Put your money on the mice. All night long, they’re still frisky; I’m exhausted.
What to do? The warfarin is working. Manilow wasn’t toxic enough. The snoring in the room didn’t stop them, though all night along–those brief moments when I was sleeping–I dreamed of humpback whales.
SO what would an exterminator do–wrap up the entire house in a big baggy and fumigate?
Where do the mice-with-trackshoes live–only between certain floor joists, or fromt there, into the walls and on into the founation and up to the attic? I haven’t put D-con those places yet, but am planning to.
I’ve heard of some high-frequency sound emitters that drive away vermin, but am guessing that’s about 90% hype and 10% fact.
Admittedly, though the songbirds took a hit, we had no mouse problems when the cat was around. Maybe we can take up a floorboard and stick a tiny cat or two in there for a week, and see what happens. Nah, Ann won’t let a cat inside.
Something’s gotta give. Ideas welcomed.
I’ve found that something called “bar bait” seems to work better than D-Con. You can find it at Southern States–Farmer’s Supply may possibly have it, also. It’s a hard yellowish brick that you can break off into “bars” and leave out for the mice to chew on. They seem to love it. But Tsuga may love it, too, so be careful where you put it.
YES, AS MENTIONED, BE CAREFUL WITH MICE BAIT AND TSUGA (AS YOU ALREADY KNOW, I AM SURE). IT’S THAT WE LOVE TSUGA SO MUCH, WE LEAVE NOTHING TO CHANCE…..ANYWAY, A CAT OR TWO WOULD WORK, IT’S NOT AS BAD AS ANN THINKS, UNLESS SHE IS ALLERGIC……..WHAT IS A COUNTRY HOME, WITHOUT A KITTY KITTY OR TWO
What you need is a SNAKE. Try suggesting that to Ann, and the prospect of a cat might suddenly look better… 🙂
Yes, Bar Bait is the best. The best place to put it is where your pets can’t get to it of course, and where the mice are known to traverse. If you can get into the attic near the noisy walls then drop some bar bait chunks near those voids on the insulation or what have you (especially if you see mouse droppings everywhere). Alternatively if you hang a picture on one of those walls, you can drill a 2″ hole in the wall and slip some bar bait down into the void in the wall and that would really do the trick also. If you have baseboards, try pulling one back and dropping some behind the base if when you pull back the baseboard you can get into the void. Also if you have any crawlspace, drop some bar bait there too.
Sean
i have a couple mangy, feral kitties you can have… they’ve taken residence on our porch and would love to catch them some mice! 🙂
Two words for you! Glue. traps. Seems a little mean, but think “hantavirus” and it won’t. The good thing about them is that you will know you’ve gotten rid of the mice.
We had mousy sounds just recently too, and I put down glue traps and had one in a very short time. Have you seen signs inside the house, or just heard the noises? I put a trap just outside of a closet door (in a spare room) along the wall. If they are only IN the walls it will be harder to catch them I suppose. I did not see any signs inside but put the traps there anyway. I am hoping there was just one… haven’t heard any other noises so far.
You have to be careful not to let any pet critters get caught in them though. We had a cat do that once and it wasn’t pretty!
Oh yeah, we have THREE cats and that did not work. 🙂
Jeeze Louise Fred, I can’t imagine your putting Tsuga at risk by using poison. I use glue traps and humane traps and the combination works really well.
The trouble with bait of any kind is that the little critters can die inside the walls. When that happens you will wish you could go back to the mere pitter-patter of mouse feet. But don’t worry – the stench will go away in about a month. Meanwhile you can live at a motel.