Karen, I feel your pain! We caught 17 mice in the last few months. We live in a wooded area behind a farm. The lot next to us was mowed and in our house the mice came. First we set traps with peanut butter, they mice enjoyed it very much and left notes asking for more!!(LOL!) I don't know how they were able to lick it off without getting caught! Some weren't so lucky!
We went ot Ace Hardware and found a unit that plugs into you wall outlet. It sends a vibration through your walls and keeps the mice OUT! It works like a charm. They are about 20.00. We pt them inour house last year and we haven't seen one since. The 17 mice were caught in the garage, we put them in there as well. So far no mice! I'm not sure of the name. I'll find out and post it for you! Good luck, Gina

blubird,

I know you mean well by using the traps & relocating the animals away from your property. And, I know that PITA even sometimes recommends the traps.

After I completed my master gardener training I took additional classes in wildlife management, food preservation, home accounting, & childcare so that I could qualify to work on the state's hot line.

My state is like most US states...everything from bears to mice. We were taught firmly & empatically that small animal traps were cruel & inhumane. Reason? Small animals live their entire lives in a relatively small area. Their Moms teach them where to find shelter, water, & food. They pass that info on to their young & the cycle repeats itself. When you trap an animal (mouse, squirrel, etc.) & relocate that animal outside its familar home territory it's a death sentence. A slow & cruel death. They can't find water nor food. Without shelter & hiding places they are freqeuntly victims of predators.

A quick kill (such as the traps discussed) is by far the more humane method of control.

/tricia (not trying to be aurgumentative...just doesn't want to see any animal suffer...not even a mouse)

Here is a link that might be useful: NH Cooperative Extension Service Memo on Traps

Tricia -- I believe that's PETA, although to some they are a PITA. ;0)

Made me laugh. However, that is interesting info. I thought they were more clever, but I guess not. My mom traps and relocates squirrels all the time. I swear they come back and bring their new friends.

As far as I know, the only predator they have around here is cars. Sometimes I think they are suicidal, the way they throw themselves in front of oncoming vehicles! Bleah.

I've still only seen the one mouse. I think I'll redo all the snapping traps like Lyra said. Bread and peanut butter roll ups! LOL!

We do live in a wooded area but have never had a mouse problem. I'm not sure what the heck is going on but my pest control man said to feed them dog food????

I'm off to buy peppermint oil, snickers bars, dog food and more peanut butter. That little rascal is gonna get it :-(

Mom use to use Velveeta...she would squish it in there like Lyra mentioned. I've never had a problem since using this mouse trap.....

I can send Chuck down for a few days... : )

Good luck!

David

River....name him then you can be sad when he dies.
Why should he lick peanut butter from a trap when you have all that other good pantry stuff around?
There were some years when we were over run with mice. We had a back door that was at ground level. It sat between the family room extension and the breakfast room....and that's wasw here the kids came in for school and where the dog went out and where leaves collected in the fall....and I suspect those mousies just ran inw henever they pleased. One chewed through my vacuum bag to get at the cherrios I had vacuumed up, another built a nest in a hat in the top shelf or a closet on the second floor. Candles were chewed, soap...I even saw one going up into the bottom of an overstuffed chair. Evenings were punctuated by "SNAP"....and my inevitable shudder!
After a year or 2 we remodeled and did away with that door....but I still get the occasional mouse....usually when the "stuff" I stuff around the outdoor spigot falls out.
I ALWAYS keep Decon behind the drawers in the kitchen and ontop of the sill area high on the basement walls....and every fall...replace it....and almost every fall I find a dead mousie somewhere.
This past fall I found droppings on the ironing baord....no idea why....byt I put out decon....and it was eaten and I found a feets up Mickey in the coat closet.
One time I saw Minny sitting in the diningroom staring at me!...So I quick like a bunny, dumped a wastebasket and clapped it over the mouse!....then wondered what to do! Iw as worried that it would chew my oriental rug.....so I got a cookie sheet.....and worked the waste basket to the edge of the rug so I could get the cookie sheet on top of the wastebasket and the mouse inside....but he escaped at the edge of the rug!....and I chased him and clapped the wastebasket over him again and managed to scootch him to the edge and complete the manoever. Then I took that wastebasket, with the cookie sheet on top and the mouse inside out to the end of the driveway and dumped him in a snow drift and ran back into the house....with the mouse following as fast as he could!
But I beat him!!
Lots of people keep mice as pets....you could get a cage and a nice habit trail and maybe even get him a wife!

Not all mice carry hanta virus. This is a common misconception that causes unnecessary angst. From the CDC website:
"Which rodents are known to be carriers of hantavirus that cause HPS in humans?
In the United States, deer mice, cotton and rice rats (in the Southeast), and the white-footed mouse (in the Northeast), are the only known rodent carriers of hantaviruses causing HPS."

David, Chuck is so handsome!

Triciae,
To reassure you, while I relocated the humanely trapped mice about a mile away, they were relocated to more luxurious and comfortable surroundings. We lived in an area near Jamaica Bay off the Atlantic Ocean with lots of vacant areas with tall grasses. They had plenty of friends in those lots along with lots of food - just not my birdfood :->. And with 36 of their closest relatives joining them, they were hardly alone. I think that was a far better choice for them and for me.
Helene

I had a mouse problem once, and the little bugger could eat just about anything without springing the trap. I took several inches of white twine, dipped it in vanilla extract, and tied the twine to the trap. I guess he loved the vanilla, and wanted to take the twine with him. So he pulled on the twine. Buh-bye. (I hated the mouse but still felt bad when he met his maker!)

Blubird, I like the humane traps too. I got one at the local hardware store. We have a marsh and meadow area nearby where I can release the mice, which is a decent habitat for them.

Triciae, I understand what you mean, and if there were no good place to relocate the mice I would use the snap traps.

David, your Chuck is a dead ringer for my long departed Jake. He was a wonderful hunter. Mice, birds, rabbits all became meals for him after he brought them home to show off his talents.

Karen, dog food is good and with the leftover you can get a dog. DARFC!

I think we all need to put little "mouse doors" in our houses, behind the bushes in the foundation.
then all those poor little mousies would have a place to come and be warm and be safe from those nasty preditors like hawks, snakes and maurauding cats. And if we provided them with lots of Mouse Chow they would live long and happy lives and there would be no need to relocate them to a strange area.

Not all mice carry hanta virus. This is a common misconception that causes unnecessary angst. From the CDC website:
"Which rodents are known to be carriers of hantavirus that cause HPS in humans?
In the United States, deer mice, cotton and rice rats (in the Southeast), and the white-footed mouse (in the Northeast), are the only known rodent carriers of hantaviruses causing HPS."

Unless the OP is able to identify her mice better than I can, or she lives in a location that absolutely does not have hantavirus, she should assume that any mouse she encounters may carry hantavirus. Speaking as a microbiologist that teaches medical students, I do not consider it "unnecessary angst" to take appropriate precautions when dealing with a situation that could lead to a very serious illness. All I suggested was that she wear gloves and possibly a mask. My husband, who lectures on hantavirus, always wears protective clothing when dealing with mice and their droppings. It just makes sense.

riverrat1, if you have no luck try the covered mouse trap, I believe made by Decon. They crawl in to get the bait and do not have time to get out before they snap. We had much better luck with a couple of these and you don't have to touch the mouse.

David Chuck looks so much like Chase...except for the "few" extra pounds Chase has on him....

I hate mice, hate, hate, hate them! They make me crazy. Thankfully we have never had them at home but they were rampant in the old cottage. When we had the reno done I insisted that we have foam insulation blown in every nook and cranny so the little sh!ts couldn't get in.

I even had an "outside" door installed between downstairs and upstairs so, if the little sh!ts did get in the crawl space, they couldn't get upstairs.

So far so good, no mice in the cottage proper but I still make Clive go into the crawl space each time we leave and set traps for those little sh!ts and he catches one or two every time (5 year old Canadian cheddar...probably why they keep coming back! LOL

.....did I say how much I hate mice? LOL

I'm now on to bigger and better things. I bought a bee bee gun...LOL!

Lyra, ALL the traps that had your peanut butter roll-upps have been licked clean. The peppermint oil has such a nice fragrance. I open the pantry and the smell reminds me that I have a mouse in there.

Canned dog food just plain stinks. I'm sending the rest to you Peppi!

LOL! Linda. Last night my daughter sat on the kitchen floor armed with a waste basket and a cookie sheet. She was determined to catch it before she heard the SNAP!

David, I'll take Chuck. RC still won't come in the house :-(

Weed, How inventive!

Off to the store to by Decon traps, twine and more Snickers bars...I was stress eating over this mouse so I devoured the last Snickers.

I plan on starting an assembly line of baiting the traps...Snickers running along the panrty walls, peppermint oil on the shelves. At night (phew) I'll put out dog food on traps along the kitchen and butlers pantry floor. In the lower cabinets I will use the Decon Traps (thanks eandhl).

Will report back with my scientific findings...if I catch that bugger.

I had a few little field mice in the winter when we lived in Napa. Because I had little kids I used the live traps and we released the little beggars in a field down the street. I used the kind in the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Live trap.

This thread is making me LOL! I don't have mice, just possums, raccoons and now foxes - 2 sightings in 1 year. Odo went nuts one night recently spotting a possum outside our living room windows (floor-to-ceiling windows). It was a cute young one. But I don't like them coming onto my patio knocking the orchid pots over. (But they're better than neighborhood cats pooping in the empty pots - ew.) Odo prays to the doggy gods to send him a mouse, just one. The gophers down by the beach taunt him.

We always had good luck with peanut butter but we had to get the chunky kind and stuff one of the peanuts way up into the trap (like the bread idea) so they would have to work at it to get it out. Then it would snap. We used the sticky trap once and I saw my ex outside trying to dispose of it and I almost passed out (they do make a loud shrieking noise too when they get caught in them).

We went to the zoo recently and were by the ponds out in the park feeding the ducks. We saw some gray things swimming around and all the people around us were oohing and awing that they were cute otters--my hubby took a look and they weren't otters--they were big ole nutra rats! Yuck! They were feasting on all the bread people were throwing to the ducks.

Thanks Cathy! Peppi, Chuck is my little hunter too, here at the new place he has taken care of the voles in less than a year. Sharon, that pic is few years old. Taken up at the old cabin when he had his eye on something??? He has put on a "few" too over the years!! Karen, that is one smart mouse or one lucky one with that attack plan. Hope to hear your cry of victory in the next day or two!!

David

Karen, may I make a suggestion?

I think you have a very discriminating mouse. It's not going to settle for the cheap grocery store peanut butter. Best to use the good "all natural with a touch of sea salt" kind.

Nancy

I was going to suggest Maytag Blue cheese....which is what I use to bait a trap.
Also....there is a certain finesse to setting a snap trap...you have to set the little hold bar just so....so that the merest bump triggers the snap. It involves a little bending of the trigger wire and a bit of a tweak in the bait pan....
Practise without the bait....set the trap....lay it on the table and poke gently with a pencil to see how easy it is to spring...
Remembering a college chem professor doing the obligatory demonstration of nuclear fission....with about a bazillion mouse traps and a few ping-pong balls...
"here Mousie Mousie"

Riverrat, thanks for taking up the glue traps. They're plain evil. I'm sure most have gotten the idea but they do pull their bodies apart struggling. Nothing deserves that.

You might be overdoing it a bit. Smiles. Giving the mouse too many choices. Only set one or two in the pantry, and just try to figure out where you think it travels against. That's the main thing, putting it in their path. I agree with using something that sticks up in the trap and also checking the trigger.

I have 8 cats and a 180 yr old house. The cats catch one once in a while, but I can put bait where the cats don't get to it, so I'll do it or snap traps if I start hearing them. Our best mouser was my cocker spaniel. She would lay for hours where she knew they came out. Once in a while you'd see her walking around with a tail or foot hanging out of her mouth. Just holding it in her mouth.. rolls eyes.

This is too funny! Karen, I can picture you sitting on your couch, feet drawn up, with a BB gun on your lap....juuuuuust waiting.

About a month ago, I had a squirrel decide that my PT Cruiser was the PERFECT place to build a nest...in the engine! That d@mn thing chewed up my wires, insulation, hoses. It cost me almost $1000 to get it fixed. Thank god for deductibles!

I went all "Bill Murray in Caddyshack" on his/her fuzzy little butt and caught it with a Havaheart trap. Took it several miles away to an isolated, forrested area and relased it. I know you're not supposed to do that, but I couldn't kill it (as much as I wanted to at that point).

Good luck Karen!

No luck, yet!

Hmmm, maybe I do need to just put out havaheart traps and stop all this foolishness with snapping traps and such. Nah! I'm still gonna get that bugger.

I need to borrow a few cats for a few days I think.

Linda I can't believe you'd share your bleu cheese with vermin! Keep on, keeping on after that mouse, you'll get him eventually.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wikipedia upload

Karen, I would share BearCat, but he is useless, purely decorative. Sorry!

And there is no such thing as borrowing a cat. Once they enter, they stay. On your lap and your bed. only fair for the service they offer.

Not heard that fatal "SNAP" yet? No DeCon-ized mousie lying feet up in the hall?
Keep us posted!

I think you're giving it too many choices.... one or two traps selectively placed and starve him into choosing one!

I'm only a couple of hours away and could bring over Mr. Biggs who is the best mouse, frog and snake killing (he thrashes them to death) fellow you'd ever want to share your bed with...as you can see he also specializes in mole hunting.

Peppi, my Dead Cat from H*ll is also pretty useless, the WonderWeiner was the best mouse killer I've ever encountered.

RR, I'll send more BBs. Have you ever seen the movie "Mouse Hunt"? It's all I could think about after reading your last post, LOL.

Annie

I'm telling you guys I've had it with this mouse. It's that time of day when I'm relaxing and I thought about that wonderful bottle of Pinot Noir that I have in the pantry. Forgetting all about Ratatouille, the discriminating mouse, I reached down and grabbed the bottle of wine, and the d@mn thing jumped, made a "phlaaaph" noise when it hit the floor, then my bottle of wine almost went crashing down to the floor. I screamed like a little girl but saved the wine.

So tomorrow I'm off to the gourmet store to buy the best cheese money can buy. I've taken up most of the traps... only have 4 in my pantry now.

Rob, I wish my mouse was as easy to catch as your mouse picture. LOL!

Peppi, Bearcat would be so nice and warm if he were here.

Linda, Decon is out. I think this mouse knows...

Grace, Mr. Biggs is adorable. I have those voles that tear up my new landscaping. My life is full of vermin!

Annie, Send the BBs

Well, now, RR, before I send the BBs, don't forget what Robert Burns said about mice:

To A Mouse

Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie,
O, what panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murd'ring pattle!
I'm truly sorry Man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle,
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An' fellow-mortal!

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen-icker in a thrave 'S a sma' request:
I'll get a blessin wi' the lave,
An' never miss't!

Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
It's silly wa's the win's are strewin!
An' naething, now, to big a new ane,
O' foggage green!
An' bleak December's winds ensuin,
Baith snell an' keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an' wast,
An' weary Winter comin fast,
An' cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro' thy cell.

That wee-bit heap o' leaves an' stibble,
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble,
But house or hald.
To thole the Winter's sleety dribble,
An' cranreuch cauld!

But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

Still, thou art blest, compar'd wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

Yes, it's the origin of "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray".

Oh, never mind, I'll send the BBs. LOL

Annie

Karen, I can't believe that you are still dealing with Ratatouille! And to have an encounter with him, oh my. I don't know if Buster Frank would be any help, he's afraid of lizards.

Read Robert Burns' poem to him.

Yes, Ratatouille, with the discriminating pallet, has made himself a nice little home in my pantry. I haven't taken everything out yet because I'm not supposed to lift anything heavier that a full coffee cup for now. But I may set up a barrier in front of the pantry door, read the poem, and start swinging with my broom.

Every time I see an update on this thread, I think, oh good she got him!

How is it getting in the pantry? from underneath? A crack in the walls, opening the door? Trap near where it is getting in.

I know what riverrat is going to serve on the next P.O.O.P challenge.
jo

Oh, dear. A bottle of Pinot on the floor.

Remember something, my dear sweet Karen. No paper has ever had the headline "Women killed by attack mouse". You are bigger than he/she is. Be brave and firm. This is proof that you have a well stocked panty. Rejoice in his good taste to coose your home.

Now call Mr Biggs to evict him. One must think of the Pinot.

With the help of my dear cleaning lady, we have cleaned out the pantry. No signs of a mouse...we both saw that b@stard. So I know I'm not crazy. Please wish me luck in finding this monster in other parts of the house.

I really don't like mice.

Good golly!! That is one crafty mouse. I thought for sure you'd have nabbed him by now. At this rate, he may die of old age.

Grace

Karen, name him, get him a ss # and you can claim him as a dependent next year.

On the other hand, I could bring Aleksi and LaLa (the cat) over. I don't have any good mice-catching ideas. I was told last year to put the peppermint oil around the garden on cotton balls in small cups....didn't work, mice loved my cukes and squash, but they hate my peppers, so try a cut jalapeno and bell pepper....lol.

Oh, I'd have to bring Aleksi... to hold the cat, I'm allergic to them mostly.

How are you feeling? (beside the mice)

Brenda

I think Ratatouille has fixed him self a nice little mousie door and can come and go at will.
He's not there when you are looking for him....and then he comes back and grabs a bite...uses the potty and is gone again.
Have yous een anymore evidence of mousie?
Linda C

Latest discovery...In my old kitchen (butlers pantry now) *we* as in the handy man, found a tiny hole under the sink. I pluged it up with expandable foam and I haven't seen nor heard from Ratatouille. I think he was fixing a meal and bringing it out to his friends through that little hole. So while they were all parting on my good cheese, I locked their door and threw away the key! BWWWWAAHHHHAHAHAHA! I still have the traps set just in case.

I told ya!! He had himself a little mousie door!
Hope you have closed him out and not in......
And I hope "him" isn't a her.....and that her doesn't have a litter somewhere...
Just said that to make you feel good! Your mouse is probably celebate, took a vow.
And all the tempting girl mousies couldn't lead him to break his vow....
Nope....no baby meece...

Great news!! Au revoir ratatouille!! You are probably safe now. I had a similar problem in a past rental; still shudder at the memories. Once I found the entry point (cracks in a closet floor) and sealed it, never saw the mice again (although like you I never managed to catch them). I'm pretty sure they were not living in my closet, but just came in for food or warmth.

But Karen, it's so cold outside!

Your "butler's pantry" (which is gorgeous) makes me smile. Peppi delivered a very funny line in your "old kitchen/butler's pantry". She said "I have two kitchens too. The other one is on the back porch it's called Weber."

Here's hoping that Ratatouille becomes a popsicle when he finds he's locked outside for good!
LOL Cathy and Peppi!

In Louisiana, I wish it would get cold enough to freeze all the mice, bugs and their larva. So I don't think we will have frozen mice popsicles but it would be a great science experiment for Maggie :-).

Seriously. I haven't seen that little b@s4t5erd since we closed up the hole. What a dorky, whimpy mouse!

LOL at Cathy and Peppi! We (May, Cathy, Peppi, Sherri and I stood in my Butlers Pantry eating New Orleans Praline Pie before they left to go home from our Fais Do Do get together. I'm soooo glad for those memories.

We've lived in our house for 10 years and never seen a mouse until tonight. I remembered reading this thread and thinking "Over 20 traps -- has Karen lost her mind???". Well, now that I have one of those little buggers in my house I'm thinking 20 traps is not nearly enough, and I'm merely thinking for prevention of any mice that might be left.

We came home tonight to find my two cats and our dog surrounding a dead mouse in our dining room. The three of them were just staring at it with very confused looks on their faces. I guess once they killed it, they didn't know what to do with it. After reading everyone's responses to Karen, I'm now convinced we probably have hundreds of those nasty little critters (or will very soon). So, tomorrow morning DH will be putting traps everywhere!

I can just picture your pets staring at the mouse! LOL!

Twenty traps are not enough, I swear, I thought I'd never get that mouse out of my house. Never caught the bugger just locked him out!