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Status:
"Just livin' day by day"
(set 20 days ago)
Location: USA
3,166 posts, read 3,357,367 times
Reputation: 5382
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My family lives in an old house with an underground basement. Recently, the basement startrd smelling like an animal has died. There's evidence of mice droppings and "nesting materials" I do have a cat. He refuses to go down the basement to hunt/kill the mice. And when my cat does see one, he rather torture it causing the mouse to get away before killing it.
Does a mixture of peppermint oil and water with a bit of dish detergent really work to keep the mice away. I read that steel wool does too.
My family lives in an old house with an underground basement. Recently, the basement startrd smelling like an animal has died. There's evidence of mice droppings and "nesting materials" I do have a cat. He refuses to go down the basement to hunt/kill the mice. And when my cat does see one, he rather torture it causing the mouse to get away before killing it.
Does a mixture of peppermint oil and water with a bit of dish detergent really work to keep the mice away. I read that steel wool does too.
The oil did nothing for our mouse problem. We ended up using traps and stuffing steel wool where we thought they were coming in, and that worked. I hated using the traps though.
Tall pail with bait and about 6-8 inches of water inside. The goal is to get them to go after the bait and fall in, either getting trapped in the water or drowning from fatigue. I used peanut butter. If you're not sure how it works, you can find instructional videos of people setting up the bucket traps. We had the problem because some 19-year old kid tried to break in and left the door slightly open overnight. A total of 5 or 6 were caught. Clean the basement to limit other sources of food. You might need to place the pail near a wooden chair or table so they can climb above it to get in.
Status:
"Just livin' day by day"
(set 20 days ago)
Location: USA
3,166 posts, read 3,357,367 times
Reputation: 5382
Quote:
Originally Posted by irootoo
The oil did nothing for our mouse problem. We ended up using traps and stuffing steel wool where we thought they were coming in, and that worked. I hated using the traps though.
Does those peanut butter scented glue traps for mice work just as well as those cheap snap traps? The snap traps scare me since I don't wanna accidentally injure myself trying to set up the trap
My family lives in an old house with an underground basement. Recently, the basement startrd smelling like an animal has died. There's evidence of mice droppings and "nesting materials" I do have a cat. He refuses to go down the basement to hunt/kill the mice. And when my cat does see one, he rather torture it causing the mouse to get away before killing it.
Does a mixture of peppermint oil and water with a bit of dish detergent really work to keep the mice away. I read that steel wool does too.
If you plug holes with steel wool, they can't gnaw through it. So, yes, it does keep them out, if they are out when you place the wool. I do think peppermint oil deters them, and also used cat litter. We managed to control our rodent problem by removing their food source (dog food stored by the previous owner), placing used cat litter around openings, and putting peppermint-soaked cotton balls in openings. We trapped a few, but I think most just went away.
It took my cat a few toy/escapees before his instincts kicked in and he really figured out what to do with the mice. Maybe give him a little more time.
Glue traps and other traps definitely work...but they will die on them, so then you have to collect the dead mice and throw them out.
Mouse traps work wonders. We bait ours with a nut coated in peanut butter.
We've had mice under our stove and at night I've seen them race on our fence.
I hope yours aren't nesting in the walls. That's bad.
Glue traps do not work as well as snaps. Sometimes the piece can pull free or chew off body parts leaving only a foot or tail or some fur behind. Frequently, you fill find them with the mice still alive, it takes more than a day for them to die of dehydration. Then it is up to you to kill them, or throw them live into a trash can which is horribly mean.
Snap traps usually kill them in an instant. They are much more humane.
Live traps work less well IME. For a while I used live traps and released the mice in a park across the street. Then one day, I released the mouse, it make a beeline across the park, crossed the street and underneath our house (where it undoubtedly found its way back inside.
We had a big problem with mice in the fall at our prior home. They all seemed to decide to move in when the weather cooled off a bit. Then they multiplied. We just got used to setting out traps in the fall. Use peanut butter, it works best. The basic old fashioned traps also work best. The ones with a big piece of plastic cheese for a trigger do not work well at all. Also, you need to get the name brand (you will recognize it) not the cheap Chinese made knock offs. One way to tell is the knock offs use silver colored metal (aluminum) while the name brand uses copper colored. The color of the metal makes no difference other than it seems to be a trademark of the better brand (I cannot remember the name).
Glue traps do not work as well as snaps. Sometimes the piece can pull free or chew off body parts leaving only a foot or tail or some fur behind. Frequently, you fill find them with the mice still alive, it takes more than a day for them to die of dehydration. Then it is up to you to kill them, or throw them live into a trash can which is horribly mean.
Snap traps usually kill them in an instant. They are much more humane.
Live traps work less well IME. For a while I used live traps and released the mice in a park across the street. Then one day, I released the mouse, it make a beeline across the park, crossed the street and underneath our house (where it undoubtedly found its way back inside.
We had a big problem with mice in the fall at our prior home. They all seemed to decide to move in when the weather cooled off a bit. Then they multiplied. We just got used to setting out traps in the fall. Use peanut butter, it works best. The basic old fashioned traps also work best. The ones with a big piece of plastic cheese for a trigger do not work well at all. Also, you need to get the name brand (you will recognize it) not the cheap Chinese made knock offs. One way to tell is the knock offs use silver colored metal (aluminum) while the name brand uses copper colored. The color of the metal makes no difference other than it seems to be a trademark of the better brand (I cannot remember the name).
It's Victor
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