When I bought my house, I wondered why the cat food bowls were on the second floor. Later, I'd occasionally hear a faint "plink!" from the kitchen that sounded like a piece of kibble shifting in the dog food bowl, but when I went to look, nothing was there.Finally I discovered a box of oatmeal in the back of a cabinet that had been gnawed open and realized I had a problem. The mouse war was on.
I scrubbed the cabinets with bleach, put all food in rodent-proof containers and blocked every hole I could find with steel wool. I caught a few mice in live traps and released them at the park, but it wasn't until I put poison in the basement that the last of them disappeared. Since then I have not seen evidence of mice in the house. Until this year.
As I've mentioned before, it's been a banner year for the little bastards. A long, wet spring produced lots of food for them, and it has not been uncommon to see them scurrying through the garden, across the patio and around the compost bin. I knew they'd try to come in as soon as it got cold out.
Sure enough, I saw a mouse run across the kitchen floor a couple of weeks ago. Argh. I double-checked the cabinets, put in more steel wool and set out live traps. No luck. Finally I decided what the hell, I'll try a couple new snap-traps I spotted at Home Depot. They looked like they might be more effective and less messy than the traditional wire ones.
It took a few days, but a morsel of parmesan proved too tempting for the little ratonito. If you want to see how effective the trap is, click on the photo above. (Warning: graphic content! It's not gory, but it does feature a dead body.)
I don't feel too ashamed to talk about having mice, as I know it's not a reflection on my housekeeping. If you have an old house with holes in the foundation, you're going to get mice as soon as the weather turns cold.
If you do, go find yourself one of these better mousetraps.
Kitt, I know exactly your frustration. We had the same problem in our 1920's bungalow. To top it off, we had the house on the market. I was always scared that a mouse would make its appearance while someone was looking at the house. We got some of those types of traps and had some success. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteOh no, I didn't want to hear they returned as that means maybe mine will come back too. Thanks for the suggestion on the new fangled trap, hoping I don't have to buy any but good info to have.
ReplyDeleteA few years back my hubby brought one in with some stuff from the tool shed. I opened my dish towel door one day and found my oven mitts ripped to shreds for the stuffing. That was when I knew I had a problem.
ReplyDeleteWe have mice at the library but we can't use any poisons or traps that kill them (I don't think) and live traps aren't going to work. We don't have food for them but they are just inside so they can be warm. What are you going to do?
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