I forgot to mention that I can not put out a mouse trap and I did and then I had pavement ants come in and they were all over the peanut in the trap - and this is winter time in MA....I think with the weather going from cold to warm the ground is not frozen and they live under my brick patio and somehow they found a way in also. I haven't really seen them since I got rid of the mouse trap and peanut.

Sounds like a mouse. If you can't use a trap then I don't know wht you are going to do. Perhaps one of those sticky papers?

Update - Hubby found millions of those seeds on the upper ledge and I guess they were falling down when whatever walks around up there. He can't get in there with all the wires and sewer pipe and large electrical cable to the outside for the generator. He looked outside and everything seems sealed well and inside is blown in insulation and the yellow fiber kind and he just can't see anything. The asbestos guys are coming back tomorrow to finish putting up the paneling and I had asked them to fog the basement as they also do mold and bacteria cleanup and I don't know if there is any pee, etc. around but now I am afraid to as it is awful stuff and it will get on the seeds and then will the whatever animal not want to eat them and go looking for food elsewhere in the house????

HELP.

Suggie, I have never known a mouse to hoard tree seeds like that. You are finding the entire "helicopter" and not just the seed. I wonder if what you have isn't a member of the squirrel family. Mice wouldn't bring in "millions" of complete Maple (helicopter) seeds and hoard them in the walls.

You are finding the helicopters falling out of the wall in the basement? Have you checked the attic?

For the mouse in the basement, I live in the middle of farm land. Mice laugh at spray foam, they chew it away and spit it out. Tell hubby to use exterior door and window caulk on exterior holes. The mice get bored trying to chew through it and move on to the easier access at the neighbors house.

I think it's a squirrel. Just last week I saw a squirrel runnung up a tree with a mouthful of those helicopters. Good luck when the asbestos guy comes back. Hope your rodent stops "visiting".

If it's a squirrel use the rat chocolate bars. I had squirels in our attic last year. An older man told me it worked. It did.

As long as they don't die in your house the rat bars are fine.

lumper and joed: Would you please describe the "rat chocolate bars" in more detail? Is this a poison? Any particular brand name? TIA!

RE: RAT Bars. I went to Lowes and Home Depot and described the chocolate bar rat poision. They got me the right pack. They should be in with the pest control items such as traps and mice/rat poision.

Regular rat pellets mixed with some peanut butter should be gone in less than a day.

Dump the pellets in a bowl, add some globs of peanut butter, mix it up, smear back into the bait tray.

Wash utensils thoroughly.

Place tray in desired location.

the poison is Warfarin that causes internal bleeding.
It makes the animal thirsty so they seek out water, leaving the house to die.

The mouse poison we use is Just One Bite. It is the best on the market I think. Also when we got tired smelling dead mice we found out that they electronic mice things keeps them from even wanting to live in our house. We even put one in our garage, and guess what?? They don't want to live there anymore. We are mouse free after buying those things. We bought them at Lowes. I can't remember the name brand but they only had one brand. They are kind of expensive, but worth every penny!!

This nest was in our grill. It's made entirely of helicopter seeds.

No idea who/what made it!

Looks like a mouse nest to me. Sometimes there are wee mice in the center.