Raee, I almost hit a deer today. It ran in front of my car but then froze so i could avoid it.

Now i am pretty sure it was the giant monster vole that you mention.nn that was in my house! He will probably come badk with friends.

Tail? Does your friend have a long tail. It is not obvious from your picture.

There is something called a Woodrat. Do not think Warf rat or Norway rat. They are more like squirrels without the fluffy tail. They can be about the size of your visitor or even larger. They live short lives, maybe a year or a little longer. They are not super reproducer so your life wont be overrun. That would be my guess. They are wild life. We get them in the attic like people get squirrels or raccoons. Annoying.

Well darn morz8. That's a lot of insulation taken away by starlings! Thanks for sharing. I feel less 'targeted' now :-) Must happen fairly often. Our screens must be poked out. Another thing to have repaired. And your woodpeckers are sensitive too. Isn't that funny. When they aren't drilling perfect holes into my neighbor's houses, they are really sweet birds.

I wonder if we should have a field trip to Anne's house to use our best trap setting skills to help her out. We can stop off at ded's house too. Someone's cookie, peanut butter, chip bag trap might do the trick. Good luck everyone else too. Earlier this year while in last winter, I caught six mice with traps. We were on pins and needles listening for the snap. I put our traps in paper bags though and throw the bag and what's inside in the trash.

One time we had a mice somehow get upstairs and we saw it run under the couch. Yikes. We lifted up the couch and the mouse was running along the wall and our cat at the time said well good golly! Look at that! And he ate the mouse. Thank goodness.

I’ll bring Sam and Bella! Yes, they are both huge hunting dogs, but they are also quick and efficient mousers.

They hunt mice like coyotes do

We were just talking about mouse traps the other day and a friend of mine mentioned that he caught 15 mice at a business with some electric mouse traps. As he described them, they have batteries and the mouse crawls into it and is shocked. You just open the door and throw the dead mouse away and put it back out for more. He said he got them at A.zon. He said they were very effective to get rid of that "ghost" in the attic! HAHAHA! I looked them up and it appears they are called electronic mouse traps. You will bate them with some food.

My mouse and perhaps some of his friends have now eaten about one and a half cups of poison pellets. I am beginning to think it is health food rather than poison.

Okay, i am declaring war! Just look at what this critter did. I set the disposable plastic trap and added more peanut butter rolled in poison pellets. You open a plastic door at the back of the trap to bait it, then close it. ouse should go in the front and get snapped. The little bugger figured out how to open the plastic bait dooor! He munched away on pb and poison and went merrily on his way. Next I will,put duct tape over the bait door.

^^^ Nyuk, that mouse is just begging for a sticky trap.

A sticky trap would probably do it, but i just can’t. Poison or snapping him, yes.

What if you put the sticky trap in a paper bag (leave the bag open). When the deed is done, throw the bag, and contents away. I do that with smap traps because...I just can't. The paper bag gives me that tiny smidge of I Can Do This. Too bad you have a smarty pants mouse there ded. Most of mine have not been that smart, thankfully.

I think thats what I’ll have to do. Ugh Ugh Ugh.

Mouse poisons are not instantanious. They take time and usually the animal suffers a horrible hemorrhagic death. And then there are Sticky traps. Your mouse sticks to the trap. You toss it gleefully into the garbage. It dies a very very slow and horrible death. Please at the very least drown the poor animal. Use a bucket of water. Not an easy death but relatively quick. You have to own it I know but..... They aren't out to get you-just trying to survive. If we have to kill them it should be as quick as possible.

When you have rodents you usually have families of them so it isnt just one. You think you are seeing the same one but it could be the aunt or nephew. They lead short violent lives.

Totally agree that torturing a living thing with poison or sticky traps is not humane. They are living breathing creatures who are not out to get you but to live their lives. People buy rats, mice, gerbils, and hamsters as pets. I guess they're the lucky ones.

A regular snap trap with lots of peanut butter works but they are hard to set without the clamp snapping and needing reset. Set a couple in places where cats, kids, etc. cannot get to them and check them daily. In a week you'll find the mice are smaller and smaller...probably caught the entire family by then. Then don't set any again until you see evidence you have mice again.

I'm still snap trapping and glue trapping and I've caught NOTHING. He was in my bedroom the other night. Laughing at me. It's awful. I hate him but I love my dog so no poisin.

Are you using lots of traps and are they along the baseboards? I was just reading that it was a good idea to set traps every few feet (ie. 2-3 feet apart).

Will you at some point decide to hire a professional? They rarely fail.

For a going forward strategy, don't overlook the necessity of making sure that all exterior gaps rodents can use are well closed up. Otherwise, you'll just be at this again.

It doesn't take much of an opening for a mouse to get in. Pay special attention to the gaps that often occur at the tops of foundations (where the "wall" transitions from foundation to stucco or siding) and holes in crawlspace vents, if any.

Yes. Probably. I just hate paying someone to do somehting I should be able to do myself!!!!!!!!

But you haven't been able to do it yourself.

I know and it's like a mission! I hate admitting defeat. Winners never quit and quitters never win.

LOL Annegriet and Elmer J Fudd - you two made me laugh!

Annegriet...I just saw this (no lie, didn't even try) but maybe this could do the trick? https://www.grandpagus.com

tougherthantom.com is the same thing, I think.

Besides not wanting to poison your dog, you don't want to poison a mouse that could die inside a wall. The smell is horrendous. And even if it makes it outside, if an owl or fox or cat should get ahold of it, they could also be harmed.

It's likely you have more than one mouse....they are seldom singular dwellers. I have an exterminator every quarter come and check under my house, in my garage, etc. Once they get the holes all filled so they cannot get into the house any more, you can quit the service. I live in the country and just cannot abide having mice in the house, so I just keep the service. It's something like $80 every 3 months. Worth it to me. They only use snap traps, no poison.

I am clinging to the belief that he is a bachelor! You are probably right though Olychick.

It’s time to hire me, for I’ve had a master in Mures Captanda at Schola de Cattus

We discovered an infestation about 10 years ago when doing a sizeable remodel job. Large rats. It took several days of work for the pest control team to discover all the nests and access points - the last crawlspace access found was an overhang gap of just a few inches at a sill plate/foundation point. Since then, regular visits that changed from monthly to now quarterly. Traps in black plastic containers with small holes - big enough for pests but too small for pets, throughout the garage, around the foundation perimeter, and in the walk-in crawlspace. The garage door opens and closes for cars to pass but is otherwise kept closed. There are always several rats caught in perimeter traps, never any in the garage or crawlspace but all traps are rebaited. It provides us peace of mind, something that needs to be done that I have no interest in doing myself.

Large rats - the average adults the guy finds, measuring nose to butt and not counting the tail, is close to as long as my size 13 shoe. I

OMG Elmer. Just OMG. I'd move.

I've lived here for over 25 years and have never, ever, ever seen one. Not when driving down the street daytime or nighttime, not when walking around the house or spending time outside daytime or nighttime. Never. Not even as much as a rustle in the bushes. No trace of them.

It's a conventional neighborhood with large lots and open spaces not too far away. Coyotes, foxes, skunks, raccoons, possums, deer, all are occasionally seen. Never rats. All are part of the local fauna.

Skunks are the worst, my dogs would get sprayed once every few years when put out at night.

I'm not Nature Boy and would be just as happy if none of these things weren't around but it is what it is.

To mention a different kind of pest that DOES require a bit more vigilance and attention, some months ago my neighbor at a second house I have sent me a photo of a fair-sized rattlesnake that was on my driveway. That house too has some open space nearby. There aren't a lot of snakes there but they're not unknown, maybe that's the best way to put it. They concern me more but after a few years of having that place, there's been just one and it was out in the open. Little to no reason for concern. There's a phone number to call and someone came and removed it.

Rats, well, I *am* a nature girl but don't want to share my house with mice, let alone rats! Annegriet, maybe you should give in and name your little friend. Put out little dishes of water and food for him. Treat him like a beloved pet. Then he'd leave -- that is, if reverse psychology works on rodents! (more seriously, might be time to call in a pro.)

None have ever been "in" the house. Only under and in the garage.

I was and still think that a cat (for hired or borrowed) would scare that smart mouse, who may vacate asap at the sight of the feline.

If you have not caught it yet in a NEW tradional snap trap, you may not have a mouse. Try this,

https://www.amazon.com/Havahart-1025-Small-2-Door-Animal/dp/B000BQQMJQ They come in several sizes. That is the small one.

If he's still about: I was feeding the birds and my first 5gal bucket of sunflower seeds emptied. I left the lid off, there were a few seeds in the garage. When DH went out this morning to go to work there was a live mouse STUCK running about like a crazed thing. They can get in but not out! DH threw him back outside so we can repeat this another day!!

I caught one little tiny baby mouse but not the other guy. I also found a significant entry point in a closet that shares a wall with the garage and is also the entry point for hte cable. That's plugged up now.

I live in Florida. Shortly after moving into our house, we could hear noises in the attic at night when in bed.

We thought we had mice in the attic. We lived in NY and in our house for 40 yrs and would get occasional field mice in the house. We had cats and they usually caught them. We lived in a wooded area with large property adjoining woodlands. They would get in and we never figured out how. The experts said mice nest in the attic and come down to the kitchen looking for food. We were told not to leave cat food bowls out unless empty.

So, hearing the noises in our Florida home we thought is was mice again. Luckily, I called a service who came and checked the attic. Rats! No mice, Rats!! Huge rats.

He put traps in the attic and garage. He checked the exterior of the house and patched spots where they could enter. We were relieved and the noises went away...for about a month.

A neighbor told us to call a wildlife person. They are the best. So, we did.

He found places where they could enter that was missed by the original exterminator.

He trapped them in the attic. He showed me one, holding it by the tail. I almost put the house on the market!

In 12 yrs we haven't had anymore. The wildlife guy was incredible and solved the problem.

Jane

I still haven't caught him.

FWIW, our county has a rodent control dept. and they will come out and set bait stations up for free. I still have the bait boxes they gave me years ago. Have you checked if your city or county has anything similar?

VICTORY! I caught him! I'm fairly certain he is the only one. However, I'll keep you posted (-: For tonight, I'm just savoring the fact I got him.

Yay! May he be happy in mouse heaven. Mine died inside the wll and stunk for a few days. Yech.

Congrats!! Big day at your house!

Yay!!!

So glad to read that you DID catch the mouse. HOW did you do it?

He was a super smart mouse. I watched him one night walk around the traps I had sent. He avoided everything and then boom, he rani nto the pantry and landed on a glue trap. Yes, it's an ugly death but I am relieved to no longer have an unwanted roommate.

Follow up--he seems to have been a batchelor. Or a single lady. We have had no more evidence of an unwatned friend.

Glue traps are a cruel way to kill an animal. Someone a few months ago let 100's of rats go ...who knows from where. Volunteers rounded them up and took them to a shelter where they were examined, given shots, and placed up for adoption. Most were adopted on the first day and the videos on the news of these intelligent little creatures were so cute.

I don‘t like mice in my house either but the poor living creature is probably still suffering:(

👍Annegriet . Maybe I’ll have to resort to glue traps as well. Thanks for sharing what worked for you