Advice for not a do-it-yerselfer?

[flawedplan]

Hi,

I have a mouse in the house. Maybe more, may be a rat, I only saw the tail. I've been talking to rodent control contractors who say I have to plug up all the holes. I don't know where to start. I don't know what a "belly" is, or where all these potential rodent entryways are. But I am phobic about mice and need to get started.

One repairman said it's going to take replacing the vinyl skirting with cement skirting, and installing a grid of mesh underneath the trailer, which he said will cost 1800 dollars. Does that sound reasonable? I would love to hear of any experience with my problem, but I live on disability and 1800 is twice outside my reach.

My singlewide Cavalier is 10 years old, and I didn't think they lasted this long. It's still holding up well and I've done nothing to maintain it. The thought of giving it up for rodents breaks my heart. But I don't want to share my home with rats!

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Harry]

Hi

Do a search and find lots of ideas on this forum.

I use several approaches to controlling rodents.

One of my favorites is a sonic noise maker I placed in the air duct. I bought it from Homedepot. We have some feral cats on the property. Traps.

Harry

[Yanita]

Hi,

The one thing that you do not want to do is use poison. They will die in your underbelly or walls and stink like crazy. As Harry said set traps.

I personally disagree with needing to replace your current siding with concrete. First of all the concrete, brick or block does not touch the actual bottom of the home. Also any mouse can easily get through a vent in the skirting.

Since you said you saw it's tail then set a baited trap in that area. Mice typically run the same route as they are either nesting or getting food.

As for plugging up the holes. He maybe referring to where the water lines come into the home, under your sinks. Check under there and if there are any open areas then plug with steel wool. Also check around your dryer vent.

As for the electronic device I have never tried one but am considering so...every fall when the commercial fields are harvested we get a run of mice, LOL, the cats are entertained for a few weeks!

If all else fails, get a cat and leave the lower cupboard doors open.

Yanita

PS, since this is not a repair problem I am going to move it to the Off Topic forums. Please follow there.

[Greg S]

I have a much different opinion on poison based on personal experience.

Several years ago I had a serious mouse problem at my cottage. I tried every form of non lethal trapping I could and snap traps. In one 3 day period I live traped 32 mice inside. I found out by marking them that they returned the next day even though released over a mile away.
There was no way to guarantee closing of all entrance points so I finally resorted to poison.

I used Warfarin (rat poison) in a empty tuna tin inside a larger closed container (coffee can) with a small hole that only mice could enter.
The trick to keeping the dead mice out of the home is to place the poison and a supply of water outside (under home near access door). After consuming the poison the mice go to water and drinking the water causes there death before they go back into the home. The bodies dry up with no or very little temporary smell.

I keep poison out all the time and have not had a single whiff of death or seen a single mouse within 100 feet of the cottage in 3 years.

[70dart360]

I agree, D-con makes some green poison blocks they eat, then drink and it kills them and dries them up so the dont stink. Had a mouse chew a water line and flooded my kitchen. So as i ripped out all the mushy sub flooring I dropped a block about every 8 feet throughout the kitchen floor insulation and finished the floor. Tossed a few under the home too. Gave them a water supply under neath also. Never saw another mouse and not even the slightest stinch.

[Greg]

I can tell that both of you have never had a dead critter in the underbelly. Trust me, the stench lasts for weeks.
The first line of defence is tight skirting with no holes. True critters can chew through vinyl but most just move on to an easier home.
The old style snap type traps don't work a lot of times. There is a new style box type that works well, the mouse has to crawl into it to get the bait and there is not much room to move when the trap springs shut.
Moth balls under the home also detour some also. Greg

[Harry]

Hi flogplan

Do a google on "Rat Zapper". I hear they work really good.

I like the idea of electrocution. I might just buy one for my birthday.

Harry

[flawedplan]

Thanks for the response. A snaptrap got the little bugger and I slept for the first time in days. I have 2 indoor cats and they did alert me that we had a mouse in the house, but that's where it ends. I'll buy some steel wool to plug the water lines, and would like to buy new skirting and have it installed if I could find a sales and service resource in Austin, Texas. So far, no luck with that.

[shadow745]

I'll add a bit here after finding a snake under our home. The home is modular on a steel frame. There is a permanent brick foundation but like Yanita said the brick doesn't actually touch the home's steel foundation. There is (was) a small gap around the entire home between the siding and the brick. I bought a few cans of Great Stuff expanding foam and walked along squirting it in any voids that were large enough for anything to crawl into. Once it dries it can be trimmed/sanded away. This stuff is useful to fill in any gaps anywhere. There is also a latex version that can be used inside/outside. Washes up with water and no smell.....

Another great tip is if you have to use this foam in a known entrance to rodents you can stuff steel wool in that area and then spray the foam into it. That will make it really tough for them to chew through. Later!

[oldfart]

Well now folks I just had to jump in here. If there's one thing I know about..it's rodents! It seemed every fall when the weather turned cool I was up to my eyeballs in mice! (I live in the country..) They was..everywhere!! In every drawer, climbing up the curtains and scootin' in&out of the heat ducts. Now here's a fact...you cain't make a home tight enough that a determined mouse can't git in. It's physically impossible. Them l'il boogers kin slip thru a hole the size of a pencil. New skirting won't help..that's a plain outright lie. Ya couldn't make that skirting tight enough if ya screwed it down every inch..trust me. Filling in any holes with expanding foam is a great idea..'cept they'll gnaw thru it. Packing steel-wool in crevices and openings? That takes them about 2 minutes longer to chaw thru. They'll slip under a loose or missing door seal too! That's that metal&rubber trim piece on the bottom of yer outside doors. If you kin slide a credit card under a door..they'll come in 20 at a time side by side! Windows don't crank all the way closed?? Them rascals can scale a vertical aluminum siding wall and they'll lift the seal and invite all their brethern in for a party! And where an electrical wire or water pipe enters the home..they'll gnaw the wire/pipe until they kin git in! So that's the downside. Now for some tips! More to come...Audie..the longwinded one..

[oldfart]

First and foremost..stop giving them a reason to come in. If you have indoor pets don't leave any food in the dishes. When them pets are done eating put the food away or seal it up in a plastic container. Yup..it's a p.i.t.a. but if there's food laying around..critters will abound! Item #2....I have a nasty habit of eatin' meals and snacks in the livingroom...on the recliner..in front of the T.V. And I'm not a "neat-eater". The occassional peanut/tater chip/Frito/chicken-wang/crab-leg/pickle/bologny&cheese sandwitch drops into some crevice of the chair and it's a banquet fer mice. (ya'll should see the inside of my van..chicken bones from 2005 when I went to Alaska!!) As soon as something hits the floor...snatch it up right away. Next item..got indoor cats? Stop feeding them so much! A hungry cat catches more mice! Yup...Ole Fluffy at 40lbs. and gaining looks nifty lounging about on the couch. But she wouldn't go after a mouse if it was break-dancing on her forehead. Keep 'em hungry! And when/if they do bring you a mouse and lay it down at yer feet for inspection...give 'em high praise for a job well done!! Lots of ear rubs and a special treat and words of encouragement. Just like menfolks..they'll do it again ladies! More to come of course...Audie..the longwinded Oldfart..

[oldfart]

Traps. Yup... traps work..sometimes. But they can be a problem if ya have indoor pets. See, Ole Fluffy likes peanut butter to! (the #1 choice of any good mousetrapper is chunky peanut butter...) Trying to git a trap off the paw of a 40lb. cat bouncing off the walls is a real treat! It's like wrasseling a rose bush..only worse! This bush bites! I found it easiest to just take a badmitton racquet and wail away at the cat..from a respectable distance... until the trap fell off or the cat was immobilized and I could do it manually. A suitable length of p.v.c. pipe with the badmitton racquet duct-taped to it works right-smart well! JMHO of course. And traps have a way of dissapearing. Go figger?? I ended up screwing them to the floor with drywall screws after losing about 20 of them. And keep the traps near the walls...mice always travel next to a wall. They don't cotton much to waltzing in the middle of the room. Unless yer lady-friend comes to visit and then they seem to delight in popping up out of the heat ducts/registers and scampering around in the middle of the livingroom. Ask me how I know that little piece of trivia..go ahead..ask! Next discussion...poison. YMHS...Audie..the mouse-trapper...

[oldfart]

Ahhhh..poison! An excellent choice but not without it's drawbacks. First off..if ya have indoor pets and don't want to see them sprawled out lifeless and bloating on the kitchen floor...put it where they cain't git to it. Be SURE they cain't git to it! I've used a lot of Warfarin/D-Con and had no problem with odors. Then again as a confirmed batchlor...I don't notice a lot of odors that the ladies may find objectionable. As I like to cook and my home is often filled with the aroma of cooking cabbage/fish/wild game/onions/garlic and assorted other pungent delectables...one or 2 dehydrating mice would probably escape my notice. And being a smoker..my olfactory senses are somewhat dulled as well I'm sure. Now a dehydrating rat I might notice. Never had a problem with rats. I lift up the floor register grates and plop a opened box of D-Con in the heat ducts. I find they use it as a subway system and so I provide them with something to gnaw on during their travels. After lunch they (mice) seem to head outside in search of water and I haven't had any problem with odors nor any objections from visitors noticing any odors. Perhaps they are just being kind and pretend not to notice..who knows? And now..my final solution. Coming soon...feral cats! Audie....on a roll...

[oldfart]

Yes indeedy...a nearly perfect solution to the problem of rodents....feral cats! Now folks.."feral cat" is somewhat of a misnomer. A feral cat is owned by no one..and yet they have a place of residence. Make sense? I've got a gaggle of feral cats lounging about (outside) my home. I didn't bring them here..don't invite any more..and yet I am beseeched by them. Folks just seem to drive by and hurl them in my yard. I feed them...just a little...and don't encourage their affection in any way. Yes, I have my favorites...Fearless is the dominate male and other than breeding more of his ilk seems to have no particular use other than a hand-railing ornament. He couldn't catch a mouse if it only had 1 leg and was stuck in his tangled mat of hair. He sleeps in an empty beer case on the porch when he has the energy to walk that far or falls off the railing near to it. Tabby is blind. She couldn't see my van in the driveway let alone a mouse. Gump is the longterm paranoid-skitzo-frenik cat. (possible spelling error there) The slightest movement of a rodent would send him skittering up the nearest tree with bark flying in all directions. If you walk up on my porch..make sure he has an exit route..he will run you over and his claws do not retract! Chubba-Dubba is the sole surviving kitten from 6 (?) litters of kittens this year. He's only 4in. tall...4in. long and as wide as a doormat. If he caught a mouse it's because he fell on it! Creepers and Jeepers are 2 of the ugliest calico cats ya'll have ever seen. With copper colored eyes and nasty tempers to match. The upside of supporting these wurfless cats is they intimidate mice. Yup...any mouse lookin' for a home see's this gaggle of felines and heads the other way. And all this for the the minimal cost of 18lbs. of catfood a week and the decimation of my flower-beds. Audie....the Oldfart...

[Claudia]

I really enjoy reading your stories Audie!