Ginny -- Our experience in our former home (New Haven suburb) was that what I could have sworn was raccoons (from the noise level in our attic) did, in fact, turn out to be mice. They were able to push a metal Hav-a-Hart trap (one sized for a small raccoon!) across the attic floor at one point -- we found it in quite a different spot than we had set it, bait gone (they are light enough not to trip the bigger traps). We found acorn debris in the attic, and on occasion, could actually hear acorns tumbling down through the walls (at least, we deduced it was acorns... sounded like small marbles). I kept telling people (including exterminators) "it CAN'T be mice -- it's too much NOISE!" and being assured that indeed, a few mice can make a LOT of noise. (One thing I learned NOT to keep in my attic was the Indian corn from the fall -- found the ears stripped clean in a box in the attic). So I'm guessing DO have mice, based on your description. You want to try not to put out poison that they will carry into the walls cavities (or consume and then retreat there to die) because you'll eventually start to SMELL those little carcasses. We found that our best bet was to wait until spring (when they generally move back outside -- ours, at least, were field mice) and then try to seal any openings (around pipes, the chimney, under siding, etc.) I also trapped many a mouse in a little plastic Hav-a-Hart mouse trap (we got a bunch at Agway) and drove it off to a new locale (you have to drive at least 2 miles from your home if you don't want to keep catching the same little guys, I was told). After a while, we just resigned ourselves to a little winter scrabbling.

But the basic message I can give you is that a few mice can sound like a small elephant. GOOD LUCK!

We had the same problem when we bought our house several years ago. Chipmunks were everywhere outdoors, but indoors was swarming with mice, despite the fact that we had been told that there were never any mice in the house. We found mummified mice in the walls when we started ripping them out, so I know there were mice here. Not only that, but we found raccoon droppings in the drop ceiling above the room that the previous owners had used as a family room. Gave a whole new meaning to the term "drop ceiling".

Anyway, the mice do sound like something much bigger running between the walls and floors. Sometimes I think it just has to be rats or raccoons. But I set lots of the typical spring-loaded mousetraps (some of which were already here when we bought the place, making me wonder why they'd have mousetraps if there supposedly weren't any mice here), baited them with cheese and peanut butter, and eventually I made a huge dent in the mouse population. It got pretty quiet around here. I don't like killing things and I don't like catching my own finger in the traps, so I recently bought a really neat trap at a feed store. It lures the mice inside and sweeps them safe and sound into a compartment and keeps them there until you decide how to dispose of them. It's called a TOMCAT Multiple Catch Mouse Trap. I am not affiliated with them in any way except that I bought one trap and love it, not only because it doesn't kill the mice, but also because it will catch multiple mice without having to be reset every time it catches one. I put a little cheese in the compartment, but supposedly you don't have to do that. Mice run along the beams in our house, but they'll go pretty much anywhere to get cheese and peanut butter, so I just plop the trap on the attic floor or wherever it's convenient for me to check it. It's much better than the typical spring-loaded mousetrap which invariably kills the first mouse that visits it and then feeds the second one. But to be really successful at getting rid of the mice, you have to keep up with the trapping and make sure you patch every hole you can find leading into your house.

I hope you are both right and that it is mice. I can hear them chewing wood and I'm very worried that they may start on electrical wires and burn the house down, and us with it. And just to prove me wrong, they are now running around in the middle of the day--that's a new development.

I am not heartless but I am past the stage where I mind killing them. They are vermin and carry disease, and the population in my house is way over what I might tolerate. In any case, in MA, you can't transport animals outside your property. I know the mice we have caught are field mice because we can see them.

I just left a message with a guy in the Yellow Pages who removes wildlife--raccoons, squirrels etc. But maybe you're right and they are mice. The traps just didn't do it for us--too many of them and their favored spots too inaccessible. I just don't know what to do.

We had the same problem when we moved into our house. We could hear the mice in the walls, and in the evening, when the house quieted down, we could see them out of the corner of our eyes as they ran across the floor in the room next to us!

We just kept setting traps. No use in catching and freeing as they would come right back in. We thought it might be a losing battle as we live (or at least *lived*, until development took over the last few years) in a somewhat rural suburban area - lots of woods, farm fields, etc. But we just kept at it. Every now and then, especially in late fall, we have to set a few more traps in the basement, but we haven't seen them in the house, and have only heard them in the wall in the room that abuts the garage. But I think it's a never-ending battle and you just have to keep at it.

Maybe this will make you smile. Several years ago, when the kids were smaller, I always would make treats for them to bring into their class on holidays. I think it was Valentine's Day, and I made chocolate lollipops using the molds and melted chocolate, etc. We wrapped up enough for each kid's class, wrapped individually and tied off with a red ribbon, and there were two leftover. I told my kids there was one for each of them for tomorrow, left them on a paper plate on the kitchen table, and we went to bed - except for DH, who was still working and not home yet.

The next morning, I wake up, and there is only one lollipop. Of course, that causes all hell to break loose because God forbid one kid gets one and one doesn't! Sheesh. So I gave my DH what-for when he woke up, telling him he should know better than to leave one of any kind of treat when we have two kids, and what was he thinking eating one of the pops, etc. He didn't have much to say for himself.

Well, a few weeks later, I was doing a real thorough cleaning of my kitchen, the kind where you are on your hands and knees and using a toothbrush to scrub, etc., and I see something sticking out in a tiny space between the dishwasher and the cabinet, a tiny bit of red that caught my eye. I reach over and pull out - you guessed it! One chocolate holiday lollipop, complete with little teeth marks in it, the red ribbon still attached! Oh how the kids laughed! I had to apologize to my poor DH for yelling at him when it was the mice all along!

Good luck, and don't get too discouraged!
:)
Dee

I guess we're lucky in that respect. We have 27 acres to ditch them in and I tend to dump them near a utility pole that the hawks like to sit on. One time, I released a blind mouse into our barn. I felt so sorry for it that I didn't want to be the one responsible for its death, but I suspect it has been gobbled up by a stray cat since then.

I hear the mice chewing on wood sometimes, too, and sometimes they get stuck crawling between the walls and floors and they squeak their brains out until they figure out how to get free. But no mice have chewed on any electrical wires in this house and this is all wiring that was installed in 1954 or 1956.

Sometimes we'll have a mouse that'll crawl right out in front of us in broad daylight. I think they just don't know any better. Haha!! That's how I caught the blind mouse... I just walked right up to him and caught him in a coleslaw tub I'd just emptied.

Can you put traps in your attic or basement, or behind a washing machine or the refrigerator? Mice leave urine trails, so if you can get them to find a trap somewhere where you CAN easily get to it, the others will not be far behind.

circa1825,

all I can think of is the nursery ryhme, 3 blind mice, and have a vision of you running around your 27 acres with a carving knife.

ginny,

We also have had that problem, not last winter but two winters ago and then a little bit this winter as well. Usually I notice it when the cat perks up and stares at the walls. It does sound extremly loud sometimes though. The cat has caught mice in the basement in the past as well.

But we bought one of those high frequency sound devices/transmitters. There is certainly a difference of opinion on whether these really work or not when you do research.

I 'think' they do work from observation, how ever I cant be 100% sure. They may be worth a shot.

Hi,

I think this is the one we have. It was bought at Home Depot. If not this then something similair. It claims to work by sending pulses through the wires in your house, there are others that emit noises that say (in small print) that they dont penetrate walls.

Here is a link that might be useful: mouse control product

The racket from the critters a couple of hours ago was so bad--and in daytime, when they are usually quiet--that I called the exterminator again. He came and we found a way to get into the space between floors, above the kitchen. When he got in there, there was lots of you-know-what. So I have been vacuuming and scrubbing with bleach and all that fun stuff.

The good news is that the only "leftovers" are from mice. No chipmunks or anything else. We do have to use poison plus traps to get this under control. I thought about one of those sound devices but tho they work for some people, a lot of others haven't had any luck. Gross, gross, gross. Funny, nothing outdoors bothers me but inside is another story.

Okay, this post hit home with me. I live in the suburban metrowest area of Boston near a pond. I had round a hole by my front door where the chipmunk came in this past winter. My larger Havahart trap caught him. He would run across the floor under the stove or fridge while my husband watched TV. Down the basement I caught one shrew in my smaller Havahart trap. Upstairs in the family room I keep my bird, a ten year old ring necked dove, on a small table in her cage most of the time. I noticed her seed was disappearing quite quickly and little droppings were in her cage. I caught six mice in one week, just by setting the Havahart trap near her cage. I used either cheese or peanut butter. All is quiet now and no more seed is disappearing. Earlier this winter, I also noticed grass seed eaten from the garage. I tell the family that when my small animals die, I'm going back to cats!

Yes they do make a lot of noise--I can't tell you how many times I've heard mice in the walls or attic, chewing on stuff, scratching, etc. and swore they must be a much larger animal. One time I woke up in the morning and there was a very LOUD rustling coming from under the kitchen sink where our wastebasket is. I was sure it was some kind of big creature, at least a raccoon. Told dh there's some kind of big animal in there--he opened the cupboard door and it was a mouse that had climbed into an empty, upright potato chip bag and couldn't get out.

Found out they do love chocolate. My daughter made a science project while they were studying cells--she baked a cake and decorated it with different candies representing parts of the cell. We left the cake out on the counter overnight and darned if every single piece of chocolate wasn't stolen, along with mouse tracks all over the frosting. The mouse, or mice, even made off with all four of the 1 1/2" diameter chocolate nonpareils.

If you go back to using traps, use chocolate for bait.

One word. CAT!

A cat would take care of this kind of problem. Definitely sounds like mice to me!

Cats can definitely help -- but two caveats: (1) not all cats know how to catch mice (we had two cats during the period of our mini home invasion and only one knew what a mouse or a bird even was -- the other caught primarily naps, preferably on newly dry-cleaned angora sweaters :) (2) even the best mouser can't catch the ones in the walls or ceiling (though a pro is willing to spend hours staring at said walls and ceilings, head cocked (or craned), eyes narrowed, every muscle set just in case, so at least you know they're on the job if one SHOULD dart across your floor. But I will say that I found many a dead (and not of natural causes) mouse on my lawn and patio, especially in the spring and summer. So I'm sure she was at work -- she just couldn't GET to the ones in the attic. I also never, EVER saw one in the main living areas of the house, including the kitchen. I don't know if it was the cats or what, but they STAYED in the attic and walls and never, to my knowledge, ventured into the cats' turf. So while the attic scrabbling was annoying, at least I never worried if I came into the kitchen in the dark and flipped on the light that I'd see a mouse on the counter. Our house was an old one and I'm sure the mice had lived there a lot longer than we had, so I was okay with letting them hang out there in the cold months -- as long as I never had to SEE them.

I love cats and have had one or two my whole life til now. We are in a traveling phase of life and are simply gone too much to have cats--no one to come in once or twice a day to feed them. Plus, we could no longer let a cat outdoors here. The increase in predators and wild animals of many kinds would mean certain and cruel death.

So it's poison and traps and it looks like a permanent commitment. I must say I'm sorry so many have this problem, but I'm relieved as well that I'm not alone in this. It doesn't look like there are any real solutions tho.

In California, they have a problem with roof rats, rats that feed on all the oranges and other fruit lying around outside and then live in your attic space etc. So there is a business called "exclusion specialist". They come to your house and fill in every tiny hole imaginable. I have looked and asked but there doesn't seem to be anything like this in our area, unless one of you knows of one. Now there's a way for someone to make money.

Ginny, according to the link below, they offer "prevention services" including closing entry holes. 4 offices in MA

Here is a link that might be useful: crittercontrol prevention sevices

I think you need to become a detective and determine how the mice are getting in. Take a pair of binoculors walking around your house and examine the siding, eaves and roof closely. We once had mice coming in along a roof soffit where the family room roof meets the main house. The mice had eaten away the wood and plastic and gotten under the soffit into this roof rafters (cathedral ceiling no attic on the family room). After setting traps on the roof (I think we used the sticky paper ones near the hole) and blocking up the hole was able to get rid of the mice.

On critter removal contractors, my sister had limited luck with hiring these contractors and it wasn't cheap either.

I just spied this thread, Ginny. My friend had a similar problem over the winter at her home (mid 1600's with the classic granite foundation and dug cellar). The invaders turned out to be flying squirrels. The pretty, grey delicate sort with the nocturnal eyes. Apparently, some nitwit on the crew that built the addition onto her home installed the roof vent improperly. No screening at all, the little devils "squoze" in and set up camp.

They used rat traps and managed to kill somewhere between 15 and 20 over the course of 2 months. She does not yet know the extent of the damage to electrical wiring, but the insulation will have to be entirely replaced in the ceiling above the bedroom (shredded and contaminated with droppings) and heaven knows where else.

"Catch and release" is for squids. Once they've found a way in they'll be back. "Nuke the entire site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.".

I hope everything works out OK for you.

Mice can get in in so many ways, Sue. I can't imagine how to totally keep them out. They need the tiniest of spaces to creep thru. But you're right. Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. Wendy, thanks for the link. I will check them out. Chelone, thanks for the tip about flying squirrels. I did have one last year, identified by people on this forum. He found his way out. Or died. It sounded like a bar brawl up there. But you are right. I will have to get someone in there to add screening, if it is missing. That's a great tip.

I had a new roof put on a few years ago and have a ridge vent for the first time. I'm wondering if there is any screening. The exterminator said he was surprised by all the acorns in the attic. (And when I turn on the heat/AC in the car, acorns fly out). Don't mean to imply that the car is in the attic.

It looks like this is a long-time (lifetime?) project, with no easy solution.

Please DO be careful hiring help for this problem, there are many stories about people paying *lots* of money to have someone come place a trap in the attic. Just be sure you know what the price includes, and if results are guaranteed in any way.

I would definitely check your ridge vents carefully. This is where our problem was. And since the ridge vent is plastic is easy for them bite through. We had the most problem in winter when the animals are looking for warmth and the heat rising from these vents attracted them.

I hate to suggest this idea... We also had many, many chipmunks living around our retaining stone walls next to the house. Fortunately they didn't get into the house but they made so much havoc displacing stones, getting into the lawnmower engine in a shed, etc. that we put mice poison traps in our shed and around the stone walls where they were. Putting the bait around did seem to reduce the population to a more manageable level. I didn't like to do this but it was the only way to control the problem and prevent expensive damage to these walls.

I too have had severe chipmunk problems. I have the stone walls too--so beautiful and New England-y--but chipmunk condominiums. They did tremendous damage in the perennial gardens they abut.

But I think my current problem in the house is mostly mice. Since the second visit from the exterminator, things have quieted down some. Time will tell. But I will be having a contractor in to look at the ridge vent. One problem is that my attic has no floor so it is a balancing act up there.