i cant believe i saw mouse in my place (colors, laundry room, kitchen)

[jk88cal]

I only seen mouse couple times, not pets. Once was in SF when I was teenager. The mouse somehow was on 2nd floor; didn't know they can go up stairs. The mouse is white, looks like a pet than a pest.

The other time was in New York subway. Rat was near the rails in train station. That was nasty looking. Black and brown, like what you see in movies.

In San Jose, I saw signs of mouse in the garage. They chew on cardboard boxes and leave droppings around. There was very small gap (3/4 to 1") under the side door to the garage. I suspect they squeeze thru that gap. I installed a metal threshold and no signs of mouse since.

[marcopolo666]

A mousetrap baited with peanut butter works wonders.

[marino760]

I've heard it said that if you see one mouse, there are another 20 you didn't see. I hope that's not the case.

[Labonte18]

Originally Posted by marino760

I've heard it said that if you see one mouse, there are another 20 you didn't see. I hope that's not the case.

That's roaches.

Mice this time of year are looking for warmth. I had a couple come climbing up my pipes into my house because the dang construction people didn't seal the holes up good. A little steel wool and some expanding foam took care of them getting in.. Then one decided to sleep on top of the capacitor in my A/C unit. These are your small field mice i'm talking about. I'm way out in the country and with the snakes basically hibernating, the field mice repopulate.

Many years ago.. I was working at a Dairy Queen.. We'd take the trash out at night.. A mouse came running inside when we opened the door. It was like some kind of keystone cops routine with us trying to catch the damn thing.

Agree with everyone else.. It's not a cleanliness issue.

Glue boards with peanut butter along the walls take care of them, and you don't really have to see or deal with the nasty old 'snap' traps which are just as likely to take your finger as a mouse. there's even some 'humane' options if you so choose.

[Pitt Chick]

Originally Posted by marino760

I've heard it said that if you see one mouse, there are another 20 you didn't see. I hope that's not the case.

You heard that wrong...

[cargoman]

I would rather have the mice then the giant house spiders that show up from September to the end of October. And yes the word "giant" is in their official description.

[JohnnyMack]

If you or your close neighbors don't have any little "hunters" the best thing to get are bait "traps" they are little containers of poison the little guys take back to their family and share.

Many times the critters are doing nothing but looking for a warm place to spend the winter.

[kab0906]

In our last house we had a mouse issue twice. Once our cats caught the mouse and all was good. The second time we had a bigger problem and I put out snap traps I bought from Lowe's and baited them with peanut butter. These were not the old kind but a newer design - they were white with red trim if you want to look for them.

I set a dozen traps. They were getting into the house through the attic. I put half the traps in the attic and half in the room where the attic door was. Within 30 minutes I had caught 2 mice. In a week we got several more, then none. I changed the locations of the traps a few times to be sure. I left the traps all winter and had one or two others eventually. It was a cheap and effective way to get rid of them.

[Girl]

I agree that one mouse is not an infestation. And seeing 1 mouse doesn't mean 20 more are in hiding - that's roaches and spiders.

We had an issue with mice a few years ago when our old neighbors put their house up for sale. They were borderline hoarders (no one knew because it hadn't spilled out into the yard yet), and once they started packing up their stuff, their household pests got spooked and left - and came to our house. But we had four cats, so that didn't last long. That, and the exterminator came and did his thing as well. We now keep poison all around the perimeter of our garage - the kind the mice take back to feed their family. We've not had an issue with mice since then.

In our NoNJ house many years ago we had mice that came into the garage every winter, and they'd make their way to our unfinished basement. However, they did not realize that our cats lurked in the basement all the time, and so that worked out well for us as well.

[CatwomanofV]

With 3 cats, you wouldn't think that mice would DARE come into my house. But, they do. The past 2 years (around October or so) the mice start to come in. The house was abandoned for 2 years before we moved in so I'm sure the mice thought this was the perfect place to winter. But, each year, we only found about 2 or so (or should I say the cats found only about 2 or so).

One non-toxic way of getting rid of them is put peppermint oil on a cotton ball and place near where you think the mice are coming in. They don't like peppermint. However, 2 things to take into consideration when using this method; 1. if you place it close to where they get in and they are already in, they won't be able to leave by the way they came in, & 2. if you do have cats, peppermint can be toxic to cats. Our cats acted like they were on catnip with the peppermint oil.



Cat