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November 5, 2009
Mouse Infestation - Help!
We rent the top two floors of an old wood frame house. We moved in in August and, in the last month or so, have discovered that we have a mouse problem. Initially we thought it was just one mouse, but, after capturing 3 so far (and finding another dead one behind the fridge), we're realizing that we have a much bigger problem.
We're taking all the appropriate steps -- plugging up all holes with steel wool, putting down traps, having an exterminator come by -- so I guess my question is: is it possible to win this battle? Or are mice just too resourceful (and too quick to reproduce) to be successful? Any advice? Thanks!
Comments
You can win - just keep at it. You might want to hire an exterminator - if there're a whole lot of them they can get into drawers & eat clothes & linens.
Posted by: Arkady at November 4, 2009 6:19 PM
Every fall, as soon as the weather turns cold, the mice return... Every year. To win you have to think like a mouse. Be the mouse...Be the mouse...Be the mouse.
Don't ever relax. Vigilance sir. Know your enemy.
Recon will pay off. I like to sit in a chair, absolutely still and wait. After the rest of your family has gone to bed the mice will come out. Don't move, just watch, and take mental notes on everything they do, where they come and go from, what they eat, who they associate with... Camouflage yourself if necessary. I like to cover myself in a pile of dirty laundry with a pair of womens underwear over my head peeping through the leg holes.
The adults will be hard to catch but their children are easy prey.
Posted by: IMBY at November 4, 2009 6:44 PM
Imby is absolutely correct.
Posted by: jack slade at November 4, 2009 7:24 PM
IMBY is my hero
Posted by: bobjohn at November 4, 2009 7:28 PM
Or you could get a cat, who can do all that without wearing your underwear on his head.
Posted by: Maly at November 4, 2009 7:40 PM
Agreed. Get a cat.
Posted by: henrycurtis at November 4, 2009 9:54 PM
How about a cat with underwear on its head?
IMBY, you rule!
Posted by: InsertSnappyNameHere at November 4, 2009 10:25 PM
Just keep searching for any hole behind stove, sink, where radiator pipes rise and plug it with steel wool. No hole is too small for them.
As far as the underwear fetish, are any of you old enough to remember a SNL skit from the late seventies or ealy eighties where Uncle Joe is babysitting his niece and nephew and before they go off to bed he has them go upstairs and get ALL of mommies underwear and throw it over the baniister on his head????
IMBY, do you hang with Marv Alpert?
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 5, 2009 8:05 AM
get the Rat Zapper! it works! zap!
www.ratzapper.com
Posted by: honeycut at November 5, 2009 9:38 AM
just caught bunch myself...as others said this is time of year they come househunting. Don't get too excited unless you see droppings in all rooms, etc. Set traps (snap/glue/bait) wherever see droppings. And plug as many holes too. Don't forget basement also.
Posted by: Petebklyn at November 5, 2009 9:46 AM
Yes, get the ZAPPER. It's the best.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 5, 2009 9:51 AM
"Now remember: When things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb mad-dog mean. 'Cause if you lose your head and give up then you neither live nor win. That's just the way it is."
-Josey Wales
Posted by: IMBY at November 5, 2009 9:53 AM
A cat is the way to go if possible. The cat will drive the mice right out of the house (and over to your neighbors houses, but that's not your problem, now is it?). The cat doesn't even have to catch any mice - when they smell it, they will most likely flee. Most other methods of mouse eradication involve disposing of dead mice, or starving the mice out inside your walls. The cat method is much more elegant. Plus, cats are awesome, unless you're allergic.
Posted by: geekspice at November 5, 2009 9:55 AM
GO IMBY!
Posted by: gemini10 at November 5, 2009 9:56 AM
Ratzapper!
Posted by: wasder at November 5, 2009 10:00 AM
I delt with an infesttion a few years ago. IMBY's suggestion to watch for where they come in and out is a good one. We finaly solved the problem by moving all the furniture away from the walls, mopping the floors (I was told the smell of mice urine marks a place as 'mouse friendly' to others looking for a new home), and patching every crack and hole with steel wool and spackle. It took a full, messy, miserable day, but solved the problem.
Posted by: fawn at November 5, 2009 10:02 AM
if you're going the cat route and just want a temporary cat then think about fostering one! barc shelter , the mayor's alliance for animals and plenty of other organizations have cats that need a foster home. everybody wins
Posted by: CG_ups at November 5, 2009 10:04 AM
My exterminator had to come three times last fall/winter - (eric - 917-854-7090 - I found him on brownstoner and he's very good) but by Feb they were gone. This year they started coming again in Oct and he came once and none have returned. He figures out where they're coming in, blocks all holes in whole house and puts in industrial size traps for places that can't be blocked, ETC. You should get the landlord involved because it really needs to be house-wide sweep.
But definitely winnable! (I felt the same despair as you last year)
Posted by: gkw at November 5, 2009 10:09 AM
IMBY, do you charge a per hour rate?
Posted by: havelc at November 5, 2009 10:11 AM
IMBY- do you have night vision goggles or do they not work well with the underwear?
I did try putting underwear on my cats head to complete his outfit but he wound up badly tangled in the thong while the mice laughed and pointed at him. Sad day for all here.
Posted by: bxgrl at November 5, 2009 10:18 AM
IMBY, I had a good laugh. You should definitely come over to the dark side (Open Thread).
Posted by: Kensingtonian at November 5, 2009 10:24 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foybsDsn5hk
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 5, 2009 10:40 AM
Didn't we cover this last week or so? Yes... lots of poison. And I mean LOTS. Scatter it EVERYWHERE -- pellets directly on the floor, in cabinets, etc. And lots of traps. Spring loaded death snappers! A crap load of them. (Placed against and perpendicularly to the wall)
Stuff all holes and spaces 1/4" of larger with steel wool or the special copper wool they make (doesn't rust)
And IMBY is right... BE THE MOUSE! Once you understand the lousy bastards -- you can defeat them!
Posted by: tybur6 at November 5, 2009 10:54 AM
IMBY thanks for the great laugh!!!
Have you tried peppermint oil that seems to work also and I always reinforce my steal wool with spray foam insulation which also helps.
Posted by: scarter at November 5, 2009 10:58 AM
IMBY, ROFL!
For those with cat allergies, my dog is a good mouser. She caught one, and presented it to me when I got home one night. Scared the rest of the clan away, to my neighbor's as I recall.
Posted by: CarrollGardened at November 5, 2009 11:31 AM
Rat Zapper. It works.
Posted by: kidbklyn at November 5, 2009 11:38 AM
Don't count on cats. We've had several who were excellent mousers but several who were apathetic or downright cowardly in the face of a mouse (and the mouse will march right past a cat, that's how the food chain apparently works--no "fear of cat smell" evident there). We also had a legendary cat, Hodge, who "caught" mice, tenderly groomed them and then released them; we took to carrying Hodge out to the street, his new "friend" still carefully restrained in his teeth, and performing the Heimlich maneuver to make him spit his little buddy into the gutter. The mouse often died of fright shortly afterward; once, a passing jogger nearly did the same when she witnessed the ritual.
Hodge, for the record, steadfastly refused to wear underwear on his head, even in the name of interspecies friendship.
Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at November 5, 2009 12:50 PM
ROFL Brenda you are a hoot and a half!
Posted by: InsertSnappyNameHere at November 5, 2009 1:15 PM
My first cat also was good at catching mice but apparently never got mouse killing and eating lessons from her mother. She'd run around excitedly with the live mouse in her mouth and we'd do the same thing as Brenda.
Our next cat, and Max, our present guy, were more attentive to their lessons in kittenhood and know that mice are scrumptious.
Hunting prey is instinctive for cats, but killing and eating it has to be tought.
Posted by: Bob Marvin at November 5, 2009 1:24 PM
In lieu of IMBY's suggestion, which, I'm sure, works for IMBY, the best way to get the little buggers is to use empty paper towel tubes.
Balance a paper towel tube perpendicular to the edge of a counter or wherever they are with a bit of peanut butter at the end that dangles over the edge. Tie a string around the other end and fasten it to something heavy enough to hold the tube when it tips over the edge. on the floor beneath the tube, put a garbage pail. Now, if you're a buddhist, don't put a glue trap on the bottom of the garbage pail and dispose of the mice however you wish. If you aren't a buddhist, put a glue trap on the bottom of the garbage pail.
Mice can't resist the peanut buttery smelling tunnel of excitement and fun. When they get to the end of the tube, the tube tips over and boom they fall into the pail. Then, you just have to reset the tube and wait for victim number two. (I caught three in one night like this.) Brace yourself for the screaming though. I live in a floor through so the kitchen is within earshot and in my semi-sleep, with the screaming mice, I dreamt I was choking puppies. On the bright side, the scream seemed to have scared the bejeezus out of the rest of the mice and I really didn't have a problem after that.
Oh and if you use the glue traps, the most humane thing to do, i think, is to just drown them in the toilet. I know, I know, but what else can you do? I heard of one guy taking them outside, and just leaving them bound up in a plastic grocery bag. They can last for days like that. Oh, and ONE GUY (dare I say sadist?) said he wrapped it up in a grocery bag, took it outside and dropped a cinder block on it. I mean, wow.
Good luck. I know what you're going through.
Posted by: The Vidiot at November 5, 2009 1:25 PM
The Vidiot -- your post is the best argument I have ever seen in favor of Buddhism.
This has to be bad for the soul:
"I live in a floor through so the kitchen is within earshot and in my semi-sleep, with the screaming mice, I dreamt I was choking puppies."
Oh, and why don't you just whack the mice with a hammer?
Posted by: northsloperenter at November 5, 2009 1:39 PM
You have NO idea what I'd been through up until that point. The infestation was due to the construction in the apartment above me and the entire brownstone renovation next to me and no landlord taking care of the basement for 5 months.
I keep my home pretty damn clean so when I started seeing the massive amounts of turds, I was frantic. I had mouse droppings everywhere even AFTER I had plugged up everything, washed EVERYTHING in EVERY cupboard, rented a steam cleaner to clean the couch and the carpets, and ripped apart the whole apartment basically. I was exhausted. I tried everything, the rat zapper, humane traps, predator pee, nothing worked.
Frankly, it just got down to "it's me or them"
Thanks for being so judgmental!
Posted by: The Vidiot at November 5, 2009 2:01 PM
"Thanks for being so judgmental!"
Oh, I'm not being judgmental. I don't care about the mice, but I do worry about the mouse screams poisoning people's souls, but only in a philosophical way.
I would have whacked them with the hammer rather than drowning them in the toilet, but that's just me.
I had some mouse issues last winter and found snap traps with peanut butter did the trick. Actually, I sprinkled some sugar on top of the peanut butter, which I think helps (although if you are using "sugar added" peanut butter this is probably not necessary).
I had a little trouble at first, but I found if I left a garbage bag with dinner leftovers under the sink and put traps around it, it was fairly effective.
A trap in the broiler was also useful -- just remember to take it out before cooking!
I kept a hammer around in case any rodents got wounded instead of killed by the traps, but I didn't end up needing it.
So, yeah, I'm no buddhist either.
Posted by: northsloperenter at November 5, 2009 3:04 PM
"Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty
Wi bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murdering pattle."
Havelc, I do not leave my home under any conditions.
The following mice have restraining orders against me:
Minnie, Miss Bianca, Gus, Jaq, Jerry, Stuart Little, and Pearl Pureheart. Also entire cast of Ratatouille. Currently on parole after conviction for class B misdemeanor of "Stalking in the Fourth Degree". Clarabelle Cow, please forgive me.
Posted by: IMBY at November 5, 2009 3:16 PM
My neighbor has a cat, who watches as the mice parade around their house. Lol. In addition to steel wool, there is a foam spray that you can spray on top of the wool or in holes to help.Also put some poison in all the corners of your basement. The exterminator has packets of pellets which you can probably get at home depot. Mice find all kinds of ways to get into brownstones and then make holes the size of a penny to get into the apts. Gotta stay on top of things but it could be worse. Could be Rats, like my girl friend who is in a tizzy ever since Ratner started demolishing buildings and the railways by Atlantic Yards. I cant even visit her cause the rats are always around to welcome you...even in the daytime Yikes. They are as big as cats ...some of them.
Posted by: iluvclintonhill at November 5, 2009 3:23 PM
I had this problem for the last 3 years. (Thanks to construction around me, shocker!) Finally I had a contractor come with the exterminator and they went and found every little hole in my apartment. They pulled out all my appliances and plugged up the gaps around my gas line in my stove. I also had about 12 traps set in a 700 sf apartment, and since my holes have been filled, not one of those traps have had a mouse in them! Good luck!
Posted by: Cobblehillbaby at November 5, 2009 4:13 PM
"Mice can't resist the peanut buttery smelling tunnel of excitement and fun. "
LOL im dying over here.
Folks it's true the screams do send a message to the rest.
Posted by: jack slade at November 5, 2009 4:47 PM
I heard a huge crashing, thrashing sound last week and rushed into the kitchen to see a mouse leap and soar like a gold medalist in the mousie Olympics over my glue trap and around a corner (while in mid-air) and then run straight at me across the kitchen floor and under my legs as I simultaneously reversed course and leapt straight upward and then onto the bed to escape it, while it ran under the bed and was not seen again.
Three hours of mouse screams from a less skilled relative two days before apparently did nothing to discourage this mouse.
We suffocate them in plastic bags after we catch them in the glue traps.
Posted by: mopar at November 5, 2009 5:31 PM
mopar, seems like a golf club would have come in handy!
Posted by: denton at November 5, 2009 6:12 PM
LOL, Denton.
Posted by: mopar at November 5, 2009 6:22 PM
"peanut buttery smelling tunnel of excitement and fun" will haunt my dreams...oh, what paradise! (until the screams begin!)
Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at November 5, 2009 6:30 PM
Vidiot please contact the good folks at Hershey Park I really think you have something here! I'm cracking up when ever I read that line.
Posted by: jack slade at November 5, 2009 6:36 PM
Another thumbs up for Eric - 917-854-7090.
Posted by: RichardK at November 19, 2009 10:40 AM
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