Find the hole through which it got into the pantry and plug it up with coarse steel wool. If you can't find it by the naked eye, put some flour down say around the base of the shelves, and the next day look at where the flour is messed up. That will give you an idea as to where the hole is.

I am redoing my kitchen, in part because of mice getting in so badly I knew that ,behind the cabinets and floors it must have been one hole in the wall after another, and indeed it was. When I pulled the cabinets out, I was so grossed out by what was underneath them. Take that ball of twine and "what looks like a mouse poop" and multiply it by a bazillion.

Sooooooo grossssssssss.

I suspect that once the source of food is gone he will be gone too...on to better pastures as they say...

No way, lukki. It's a pantry. they'll be back, and they'll multiply. They form colonies. You really have to find the hole and plug it up.

Look around the exterior of your house where water, electrical and gas lines come in. Seal around the entry points with Great Stuff.

Great Stuff

Yes, my DH used that Great Stuff when mice were "vacationing" at our beach house. Imagine arriving at your cute beach house and finding mouse poop on kitchen counters, your daughter's bed/pillow, the toilet seat (oops, they missed!), etc... soooo gross. We also used those plug-in outlet mouse deterrent things. Maybe coincidental, but between those two manuevers, we didn't have mice again.

Also, the next year, we basically knocked the whole house down and rebuilt it, so if all else fails, you might try that. :)

Hahaha, sueb, can't wait to tell my husband your solution. My sister has a 2nd home in Colorado and once they had an infestation of mice. Poop between the sheets on the bed, in the tub (after they ate a plastic shower curtain), huge piles under the sofa, it was awful. Luckily, I've haven't seen much so maybe I'm catching it early. Please let me believe this.

Thanks to everyone for the info.

As luck would have it, the thrift store truck called to say they will be in my 'hood tomorrow. Perfect timing. As a matter of fact, I do have a few things! Placemats, cookie cutters, candles, picnic stuff, a decorative tray, and extra bar ware I don't use. The mouse did the thrift store a favor, I wouldn't have noticed the stuff if not for him/her forcing me to clean and reorganize.

Our second house had a mouse in the kitchen. We trapped it with traps set with peanut butter and never had a recurrence.

I also had one in my pantry. I tried the glue traps. They don't work. Get the regular old fashioned spring traps and use peanut butter. Worked like a charm. We haven't had a mouse in years.

I buy the snap traps with the fake cheese thing and spread a layer of peanut butter on the fake cheese. You might want to put that on a paper bag or paper plate (makes clean up easier)

On the other hand, rats love slimjims. Me vs rats this week 3! (Neighbors garage must have a refuge)

My pest control guy says that rats and mice are blind and go by scent from previous visiting rodents and they pee everywhere for future visitors. It makes it doubly important to wash EVERYTHING, with particular attention to areas where you suspect they walked, nested, etc. Tis the season, they want to be warm also.

Cats must be really effective b/c my darling Kozmo hangs around DH's workshop and we've yet to find a rodent, knock on wood.

Awww, karin, how cute! I would love a cereal box cat but I'm allergic to cats.

Eta: Kozmo was posted while I was posting. He looks very regal and intimidating. No rodent would dare to cross his path.

Ah, the mention of cleaning reminds me, I did bleach EVERYTHING multiple times when we had our mouse. I never use bleach so I actually had to go and buy it.

online pest control sites sell these enzymatic cleaners that eliminate dead smell and their waste scent, but actually any cleaning product will work. I don't know that a single mouse sighting justifies buying the special product so any household cleaner should be OK. Kozmo rocks!

Oh great. Now I'm craving cereal with a treat in it!

I feel for you. I've been doing the same thing to our pantry for the same reason. With hubby working away from home so much he slacked off in placing cotton balls soaked with about ten drops of 100% pure peppermint oil around our home and we've had quite a few mice get it. Again. This happened when we first moved in 12 years ago. Bith then and now he and our son didn't believe me until the first time i found on in a drawer and screamed bloody murder and this time after I took a picture of one sitting on the top of the drapes in the ladies parlor. You can see it below.

Rodents are allergic to peppermint and will not come in your home if you place the soaked cotton balls about every six feet around the ceiling of your basement/foundation and anywhere else they may get in. I'll share a link of where we buy it in bulk when I'm on my laptop.

Here's the one I mentioned above. All others have been the tiny gray type. We live in the country surrounded by corn and bean fields so we were thrilled to find the peppermint oil worked so well. You have to make sure to freshen it, at the very least, every month or, as happened to us, they will come in. We've caught three and one of our cats has proven to be a good mouser and killed three. I wished I'd gotten a picture of Joey Cat with his head cocked looking at his first dead mouse. He couldn't figure out why it wasn't playing with him anymore.

Forgot to mention, there's a Great Stuff made for use to keep critters out.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/GREAT-STUFF-16-oz-Pestblock-Insulating-Foam-Sealant-11034540/203282346

Also, Peppermint oil will reduce the number of spiders in your home too.

Just, I've used the peppermint and it never worked. We even have a long row of it growing next to the house! The place they get in is near the pipes under the kitchen sink, so we use the foam sealant and it works great. Mice can squeeze through a hole the size of a dime.

The first mouse I saw was on our Christmas tree eating the popcorn I put on it, which was the first Christmas in our newly built house. I couldn't believe it!

I didn't see anymore, (now I have) but a few years later my washing machine stopped draining. The guy found dry dog food in the pipes. LOL.

It's a whole new world living in the country, isn't it?

Oakley, I thought it was the peppermint that worked for us for a long time. Now I'm wondering if it wasn't the new construction on either side of us the last couple winters that brought them running inside and the peppermint really didn't work? Last winter it was on our east side and now another home is being built on our west side. Maybe the darn little critters were happily living in the open acres until the digging started.

Whatever it is, I'm tired of it. I despise the little critters. Cute as that one pictured above was, I wanted him/her out of our home. We have never caught it and unless my cats caught and ate it, I have no idea if it's still in my home somewhere. While clearing out our garage last fall we found one very similar in size on the floor after picking up a hollow porch post sleeve. Not a pretty sight, but not as bad as the poor dust bunny we found the year before. All that was left when we found him was fur and feet. I did feel bad for the mouse too as it had to have died a horrible death of dehydration. Same way we found a toad years ago. I'm not cruel. I just don't want furry critters inside our home that were not invited. I don't care for them in our garage either, but that's almost impossible to keep them out because of the doors being left open by the guys so often.
And yes, living in the county is a whole new ballgame. Even in a small acreage neighborhood. I'm such a city girl! LOL I don't know how many times I screamed bloody murder the first couple years. The first screams were brought on by the toads we get because of a small drainage area that fills up as a pond in the spring. I loved the sounds of the croaking at night with the windows open, but when they made their way onto our land, they were always showing up in places surprising the heck out of me. Like looking at me through the basement window when I was turning the water faucet on. Later on the Mama Toad hopped in through that window into the basement. I feared she'd jumped to her death. Luckily hubby was home, heard my scream and came to rescue Mama Toad. That was then I insisted his next project was to finish the outside faucet so we didn't have to leave that window open to run the hose outside when needed.
I could go on and on telling stories of a city girls life in the country but, lucky for you and other GWers, I won't. :^)

I'don't had hopes for pep mint oil, but no. It wasn't until we redid a bathroom that we could figure out how they got in. Until then I never opened a can without washing it first and always rehashed flatware before using (they got in the drawers as well). Don't miss them, but very cute on Outsides curtain.

All the money we spent on Peppermint oil over the years! Darn. Here I thought it was working and just above I thought maybe it was the construction on either side of us, but where were they getting in all of a sudden? Then it dawned on me that when we tore down the storage unit under the back deck last spring we found there were mice living in there. While hubby continued to work on removing everything in there, I went upstairs for some reason. Probably to wash up as I can only stand to feel so dirty before I have to scrub myself. When I came down I saw he had the basement french doors wide open. That may very well be when they got in. This weekend we'll get more mouse traps and set them up down there and hopefully that will get rid of the rest of them, if there are any left. I hope there aren't, but not taking that chance.

My boys leave the doors open, and every winter we end up with a mouse or two. We use traps. I grew up on a farm in an old farmhouse so they don't bother me much.

now, the Guinea pigs my boys had disgusted me. Glad they are gone ;-)

What is it about males and closing doors?

Justgota...I have my theories but it would turn this thread into a "Hot Topic". =d

Oh, and isn't your pic of a pack rat? Missing any shiny, glittery things?

LOL Oly! I love my men, but they do have their, let's say, oddities.

I looked it up when I first saw it, but can't remember what I found it to be. That could have been it, but calling it a rat makes it even worse to think it got into our home.

I don't have many shiny things in our home. Maybe that's why I've not seen him/her again. I decorate with natural/dull things for the most part.

The peppermint oil could be working, maybe you have a different species of mice than I do? lol. There was a little opening near the pipes under the sink last summer and I could see some droppings under there, so I sprinkled a lot of peppermint oil until dh could fill the hole, and it didn't bother the mouse at all.

When the kids were little, I got up during the night to go to the kitchen. I saw a mouse on the floor running around, so did my cat. I applauded my cat when she got it and killed the darn thing. The next morning I discovered it was our Gerbil that accidentally got out of it's cage. Boy, did I have a lot of explaining to do! lol.

It's really hard for cats to get mice indoors because there are a zillion places mice can go under. The Gerbil was slower. :)

Peppermint oil does work but mice are a hardy lot. I love living in the "country" but that includes vermin. I am terrified of mice, seems we have left them all outside this year but i still have to sanitize my counters everyday.

DH keeps his precious motorcycle in our garage. Last spring he took it to his favorite mechanic with the intention of just having the oil changed. He was going to wait for it. He called me and asked if I could come pick him up. Turned out they put a scope into the fuel pump line just to check things out b/c DH said it had been running a little sluggish and found the remains of a mouse nest (complete with tiny bones). Ms Mouse apparently had decided to make herself at home in the fuel pump somewhere. So now DH makes sure he's cranking up the bike a few more times than usual these cold days. It's never happened before, but there is always a first time when you're in the country.

Outside, I can relate! Back in 1989 we bought a beautiful white Jeep Larado. Our garage is detatched, and we kept it in there at night. One morning the car wouldn't start. We'd had the car for all of three weeks. A mouse chewed through one of the electric lines!

Oh no Oakley! Poor gerbil.

Outside, we've had mice get inside our vehicles interiors, but, since far, not a fuel pump. Living in the country is certainly an adventure.