Question on mice

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countrydan
Posts: 82
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2013 3:51 pm
Location: s/w michigan

Hey guys,

As usual we have a mice issue this time of year. Already caught 9 in a few weeks. I have victor snap traps baited with crunchy peanut butter, a bucket trap the maine mouse eh version, and d con poison bait stations out now. I'm trying to hit em hard.

I will find where they're getting in and this is war. I sealed up a bunch of openings last winter thought I had it over with.

They chew thru spray foam I have found out...

My question is will these buggers eat thru my pex? I think they might if they decide to, and we've been lucky so far.. I seem to be worried about this more than them eating the electrical insulation although that's a possibility too. Lol

I have more strategies to try, like uv light to see their urine trails and address the openings, better crawl space inspection, etc...

Do you guys have any tried and true methods?
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Greg S
Posts: 541
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:13 am
Location: Kingston Ontario Canada

Poison has always been my tried and true method. Plenty of containers under the home and you don't have to waste your time setting traps. Traps only control a problem once it exists and are messy whereas with poison I never have mice in the house don't have to deal with disease infested rodents and never any oder.
An individual must enforce his own meaning in life and rise above the perceived conformity of the masses. (Anton LaVey)
terrifromohio
Posts: 76
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:31 pm
Location: United States

I too have had mice problems and used spray foam to insulate. I will be watching to see if that helps. I did not know they chew through it though, wow. I have cats in the house so that may help some. Will be keeping an eye on your post to see what happens. I know when my mom( this was my mom`s place) lived here before me she had to have a pest control company come out monthly and set poison in and around the house.
ponch37300
Posts: 622
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2008 6:12 pm
Location: wisconsin

I'm not a fan of poison. They have to go somewhere to die and most of the time they will die inside your walls or floor. I like the old fashioned spring traps. I use a green goo for bait they sell next to the traps. It works really good, so good that one day I was looking for the bottle in the garage and couldn't find it and finally found it laying on the ground with the bottle chewed in half!

The key to spring traps is setting them in the right spaces. Mice run along walls or borders. In the garage I put a half dozen traps along the edges of the walls and will catch them like crazy until they're gone. If I was going to put them under the trailer I would line them up next to the bottom of the skirting every 10 or so feet.
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Greg S
Posts: 541
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:13 am
Location: Kingston Ontario Canada

Actually ponch the way the poisons work the rodents will leave the area of your home. They do not crawl into your home as many believe. The reason being that the poison causes dehydration resulting in an unquenchable thirst. It will take several days to die and providing there is no open source of water in or under the home they will go to a readily accessible water source and stay there till they die. This is usually somewhere out in nature.

My father lived in a home in the country many years ago and had the normal mouse problems. He put out poison and never saw a mouse again except...... he had a sump pump in the basement that had a small amount of water in the bottom all the time. That is where the mice went to drink and ultimatly die. He found many dehydrated mice there over the years but never had any odor issues.

If there is no water source you will not have dead mice in your home.
An individual must enforce his own meaning in life and rise above the perceived conformity of the masses. (Anton LaVey)
1987Commodore
Posts: 383
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 9:53 pm
Location: Steuben County, NY

I'd assume they will chew through PEX. I had to replace a section of PB under the floor because it was gnawed through.
I haven't had a problem since placing several bait stations inside the skirting.
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KLBoldon
Posts: 55
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 10:02 pm

saw this while at Menards over the weekend. Spray foam with a bitter ingrediant to deter chewing through it. I have also heard of others mixing steel wool and other hard to chew materials in with the foam while it is curing.

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http://www.menards.com/main/paint/caulk ... c-7937.htm
highway
Posts: 22
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 10:55 am

throw some bars of irish spring (original scent) under the home, seems to work for me :)
bobfather99
Posts: 195
Joined: Fri Nov 13, 2009 2:09 am
Location: Indiana

X2 on using peanut butter on spring traps. Works great.
Tip your bartender.....
Norm Frechette
Posts: 193
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:34 am
Location: Norwich, CT

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no mice around my house but plenty of cats
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Greg S
Posts: 541
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:13 am
Location: Kingston Ontario Canada

We actually get more complaints about cats than mice.
And yes we do trap cats.
An individual must enforce his own meaning in life and rise above the perceived conformity of the masses. (Anton LaVey)
betty
Posts: 44
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2013 8:03 pm

highway wrote:throw some bars of irish spring (original scent) under the home, seems to work for me :)

REALLY????? are you serious, does this REALLY WORK??? I put moth balls under my home & I cant stand dealing with the smell in all my clothes & everything in my home smelling like moth balls. :((
countrydan
Posts: 82
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2013 3:51 pm
Location: s/w michigan

thanks for the help/advice so far everyone.

well so far ive gotten 2 more mice. both in the snap traps. 3 bait stations have been obviously disturbed (2 in the house one in the crawl space)... no pex leaks yet that ive found.

i havent seen or smelled any dead mice so have no idea where theyre goin if theyre dead from the poison.. the bucket trap works ok i could have made one (with a different design) that works better tho...
countrydan
Posts: 82
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2013 3:51 pm
Location: s/w michigan

Mouse war update..

We got 1 more in snap traps. The 7 other snap traps were not disturbed. I replaced 4 bait stations tho they are chowing down on the d con bait. Haven't seen a dead mouse yet and no apparent leaks/(additional) damage from the mice.

The Maine mouse eh bucket trap sucks haven't gotten any more but see they've eaten the peanut butter off it :/ I shoulda made my own...

Total count so far 11
countrydan
Posts: 82
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2013 3:51 pm
Location: s/w michigan

Got 2 more. 1 in the snap trap and one laying on the floor, right inside the front door :shock: Obviously this was poisoned but it didn't go outside to die like it was supposed to...
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