getting rid of mice in your house?

Chaya4

Thu, Aug 21 2014, 10:47 pm

Has anyone successfully gotten rid of mice in their house? We moved in a few months ago. Had a few sightings. Got an exterminator to close up some holes but now just saw one again. I cannot handle mice at all. Were you able to successfully get rid of them? Is this just part of brooklyn living? EEEEWWWWWWWW What did you do to get rid of them?

Dolly Welsh

Thu, Aug 21 2014, 10:59 pm

This works:

http://www.zoro.com/i/G1151333.....mcAbA

Obviously you want to be quite sure nobody touches or eats it besides the mice.

Use liberally; throw a few behind the stove, fridge, hot water boiler, washing machine, under sink cabinets. And behind large furniture that is against a wall such as sofas. Wash your hands well after putting it out. No harm in wearing disposable rubber gloves. A box of those comes from the drugstore.

In time there may be green dust. You can sweep it up, but don't hate it; the mice eat that dust and then you don't have mice. Sometimes persistent mice require the dust, because they won't nibble the block, but they get the dust on their feet and lick it off.

Don't let children or pets go near it. It is best to have it well behind heavy furniture, quite hidden.

Small dogs may want to root and go find it; don't let them.

Store the pail of it way, way, way up high on a high shelf.

I personally think it is great stuff, if handled carefully.

Stuff steel wool around all under-sink pipes and any other holes. Buy that in quantity at the hardware store. Use gloves when stuffing it.

It's only in the movies that mice eat cheese; in reality any spilled film of food will be licked by them, and they can live off it, so do a lot of wiping of tables and surfaces.

Ask the exterminator what to do about the outside of the house, that's different.

smoms

Thu, Aug 21 2014, 11:42 pm

How soon after the exterminator closed up the holes did you see the mouse? Did the exterminator set up traps around the house? After they close up the holes, there could still be some mice hiding somewhere inside the house. It takes a week or two, but sometimes up to a month for any remaining mice to land in the traps.

A professional exterminator should guarantee his work up to a certain period of time. If you're still having problems, definitely call them back.

vintagebknyc

Fri, Aug 22 2014, 12:43 pm

Kitten wrote:

Get a cat? Seriously, it works.

true that. the only reason we knew there were mice in our building is when the non-cat owners told us. (for reasons I cannot even possibly know, the mice chose to enter the apartments without cats.)

skcomputer

Fri, Aug 22 2014, 1:06 pm

Get rid of the food sources. Keep the floors clean, and put all foods in sealed plastic bins in your pantry. They especially go after dry goods like rice, granola bars, pasta, nuts. This advice works for other pests such as ants.

Then you need to get rid of the ones in the house. You can get mousetraps that are covered so you don't see the lifeless body (just the tail). I prefer that to the poison and cats because you don't have to see the mouse or mouse parts after it has expired.

If you are vigilant with keeping food sources unavailable to the mice and you remove any that get in, it is pretty easy to maintain. We find they get in at Sukkos time, so every fall, we set the traps. Ours only get in the basement, so the traps don't get in our way. Also know that mice run along walls, so you can place the traps where they run and they should be out of the household traffic pattern. If you have an accessible spot under the stove, that's usually a good place to trap.