Back in September I posted about the home I live in and the mice experience we had when we had lived in it for about 3 months. If you don't want to read here is a summary:
After 3 months of peace we saw one mouse. We set traps. We caught 22 over the course of a few months then never saw another again. Until squeaky up there in September. He made 23.
Since I have to get up all throughout the night to pee, sometimes I wake Jaren up. He takes the opportunity to use the restroom himself. I go in the bathroom in our bedroom (my bathroom) and he goes in the one in the hall (his bathroom. Unless guests are here). My bathroom has a standing shower, his has a tub shower. At 4 a.m. he goes and hears scraping. He looks in the tub and there is a little mouse trying to get out and scaring the poop out of himself. I didn't know mice could poop SO MUCH! Jaren, in his sleepy state goes and get's a mouse trap, puts peanut butter on it and sticks it in the tub. He goes out into the kitchen again, comes back and the mouse is GONE. Pooh on the paper plate the trap was on, but no mouse in the trap.
Gross. We decide we are going to put tons and tons of traps out agian.
See, I'm aware we have mice. I'm sure we have A LOT. We don't see them, we don't see the poop but the fact that they are there bothers me. The fact that I know they are dying in the walls or somewhere else bothers me even more. Someday Jaren and I plan on building a home and that home will be super sealed, mind you. But we are saving for that glorious day and didn't plan on starting that project for at least 8 years from when we got married. We figured around 10. See, we could probably get away with building one sooner, but we don't have the children to fill it so it seems pointless. 2 years have gone buy so that puts the count down to 6 or 8. I love the home we live in. It has been completely renovated and is like a brand new home. It has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 levels (main and basement), 2 huge family rooms, a dining room, kitchen, laundry, lots of storage. I'm spoiled, I know. I have so much room in this home to fill with kids! It is just so hard when we see/smell the mice we know are around. I'm just tired of it.. Jaren seems to be the one who it bothers more now. He's thinking of lowering the countdown to new home. I'm not complaining, but I really feel like we haven't spent enough time in this home.
Back to the mouse story:
Jaren pulled out the garbage the other night and there was a little guy in there eating away at the bread I had just thrown in there. He tied him off and threw him out. That makes 24. Jaren sets a trap 2 nights ago and tells me the next day that it caught another one. That makes TWENTY FIVE! We are setting out more tonight. We make sure there is no food anywhere, the garbage is empty when we go to bed and we wait.
He is the designated mouse getter. I can't see them after they have been caught. It's too gross. We don't know what else to do. We wont lay out poison because they eat that, run off and die somewhere in the house. I want to bomb the entire house one of the weeks I'm gone, but is there a bug bomb strong enough to kill mice? And then that leaves them whereever they were dead. Gross again! We can't knock down walls and if we did that would be terrifying to see what lies in them. So, the only option is traps. One by one. The house has been sealed since the 22 count. We got new siding and as he did that he sealed the home and we have seen less spiders as well.
Anyone else have any mice stories? As many as 25?!
Not to worry, I'll update as we keep catching. I know your all dying to hear about it. :)
20 comments:
Have you thought about having an exterminator come out? There's no way I could live with that. It gives me the creeps just thinking about it!
But what would he do? bomb the house and then they would die in the walls? He can't make them come out of their hiding places and chase them out. Can he?
You should try D-Con. You put it in all the dark corners, under sinks and anyplace else mice like to go. Once they eat it they try to get outside to find water and then die out there. At least that's what I've heard and what I tell myself, but I'm pretty sure it's true. Anyway, you will never see another mouse again.
Around 5 years ago, we were living in a townhouse/condo. One day, I noticed a terrible odor coming from the main floor bath. I could tell right away that a mouse had died in the wall. My husband was out of town. Of course. So, I didn't have any tools around to cut into the wall to get the mouse out. It stunk so bad, I didn't care about making a hole in the wall. My husbands brother was living next door at the time and had been out of town also but got home before my husband. He came over and cut into the wall for me. I told him I wouldn't make him fish out the dead mouse, but I did make him give me a respirator mask to cover my face. I put it on and peeked in. This was in a section between 2 studs. There wasn't just one dead mouse. There were 3. It was horrible. I immediately started crying and I'm not afraid of mice. I was just so disgusted I couldn't help it. We weren't using D-Con at the time, by the way. They had just become trapped in there and died. It was so gross.
TWENTY FIVE??????????????????????
Yes, please do keep us updated :) But in all seriousness, YUCK! You've got to get rid of them before the baby gets there!
I have no idea what to do. We had mice in California, but we put out the sticky traps and they seemed to work. We only had, maybe, five or six. You really do need to do something before your baby comes because something in their poop can really harm or even kill your baby. It is really bad. Mice are no good all around. I would call an exterminator.
Okay okay okay.... I've been DYING to tell someone but I've been afraid that NO ONE would want to be my friend.
WE'VE FOUND OVER 35 MICE IN OUR HOUSE!!
Seriously!!!!
I've stop counting it's so bad! It started out with the mice in the walls. It sounded like a cat was in there so I called the terminator thinking it was a huge rat. He told me there was pretty much nothing they could do other than lay out poisen but I didn't want the thing to die behind the walls and sit there rotting!! So we just laid out traps and that's it. THEN a week later I saw one in our pantry!! Jayson caught it and we had to throw away EVERYTHING in our pantry I was so pissed!
That night we found another one on a trap and so I drove to Walmart at midnight to buy more traps. We literally LINED the walls and doorways with sticky traps. When we woke up in the morning there were FIFTEEN MICE!!
We didn't see anymore for awhile but every night we still put out about fifty sticky traps. About a month later I was putting Andi to bed and watched an itty bitty mouse walk into her room. I freaked out. Jayson ran around trying to catch the darn thing and finally got it. It was obviously a newborn mouse, it was so small. That night we found another ten mice. We think that a mouse just had her babies and let em loose.
Anyways... we've found em in the basement and I think I found where they were nesting. It's SO gross! I've seriously thought about abandoning this house. The thing is we have a new house! But this area used to be an orchard so we think there are a bunch of mice around here. I have even thought of buying a cat so it can catch any lingering mice. Even though I despise cats, I HATE mice even more.
Well I hope my story makes you feel a little better. Hopefully you don't find anymore! But I would suggest lining the doorways with sticky traps every night. And vacuum every single day to pick up any poop you may not see. Seriously, that's just what you gotta do! Good luck!!
*whew, this is super long! Sorry!*
We lived in the country near Newton, UT for 7 years, and had mice and voles. We *finally* found a safe solution (for our pets and kids) and it worked WONDERS for getting rid of the varmints from around our house. And no, they don't crawl into your house to die - they LEAVE. FOREVER. It took 5 or so bottles of this to cover the ground around our house, but I will swear by it!
http://www.gardeners.com/Mole-Skunk-and-Vole-Repellent/Rodents_Cat,34-603,default,cp.html
That is just horrible! Maybe you should get a cat, but don't change the litter because that is really dangerous when you are pregnant.
I am pretty sure you are doomed to mice if you 1. live in the country, and 2. live on a farm!!! Growing up we had a TON of mice in our house. I have lots of funny mice stories...but I would be writing a novel. Just keep the traps out and fill all holes with steel wool!!! Good luck, and you might just have to get use to the idea of mice...i know YUCK huh!!!! maybe you should get a cat, that stays outside and gets the mice before they get in!!! We ALWAYS kept cats on the farm just for that reaason!
I agree with Tiffany. We had alot of mice when we moved in to my parents house, but we got a dog and some cats. Put steel wool in the holes like under sinks. They can't chew through it. Get D-con and lots of traps. But when you have the baby, you can't use D-con or traps. The make these one traps where the mouse goes in and gets stuck and you throw the whole trap away, but those get spendy. The good thing about those are, you dont see the mouse when you catch one. When Wyatt was about 4 months old, we were playing on the floor and all of a sudden I see something running out of the corner of my eye behind the TV. I grabbed Wyatt so fast and we went straight to Home Deopt. I got a bunch of traps and set them. Randy finally caught him in the garage. YUCK. But try the cats, they are free you know ;)
YUCK!!! I don't like to think that there are probably mice and spiders etc in my place of living... thanks for the thoughts... EEWWW! Don't worry I am not judging you! My parents have an amazing home and they had to get a few micer cats... they keep them in the garage they seem to help a ton.
TWENTY FREAKING FIVE??????!!!!!! I am having a heart attack just thinking about it. Get some D-CON. When we had the mouse in my house we laid it out in all the dark corners and it was gone 2 days later. It is true that they go outside for water and then die.
An exterminator will lay traps and then they will come back and cart them off. Either or but mouse poop is DANGEROUS so get rid of those nasty buggers!!
The best way to stop mice, before they get inside. Out side cats, you see I said catS more then one. Honestly cats are your best option, even one inside to help get ride of the ones already in then move him outside before the baby’s born. You may just have to watch for the after mess if he catches any inside. And an exterminator will also help keep them out, they have out side traps and will do an evaluation on your home to help you determine where there getting in. Then I would just keep traps inside to kill all the little critters already in. I hope you get this taken care of soon It’s no fun having mice in your home!! During planting your tearing up all there homes for the winter so there looking for a new place to go (your home) I'm sure you'll see more and more as the planting continues. By the way congrats on the Baby! Travis and I are so excited for you both!!
Whit I think you need to get a cat, keep it an outside cat and don't feed it much, that will force it to get all the mice for its dinner.
I agree, exterminator is the way, they have special methods and that way YOU don't have to deal with mice. Your home, I had no idea how huge it was, sounds great, so little traps are just not gonna do it. And you don't want them around the baby with their germs and such, so have a exterminator give you the options they can do. If you guy have Terminex out there, they worked great at our last house, we loved our guy, he called me Wendola! It stuck...dangit!!
I have enjoyed everyone's stories - I'm not alone! And the advice.
There are a few tom cats outside. We've seen them roaming around. Only they aren't our own personal cats. I want to get some for outside, but we live on a heavy semi trafficked road and I'd cry and cry if one got ran over.. especially with these outrageous emotions. Inside - I would love, just a few things. Cat hair, the mess the mice catching would make, and Jaren would have to clean the cat litter which really doesn't appeal to him at all. haha
An exterminator guy - that costs money! And I would rather spend it on a nicer crib. haha. It would be worth it though, for them to tell us where they could be getting in. I think Jaren is going to spray some stuff around the house.
D-Con - even though I would LOVE to think that they will just nicely go outside and die, I know better. We had some D-Con that got eaten up when we first found the mice and I walked downstairs one day and right at the bottom of the stairs was one just dead on the floor. That guy wasn't lucky enough to die in his nest, but we were lucky enough he died where we could dispose of him. And I know they are dying in my house.. I can smell it. Even worse since I've been pregnant. It's maddening cause Jaren can't smell it. I think our best bet is to set lots and lots of traps.
Sticky traps - those work great! Except when they chew their own legs off to get off it. haha.. blaahhh. It was gross. We have caught a few on it, though.
Mouse poop - there aren't any around. It's weird, none on the kitchen floor, on the carpet - anywhere! Which is why we didn't think we had any anymore until we saw one. But I vacuum often, I'm not worried about the kid eating any.
Thanks guys!!
Gross. I hate mice. They're almost worse than spiders, because they're so big and harder to kill (although spiders are creepier). I'm sorry. Never had a home of my own, so I don't have any advice.
I once went into the bathroom of my grandma's house when I was like, ten, and a mouse ran across the floor. That was pretty traumatizing. Haha.
I prefer cats as my favorite mouse removers. They are nice, they purr and they can be outside since you guys have some space. I would not be amused at the thought of so many mine, but that is one of the draw backs from being close to fields...
I think it's time for a kitty. :)
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