my house underneath my front step. They continue to burrow holes around the cement stoop and tunnel underneath it. I have pushed about 6 inches of galvanized metal inside the dirt with river rock back filling the void around the perimeter of the stoop. Mice continue to dig around it by pushing rocks, digging and finally making a hole around a pencil to quarter size. Since backfilling, I have caught 7 mice within a couple of days inside my house. Anything you can suggestions to backfill or get them to leave? I put mothballs and boy did I smell it inside my house after a couple of hours.

I did have a concrete guy come out for a two steps and two stoops which he wanted $8,000. My mother had more concrete done a couple of years ago for a significantly lower price. Maybe it's me but I found it to be a tad high.

 

[steaks&anvils]

Traps and decon bait.

You may have trapped mice inside when you plugged up those holes. Use traps inside not decon bait (they will die in the walls and stink up the house).

Lots of traps. Lots.

 

[krux]

I have my wyze camera and 6 traps right now. Think more traps then that?

 

[nadogail]

I had a mouse in my house and my professional exterminator placed a dozen traps for one mouse, the mouse found one of the traps and the odor led us to the mouse.

 

[619DioFan]

And this is why I have cats.

 

[krux]

I had a mouse in my house and my professional exterminator placed a dozen traps for one mouse, the mouse found one of the traps and the odor led us to the mouse.

Wow a dozen traps? My exterminator sucked. He didn't look around for himself and asked me where I think they are coming in. I left the ground hole last to show him otherwise it would have been a $150 call for nothing. His solution was to place copper mesh in the hole. The mice dug a hole around the cooper mesh.

 

[steaks&anvils]

You can never have too many traps.

I use peanut butter and stick sun flower seeds (in shell) to the peanut butter. They have to yank on it to free the seed. Sprinkle seeds around the traps too. The little vermin learn to get the seeds and then they go for the ones stuck to the trap!

I have had to put traps on newspaper just in case one pops in the trap. But only on surfaces I didn't want to stain (inside a stored RV).

You can tune bend/tune the trap wire spring lock to be hair trigger. Be careful.

I have heard that Werther's caramel candy, the soft kind (in cubes) works very well as bait too, warm it by hand and stick it well to the trap bait paddle. The little rat wannabes have to tug pretty good on that!

I hate mice! but not enough to get a vermin cat.

 

[MarineScott]

Traps with peanut butter on pieces of bread wedged in the traps, so they can't remove it. Peppermint oil will deter them for a while. Use the peppermint oil around food and clothing.

 

[PelicanPines]

We had a mouse in our attic... I put Weirdo our cat up there for a few hours. The mouse either left, never to return... or was a snack.

I once had a cat that puked a mouse up... was NOT funny at all no matter how you run it thru your mind...

We now have either 8 or 10 traps in the attic... they are all intact... the peanut butter dried and petrified...

 

[krux]

I use the peanut butter trick and it works great. I watch them on my Wyze camera to get a sense how they come in so they are lured to the trap. The other night, one jump over a dead one to get to it.

As for outside, what do you recommend. I have those enclosed snap traps but they seem not to like it. I do have poison setup around my house outside, but they wont touch it. In fact one of those small bait stations they flipped it over to dig a hole around it.

 

[slowtwitch73]

Use good ol Victor traps. The self baited or the ones that you bait yourself.. they both work. I would put 20 around your house. Check them every morning, empty them out and reset. Keep that up until you stop catching mice.

Be carfull where you put them... you can catch birds.

 

[krux]

Ill have to do that outside.

Use good ol Victor traps. The self baited or the ones that you bait yourself.. they both work. I would put 20 around your house. Check them every morning, empty them out and reset. Keep that up until you stop catching mice.

Be carfull where you put them... you can catch birds.

I'll have to do that tomorrow with the traps outside.

Here is a dumb question. Can move move rocks and pebbles? I'll put a couple of rocks on each other and they are moved in the morning with a burrow hole. I did catch two mice not to far from one of the old holes I covered up.

 

[steaks&anvils]

I use the peanut butter trick and it works great. I watch them on my Wyze camera to get a sense how they come in so they are lured to the trap. The other night, one jump over a dead one to get to it.

As for outside, what do you recommend. I have those enclosed snap traps but they seem not to like it. I do have poison setup around my house outside, but they wont touch it. In fact one of those small bait stations they flipped it over to dig a hole around it.

Use traps outside too. Just put a small box, with a small entry hole, over the trap. A big rock on top will hold the box down. Put a few near or blocking the "entries" they are using. No birds this way, you may get a snake though, I don't do snakes, you are on your own with them.

Something else might be moving the rocks to get to the mice? Nature is wonderful and every thing is a meal to something else.

Poisoned bait outside is bad because if the mouse dies outside, then the dog or other critter eats it and they get poisoned. Traps are better.

 

[rburke65]

You may have MICE.....but not A mouse.....

 

[slowtwitch73]

Mice (of which there are many types), voles, chipmunks, rats etc etc... could be alot of critters.

Mice don't move heavy objects.. but if they excavate around the base enough may be able to dislodge..

Pnut butter is what I use if not using pre baited.

 

[SweetD]

Drown them using the five gallon bucket with ramp and baited roller method. Works awesome. Check YouTube for many versions.

 

[Paco Pena]

I had a couple in the house this year. One fell victim to a trap the first night. The other managed to escape wounded two nights later. I thought he would bleed out but no chance. I tried for months to catch the little *******. Wouldnt go near a trap of any kind. Ate commercial poison like it was a snack food. I called him Chuck Norris. Finally got him by grinding up a T3 with codeine and mixing it into his favorite poison bait. 30mg of codeine is a lot for a 1 oz mouse.

Paco

 

[BillK]

My question is . . . how are they actually getting into the house itself ??? Are they chewing through a wooden board etc ? There really should not be any openings, even under the stoop. You need to find their entrance spot and fix that.

 

[PelicanPines]

Start investing in 4'+ snakes... let them loose around your house... Provided it's a good environment for them. Your moose problem will go away.

 

[krux]

My question is . . . how are they actually getting into the house itself ??? Are they chewing through a wooden board etc ? There really should not be any openings, even under the stoop. You need to find their entrance spot and fix that.

Where the concrete step meets the stoop, i believe the wood or brick has an opening. The steps are failing. When I placed a moth ball under the stoop and within a hour could smell it inside.

 

[Forgottonia]

Our outdoor cat keeps the mice from coming in our house--mostly. We still get the occasional mouse. But I set traps out whenever we have one, and eventually get it.

 

[Walkers]

Start investing in 4'+ snakes... let them loose around your house... Provided it's a good environment for them. Your moose problem will go away.

That size snake can eat a MOOSE???

 

[steaks&anvils]

Hat size snake can eat a MOOSE???

In Alaska probably! NJ, it might just make it "disappear", no witnesses, no fuss...

 

[PelicanPines]

In NJ... with a NJ accent... the plural of Mice sounds like Moose

 

[Showkey]

Time again for the bucket of death……………

 

[Jazz1]

just keep leaving traps out, you will eradicate the critters. I leave traps in a crawl space,,without fail every fall I get a few who try to move into a warmer space...you are fortunate its mice,,rats are smarter than most human beings and challenging to evict..

 

[Bretny]

Your outdoor mouse population is to high. Leave some poison blocks outside but dont use them in your house. You will just be baiting them to come in.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I prefer old school Victor mouse traps baited with a piece of Twizzler rather than PB.

 

[slowtwitch73]

Your outdoor mouse population is to high. Leave some poison blocks outside but dont use them in your house. You will just be baiting them to come in.

I like traps. No mice dying in the house, no collateral death of whatever may eat the poisoned mice.

 

[geneg]

I keep a victor trap along the wall on both ends of my overhead shop door. In the fall, get quite a few mice. Slid a short piece of heater hose in both ends of the bottom weatherstrip since they had chewed thru the orig. leaving convenient (for them) gaps. If I notice evidence inside, I set up the bucket of death inside for awhile. 5 gallon bucket with water in it, a ramp, and the tipping platform. sprinkle a few sunflower seeds on the top of the water & the platform. Also put a trap at both ends inside the door.

 

[Pntyrmvr]

Local sewer works brought out the rats. Smoked out the ones under the yard, terriers grabbed the rest.

Funny to watch a terrier pup grab a rat, break a leg, let it go out of first timer shock, and his older brother cruise in for the coup de grace.

 

[redmondjp]

Everybody is discussing trapping, but what is also needed is exclusion - keeping them from getting in. This is IMO the more important, and more difficult part. Even professional (or so-called) exterminators often do a poor job of this. If there are openings that they are getting through, I would recommend trying to stuff steel wool into these holes and cracks to see if that stops them. If you can smell mothballs right away then you have air leaks also, so some expanding foam on top of the steel wool also would be recommended. And of course with mice it is much more difficult because of the tiny openings that they can get through.

 

[rburke65]

I like my Victor traps with a raisin stuffed under the ‘trip’. Make em work getting that raisin.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Everybody is discussing trapping, but what is also needed is exclusion - keeping them from getting in. This is IMO the more important, and more difficult part. Even professional (or so-called) exterminators often do a poor job of this. If there are openings that they are getting through, I would recommend trying to stuff steel wool into these holes and cracks to see if that stops them. If you can smell mothballs right away then you have air leaks also, so some expanding foam on top of the steel wool also would be recommended. And of course with mice it is much more difficult because of the tiny openings that they can get through.

X2. I did an exclusion job a few years ago to keep out mouzies that were above the drop ceiling in the basement. Caught three stragglers in traps right after. Haven't had a trap go off since.

Tommy

 

[Gunfixr]

There are always ways in, through holes cut for wiring, pipes, etc. It's very difficult to find every one and plug it.
Mice got in our last house one winter, and set up shop before we knew they were there. Once I had their paths figured out, I had something like seven traps going. I was clearing them before work, when I got home, before bed, sometimes more........ I was tossing them in the trash by the ziplock bag full, stopped counting somewhere after 40, and killed for a couple more weeks. Several times a cleared a trap with more than one in it.
A few yrs later, they tore up the streets, we got a few rats, but didn't know it at first. Mouse traps failed, not strong enough. Ended up beating them to death with a night stick.
Now, in our new location, it's the occasional field mouse. I shot two in the face with a pellet gun. It's very effective, but you have to be at the right place at the right time. Now, I have slow acting poison set up at the entrance points (plumbing openings), and in the pantry. I check them occasionally for activity. There is occasional activity, but the slow poison lets them leave, and die somewhere outside. One has died under the bedroom, stank a week or so. This is working, so i'm still using it. I keep the grass short a good distance from the house, gives them a no man's land to cross from the hawks and Eagles cruising above. Black snakes in the fields makes it more challenging for them.

 

[HPRifleman]

#1) Start closing off the access points. Until you do this, you will have them inside. Mice can get through the smallest opening.
#2) To take care of the ones that have gotten inside, make up one or two of the bucket traps that Showkey pictured. These work great and we have caught dozens of mice using them.

Deny them food and warmth!

 

[bradpac]

We use the big orange tabby cat method of mice control. I have never seen one in the house, but we get a couple a month left on the back porch.

 

[kbs2244]

barn cat or the bucket of death
in my experience, both work

 

[krux]

I took out my steps. The flashing underneath was rusted and lifted up. I see gaps under it which makes sense why the moth ball smell was coming in.