I've got 2 already. They sure like peanut butter. :-)

I've been all around the perimeter of the house and can't for the life
of me figure out where they are getting in. No gaps around pipes, no
holes in siding (that I can find). Grrr.

wrote in message
...
I've got 2 already. They sure like peanut butter. :-)

I've been all around the perimeter of the house and can't for the life
of me figure out where they are getting in. No gaps around pipes, no
holes in siding (that I can find). Grrr.

Think cat.

Think cat.


Just got rid of her. She was a good mouser, but we have a baby now
and didn't want to deal with an indoor cat this Winter.

In article ,
says...


Think cat.


Just got rid of her. She was a good mouser, but we have a baby now
and didn't want to deal with an indoor cat this Winter.

You're a beleiver of old wives' tales?

Banty

In article ,
says...
I've got 2 already. They sure like peanut butter. :-)

I've been all around the perimeter of the house and can't for the life
of me figure out where they are getting in. No gaps around pipes, no
holes in siding (that I can find). Grrr.



Any dime sized opening will let an adult mouse in and can climb well so
be sure to be inspecting above your head, but would guess around the
garage door if you have an attached garage. They have a small living
space requirement so if you are catching them inside they may be
established there rather than a new one finding their way in every
couple of nights. Keep the grass cut low and nothing against the home
if possible to help keep a population build up away from the structure.

You're a beleiver of old wives' tales?

LOL! No..no soul-stealing. Just didn't want to deal with litterbox,
hairballs, etc. She went to a good home.

wrote:
I've got 2 already. They sure like peanut butter. :-)

I've been all around the perimeter of the house and can't for the life
of me figure out where they are getting in. No gaps around pipes, no
holes in siding (that I can find). Grrr.

Yes...start keeping score and buy a LOT of traps or plan on re-using
them.

One winter we caught 19 (one at a time) with the same trap. This wa a
semi open lab / shop & now way to seal it up.

MIc gave up on the place when the rats moved in. Caught four rats one
night...wiped out that group. The problem kinda went away for some
reason.

cheers
Bob

In article ,
says...


You're a beleiver of old wives' tales?

LOL! No..no soul-stealing. Just didn't want to deal with litterbox,
hairballs, etc. She went to a good home.

Glad to hear it.

Babies and cats *do* mix fine. Seems, compared with a baby, litterbox and
hairball concerns would be hardly anything. But anyhow..

Banty

In article , Banty says...

In article ,
says...


You're a beleiver of old wives' tales?

LOL! No..no soul-stealing. Just didn't want to deal with litterbox,
hairballs, etc. She went to a good home.

Glad to hear it.

Babies and cats *do* mix fine. Seems, compared with a baby, litterbox and
hairball concerns would be hardly anything. But anyhow..

Come to think of it, a crawling infant or toddler plus mousetraps of any sort
mix a lot worse than cats and babies! Seems the wrong tradeoff has been made..

IMO, of course.

Can kitty come back? New kitty?

Cheers,
Banty

And I would vastly rather have cats and babies than mice and babies!

Jo Ann

Banty wrote:
In article ,
says...


You're a beleiver of old wives' tales?

LOL! No..no soul-stealing. Just didn't want to deal with litterbox,
hairballs, etc. She went to a good home.

Glad to hear it.

Babies and cats *do* mix fine. Seems, compared with a baby, litterbox and
hairball concerns would be hardly anything. But anyhow..

Banty

" wrote in
oups.com:

And I would vastly rather have cats and babies than mice and babies!

Jo Ann

Banty wrote:
In article ,
says...


You're a beleiver of old wives' tales?

LOL! No..no soul-stealing. Just didn't want to deal with
litterbox, hairballs, etc. She went to a good home.

Glad to hear it.

Babies and cats *do* mix fine. Seems, compared with a baby,
litterbox and hairball concerns would be hardly anything. But
anyhow..

Banty



....or dogs and their "accidents" on carpet that kiddie lays/crawls on.

In article ,
" writes:
| I've got 2 already. They sure like peanut butter. :-)
|
| I've been all around the perimeter of the house and can't for the life
| of me figure out where they are getting in. No gaps around pipes, no
| holes in siding (that I can find). Grrr.


As others have said, they can climb up anything, even foundation walls.

So check various vents on the exterior wall, like dryer and bathroom vents.
They can make nests in your bathroom fan. Check to see there aren't any
gaps at the bottom of the siding where it meets the foundation.

Make sure there are no gaps under your garage door.

Make sure there are no gaps between steps/sidewalk and the house.

You can try a metal box trap with the trap doors on either end that
let the mice in but not out. Put that along the foundation at
various places to see where they are running outside. That led me
to seal up the gap between the steps and the house.

Robert

wrote in message
...

You're a beleiver of old wives' tales?

LOL! No..no soul-stealing. Just didn't want to deal with litterbox,
hairballs, etc. She went to a good home.

Sigh.

http://www.litter-robot.com/default.aspx?ac=1

Lar wrote:
In article ,
says...
I've got 2 already. They sure like peanut butter. :-)

I've been all around the perimeter of the house and can't for the life
of me figure out where they are getting in. No gaps around pipes, no
holes in siding (that I can find). Grrr.



Any dime sized opening will let an adult mouse in and can climb well so
be sure to be inspecting above your head, but would guess around the
garage door if you have an attached garage. They have a small living
space requirement so if you are catching them inside they may be
established there rather than a new one finding their way in every
couple of nights. Keep the grass cut low and nothing against the home
if possible to help keep a population build up away from the structure.

Stuff cracks with steel wool.

Mice can't handle it.

In article .com,
says...
Stuff cracks with steel wool.

Mice can't handle it.


I wouldn't suggest the still wool on exterior openings unless you will
cap it with caulk. You will have a rust stain running down the side of
the structure when it oxidises.

Lar

If you want an easy-to-stuff, steel-wool equivalent that won't rust,
try "Chore Boy" pads. Same thing, but made of copper. I've used those
to sucessfully block rodent access around water pipes. Stuff 'em in
there good, though -- it doesn't take much of a gap to make a mouse
superhighway.

Jo Ann

Lar wrote:
In article .com,
says...
Stuff cracks with steel wool.

Mice can't handle it.


I wouldn't suggest the still wool on exterior openings unless you will
cap it with caulk. You will have a rust stain running down the side of
the structure when it oxidises.

Lar

Got you beat. In the 8 years I've lived in this house, I've caught
293 mice in my basement. (I really do keep track!) October is the
busiest month, with a total of 62 caught during this month. November
is a close second. April & May tie for least busy at 8 mice each.

For the life of me, I cant find where they're coming in, and I've
really really tried. My latest invention is a tv camera, recording
to a computer so I can watch from which direction the mice apporach
the trap from. Then I can keep backtracking until I see where they get
in. Nothing to report yet.

dickm


On 7 Nov 2006 07:41:00 -0800, "BobK207" wrote:


wrote:
I've got 2 already. They sure like peanut butter. :-)

I've been all around the perimeter of the house and can't for the life
of me figure out where they are getting in. No gaps around pipes, no
holes in siding (that I can find). Grrr.

Yes...start keeping score and buy a LOT of traps or plan on re-using
them.

One winter we caught 19 (one at a time) with the same trap. This wa a
semi open lab / shop & now way to seal it up.

MIc gave up on the place when the rats moved in. Caught four rats one
night...wiped out that group. The problem kinda went away for some
reason.

cheers
Bob

What does the baby have to do with it?

--
Steve Barker



wrote in message
...

Think cat.


Just got rid of her. She was a good mouser, but we have a baby now
and didn't want to deal with an indoor cat this Winter.

"dicko" wrote in message
...
Got you beat. In the 8 years I've lived in this house, I've caught
293 mice in my basement. (I really do keep track!) October is the
busiest month, with a total of 62 caught during this month. November
is a close second. April & May tie for least busy at 8 mice each.

For the life of me, I cant find where they're coming in, and I've
really really tried. My latest invention is a tv camera, recording
to a computer so I can watch from which direction the mice apporach
the trap from. Then I can keep backtracking until I see where they get
in. Nothing to report yet.

"Without a doubt, the most famous ... is Towser. Born on April 21 1963,
Towser lived at Glenturret Distillery for almost 24 years and caught a total
of 28,899 mice (pity the person who kept score!) plus an uncounted number of
rats, rabbits and pheasants in her life. Her tally of mice earned her a
place in the Guinness Book of Records as the World Mouse-catching Champion.
"

On Tue, 7 Nov 2006 20:28:14 -0600, "Steve Barker LT"
wrote:

What does the baby have to do with it?

Not to answer for the mother, but she might be afraid
the cat would jump into the crib to "investigate" (cats ARE very
curious) and might accidentally hurt the baby.

Cats suck the life out of infants. Get a dog.

Banty wrote:
In article ,
says...


Think cat.


Just got rid of her. She was a good mouser, but we have a baby now
and didn't want to deal with an indoor cat this Winter.

You're a beleiver of old wives' tales?

Banty

In article .com,
says...

Cats suck the life out of infants. Get a dog.


LOL! A believer of old wives' tales, who hasn't kept up with the news.

Banty

you almost certainly won't be able to seal up a house well enough to keep
them out.

Here's whats probably going on:

in the fall, when it starts getting cold, a species of field mouse decides
that it wants to stay warm, and starts looking for warm places to move
(there is another species of field mouse that toughs out the winter). during
the transition time, the mice will explore a wide area (up to 3 mile radius
in some studies) looking for their winter home. During this time, if you are
setting traps, you should get a fairly constant capture rate (this is
assuming kill traps. If you're using "humane" catch and release traps,
you're wasting time). typically one or two a day in a suburban area.

you have a couple of options:
1) keep emptying and rebaiting the traps. in about 2-3 weeks, the rate
should taper off.

2) just wait until it gets cold (first snow is usually about right), then
set out the traps, and clean out the tennants. Its unlikely more will move
in, and they've already found homes... When you first set the traps, you
should get a fairly high catch rate, but it should drop off fairly quickly.
The advantage to #2 is that you don't run the risk (or at least there is a
lower risk) of having a mouse that doesn't like your bait move in....

Bait: peanut butter is the bait of choice. cheese is a myth, and only smells
bad and attracts other vermin.

some people advocate mixing somce mortar into the peanut butter, on the
theory that if the mouse doesn't trip the trap, the mortar will kill it. It
*will* kill it, but do you want a little dead mouse rotting inside your
walls somewhere? smells bad, at the least...

Traps: the plain old snap traps are best. Set them on the floor in corners
where a mouse would have a sheltered wplace to move around. Under baseboard
heaters is good. Alos, if you get on the floor and look around, you will be
able to find mouse "roads" by looking for droppings.... these are also good
places to put traps....

good luck
-JD

wrote in message
...
I've got 2 already. They sure like peanut butter. :-)

I've been all around the perimeter of the house and can't for the life
of me figure out where they are getting in. No gaps around pipes, no
holes in siding (that I can find). Grrr.

In article , aspasia
says...
On Tue, 7 Nov 2006 20:28:14 -0600, "Steve Barker LT"
wrote:

What does the baby have to do with it?

Not to answer for the mother, but she might be afraid
the cat would jump into the crib to "investigate" (cats ARE very
curious) and might accidentally hurt the baby.

They also learn fast. Once the baby sees kitty and grabs a fist
full of fur...

--
Keith

This is a parenting problem, not a "cat vs. baby" issue. No child
should be left with any pet in an unsupervised situation until they
have been taught to behave appropriately around them.

Jo Ann

krw wrote:
They also learn fast. Once the baby sees kitty and grabs a fist
full of fur...

--
Keith

In article .com,
says...
This is a parenting problem, not a "cat vs. baby" issue. No child
should be left with any pet in an unsupervised situation until they
have been taught to behave appropriately around them.

Right. Once the cat gets too close it'll have been taught its
lesson. From that time on, they'll admire each other from afar.
BTST.

--
Keith

On Tue, 07 Nov 2006 14:24:12 GMT, "
wrote:


Think cat.


Just got rid of her. She was a good mouser, but we have a baby now
and didn't want to deal with an indoor cat this Winter.

Your baby must be young. (Hence the term baby) Now is the best time
to start training him to catch mice.

On Wed, 08 Nov 2006 02:23:26 -0800, aspasia wrote:

On Tue, 7 Nov 2006 20:28:14 -0600, "Steve Barker LT"
wrote:

What does the baby have to do with it?

Not to answer for the mother, but she might be afraid
the cat would jump into the crib to "investigate" (cats ARE very
curious) and might accidentally hurt the baby.

Don't cats have salmonellla (or do they eat salmon? It's one of
those.)

Or shistosomiasis, or psoriasis?

Or some contagious disease?

On 8 Nov 2006 10:16:22 -0800, "
wrote:

This is a parenting problem, not a "cat vs. baby" issue. No child
should be left with any pet in an unsupervised situation until they
have been taught to behave appropriately around them.

Jo Ann

Also, I don't know the details, but a dog shouldn't enter the house
until the baby has some sense of territoriality. Then the dog will
defer to the baby. If the dog is there first, or I would guess when
the baby is really young, the dog decides that he is in charge, and
expects the baby to defer. Which the baby will do for a while, but not
forever. Did I get this right?

krw wrote:
They also learn fast. Once the baby sees kitty and grabs a fist
full of fur...

--
Keith

I keep track too. so far since september, 32 inside the house. Not counting
the 3 the cat caught.
We get mice, voles, short tale shrews, regular shrews and I believe I had a
muskrat once( it was big, brown, hairless triangular tail and it did a
number on the basement door trying to gnaw thru it.).

I believe mine to be coming in under the doors. The door stops just don't do
that good of a job. Get somebody to go outside and shine a high power
flashlight under the door. IF you see any light in the house......

My weapon of choice is the Intruder best ever mouse trap. Sold at walgreens
and online. Out does any other trap 10 to 1. To prove that they come under
the door, I put one on either side of the door, and pushed them up flat to
the casing. As the mouse comes in they turn right or left and get caught. No
bait needed.

ITs been a good year for mice. I threw out grass seed on Labor day and not
one seed sprouted. A check with a magnifying glass showed each and every
seed eaten thru. The grass seed in the garage has been fairly well eaten
also. They also made a bag of potting soil fairly worthless by burying the
grass seed in it.

Also check dryer vents. Every once in awhile I will find a dessicated mouse
in it.

"dicko" wrote in message
...
Got you beat. In the 8 years I've lived in this house, I've caught
293 mice in my basement. (I really do keep track!) October is the
busiest month, with a total of 62 caught during this month. November
is a close second. April & May tie for least busy at 8 mice each.

For the life of me, I cant find where they're coming in, and I've
really really tried. My latest invention is a tv camera, recording
to a computer so I can watch from which direction the mice apporach
the trap from. Then I can keep backtracking until I see where they get
in. Nothing to report yet.

dickm


On 7 Nov 2006 07:41:00 -0800, "BobK207" wrote:


wrote:
I've got 2 already. They sure like peanut butter. :-)

I've been all around the perimeter of the house and can't for the life
of me figure out where they are getting in. No gaps around pipes, no
holes in siding (that I can find). Grrr.

Yes...start keeping score and buy a LOT of traps or plan on re-using
them.

One winter we caught 19 (one at a time) with the same trap. This wa a
semi open lab / shop & now way to seal it up.

MIc gave up on the place when the rats moved in. Caught four rats one
night...wiped out that group. The problem kinda went away for some
reason.

cheers
Bob