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July 16, 2009
Mouse in the House
Okay, so starting last week my roommate noticed some mouse droppings in her room. Last night she awoke to one scratching around in her waste paper basket.
2 large construction projects on the street have picked up steam as of late, which is what I assume is causing them to come into our house (we keep the place very clean, with no food laying around)
Has anybody experienced this problem and can offer any suggestions on what we can do (other then calling an exterminator who will set traps)
Comments
Living up to the lazy, entitled stereotype you could have searched under Exterminator and seen that a post last week, and many others, are highly recommending the battery operated RatZappers. But you didn't. :)
Additionally, you need to plug all the accessible holes behind the sink and the stove with steel wool. It works.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at July 16, 2009 9:33 AM
Steel Wool is best to stuff any holes around your fridge,oven and radiator pipes.
But another thing to use are those electronic devices you plug into the wall. Apparently they send out high frequency sound waves that mice don't like so they stay away. I have to say that combo seems to chase them away and you don;t have to deal with the horror of sticky glue traps etc!!!
Posted by: gemini10 at July 16, 2009 9:39 AM
A few tips from dealing with my own infestation a few years ago. It's a pain, but pull all your furniture away from the walls and scour every inch. Plug every small hole with steel wool and spackle. Also, this is gross, but as mice move around your apartment they urinate and the smell of the urine is a sign to other mice that this is a 'mouse friendly' location. So mop all your floors. We had exterminators come in and out without much impact. It was only after a frantic weekend of cleaning and plugging holes that the mice disappeared.
Posted by: fawn at July 16, 2009 9:43 AM
Cool guys - thanks. Looks like I have some online shopping/a large weekend project ahead of me. :-\
Posted by: dirty_hipster at July 16, 2009 9:51 AM
DH- you're lucky it's only mice. When they began all that major construction in downtown Brooklyn we had thousands of rats running through BH, Boerum, CH and CG. My upstairs neighbor woke up to find a rat sitting on his bed in the middle of he night. (Even I could hear the screaming and I was 4 floors down). It's not only your apartment- they come into the basement- your super will have to check down there. Or you could go the green route and borrow a cat. Honestly- no better way to deal with them.
Posted by: bxgrl at July 16, 2009 10:36 AM
That's terrible bxgrl - my roommate's room is the basement, so it makes sense that she would be seeing droppings, but I have not seen them anywhere else ( i tore apart my kitchen at 6:30 am this morning and didn't see anything)
Posted by: dirty_hipster at July 16, 2009 11:02 AM
I'll be the first, this time, to offer the obligatory cat suggestion.
Seriously, I've had three cats, so far, over the course of my adult life. Both times when we've been between cats, I've noticed significant mouse activity. The arrival of a tiny kitten, too small to be an effective mouser, has been enough to chase them away. My present nine year old cat has actually caught only one mouse; his predecessor, caught two over his fifteen year life, our first cat caught a similar number in almost fifteen years. Mice pretty much stay away when a cat's around.
Cats are also wonderful, charming, affectionate companions, although you'd disagree if you're allergic or ailurophobic.
Posted by: Bob Marvin at July 16, 2009 11:06 AM
If you're not into the cats then I can recommend those rat/mouse zappers.
Although they electric shock them to death, there's no visual damage so you can get the bodies stuffed and posed to reenact famous scenes.
Posted by: the chicken at July 16, 2009 11:40 AM
What bob said! :-) But I said it first, bob!!
Rats are scary- mice I feel sorry for. I seem to be a sucker for 4 legs and full body hair. But we can loan you a cat (MM has 1 or 2 great mousers).
Posted by: bxgrl at July 16, 2009 11:55 AM
I like Chicken's idea- I can do tiny costumes for you.
Posted by: bxgrl at July 16, 2009 12:49 PM
I volunteer to do a diorama based on the costumes
Posted by: coppermaven at July 16, 2009 1:22 PM
oooohh, coppermaven- do you do those? And are you a copper collector? I collect old copper molds.
Posted by: bxgrl at July 16, 2009 1:49 PM
If you visit the OT there are the usual suspects trying to give away more cats again. Maybe they can pay you to take on off their hands and you will get rid of the mice for free.
Posted by: denton at July 16, 2009 1:49 PM
Mice have nothing to do with how clean you do or don't keep your apartment, unfortunately.
Is your aversion to traps that you don't want to kill the mice? I've had good luck with glue traps. They get stuck but don't die.
Posted by: alsawo at July 16, 2009 3:13 PM
"any suggestions"
Meow!
***Bid half off peak comps***
Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at July 16, 2009 3:14 PM
Feral babies eat mice. Get one or two of them and you're golden.
Posted by: diego at July 16, 2009 3:16 PM
bxgrl, a friend in Philly has a copper mold in the shape of a cat. What would one generally make in that shape???
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at July 16, 2009 3:18 PM
Cats don't have to eat mice to be good mousers. Our first cat's mother had obviously skipped the mouse killing and eating lesson. She was great at catching mice, but had no idea what to do with them. When she caught a mouse she'd run around excitedly with the thing in her mouth. I'd take her outside, force her mouth open, and the mouse would run off. That cat was a great no-kill mouse trap. Hunting and catching mice, and other small prey, is instinctive. Actually killing and eating them is learned behavior that's taught early in a kitten's life, or not at all.
Posted by: Bob Marvin at July 16, 2009 3:25 PM
i have to lol when someone complains about having mouse droppings in their apartment and someone suggests to get a cat. so basically now youre going to have cat droppings in your house, which are bigger and smellier than mouse droppings btw.
*rob*
Posted by: PitbullNYC at July 16, 2009 3:28 PM
No Rob--cat's are not dogs--they generally use a litter box instead of shitting at random. Of course you do have to clean out the box.
Posted by: Bob Marvin at July 16, 2009 3:42 PM
alsawo, are you kidding? A glue trap is the most awful way there is to kill a mouse. Yes, they get stuck, and do you know what happens next? It's not like they magically un-stick themselves and run off to a field of wildflowers. They injure themselves trying to escape, and then they are slowly eaten away by whatever is in that glue. It's an awful awful death. Anything I ever see stuck on a glue trap I drown instantly.
Posted by: mshook at July 16, 2009 3:45 PM
"Is your aversion to traps that you don't want to kill the mice? I've had good luck with glue traps. They get stuck but don't die."
They don't die? You mean you unstick them, give them a lil' shampoo bath, comb out their fur, and send them along on their merry way with a piece of cracker and cheese?
Ya know, I'm not one of these PETA types, but I think glue boards are horrible, frankly. The whole point, to me, of using a spring trap is that it kills the mouse as quickly and humanely as possible.
Posted by: denton at July 16, 2009 3:50 PM
Seriously... glue traps are nasty.
Spring traps are effective and cheap. Only downside is they are dangerous to the unwary (children, uncaffeinated parents, animals other than the one you want to kill).
Posted by: northsloperenter at July 16, 2009 4:00 PM
those things you plug into the wall that send out sounds to keep mice away do NOT work. don't waste your money. just do as someone said above. pull all of your furniture into the middle of the room. plug up EVERY single hole you can find with steel wool. set a few traps in your place (because they could now be trapped inside your apartment)
Posted by: boerumjn at July 16, 2009 4:26 PM
Dibs- without seeing it I can't say but I have not seen older molds with cats on them. those seem to be much later. But I do have an incredible 3-dimensional Victorian mold of a seated lion. And a great squirrel. And some amazing fish.
I agree- the glue traps are terrible. I used one once to catch my escaped pet gerbil who was injured and had to go to the vet but i watched for him and immediately got him off the trap and to the vet.
rob- cats use covered litterboxes and are much cleaner than either mice or rats or dogs.
Posted by: bxgrl at July 16, 2009 5:30 PM
FYI VEGETAble oil will unstick mice from glue traps. The glue trap is a horrible way to die!!!
Posted by: tsarina at July 16, 2009 7:07 PM
Please take my maine coon that likes to pee on everything?
I know, such a sales pitch?
But, seriously, please take him. It has been eight years and every one of them I get closer to a nice trip to the vet.
Posted by: Heather at July 16, 2009 7:44 PM
Heather,
I had a cat who peed on everything once, so I feel your pain. I loved him though so I was determined to figure out what the problem was. Tried every different kind of litter, extra boxes, nothing seemed to work. After a couple of years of living with plastic on my bed and sofa, I was at my wits end when it occurred to me that maybe he just didn't like litter at all. I thought about what he peed on, which was generally any piece of clothing, towel, or fabric that somehow got left on the floor, ie, soft things. So on a whim, I bought those wee-wee pads that they sell in the pet store for puppies, and put one in a litter box. To my amazement, within a few minutes he went over to it, sussed it out, peed on it, and folded it up. The problem was finally solved, except I had to leave him two to three litter boxes with these things since once he did his origami they were useless, (and they aren't as cheap as litter.) But after that, he never peed on anything else again. I told my vet this and she said she never heard of it before, neither did the guy in the pet store. But if you're where you say you are, maybe its worth a shot.
By the way, I never ever saw a mouse anywhere that I lived, and I had neighbors who did. There was an article in the NYT a year or two ago that said the mice basically smell cats and won't go near them, which is why all the bodegas have cats.
Good luck,
Jennnifer
Posted by: jenmm at July 16, 2009 9:46 PM
Very small mice can take the bait off of a mouse spring trap without setting it off. They have in my basement.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at July 17, 2009 8:34 AM
Agreed on the cleaning / filling of holes. For extermination, The Rat Zapper (around $50 at Pintchik's) is far and away the most effective method I have found.
Posted by: hunter at July 17, 2009 11:22 AM
Make things simple. Go to Amazon.com and buy a Ratzapper.
There is a lot written on this product on Brownstoner. It is a plastic box into which you put bait (little dry food pellet they give you). The bottom of the box is a metal plate, electrified by batteries. The mice die in there immediately so there is no squirming mice on glue paper or mouse traps or poison. You just throw them in the garbage. I catch the occasional mouse that way and it works. This is after looking for obvious entry points.
Posted by: donatella at July 17, 2009 11:28 AM
I was having radiator pipe work done and as soon as the hole was left open in the floor we started getting waterbugs in that room. I put down glue boards to catch them and one night at 4am we were woken by the "screams" of a mouse caught on a board. My husband put it in a shoebox and ran it over with the car to kill it. It was just horrible. I couldn't get the floors repaired fast enough and stuffed steel wool into ever crevice in the house I could find. That expanding foam in a can works good too to plug up holes.
Posted by: premadas at July 20, 2009 3:28 PM
If you do have the glue trap problem, put on gloves and drop the glue trap into a couple of plastic bags and tie the top. The mouse will suffocate. I feel like Hitler typing this.
Posted by: mopar at July 20, 2009 11:14 PM
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