Yikes! I have mice in the house!

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

Been here about three years with no issues. Few months ago (it's been a cold winter in Michigan) noticed what looked to be droppings on my kitchen counter but couldn't find any evidence of damage. Until today. Gnawed a hold in my bread bag and had a little snack. Not sure how they are getting to the house, I'm on a crawl space so it's three or so feet about grade. But they are here. Besides a trap, which I am NOT opposed to, any suggestions on getting them out? I also don't have a cat.
Thanks.

[mahina]

1. Why are you not supposed to trap?

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

9. I didn't say that.

I just wondered what other ways there are besides traps.

[mahina]

10. Oops, I misread. So the black plastic traps work great esp w slimjim for bait.

[Progressive dog]

2. Traps work the best in my opinion.

[Autumn]

3. Amazon has plug in pest devices. Six for about 24 bucks.

I live in a rural area and they were overwhealming me. Plugged them in and have not seen any sign of a mouse in 3 years.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Neighborhood cats will come.

They come from outside, obviously. They can climb foundation to holes under the siding. Set traps outside at corners, under doors.

Inside use a trap too. Cheese or peanut butter, both successful.

Traps in a crawl space are a pain to set. I'd go with outside because the mice go in and out for water, and on warmer days.

[Omnipresent]

26. They can also get in through an open entrance door.

I had to do some wood replacement work on a soffit that had an opening in it. The mice were coming in through there.
Santa never came down your chimney, but if you have an old house , the chances are mice or rats have come to visit.

[patphil]

5. I use poisoned bait. I'm not hawking a brand, but I use Tomcat bait blocks.

Put them inside the crawl space around the edge of the building. They work great.

[japple]

7. Poisoned bait kills cats, owls, snakes and anything else up the food chain,

like raptors, foxes, coyotes, occasionally dogs. Please don't use poison.

[patphil]

21. True, that's why I said to put the bait it inslde the crawl space.

In the cold weather, their nests are inside where it's warmer. They end up dying inside, in their nests.
Mechanical traps also work, but require inspection and replacement if the trap has been triggered.
But it's a better alternative if concern for other wildlife is an issue.

[58Sunliner]

22. They go outside to forage even in winter. It's a real problem for raptors.

[Joinfortmill]

6. I had this issue when I lived in SC in 2021. Still traumatized by it

Traps are the only answer, and finding their entry points. I used an exterminator. For a year I checked every morning for dead ones in the traps he placed. If I found one, which I occasionally did, he came and took it away.

It can be solved, if you find the entry points and seal them up, otherwise, it's an ongoing issue. I couldn't deal with it. Lots of folks in the South are very cavalier about this. They consider it an, oh, well. I was freaked out all the time. In the end I sold my condo.

I wish you all the best. It's a nightmare.

[SheltieLover]

8. Get a cat

[usonian]

11. Ugh, I have a crawl space and perimeter foundation. Worst case. They find a way.

I use bait boxes outdoors. Not infallible.

If you can, get a cat.

P.S. There are plans out there for little ramps over paint buckets.
Make sure the water level is 12 inches below the top. They can jump.
Either a ramp that snaps down with their weight, or a slippery object they jump onto.

https://pestkill.org/mice/bucket-trap/

How did I learn this? I set out a bucket and even without a ramp, three uninvited visitors found it, no ramp, no bait needed.

[bhikkhu]

12. I used live traps myself for a couple years, baited with peanut butter

They get into my crawlspace, and then one way or another they can get into the house sometimes. I live out in the country so there's no shortage of mice, you kind of get used to them after awhile. Not leaving food out is a pretty basic strategy. We also have foxes and coyotes too, so outdoor cats don't last long.

You don't want to use poison unless you want to kill all the natural predators, and then probably wind up with a worse problem. I tried a glue trap once, which was just horrible; in the middle of the night I heard a little whining cry, which just went on and on, and it turned out to be a mouse stuck to the glue trap. There was nothing that could be done but to kill it myself, which I really didn't want to do, but it was too stuck down to unstick. I'm not sure who invented those or thought they were a good idea...

[questionseverything]

13. You have to plug the holes into the house

Use steel wool to plug holes and even duct tape the wool into place

Then when you trap the last of the ones inside new ones aren’t replacing them

[IbogaProject]

15. steel wool is a fire risk use copper mesh instead.

And if patching concrete holes put crushed glass in the concrete patch.

[Kali]

17. never heard of that

how is steel wool a fire risk?

[IbogaProject]

24. Surface area and steel can have other things in it, so there maybe another item that causes that issue.

Modern practice is to use copper mesh, or copper dish scrubbers.

"is steel wool against the fire code"?, google search=

Yes, steel wool is considered against fire codes due to its highly flammable nature; while solid steel is not flammable, the fine fibers of steel wool can easily catch fire when exposed to heat sources like sparks or open flames, making it a significant fire hazard and violating most fire codes.

And from a reddit thread,

The comments here are terrible. Steel wool is STRONGLY discouraged from being used near any heat source both within pest control and fire codes. https://staysafe.org/pest-control/how-to-use-steel-wool-to-control-mice/

It's not electrical though. It's something that'd give fire code inspectors high blood pressure.

The recommendation is to use steel mesh near heat vents. They should not use such a combustible material near a heater.

https://staysafe.org/pest-control/how-to-use-steel-wool-to-control-mice/

https://mosquitojoe.com/blog/does-steel-wool-work-for-pest-control/#:~:text=Essential%20Considerations%20for%20Using%20Steel,any%20type%20of%20electrical%20spark.

https://up.codes/s/venting-of-gas-water-heaters-and-other-gas-appliances-in-multiple-dwellings

[Kali]

32. huh

makes me want to go do some burning experiments

I have only used it around plumbing holes that couldn't be blocked otherwise, but good to know to keep it away from flame/spark or other situations that might ignite it. never knew. thanks.

[IbogaProject]

35. Copper dish scrubbers fit in the same spaces and are cheap

Also good to cover with metal tape so they don't smell or feel the air flow.

[IbogaProject]

14. key is to seal any holes.

Metal tape, they especially hate to even touch copper mesh. Sealing holes is mos important. Also they hate cloves.

[chowmama]

16. Also, get mouseproof containers and keep them from finding any food at all.

I got invaded a year ago at Thanksgiving; they chewed through the wall into my pantry and had a party behind the closed doors. Fast Eddie and I heard them chewing through the shelf edges so they could drop down onto another shelf. My pantry is now awash in glass jars of all sizes, canisters, heavy-duty plastic containers that seal, etc. What little can't be stored that way has to live in the refrigerator. They've given up for now, but I'm sure they'll sniff it out if I slip even once. Little bastards!

I plugged the mouse-size hole with steel wool. They chewed and pushed it out. The droppings made me think they might die of steel fibers, but there are always more mice. Anyway, I replaced it, stuffed in even more, and jammed it in tighter, where it's stayed so far.

Fast Eddie was the only cat at the time, and he only plays with them in the tub; they usually get away unless I can trap them. Audrey, on the other hand, has already caught a mouse, dispatched it without remorse and brought it to her kittens for teaching purposes. It'd be nice if Eddie joined the class.

Feels like a siege, doesn't it.

[questionseverything]

18. Use duct tape to keep the steel wool in place!

[Kali]

19. snap traps baited with peanut butter

you can add a raisin or chocolate chip to the PB. some of the new plastic snap traps are easier to deal with than the old wood ones but the only real effective way is fast, humane, death. live trap-and-release is just a fool-yourself, feel-good exercise that is not realistic.

and as mentioned, find the holes and seal 'em up. mice can get through pretty small holes. I had to cover every opening of my stove with 1/4 inch hardware cloth or they get in and mess up EVERYTHING.

[JHB]

29. And when baiting with peanut butter, don't use too much. Had to deal with an invasion at my old place...

...some years back. I turned to YouTube for demos on how to use snap traps. There's one that wasn't so much a "how to" as a "how not to".

A guy was ranting about his traps were junk because they didn't work, even though they were well-baited with PB. He even caught a mouse on camera going at it without the trap triggering.

The guy was an idiot who didn't really understand how the trap worked. He'd baited it with so much PB that the mouse could just lick at it without disturbing the latch enough to trigger it.

[Kali]

33. yep and old almost rancid super sticky or partly dried PB is best

ya gotta trip the trigger if ya want the trap to work.

[wysimdnwyg]

20. While I dislike kill traps....

The problem with live traps is that the mice will just come back unless a) you seal up all of the holes they use to get in, or b) you take them FAR away to let go. (I’m talking several miles away, too.)

As for sealing up the holes where they make their entry, those could be a lot smaller than one might expect. I’ve seen a full-grown mouse squeeze through a hole no bigger than a pencil eraser.

In my opinion, the best ways to keep mice out of the house are:
1. Cats. And the more mice you have, the more cats you’ll need. (Be very careful with poison use, even outside, if you get cats, even with indoor only cats. The mice could bring the poison in, and then get eaten by the cat before the poison kills the mice.)
2. Kill traps. Yes, it’s sad, and yes, it’s disgusting. It’s also effective.

[58Sunliner]

23. I have cats and never had a problem. Anywhere.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

25. Thanks everyone!

Glad to know I'm not the only one with mouse problems. I've already taken some steps to treat the problem. In fact, tomorrow when I get up I'm hoping to not see any evidence of their presence. Once the snow melts I will check every inch of the foundation to house contact and see if there are holes to patch. I'd like a cat but at this time, I'm not home enough. So it's traps if I see more of their droppings. I had some droppings a few days ago but wasn't sure because I could not see where they had chewed or gnawed on anything. Until today.

[usonian]

27. A friend of mine is away a lot.

Kind neighbors water plants and feed his cat.

[Scrivener7]

28. Steel wool in even the tiniest holes to the outside.

My exterminator has some sealer that did the trick the one time I had a mouse.

[IA8IT]

30. Get a tube of Mortar Joint caulking a caulking gun and a mirror when it's warmer and drier.

[Shermann]

31. They seem to come in waves

After detecting signs, I set traps and caught them periodically for a few weeks. After a while they were gone. I must have caught the whole family.

[OAITW r.2.0]

34. Once they get in, oh boy, do they reproduce.

Posted about this, last fall. I found the 1st, still a baby, up in my office. Let it go outside. Good Luck! The second was in my clothes washer. How did he/she get in? Surmised it jumped into my dirty clothes carrier. Found 2 more dead in the dog's water dish over a couple of weeks and live trapped 9 more. Since then, no more mice.

Get a live trap. they sell them at Walmart. Set it up with some cheese in the area where the dog food is. I had a 1/2 dozen instances when pouring the dried dog food, the mice would pop out.

Set the freed ones outside. Your conscience will be salved and they will, most likely, provide nourishment for omnivores in the neighborhood.

[pansypoo53219]

36. get a cat.

i had just gotten 2 kittens + the male was about 10 by then + i come down for coffee + i look over + see basil + what's that.
by the way, he is declawed.
i go over + there is a very sad looking mouse. breathing. heavily. i had seen him play pounce on paper + such. my 1st mouser. i took the dying mouse outside. we found another dead mouse in the kitchen a few months later.
also, sybil, when she was about 3 months, was gnawing on something + i grabbed it from her. dried mouse corpse. BEFORE COFFEE. no idea where it was from. tho we gotten my grandpa's freezer. but its a old house.
we also got a chipmunk in the house. my previous cats got it out in 15 minutes. took 3 humans + 45 min to get a chippie out of the northwoods cottage.
they don't work on bats tho. yes. a couple years ago a bat showed up in the livingroom. took a few days. it didn't understand doors. had to take down a screen + it was gone. then another one showed up.