Do you have a sump pump in the basement or crawl space? They might crawl in thru the pipe outside. My house has one of those wirey gutter drain thingy's to keep the mousies outside.

Time to find a new house!

Karen

Is there anything at all they could be attracted to - like food? The reason I ask...

Every once in a while dh leaves something (a bag of grass seed or parrot food) out on a shelf. Mice go after it. I have no idea how far their range is - can they really detect this stuff from a half mile away? It would appear so.

When this happens I get a major case of the willies. I cannot stand rodents in my house (long story...you don't want to know). I go buy every trap that Walmart has. And I CLEAN!

I remove anything and everything that could be considered appealing to mice and disinfect every surface. I go through everything in the vicinity...because those little beasts make nests! I remember one time (the grass seed in the laundry room) I pulled an out of season purse out of the coat closet that was off the laundry room and started cleaning it out. Suddenly I noticed a mouse IN THE PURSE!!! I clapped it shut and threw it out into the driveway (expecting the mouse to run away). It didn't. So I ran out and grabbed the purse, threw it up in the air and watched for the exiting mouse. Still nothing. It took several tries (and I have no idea what the neighbors thought) but eventually the poor thing ran off into the shrubbery.

Upshot of all that whole deal....clean! Clean out everything. Get rid of anything that could be food! Oh, I know. They can eat the paper off the sheetrock. But if you make it slim pickins they will most likely go elsewhere.

Hmm, I think they are looking for warmth moreso than food. Certainly I wouldn't leave anything that could be food lying around, as Linda says, but in my experience, the mice are looking to keep warm. Here, they usually stay in the basement and garage, and other than our little chocolate-loving friend, once we moved into and settled into the house we have never seen evidence of them *inside* the house, but only in the cellar and garage... and trust me, DH (and this time, the exterminator) looked very closely for evidence!

:)
Dee

I took advantage of a pasta special, and stored the packages in what I call my "Armageddon" closet at the bottom of the basement stairs (usually used for canned goods). I have to applaud the field mice for ingenuity at storing their bonanza.
I found macaroni in our winter boots, under the couch in the rec room, tucked into the Christmas decorations box, tucked in between the binders of my kid's highschool notes (they're thirty now ..guess it was time to bin the remains).
Snap-traps..look like a giant clothespin..close your eyes and open them in a plastic bag.
Watch out for your seeds too..I had 'Kaffir Corn" drying in the garage..little buggers got at them too!

I HATE MICE!!! HATE HATE HATE MICE!! When we moved in our present house it had been vacant for about a year. I told DH I could smell them and he looked at me like I had 2 heads. Then one day my girlfriend was visiting and she said VERY calmly "you have a kitchen mouse"!! Now how embarassing was that?? She did not miss a beat but kept on talking, drinking her coffee and visiting. As soon as she left I went to the local farm store and purchased about 10 pounds of rat poison. When DH got home I had him crawl under the house on the side where there is no basement and literally cover the dirt with that poison. I purchased 3 of the electric mouse traps and put them in the kitchen. We caught about 10 mice and killed a gazillion others but that was more than a year ago and now we have NO mice. I kinda felt sorry for DH because he had to go under the house every other day to clean out the dead critters. I keep the electric mouse traps and each fall I put them in the kitchen - just in case. So far so good. I do keep everything in mouse proof containers. I have spent a small fortune on Lock & Lock containers for everything. In my old house I had a pantry with NO mice and I just had my flour and sugar and other things out on the shelf - not here!!

Under my house is not accessable to cats or dogs so no worries.

Here is a link that might be useful: Electric Mouse Trap

wanna borrow my cats?
every spring and fall I end up with presents on the front steps... Sometimes they proudly try to bring it inside- that is where I draw the line - no toys inside!

Meow.

Want one of those stray cats in my neighborhood?
:-)

No evidence of them any other place than the basement- by the way another dead one yesterday! Nope no food in the basement- just warmth I guess & poison waiting for them.... Dam if I know where they are getting in from. One thought ..we had new lighting installed it the spring....maybe the electrical has room around it for them to get in. I will have to check, you guys are so helpful- I can ALWAYS count on you to help. No thanks, no cats we leave for a visit with our daughter on Tuesday & will be gone for 3 weeks. Can't wait to see what will be down there when we return, By the way did I tell you that we had a coyote take a dump on our welcome mat at the front door on Sunday??? Maybe a condo is sounding very inviting:)

No mice here. Captain Jack does his job and takes care of all of the ones which appear in our basement. Good thing because we have deer mice which carry some sort of virus which can be deadly to humans. He'll catch them, then bring them upstairs to show them to us, then head back in the basement with his prize where they promptly disappear. Good 18 lb. kitty!!

{{gwi:442723}}

Cats are great mousers. When you own cats you never get used to that they will sometimes honor you by leaving a "kill" at the bottom of your bed. How delightful!

When we lived in the Upper Catskills we had mice problems at the end of every Autumn because they were looking to come in and nest warmly for the winter. I am a great fan of spring traps which I would bait with a cheapo red jellybean. It didn't take long...I would sit out on the porch by the porch apartment (their fave roost) and wait for the "snap!" which came very soon after I baited and placed the trap. I would then go into the porch apartment and remove the jellybean from the victim's mouth, remove the mouse and toss it into the shrub row. Before baiting the trap with that same jellybean I would turn over the trap and draw a little mouse on the back of it. By two weeks time I had gotten all the mice and each spring trap had about a dozen mice drawn on them.

tiffy_z5_6_can,

That is a beautiful cat. I can't do cats but your cat is gorgeous!!

DL

DL,
I call him my 'Stud Muffin'! He doesn't like to get petted but everyday I pick him up and give him some lovin'!! The disgusted look on his face is just prescious when I do that. It says 'YYUUUKKK"!! :O)

He's awesom and looks just like my Max. I have had them deliver their live mice to me in bed and drop if on my face. Nothing like a mouse scuttling across your face at 5 am to get the blood circulating.

Coyote poop on the door mat! That's just wrong.

I ageree - I do not like mice either, or the fact that I am sharing my house with them on occasion. We have aHUGE crawl space and attic in this house - who knows where they come in! We will never figure it out! But, Cinton and Jefferson, 2 orange tabby cats, make sure that none get by them!!! Just borrow someone's cat for a few days - they will hunt them down!!!

Captain Jack looks like he always means business!

My tabby once brought a live mouse to my bed (presumably caught outside). In fact, if he brings me such gifts, he invariably brings them to me live (these include baby rabbits and mice, very seldom birds). Either he's stopped killing or he's stopped bringing me his prizes, figuring I just don't appreciate them enough.

Susan, did you actually see a coyote at your door?

Yup,

One mangy looking animal, but very well fed as I picked up what he left on the doormat!!