I've heard it works good. They won't chew threw it.
Leslie

Steel wool does help. Traps or other elmination methods (poison) will help get rid of any 'friends' that may be lingering.

Steel wool will probably work, but first, you need to rid yourself of the little bugger, else upon plugging one hole may begat another one. If he has not vacated the premises, he needs to be evicted or caught. Then, search for where he may have entered the building and plug that access.

I heard about the steel wool trick and it did not work for me. I had critters chewing through the grout on my porch and getting into the walls. There was evidence that they had obtained entry to my basement although I never saw one. I put the steel wool in the cracks and would find it torn out in little pieces the next day. I finally put glue traps outside the holes and would catch them. Then I cemented the holes after filling them with Great Stuff®. I don't know what you could do about a hole in the ceiling. Is it in plaster or drywall? Can can chew through both. You will have to trap or kill the ones in your building and then find their entry point and seal it.

We have 2 traps set and I'm hoping there is only one mouse but I'm sure it has friends with him LOL
If I poison it/them won't they crawl back up in the attic and die and then there will be a stink?

If I poison it/them won't they crawl back up in the attic and die and then there will be a stink?

Yes, this does happen. The best way to catch a mouse is an old fashioned snap trap baited with PB or chocolate. Be sure to keep snap traps out of reach of curious kids -n- pets.

I could bring Harry over. He's such a good mouser...he is really a coyote in disguise!

Snap traps work the best for me. Where there's one mouse, there will soon be 17,439. It's the time of year they will start migrating in; they get stirred up in the fields with the harvets, then the cold runs them in. I nearly always catch one or two in the garage, since Harry isn't in there all that often.

Carol, Our Maddie must be related to Harry. Chasing mice or chipmunks and killing them is a favorite hobby. Can't imagine what she'd do if one got into the house. She'd go really nuts, I know.

I have a metal "humane trap" that I bought at the pet store (link below has a trap similar to mine). Mice can go in, but they can't get out. When baited with peanut butter, it works well and has trapped 15 in my classroom over time.

This is useful if you are willing to check the trap daily and take it far away to let the mouse free (I relocate them to the local wetlands) ... the snap kind are better if you just want them dead.

No poison -- too dangerous to children and pets.

Here is a link that might be useful: trap

Are you sure it is a mouse? Squirrels like to get in attics too.

Sue

If you do use a trap use peanut butter for the bait Mom caught two in one trap at one time this way. UGH!! I hated the take-out duty

It's always a good idea to set a dish of water by any rat poison. Then, once they eat it-instead of crawling back up into the petitions to find water & die...it will be right by the poison...much easier to rid of & and no horrific smell to remain for days!

When I was still living with my parents, we had a mouse/mice in the garage. One day our dog Lady (a beagle) went out there and caught one with her paw. She pinned it to the floor. Dad picked it up and deposited it about a mile away. Mom just screamed! Thanks for the memory!

Cats are the answer.
If this is not an option, traps will do.
Remember: mouse traps are too disposable.

Lori

The expandable foam that comes in an aerosol can and is available at Home Depot or other similar stores...works perfect to seal up entry areas. It comes in white, yellow and a couple other colors, so check the color of the cap for the color you want. It is sold in the part of the store that sells window/door insulation. I "think" one of the names is "Great Stuff"....and it is...

still no mouse set the traps last night and still nothing tonight. Maybe he deceided to leave LOL

TRAPS...TRAPS...TRAPS

Oh My Gosh...one of my biggest fears/phobias!

I have been scared/terrified of these little creatures for as long as I can remember!

I was told that if you put peppermint oil on cotton around your house that it will run off the mice. The lady that told me this said her daughter had done it for her mouse problem and it works.

You could also make your own live-trap by setting a tall garbage can next to something the mouse could climb up. Put some food in the can and they'll jump down in there to get the food and be trapped. You can then take him/them for a drive out to the country.

I've caught many mice this way,as have friends and family. I also have a metal live trap that works great. I don't use poison, glue-traps or snap traps, because I don't like them and I have 3 cats that I won't risk.

When they started building out behind me they stirred up the mice and I started getting them in the garage. I got a couple of the windup traps that work great. Set it against a wall and they run into it, the weight trips the spring loaded "wheel" and flips them into a chamber. I always used to put poison in that part. Otherwise I'd dump them into a pail of water and kill them. And it'll hold quite a few mice.

As said, if you have one, you almost always have a bunch more. Pregnant mice are usually the most determined to get inside it seems.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

What is it about a small, innocuous thing ... like a mouse ...

... that would engender such an extreme activity as a scream??!!

Granted ... they can be a PITB ... especially when they leave their calling cards around in inappropriate places.

But why bring them out into the country to dump them off ... where they can make their way into my place?

It's O.K. if they make it to the garage or the barn ... for the barn cats'll take care of them. Or my friend's Jack Russell terrier, if he's visiting (you should see the speed at which she travels!).

But ...

... if they make it into my house (where the cats don't come) ...

... and they leave their calling cards here ...

... how be I trap them in a "humane" trap ...

... and bring them into town ...

... dropping them off within half a block of your place??

Town/city folks who don't want to see any more of their garbage are sending it to a garbage dump (or soon will be) that's within a couple of miles of my place.

That cost their city about 220 million.

None of which came to me - but the crap comes to near me - cause they don't want it near them.

ole joyful

Cynic, that reminds me of my late MIL's friend who used to use a Hav-a-heart trap to trap racoons and hold them so she could shoot them in the head. Man, that just disgusted me. Honestly, I don't consider drowning them to be the least bit humane. Why not just use snap traps and get it over with?

I live in the country. Anybody wants to drop off mice near me, feel free. The odds of them wandering up to my house are slim since there's 89 other acres where they might choose to live out their lives, not to mention the other bazillion acres that I don't own. I will not be killing them.

I should clarify, no I don't dump them in there to drown them, I use the bucket to keep them contained and accessible, take a 2x2 or something and one quick WHACK does them in. If I just put them in the pail, they could climb up and out before killed. And sometimes if I'm not checking it for a while I put poison in there so they'll die quickly. Why not use snap traps? Simple, this will take care of 10-15 and a snap trap only one. Easily reset and reused and no bait required. Frankly though, snap traps don't require bait either. But no, I refuse to spread out 15-30 snap traps. Also I have used this ouside against the foundation of the house. Sadly, people still let their dogs and cats run free. I don't think it's humane to let a dog or cat get caught in a snap trap, do you? Plus the possibility of a kid, or for that matter a door-to-door seller stepping on it, I don't think they're that practical. I also feel this is far more humane than putting out glue boards to let them die of dehydration. Plus, I don't think I'd want to be cleaning out snap traps and reusing so I'd have to be buying a gross of them. No, I don't think so. I'll use the wind up.

As far as the MIL's friend who used to shoot them, I take it you prefer leghold tooth traps so they break their legs and try to chew off their leg to get out of it? Do you really think THAT is better than a shot? It sounds mean, but shooting it is far superior the the alternative IMHO.

Also, in the country, rodents are part of a food chain. Eagles, hawks, owls, fox, etc, that "country folk" taut, use them as a food source. Keeping them in town, or for that matter moving them to town (I just pictured the "Beverly Mousebillys packed up and moving) won't bring the country owls into town. Never seen it happen anyway.

I will say this however. I do like mice much better, and think they need far more humane treatment (and a quick kill) than do spammers and telemarketers!! Now THERE'S a good use for the glue boards!

Thanks for all the suggestions
I'm starting to think we might not have a mouse at all its been 3 days with the traps out with peanut butter and still no mouse so I will wait a few weeks and see if I get anything and if not I will seal up the hole and hopefully not have any more "surprises" from the mouse

You take it wrong, Cynic, if you think I prefer a leg trap over a Havahart trap. The whole purpose of live traps is for catching and relocating, not capturing for shooting. I would think that would be pretty obvious. Have A Heart. Not Shoot In Head. MIL's friend lived out in the country. The raccoons were there first and hearing about her killing 50 or 60 of them was so disgusting. I wouldn't use a leg trap on my worst enemy, let alone an innocent animal.

I'm sorry if I assumed you were drowning the mice, when you said you put them into a pail filled with water, that's what I thought. I won't use sticky-boards either, those are too mean.

I'll keep using my live trap, either the metal one or the homemade one, the garbage can, and when I catch a mouse, I'll drive it up to the nearest corner, about 3/4 mile away and let him go next to a big field on the edge of the woods. There are no houses anywhere around and he'll be free to go about his business, still alive, but not in my house.

Just label cynic ... Sadistic Scamp (with regard to the last reference that he made)!

As for the mice in the tub, when you've trapped only one, possibly two ...

... borrow a cat, take the tub and cat out into a field where there's next to no shelter, tip up the tub.

Live ones that they've caught and partially demobilized - they love to play with them.

Cats are sadistic.

No - that's people ... cats are just ... cats.

Snap traps are reusable - wash the blood off.

They say that there's a smell there that causes surviving mouses to avoid the trap ... which maybe the water will remove/alleviate.

Cats aren't fussy - they'll grab and growl over ... then eat ... dead ones.

While some mice survive through the winter in the wild ... many don't ... and life is rather nasty in the meantime (despite their fur coAt). Fields in this part of the world get C O L D in winter!

o j