Mouse problems.....

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Hopefully someone here can help me out....

I've completely run out of bright ideas.

I live in a concrete and brick house. Solid concrete from footer up to the roof on all exterior walls (except the garage) and the exterior of the entire house is clad in brick up to the roof. Built about 5 years ago. (And no jokes about it being a bunker, it's a highly energy efficient home, google ICF block construction).

Last fall I heard something that sounded like it was running or rolling down the soffit, so I put a couple mousetraps up in the attic just in case. I ended up spending the entire fall/winter/spring time frame trapping mice in the attic. I forget what the total count was, but I want to say it was in the 30-50 range as to how many mice I caught and killed. Left the traps set all summer and no customers.

I spent the summer climbing around in the attic looking for places they could be getting in, walking around the roof, walking around the house, etc. I wanted to find where they could get in at (I've heard they can get in through an opening roughly the size of a dime) but couldn't find anything. My dad has gone around trying to find any way they could get in and came away stumped too.

This morning I hear a scratching/gnawing sound in the attic. I go up there to find that all 5 of my mousetraps are sprung and I now have 5 dead mice. Empty them, reset them, and get home today to hear that sound again.

I want them dead, but really, I want this to stop. I wish I could figure out how they're getting in and put a stop to this. I have an ex-barn cat that is outside every day all day (he sleeps in the garage at night) but he doesn't seem to be doing the job he was hired for. I've put out poison for rodents, had it out all summer down at my shed, but I'm amazed that there is still a serious mouse problem.

Help? Anyone? I'm going nuts.....

 

[adsm08]

Peanut butter and traps.

We had a mouse problem at one place we used to rent. Called the land lord, they sent their guy over, he set traps with his synthetic crap and caught nothing for 4 days. On day 5 I reset them with peanut butter and caught 4 mice that day.

Sent a bill to the land lord for extermination services that never did get paid.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Peanut butter and traps.

We had a mouse problem at one place we used to rent. Called the land lord, they sent their guy over, he set traps with his synthetic crap and caught nothing for 4 days. On day 5 I reset them with peanut butter and caught 4 mice that day.

Sent a bill to the land lord for extermination services that never did get paid.

lol, that's what I have up there now, mouse traps baited with peanut butter.

But it's a pain to keep climbing around up there collecting mice and re-setting the traps on a regular basis. To kill 30+ mice in a 5-6 month period seems a little ridiculous. The score is already 5 to 2 (I've heard two that I haven't got yet) and I haven't climbed up there to check the traps since this morning. Part of the problem is that I can't just climb up one ladder into the attic and check it all (unless I crawl hands and knees across 40' of trusses to reach the other section of attic), I have to access the attic from both ends of the house.

I just don't enjoy my day climbing two ladders at least once a day all winter long. It's not like I work in an office building where I'd welcome the extra exercise, I work construction.

 

[straycat]

You need to move out for a few days and have the houst tented. The pest control service you need will do this for you. No more pest!!!

 

[CHKNFKR]

You need to make something other than the attic attractive to them. They are going there for warmth and peanut butter right now. If you have an outbuilding on the property bait it with heat and peanut butter traps, continue trapping the attic but don't use bait. Once you stop catching them and hearing them in the attic set poison traps around your foundation and maybe give toph a call and have someone spray, once that's done, stop baiting the outbuilding. Its time consuming but it works, and you don't have to move out, then clean every surface in your house when you move back in.

 

[RatDog8o8]

We regularly scatter D-con mouse pellets everywhere in the attic. Seems to work. They go somewhere else and pass on.

 

[88ranger89camaro]

We regularly scatter D-con mouse pellets everywhere in the attic. Seems to work. They go somewhere else and pass on.

the government is going to outlaw them soon better stock up

 

[RatDog8o8]

the government is going to outlaw them soon better stock up

Ah yes.....the government and their usual speed-of-light decision-making processes.

 

[88ranger89camaro]

oh yeah and to help the OP

could be coming in your weep holes in you brick they are on the first couse of brick and cause alot of pest/rodent problems, you dont want to "plug" them that defeates them, but stuffing steel wool in them works great, it allows the to "weep" but pests/rodents dont chew through them

here is a link on a product made for the problem with a little bit of info and a video on weep holes

http://www.pestcontrol-products.com/rodent/exclusions.htm

I really hope this will solve your problem

 

[LearjetMinako]

I don't know the layout of your house, but here are a few tips. If you have any tall or climbing plants next to the house, consider taking those away or cutting them down. Check the roof's lip for any small holes or gnawing marking, and fill those holes. Look for missing, cracked, or damaged bricks on the house. Also check the vent tubes on the roof. Making sure the mice didn't chew their way in through a flasher on the roof.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

oh yeah and to help the OP

could be coming in your weep holes in you brick they are on the first couse of brick and cause alot of pest/rodent problems, you dont want to "plug" them that defeates them, but stuffing steel wool in them works great, it allows the to "weep" but pests/rodents dont chew through them

here is a link on a product made for the problem with a little bit of info and a video on weep holes

http://www.pestcontrol-products.com/rodent/exclusions.htm

I really hope this will solve your problem

The weep holes in the brick actually were made with a plastic sort of honeycomb. I'll have to take another look around to make sure, but I'm fairly certain they are all intact.

I don't know the layout of your house, but here are a few tips. If you have any tall or climbing plants next to the house, consider taking those away or cutting them down. Check the roof's lip for any small holes or gnawing marking, and fill those holes. Look for missing, cracked, or damaged bricks on the house. Also check the vent tubes on the roof. Making sure the mice didn't chew their way in through a flasher on the roof.

No climbing plants, the only tall plants near the house is a decent sized hickory tree (they better have a paraglider to reach the house from it), and a pretty big oak.

I'll have to look around the roof edge again, everything was clad in aluminum when the house was built a couple years ago and gutter guards installed. While I'm up there maybe I'll check the vent tubes again, but the last time I checked there wasn't any holes.

All of the bricks are in good shape. They better be since they've only been on the house about 5 years.

 

[Explorin94]

Peppermint Oil.
Go to the the candy shop and get a vial of the peppermint oil that they use to flavor the candies during christmas. Something in it the mice hate. Get that and dump it in a spray bottle, then put hot water in the bottle. Spray around doors, windows, in the attic. I spray my house and vehicles every other year and haven't had any problem since. I live next to a field too. I had a nest in the heater of my 85 GT, I cleaned it out and sprayed some inside the heater box afterwards. That was 3 years ago, still no mice.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I was told moth balls will keep them away. Vanessa had mice getting up in her engine bay while the car was in the garage and chewing on the insulation. We ended up putting a tray with moth balls on the floor under the engine section and it kept them out.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Peppermint Oil.
Go to the the candy shop and get a vial of the peppermint oil that they use to flavor the candies during christmas. Something in it the mice hate. Get that and dump it in a spray bottle, then put hot water in the bottle. Spray around doors, windows, in the attic. I spray my house and vehicles every other year and haven't had any problem since. I live next to a field too. I had a nest in the heater of my 85 GT, I cleaned it out and sprayed some inside the heater box afterwards. That was 3 years ago, still no mice.

Now there's an idea.... it'll even smell good, lol.

I was told moth balls will keep them away. Vanessa had mice getting up in her engine bay while the car was in the garage and chewing on the insulation. We ended up putting a tray with moth balls on the floor under the engine section and it kept them out.

I forgot about moth balls....

 

[88_Eddie]

did anyone else come to this thread prepared to help blue fix his computer mouse? or was that just me?