When trapping mice using the spring-type mouse traps, place in a paper bag. When the mouse is caught, pick up the bag and discard. Also, the first time you set up the trap, add bait, but don't set the trap. The next time, set the trap. This will sometimes "fake-out" the mouse, and it may be more willing to go after the bait in the set trap.
Source: A friend.
By it's.only.me from NE PA
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Last night my husband woke me up to tell me that we had a mouse. Now, I don't leave food out, and I consider my house to be clean but some how we have a mouse. So we put out several mouse traps with cheese on them and much to our suprise this morning the cheese was gone but we had no mouse. Now what do we do? Any one have any suggestions?
Hard cheese is easily removed by the mouse without getting trapped. Try using squeezable cheese or some peanut butter. The mouse will have to lick it and is more likely to get trapped. The mice come in the house through very small holes in the floor, like where your water pipes come in.
You can put peanut butter on the traps instead of cheese. Mice love it and they can't just snag it and pull it out of the trap.
I have killed (with old fashioned wooden spring traps and peanut butter) 4 mice in the last 3 months. I live alone and travel a lot so getting a cat or two is out of the question. I've checked all my closets and cupboards and stuffed steel wool in any place I think they could possible get in. Where else can I check? I'm at a loss and totally frustrated!
By Laura
Check around the pipes under your sinks, and around the electrical or gas pipes behind your stove and pack steel wool or cut a can lid to fit tight around the pipe or gas line or electric cord. That's a place they easily can get into. They can squeeze thru a 1/4" hole.
I have mice again. I've successfully used mouse traps until this year. Ants have invaded the house, too. I have set out ant baits, but the ants still get the peanut butter in the mouse traps before a mouse can even be caught. What mouse bait can be used that the ants won't get?
By M.P.
The question is getting the ants before they get the peanut butter. Terro is a great product that isn't expensive. If you put it where critters and kids can not get it you are better off. But, Terro is made with borax and while in small amounts, is harmless to critters and kids, it should be hidden.
How do I get rid of mice?
By baktus from Canada
Depends on your environment. If you don't have any kids and you have a basement (or the mice are in your shed or barn) acquire a black snake and let him loose (in the basement shed or barn). Tell your friends you are looking for one and to let you know if they find one or catch one for you. This option is nice because the snake takes care of ALL the mice (babies, rats, etc.). And when it is done it travels on to greener and mousier pastures.
Your next option is to use mouse traps. Peanut butter works really god as a bait. Try to get traps that have either holes in the bait tray or a looped end. You want the peanut butter to get into a hard to reach spot or the mice will lick it all off and never set off the trap. Of course this doesn't work if you have kids. The option if you have kids is either get a cat or get mouse traps where the mouse goes in and never comes out. I have never used traps like these but they supposedly work well and are more "humane". But I know the snake, peanut butter and cat options work wonders (unless you get a lazy or vegetarian cat).
Long term effective solution, cats one will do, two are better. Especially if you live in an area where this is going to be a recurring problem.
The one and only way to get rid of mice is to block the entryway to where they get in. Until you do this you will always have one more mouse. If one can find a way to get in so can the rest.
I got rid of the mice from my mother's trailer in Oklahoma by taking away the food sources. She had a large pantry that had open box, bags, etc. I went to walmart and bought several big plastic boxes with lids and put all bagged and boxed food in the plastic boxes leaving only the canned and jarred food on the shelves.
Use steel wool to fill in cracks to keep them from entering the house. I used the glue pads when I had the problem and collected many. When my nephew moved in with 3 cats the mice moved out permanently! I think that's the only way they really go.
www.havahart.com/store/live-animal-traps/mouse
www.themousedepot.com/
www.seabrightlabs.com/mouse.htm
This always took care of my annoying rat problem howtofixstuff.blogspot.com/
How do I get rid of house mice?
By Joe
Old fashion snap-traps seem to be the best. Peanut butter, real butter, or raisins seem the most attractive and effective as bait. Moth balls where they come in will help keep them out. There is a reason they are coming in and one reason may be food supply. Find out if it is shelter or food. If food, also eliminate that supply.
You can try every remedy everyone suggests but until you plug up the hole where the mice get in, you will not solve your problem. Find that hole and plug it with steel wool, or something that mice will not eat and your solution is accomplished.
Peppermint oil on cotton or absorbent material in areas where they go or come in will send them away. A live trap called tin cat is great in that when caught you put them in the woods for nature. Owl food and the like. It becomes fun to catch and release. Use care that they do not stay unattended in the tin cat for too long as they would suffer. Suffering is not nice and comes back to bite you in the butt.
Have you thought of getting a cat.....better yet two.
GG Vi
Aside from putting peppermint oil on a cotton ball, what can we add to the peppermint to make it a new product? We badly need you're answer. It's a big help for us in our S.I.P. Is it possible to add peppermint oil in mice block poison? And it would be effective? And last, what are the compounds/ingredients used in making a mice block poison? 'Cause I can't find it in the internet. Or in this specific website.
My answer for getting rid of mice is to get a cat or two. Some are better hunters than others. However, if that is not an option, there are all sorts of traps - standard mouse traps, sticky traps, etc. And there is proper mouse bait. I do not think you should be attempting to manufacture this on your own.
Put potato flakes in one bowl and water in another. Don't let the potato flakes get wet. The mice will eat them and they will swell and kill the mice.
Adding peppermint to the poison would make mice avoid the poison.
What bait can I put on my mouse traps that the little tiny ants will not be attracted to? I see no remedies that actually work for this anywhere on the internet. I would like these mice out of my house.
Please help!
What is the best way to catch or get rid of field mice?
How do you get rid of rats and mice inside and outside? I want to kill them without a trap. Thanks.
Go to a tractor/feed store and get some Ramik bars. These will kill mice and rats and you won't smell them if they die in the house because whatever is in these bars, dehydrates the animal leaving them as flat as a pancake if you find a dead one. We lived near a canal and had problems with sewer rats in our basement and a farmer told my husband about this. I went and bought two packages and we spread a few pieces around the basement. The next day, we found 3 dead rats and NO smell!
I need a recommendation for an excellent remedy for mice. We have a rental apt. in a brownstone and have been plagued with mice issues pretty much the entire time. Landlord continues to use an ineffective NYC exterminator.
I have several months left on my lease and I need to get rid of the mice problem once and for all even if I am stuck paying. Please let me know if you know anyone who can get rid of them for good!Rodents do not like peppermint. I plant peppermint around the base of the house - never a problem with mice. Try spraying crushed peppermint leaves.
What is the best way to get rid of mice? I have set traps and sometimes I catch them, but they seem to come back.
By Marion H
The best way to get rid of mice is with a cat or two. If you are on an acreage, you may need more. Do not starve these animals or expect them to feed themselves. Cats hunt for the sport of it; well fed cats are good hunters. And some are better than others. If the mice get into someplace where the cats can't easily get them, I find that regular traps baited with peanut butter work well. If you have mice that keep getting in, you could try to find how they are getting in, and seal up that spot with something. I have heard that steel wool will work. However, I have little faith in things like peppermint. Mice need such a little space to get in that it is almost impossible to find every little space that they can use.
Will peppermint tea get rid of mice?
By fae gordon from Australia
I can't honestly say, but you could google it, too. I do know that Mother Earth News once ran an article that said that soda pop will kill them since they have a one way digestive system and can't burp. Give both a try? Good luck!
There are a number of methods used to get rid of mice without the use of poison or traps. This is a page about using peppermint oil for mice control.
This is a page about getting rid of mice naturally. Using traps and poisons to rid your home of mice may not be something you want to do.
This is a page about getting rid of mice in an apartment. Getting rid of mice in an apartment can be challenging, particularly since there are common walls and you are not completely in control of the situation.
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
Will boric acid kill mice which have housed themselves outside in our window wells? I thought I could sprinkle it down inside the window well, as I see them running around on the rocks!
How do I keep mice out of a house and then kill them when they get in, without using poisons that when the mice die the smell is so bad for a few days.
I have mice in my home. I have tried everything I can, but they are always here. Poison, traps, they know about them. What should I do?
