Mice
What do you do about mice? Ever since I moved back to the city, I've been waiting to see my first roach and instead I saw a mouse today. Squealed like a little girl and jumped on my bed, phone in hand to call the property manager. He said someone would come tomorrow to put down a glue trap but that I'd have to remove the mouse myself. Called my dad and he said I should go buy them myself tonight. Or get a cat! Sorry to be all girlie and shit but I can't pick up a dead animal. I can barely crush bugs beneath wads and wads of tissues. Yuck.
Comments
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Subject: Re: Mice
lirio wrote: What do you do about mice? Ever since I moved back to the city, I've been waiting to see my first roach and instead I saw a mouse today. Squealed like a little girl and jumped on my bed, phone in hand to call the property manager. He said someone would come tomorrow to put down a glue trap but that I'd have to remove the mouse myself. Called my dad and he said I should go buy them myself tonight. Or get a cat! Sorry to be all girlie and shit but I can't pick up a dead animal. I can barely crush bugs beneath wads and wads of tissues. Yuck.
The cat is a good idea. If you don't have pets or little kids, the old-fashioned snap traps are the best. Use peanut butter for bait. -
Put the snap trap in a paper bag. It creates a paper tomb for the li'l fucker.
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Crush up peppermint candy to put in the peanut butter. Don't know why it works, but it does.
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Cats are great because the smell of the cat alone keeps mice away most of the time.
They're not great when the cat mauls a mouse and leaves it as tribute for you. -
remember the glue trap will keep the mouse alive & it will be screaming... then you will have to crush it yourself.
CAT.
there are some stray kittens behind my apt.!! want one?! super cute!
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vanilla wrote: remember the glue trap will keep the mouse alive & it will be screaming... then you will have to crush it yourself.
Aw fuck, it's not going to die in there? I just got 10 glue traps and put them along all my sad little studio walls. The ones with the little hut on top so I never have to see it. I thought that would do the trick. Maybe I'll hide out with the rentals this weekend and the fucker will die over the weekend. One can hope. Sorry, I know it's not humane but I'm not trying to have a rodent for a roommate, especially if it's not sharing the rent.
CAT.
there are some stray kittens behind my apt.!! want one?! super cute!
P.S. I stopped at the liquor store too, maybe this bottle will keep me so passed out through the night that I won't hear a squealing mouse and neighbors banging their doors! -
Mice are one thing, but don't get a cat if you have actual rats. Rats can kill cats (usually by teaming up), and it's quite sad.
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If mice are like rats, you will have better luck catching them if you leave bated, UNSET traps for a few days first. Mice will learn its safe to eat the food and will bring other mice back with them. THEN start setting the traps.
(too many years in the rat lab!) -
Shouldn't the super find the hole and close it up? The property manager said there was nothing they could do for me. I HATE HIM.
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lirio wrote: Shouldn't the super find the hole and close it up? The property manager said there was nothing they could do for me. I HATE HIM.
The super should do it,but if he/she won't, it's pretty easy to do yourself. Pack the hole with steel wool (buy a jumbo pack from Target or Costco or comething), then spackle over it. -
vanilla wrote: remember the glue trap will keep the mouse alive & it will be screaming... then you will have to crush it yourself.
Crush it? Are you serious? I can't do that. Seriously I can't.
CAT.
there are some stray kittens behind my apt.!! want one?! super cute! -
lirio wrote: Crush it? Are you serious? I can't do that. Seriously I can't.
That's a REALLY horrifying thought. I have trouble crushing flies, even though I hate them. :shock:
Can't you just take it outside and set it free?
I cringe to say this, but I've also seen people flush the little mice down the toilet. -
FLUTE wrote: [quote=lirio]Crush it? Are you serious? I can't do that. Seriously I can't.
That's a REALLY horrifying thought. I have trouble crushing flies, even though I hate them. :shock:
Can't you just take it outside and set it free?
I cringe to say this, but I've also seen people flush the little mice down the toilet.
I can't even fathom picking up the trap, let alone carrying it to my toilet. How would I set it free outside? Won't it be stuck to the glue? -
lirio wrote: [quote=vanilla]remember the glue trap will keep the mouse alive & it will be screaming... then you will have to crush it yourself.
Crush it? Are you serious? I can't do that. Seriously I can't.
CAT.
there are some stray kittens behind my apt.!! want one?! super cute!
It will be an act of mercy. This is not Stuart Little. This is a pest.
The alternative is to throw the screaming stuck beastie into the street, where either a car will run it over, or cruel children will toy with it in budding Hannibal Lecter fashion. This is the time to earn your Urban Warrior merit badge. Do battle with these mice. It's your turf, not theirs. We're all rooting for you. -
lirio wrote: How would I set it free outside? Won't it be stuck to the glue?
Oh ...
I haven't a clue. :oops: Maybe you can hire an exterminator ... (or just call one for advice). -
if you're the euthanizing sort, smack the bugger on its head w/ a pencil when it's stuck in a glue trap; that small impact alone will kill it.
if you're an evil, evil dude, tie it up in a plastic bag and suffocate it.
either way, take it out in the trash ASAP and set more traps. it's never just 1 mouse, and rapid changes in temperature (ie, this week) tend to bring 'em out.
gotta love livin' in the hood. -
or get a cat. cats are these really cool, all natural pest removal devices. trust me.
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Subject: Less painful alternative
I highly recommend getting an Ultrasound Pest Repellent (e.g. http://www.victorpest.com/mousesonicfaqs.htm). There are many different brands. You just plug this thing into an outlet, and it sends these sounds that only pests can hear (it's pretty much like you or I hearing someone scratching a blackboard over and over again). The noise disturbs the pests and they run away to bother someone else. I live in an old building and had issues with bugs, and these things really help. From what the guy at the hardware store told me, they work particularly well with rodents. Most hardware stores have them. Good luck! -
JamesonVandy wrote: The alternative is to throw the screaming stuck beastie into the street, where either a car will run it over, or cruel children will toy with it in budding Hannibal Lecter fashion. This is the time to earn your Urban Warrior merit badge. Do battle with these mice. It's your turf, not theirs. We're all rooting for you.
Thanks all for the support and feedback. I think the lil guy (how did he go from fucker to lil guy?) will be suffocated in a bag because I can't bear to touch it or feel it or spar with it! And I'm all over that ultrasound thingy. -
Someone recently told me about peppermint essential oil on cotton balls to keep mice away (so I can't fathom the peanut butter and peppermint candy lure.) I found the sonic thing useless last year - maybe furniture absorbs the sound waves.
The Coop sells the oil, so get with your Coop friends if you don't belong. I can't say if it works since I just put it out -- my place smells great. I'd use glue traps for immediate infestation (forget it, they are the enemy. don't release them. if you want them to live, YOU have to live with them.)
And while googling mice and peppermint, this . . .
ha!
RE: Getting rid of mice
Posted by: cnari123 10 ca (My Page) on Wed, May 22, 02 at 10:43
peppermint oil essential oils on cotton balls in and around holes where they may use to get access into your house works. They don't like the smell.
RE: Getting rid of mice
Posted by: shahwin Pakistan ([email protected]) on Sat, Oct 12, 02 at 6:45
I have read the different means of Getting rid of Mice.
Here's the one that does it the organic way.
Peel an Onion in four parts and place it 4" underground
(Root side UP). The gases prouduced underground will drive
away the mice, insects incl. Ants.
Contact me for further assistance you may need.
SHAH
RE: Getting rid of mice
Posted by: roblkey pensacola, fl (My Page) on Tue, Oct 22, 02 at 21:37
use glueboards. -
Subject: Re: Less painful alternative
Goldie wrote: I highly recommend getting an Ultrasound Pest Repellent (e.g. http://www.victorpest.com/mousesonicfaqs.htm). There are many different brands. You just plug this thing into an outlet, and it sends these sounds that only pests can hear (it's pretty much like you or I hearing someone scratching a blackboard over and over again). The noise disturbs the pests and they run away to bother someone else. I live in an old building and had issues with bugs, and these things really help. From what the guy at the hardware store told me, they work particularly well with rodents. Most hardware stores have them. Good luck!
Someone I know got one of those for a roach problem, and after a couple of days not only continued to see roaches, but actually saw a roach CRAWL OUT OF THE SONIC UNIT. I mean, please!
If you can find the hole, plug it. That worked for the only mouse I've seen in our apartment. I also put the cat food in a tupperware tub, and thus took away the bulk of their temptation, too.
As far as the suggestions above are concerned, if it was me, I'd go with snap trap inside paper bag. So you can just peek in enough to see that something's in there, and then throw the whole thing away in one fell swoop.
My cat is useless against pests. He's more scared of them than I am. A huge roach fell out of the ceiling and was crawling across the kitchen floor a couple of months ago, and he ran over, sniffed it, and RAN AWAY. Yeah, thanks Benny. Really earning your keep there.
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Subject: Re: Less painful alternative
bluedove wrote: My cat is useless against pests. He's more scared of them than I am. A huge roach fell out of the ceiling and was crawling across the kitchen floor a couple of months ago, and he ran over, sniffed it, and RAN AWAY. Yeah, thanks Benny. Really earning your keep there.
Yeah ditto. I thought I was the only one with a cat like that. I'm like "Come on, be ferocious! Just because your name is Snuggles doesn't mean you have to be a big baby!" -
Subject: Re: Less painful alternative
Candicissima wrote: [quote=bluedove]My cat is useless against pests. He's more scared of them than I am. A huge roach fell out of the ceiling and was crawling across the kitchen floor a couple of months ago, and he ran over, sniffed it, and RAN AWAY. Yeah, thanks Benny. Really earning your keep there.
Yeah ditto. I thought I was the only one with a cat like that. I'm like "Come on, be ferocious! Just because you're name is Snuggles doesn't mean you have to be a big baby!"
my adult cat doesn't like bugs, but she goes after anything warm blooded. the kitten thinks everything is awesome and wants it all to die. -
I had a wicked bad problem with mice in my last apt. in Park Slope. This produced a lot of screaming and standing on chairs for me.
Tips for dealing with mice:
1. Get Augusten Burrough's Book Magical Thinking and read the essay "The Rat Thing".
2. Do NOT get glue traps. I've heard that desperate mice will gnaw their own limbs off to free themselves. Just thinking about that makes me want to take a tranquilizer.
3. Someone in the restaurant biz gave me the following "sure fire" way to kill them: crush up a wine glass into a fine glass powder. Take a slice of white bread, and roll the bread into little balls filled with the crushed shards of glass. Leave them out for Mickey. Mickey will eat bread and glass, go back to his home. Die a painful death when the glass lascerates his stomach. The other mouseketeers will be horrified by this death scene and leave you alone. I proposed this method to my roommates who were shocked and aghast. I was not allowed to implement what became known as "The Mousey Final Solution" in our home.
Here's what we actually did:
4. Got the snap traps. Baited them with peanut butter, set them in places where we had seen the mice. When I heard snapping in the middle of the night, I would lie awake for the rest of the night and be the first one out of the house in the morning so I didn't have to deal with it. I would beg, beg my roommates to dispose if I purchased and set the traps.
This worked for a while and the mice disappeared for a few months. Then they came back again.
5. When your roommates become more annoying than the mice, move apartments. -
I don't have roommates but I do have an older brother a couple of blocks away and he has been warned that when I hear the fucker squealing in the glue trap in the middle of the night, I will be running to his house regardless of what time it is. Then I will beg him to come home with me the next day and remove said fucker. He agreed to the sleepover and laughed at me. Oh sibling love.
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Hetty would probably be really into catching other people's mice but she's so scared of being taken out of the apartment in her carrier that I'd never volunteer her. And no, you're not invited to bring the mice over to our apartment for her to kill. :twisted: :P Besides, I'm not sure I want her eating nasty stuff, because she licks my face all the time. :x
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Subject: Re: Less painful alternative
alafairnadia wrote:
The one mouse we had here was actually sitting in his food dish, and he just sat across the kitchen and meowed pitifully, like "Why are you letting that thing eat my FOOD?"
my adult cat doesn't like bugs, but she goes after anything warm blooded. the kitten thinks everything is awesome and wants it all to die.
We had a mouse in the basement in college, and he sort of tried to chase it, but with extremely useless results. My friend finally caught it in a towel and drove it to a park down the street and let it go.
Unfortunately I don't know that friend anymore, or I'd send him over, lirio -
Subject: The Electric Gadget Works for me
I had a roach problem that was essentially eleminated because I hired an incredible exterminator. Ben is capable of getting rid of roaches almost anywhere...As for mice (and roaches), I started using that electronic device and it keeps most vermin away...My Yorkshire Terrier was bred for catching mice and he can sense when their in the walls...He sits vigil when he feels mice around, and oddly enough, they stay away. It also helps to plug up all holes (including those under sinks, near heaters, etc.) with steel wool...pouring ammonia down drains keeps the roaches away...i suspect they hate the smell... -
Subject: Re: Less painful alternative
bluedove wrote: [quote=alafairnadia]
The one mouse we had here was actually sitting in his food dish, and he just sat across the kitchen and meowed pitifully, like "Why are you letting that thing eat my FOOD?"
my adult cat doesn't like bugs, but she goes after anything warm blooded. the kitten thinks everything is awesome and wants it all to die.
We had a mouse in the basement in college, and he sort of tried to chase it, but with extremely useless results. My friend finally caught it in a towel and drove it to a park down the street and let it go.
Unfortunately I don't know that friend anymore, or I'd send him over, lirio
Thanks for the thought though. I guess it's time to suck it up and earn that damned Urban Warrior Merit Badgeâ„¢! I pride myself on being an independent woman but these are the days when I'd love to have some macho male come to my rescue. I don't want to deal with mice, roaches, rats, security gates, perverts, or crazy people and their imaginary friends. Le sigh.
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Just as a quick follow-up, i've heard some bad stories about the ultrasound devices before, and I think they can be ineffective for a few different reasons:
1. There are lots of different types of waves that can be emitted, depending on the rodent/insect being targeted. If you buy the wrong kind, it won't work. (I almost bought one for mice, when my issue was cockroaches. Apparently they emit different waves, etc.)
2. The device might not be powerful enough for your space. The waves don't go through walls and other large obstructions, so you have to strategically place the device so it attacks the little guys at the source, and buy a device that is strong enough for the size of your space. I have a few devices scattered throughout the apartment.
I guess you can't really know if these things are effective (you only know if they're not), but we definitely had bug issues before, and since I've had the ultrasound devices we've been fine (knock on wood).
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