Mouse in the house

I was out of town for the weekend. When I arrived back late last night, the wife told me that she saw a mouse in the house over the weekend. I have no experience with mice. What is the best way to handle it.

Ohio 1947 two story house with basment, detatched garage. Two dogs in house (1 small size, 1 medium.) No kids.

Shotgun?

We used the humane traps baited with either chocolate kisses or cheese. They worked pretty well, but you have to clean them with bleach after you catch one or you won't catch any more with that trap. It looked like this:
... and is made by Victor. We picked them up at Home Depot or Lowes. You have to place the tunnel part along the edge of the walls to be most effective.

We have four cats and they only caught one mouse ever.

cat

We have four cats and they only caught one mouse ever.

Get a better, hungry, cat.!

Hungry cats will drive you insane.

Plain old cheap mouse traps work quite well, baited with peanut butter, but emptying them is kinda gross.

Plain old cheap ones are also disposable due to their cheapness...

thats funny, my neighbors jack russell brings about 2-3 mice in from the feild behind his house every WEEK!

NYG95GA wrote: Plain old cheap mouse traps work quite well, baited with peanut butter, but emptying them is kinda gross.

I figure they're cheap enough that it's okay to just toss the whole mouse/trap combo and set a fresh one.

Put the trap right up against the wall or cabinet or wherever you saw the mouse last. They prefer to run around the edges of things. Check the house for gaps or cracks where they may be getting in (although that can be tough on an old house, as they only need the smallest gap to find their way in.) Keep pet food or other things they can eat in metal containers.

i have 3 cats, 2 are declawed and they all kill mice

I also used the live-trap type mentioned by Mojo, BUT - be sure to take them FAR away from your house when you let them go! Don't release them into your backyard or they'll just come right back into the house. I took mine to a sports field about a mile away and across two rivers. It was not overkill.

Also, peanut butter is the best mouse bait bar none. They go nuts for it. When I had a mouse problem I tried trail mix, crackers, dog food, etc. and got nothing for like two weeks, then I tried peanut butter and started getting 1-2 each day. Good luck!

J

We had some mice in our old house--they took a liking to the attic. The old-school Victor traps work really, really well. We also used a Havahart catch-and-release trap: http://www.biconet.com/traps/smallLive.html

That one worked well, too. Only thing is that then I had to drive the mouse to its new home.

neon4891 wrote: i have 3 cats, 2 are declawed and they all kill mice

I know, my cats are lame.

Great advise.

I will be making purchases tonight after work. I think I will go with the basic (and disposable when loaded) version.

P. Butter it is. Thanks, I did not know that.

It was spotted near the Fridge. I will plant behind there as well as a few scattered behind objects in the basement and a few near attic entrance.

I will do an exterior "perimater search" to see if a can of Great Stuff expanding foam is needed.

You can get negotiator cats if you don't want to resort to violence:

Hehehe. My girlfriend got me hooked on www.icanhascheezburger.com

I don't like to admit it, but I am also hooked.

have you tried http://www.ihasahotdog.com/

maroon92 wrote: I don't like to admit it, but I am also hooked. have you tried http://www.ihasahotdog.com/

And www.punditkitchen.com and all the other pages on that same meta-site.

Once you get this one you need to stop them from getting back in. They come in thru open garage doors, open front or back doors and also your weep holes. Cut p an put copper pot scrubbers/brillo type of woven metal pad (the copper doesn't rust away) in the weep holes. This still lets it breath but prevents the mice from entering.

I live in the country and when I get a mouse I usually find one of my pot scrubbers is missing. I fill it and the mouse goes away.

neon4891 wrote: i have 3 cats, 2 are declawed and they all kill mice

We also have 3 cats. The problem with that is that when they catch one we end up with mouse parts all over the house.

carguy123 wrote: Once you get this one you need to stop them from getting back in.

We moved into this house just 1.5 months ago. We are renting this location until our other house sells (so as to not own two houses at the same time.)

I started tonight with a can of Great Stuff and found what is likely the point of entry. Where the pipe from the outside air conditioner compressor enters the house, the foam has either shrunk over the years or was never done right. A mouse could have easily walked right through there and into the basement. Filled with foam and a peanutbutter mouse trap on the inside if he tries to walk out the same way he came in. I filled some other gaps around the exterior as well. From what I read, when it starts to get colder (recent evenings of 40 degrees) the mice fight to find there way into the warmth.

I now also have a trap behind the fridge (since it was the scene of the original crime) and a few others in the basement behind items.

Another spot they like to use for entry is around the dryer duct.

When we had the mice, I figured it was time to learn more about them. Apparently mice (and rats) can fit through some really, really small openings.

By the way, we tried negotiating. The traps worked better.

NYG95GA wrote: Plain old cheap mouse traps work quite well, baited with peanut butter, but emptying them is kinda gross.

Peanut Butter is the ticket, but traps are not so expensive to make me reuse one. Pitch the whole thing, keep the koodies in the trash.