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Our cat just caught his second mouse this month in our kitchen. I did see evidence of mice in the garage during the inspection this fall, but it was all cleaned up when we moved in and I never saw a mouse all winter.
Our antique foundation is fieldstone so basically wide open. If mice can squeeze through a pinhole, they can definitely prance all over our basement and up into our house. We have little kids, so there are plenty of crumbs around no matter how much I clean up. And although we do have a cat (who let both mice go - grr) that means we also have a bowl of cat food sitting out 24/7.
I spoke with our pediatrician about it and she said mice are basically a fact of life here and harmless, (is this true?) but I am totally grossed out anyway. Any tips? Would having a mason seal the basement walls help? Would it be a total waste of money to have an exterminator come out or set traps when the basement is basically wide open?
Is there anything else I can or should do? I just feel that if I've seen two (maybe the same one since the idiot cat keeps letting them go) there may be legions multiplying at this very second. And why are they appearing now when it's finally warm enough for them to go outside?
Put some D-Con around, and some D-Con traps. D-Con works really well, and it will help you get an idea of how much activity is going on in the house. You should seal the basement as best you can because otherwie they will kepp coming in. I wish you luck
With D-Con, you'll soon have little dead mice in the spaces between walls, the ceiling or wherever their little feet take them before they die. The cat could find & eat one.
I'd suggest using snap traps. They are quick, humane and easy to use. Bait them with peanut butter.
I wouldn't use glue traps. Now I'm not gonna say this to try and upset you but if you have mice, you should also have snakes, the snakes are eating the mice. Snakes are good because they eat mice. Put out glue trap and you'll catch (and kill) the snakes, resulting in more mice.
My last house had one of these wide open fieldstone foundations, so I've been there and done that.
Best of luck to ya.
The thing is, I'm scared to put out traps or poison because I'm afraid the cat will eat it or get caught in it. Are any of them safe for cats and kids?
Is this something I could buy at Lowe's? Also, what would I do with a live mouse? Is this a situation where trapping individual mice will even help, or are there likely to be thousands already?!
Stop feeding the cat for a few days. Then the mice will stop being live fire exercises. Otherwise set snap traps inside a box the cat cannot get into. Empty Kleenex boxes make good trap shelters. Never use poison because the mice die and rot in the most incontinent places and the remaining poison could injure or kill your or the neighbor’s cat.
Or simply realize that mice are part of your local ecosystem and hope you never get rats in the house.
D-Con puts out a trap that snaps shut so you don't have to see them. Here's an old-time way that would work in your basement: put a large, deep tub of water out filled about half way up. Put a thin, round stick like a broom on the tub from one end to the other and cover it in peanut butter. The mice will climb on the stick and fall of into the water and drown.
are there livestock nearby?
- I've noticed that if cows or horses are living nearby, the mouse population flourishes
maybe adding another cat will help
I agree with the others about D-Con - it works, but will also kill your cat if he catches a mouse that has eaten the poison - also a dead mouse in the walls will stink for the summer as it decomposes
live traps can be purchased at any hardware store and they DO work.
They make little live traps that you can bait with peanut butter. When the mouse goes inside to get the bait the trap tilts forward and closes trapping the mouse. I got mine at a farm supply store. Then you just have to drop the trap in a bucket of water to kill the mouse. Also I agree you need to stop feeding the cat so much. Not 24/7. Snakes are good. Really..
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in our kitchen. I did see evidence of mice in the garage during the inspection this fall, but it was all cleaned up when we moved in and I never saw a mouse all winter.
Snakes are good. Really.. 
