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Mice will try to chew through anything you try to seal up the holes with. But a successful seal can be made with steel wool. Go to a hardware store and buy a bag of the stuff. Very cheap. Tear bits off and stuff around where the pipes go through the wall, and along where the walls meet the floors, if there are cracks there. Mice won't like chewing through steel wool.
Let me ask this: I'm not sure if I should seal every opening in the sides of my walls inside my unit. My concern is that this might just trap mice in the walls. Then could they chew wires and start an electrical fire or maybe reproduce with each other. Even though I don't want to see the mice, it might be better if they weren't stuck in the walls. Or should I just seal every hole?
Infestations are a violation of the warranty of habitability, and if a landlord doesn't do anything about it, that is a violation of the duty of repair. Mice destroy property and carry diseases.
I understand that. But there is a difference between an infestation, and a few mice. And, the landlord has sent out exterminators.
Take bugs. I wouldn't live in a cockroach infested apartment. But, I also recognize that in North Carolina (where I live,) you do see roaches on occasion, especially in areas that aren't frequented like guest rooms/guest baths, especially if it rains. So when I would see a roach, I would kill it, and spray around my window sills and door jambs with raid (then after I got a dog something nontoxic,) and I wouldn't see another one for months on end.
Similarly, when I saw mouse droppings in my pantry, I threw away the food they had gotten into, made sure there wasn't much left for them to raid (tupperware containers or zip lock bags, etc) and set a trap. I also told the LL. Both times (2 different places) they sent someone out. One time I caught a mouse, the other time I didn't.
It isn't different than anything else. The landlord has to provide a furnace of some sort, but if it breaks you don't get to pick up and leave as long as he fixes it expediently.
If you have evidence of a mouse, or mice, put some D Con out close to where they have been.
If there's a nest somewhere, they'll usually take some back for the babies to eat and that'll do away with them all and you won't even have to deal with traps or worry about trapping them in a wall....which won't happen because they'll just gnaw their way out.
Let me ask this: I'm not sure if I should seal every opening in the sides of my walls inside my unit. My concern is that this might just trap mice in the walls. Then could they chew wires and start an electrical fire or maybe reproduce with each other. Even though I don't want to see the mice, it might be better if they weren't stuck in the walls. Or should I just seal every hole?
If you are in an apartment or condo, yes, you will seal them out of your place. They will just go to the other apartment (which is maybe where they came from anyway). They probably did not originate in your place, so they were able to reach your apartment through the walls from the outside or from some other apartment.
Let me ask this: I'm not sure if I should seal every opening in the sides of my walls inside my unit. My concern is that this might just trap mice in the walls. Then could they chew wires and start an electrical fire or maybe reproduce with each other. Even though I don't want to see the mice, it might be better if they weren't stuck in the walls. Or should I just seal every hole?
I would sooner make sure my food was in Tupperware containers, inaccessible to the mice. Food is what insures they stay. Do you have a cat/dog? Their food can be part of the problem somewhat.
You'll never seal yourself off. They get under doorways, through vents, pipes going in and out, the tiniest, tiniest places they can get in, an opening the size of a pen. Its a fools errand thinking you'll be able to make a dwelling inaccessible to mice.
In any case, it sounds like management has an exterminator out there working on the problem.
^ That is the only website I can find those on. It is a reliable website. I have purchased 4 of them over the last decade or so.
I know there are tons of similar items on the market, but from the reviews I've read, they don't seem to be effective. My mom has had a Pest Raider II since 1988. (They no longer make a II. And I know the exact year because it is when my parents divorced, lol.) In that 30 year span she has had two mice. Both tried to literally chew their way out of the wall to escape.
Upon moving out to my first apartment, I ended up with a mouse almost immediately. (I had things in storage, so I think it may have been brought into my apartment from the storage facility.) I purchased a Pest Raider III, and in 14 years, I've not had a single mouse since.
Two winters ago, my dad's detached garage was suddenly infested with mice. He deduced they had to be coming in through a crack in the slab. The repair is costly and not one he was willing to make at the time. Since my classroom stuff is stored in his garage, I bought a Pest Raider III for it. He has not seen a mouse, or found evidence of one since.
The other two I purchased were just last month. I bought a new house earlier this year. While they are good for large areas, I have a very long, narrow ranch with a 3.5 car garage on the end. Since I am petrified of mice (irrational fear, I know), I bought two more. So I have one at the far end of my house, one in the garage at the other far end, then one in the basement.
Before you put out poison baits consider the possible "by catch". Sure, d Con and similar anti-coagulant toxins are popular because the poisoned rodent leaves the building to find water, but when they do they can be eaten by pets and natural predators such as hawks or owls....and poison them as well. It does happen...I've taken poisoned wildlife to rehabilitators enough to know. Most vets have treated poisoned pets too.
The simplest and safest way to get rid of mice in YOUR living space is first to seal up the food, close up obvious holes they can get in (no, they probably won't get trapped in the walls....no building is THAT tight), and to trap them with a regular snap trap baited with peanut butter. There are enclosed types for people who don't want to handle them, both reusable and single use. Those sticky traps are quite cruel. Don't watch a video of that suffering.
OK, I live in a rural area so the rodents I get in the house are "native". I live trap them, drop them in a 5 gallon bucket, take them down the road on the way to the mailbox and release them.
Before you put out poison baits consider the possible "by catch". Sure, d Con and similar anti-coagulant toxins are popular because the poisoned rodent leaves the building to find water, but when they do they can be eaten by pets and natural predators such as hawks or owls....and poison them as well. It does happen...I've taken poisoned wildlife to rehabilitators enough to know. Most vets have treated poisoned pets too.
The simplest and safest way to get rid of mice in YOUR living space is first to seal up the food, close up obvious holes they can get in (no, they probably won't get trapped in the walls....no building is THAT tight), and to trap them with a regular snap trap baited with peanut butter. There are enclosed types for people who don't want to handle them, both reusable and single use. Those sticky traps are quite cruel. Don't watch a video of that suffering.
OK, I live in a rural area so the rodents I get in the house are "native". I live trap them, drop them in a 5 gallon bucket, take them down the road on the way to the mailbox and release them.
Yeah I'm actually considering getting one of the humane mouse traps where you can set the mouse free. I know I mentioned I was squeamish and didn't want to even see a mouse but I hate the thought of killing them too and I figure this might be good "therapy" for me. The mouse can't touch/bite you while you're setting it free if you use one of the humane traps, can it? I'm still concerened about the spread of disease.
I would sooner make sure my food was in Tupperware containers, inaccessible to the mice. Food is what insures they stay. Do you have a cat/dog? Their food can be part of the problem somewhat.
You'll never seal yourself off. They get under doorways, through vents, pipes going in and out, the tiniest, tiniest places they can get in, an opening the size of a pen. Its a fools errand thinking you'll be able to make a dwelling inaccessible to mice.
In any case, it sounds like management has an exterminator out there working on the problem.
I do have a dog but her food is not out 24/7. She eats it right away. Her food is stored in the seal-able bag it comes in. I keep the sealed bag out in my kitchen though (unless company comes over).
I understand that. But there is a difference between an infestation, and a few mice.
It only takes ONE to cause some serious damage. It only takes ONE to chew through wiring and cause a fire. I went through that 2 years ago, except it was a squirrel that, undoubtedly, got into the building through the roof, which had been damaged several months previously when part of it blew off in a wind storm.
I could have sued my landlord for negligence, because that roof damage occurred on December 9 2014, and the fire happened the following April 10. If he had fixed that damn roof I'd probably still be in that apartment. As it was, I was told about the true cause of the fire not by him, but by someone he worked with at USA Track & Field (the office of which were right underneath my apartment) who happened to show up at my gym earlier this year on one of the nights I was there.
Ironic that THAT SAME MORNING my cat had run a mouse to death and left it on the living room rug. And by 5:10 that afternoon we were out on the street.
Rodents have NO PLACE in any housing situation. I don't care if it is 1 or 100.
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