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Mouse Mice Exterminator?
Old 01-08-2017, 10:30 AM   #1
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Mouse Mice Exterminator?

Our humidifier hose clogged, and ran all over the work room floor, but also managed to soak the carpet in the guest bedroom. While drying and sopping it up, I discovered mouse excrement. Not something I'd want guests to discover!

Years ago, we had a dog who ate a poisoned rat, and that poor dog died a horrible death. We still have a dog, so I'm inclined to use glue traps, but am not sure how effective they are.

Has anyone ever used an exterminator to get rid of them? If they're just going to show up and tell me to put out traps I'll save the service call fee.

Any words of wisdom would be most appreciated.

P.S. I think they are coming up through the sump pump opening, but DH says that's not possible. I've seen crickets come out of there, so why couldn't mice?

I did a search for this here on ER, but everything was pretty old. If someone has had recent good luck with a chain exterminator, please share. Thanks!
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Old 01-08-2017, 10:37 AM   #2
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I use these traps:


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004B9XPOO


baited with just a bit of peanut butter. No poisons. I'd rather have a quick kill than the sticky traps do.


Check them daily. Mice procreate fast, so you if you aren't catching them all in a pretty short time, the problem will persist.
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Old 01-08-2017, 10:37 AM   #3
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Know a friend with a cat? Request they baggie for you a few dried-urine-clumps of cat litter. Place the clumps near suspected mouse entry points. Mice have wisely evolved the keen sense to avoid places frequented by cats. Works very well here, the clumps need to be refreshed about every 6 months.
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Old 01-08-2017, 10:38 AM   #4
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An exterminator *might* be able to identify how they are getting in and tell you how to fix it. Or they might just set traps.
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Old 01-08-2017, 10:40 AM   #5
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Mice can slip through any hole their head will fit through. It is good to block any known paths, but the best deterrent seems to be to catch and kill them. The glue traps work, but it is a bad way to die. I'd just set conventional snap traps, baited with peanut butter or in cool weather, Tootsie Roll chunks stuck to the trip lever.

Forget dryer softener sheets and mothballs.
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Old 01-08-2017, 10:59 AM   #6
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Traps no poison! A good exterminator should be able to do that.

We had poison in a spare bedroom for years, our dog wouldn't walk back there. One day he did, ate the crap. We found a vet who did blood transfusions and saved the little guy. So thankful but we still felt so horrible for what he went through.
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Old 01-08-2017, 11:09 AM   #7
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I've still got two cases of glue traps from when we were cleaning out my departed DM's house. We had to leave it for months at a time, and the place was covered in mouse crap. So DW bought 3 cases (300) glue traps online and essentially lined the floors and counters and drawers with them. We caught dozens of the varmints. I'm sure it was quite stinky at first, but by the time we got back they had mummified. Nasty but very effective. Luckily we sold the house before needing to break into the other two cases. I meant to leave them for the new owner, but decided that wasn't an appropriate house warming gift. Maybe next spring when we get back from FL I'll Craigslist them.
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Old 01-08-2017, 11:31 AM   #8
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I owned a 100 year old house and there was no way I would have been able to seal every possible mouse entrance. I just used a old fashion wood/spring mouse traps. Mice follow the same path over and over. There was a ledge on the fieldstone foundation they would run along. Set the traps there all the time and always caught them. Whenever it got tripped I'd just replace it. The easiest way I found to bait them was to use Elmer's glue to stick a sunflower seed to it, then drop a couple of loose ones near trap.
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Old 01-08-2017, 11:34 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vince View Post
I owned a 100 year old house and there was no way I would have been able to seal every possible mouse entrance. I just used a old fashion wood/spring mouse traps. Mice follow the same path over and over. There was a ledge on the fieldstone foundation they would run along. Set the traps there all the time and always caught them. Whenever it got tripped I'd just replace it. The easiest way I found to bait them was to use Elmer's glue to stick a sunflower seed to it, then drop a couple of loose ones near trap.
I use the old fashioned traps. They are cheap enough that if you don't want to reuse, just toss them out. Peanut putter, cheese, etc. make good attraction. Have to be careful with your pets. I place the traps in baseemnt ceiling, or behind furniture.
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Old 01-08-2017, 11:41 AM   #10
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Funny, I tried peanut butter a couple of times but found a mouse could actually lick the peanut butter off the trap and not trip it.
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Old 01-08-2017, 11:53 AM   #11
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An experienced pest control tech brought largish metal traps to a place where I consulted. The traps could trap up to 16 mice. I asked him how the mice were attracted. Bait? Pheromones?

He explained that the inventor had discovered that the certain entrance hole (size, shape, and placement of a certain height from the floor) was just too irresistible for mice. The had to go in and explore.

Here are more uses for mousetraps than I've ever seen:
https://www.pinterest.com/explore/mouse-traps/
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Old 01-08-2017, 11:56 AM   #12
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Old 01-08-2017, 12:00 PM   #13
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The trap from Amazon I posted has some advantages over the old traps. The catch bar only has a quarter of the way to go so it's more likely to catch a mouse. It's got a little cup for the bait that makes it very likely for them to trip the trap. I've only had one trap with the bait gone and not tripped, and I don't think I've had a tripped empty trap. The bar seems less likely to make a mess of the mouse and would be easy to clean, and it's easy to release a dead mouse. Seems like they did build a better mousetrap by improving on the basic trap.


The only problem with it is that I seem to have taken away the cats' fun time. But they were catch and release, and would bring mice up from the basement to play with. As winter came I wanted the mice gone.
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Old 01-08-2017, 12:05 PM   #14
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As a long-time old-house owner, I have some experience in this field.

First, they CAN get in through the sump pump drain. At least, that's where the last infestation we had was coming from. Took me a while to find it, I had finally gotten to the point where I thought there was no way they could get in. Got through the whole fall with no mice, wish me luck!

Second, the plastic snap traps seem to work very well. The big-box stores sell one that looks very much like this:


I've also seen another one that looks similar to the one RunningBurn posted, where the bait is hidden under the trigger, so the mouse can't lick off the bait.

Peanut butter is the best bait I've found.

I've used the bucket trick, similar to some of the ones spncity posted. I never got that fancy; just a bucket with the rim where the mice travel, enough water that they can't push off the bottom, and maybe some peanut butter on the inside somewhere. Works great.
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Old 01-08-2017, 01:05 PM   #15
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If the bait is gone with the trap unsprung the trap is defective and should be tossed. Likewise I never understood why people throw out a perfectly well working trap along with the demised mouse that has gone on to meet his maker. I always separate the trap from the carcass. The proven trap goes back into service.
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Old 01-08-2017, 01:11 PM   #16
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Foster a cat for a while. Ours loves to leave us "presents"... often headless.
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Old 01-08-2017, 01:11 PM   #17
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The biggest selling "mice poison" is DCon. But it's not really a poison. It's got a gritty texture with coumadin in it. Mice eat it and it gets into their intestines where they bleed out.

The stuff works okay, but so do traps baited with peanut butter or bacon.

And Jax our Maine Coon Cat is death on mice--after he plays with them for awhile.
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Old 01-08-2017, 01:42 PM   #18
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Funny, I tried peanut butter a couple of times but found a mouse could actually lick the peanut butter off the trap and not trip it.
Thus the Tootsie Roll stuck on the trigger. They chew it off or try to chew it off.
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Old 01-08-2017, 01:56 PM   #19
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Funny, I tried peanut butter a couple of times but found a mouse could actually lick the peanut butter off the trap and not trip it.


Had the same issue once so I tie a bit of string slathered in peanut butter to the bait cup.
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Old 01-08-2017, 01:59 PM   #20
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If you go the old fashioned trap route, also to consider is the amount of traps and trap placement. Good to get plenty of traps and put them perpendicular to the walls about a foot or two apart as mice tend to run alongside the walls.

If you sent only one or two out in a room, you may be disappointed. Use probability on your side.
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