So I just saw a mouse.

Drez

I saw a mouse near my sister's computer in her clean room. It's clean but she does have a couple of open Dorito's bags off to the side.

I saw it, ran to get a box, came back and can't find it. My room is next door, which I shut tight, and tried poking around to find it, but I couldn't.

My father comes home and says that they travel through the walls and I'll never be able to find it now that I scared it away by entering the room. Truth? Is it pointless to look?

I'm kind of uneasy about the whole thing.

YodaTuna

Mouse traps. The mouse will come back in the room.

Drez

YodaTuna wrote:

Mouse traps. The mouse will come back in the room.

Should I be worried about my room?

bone daddy

Get some humane traps, bait them with something like peanut butter, put them in an out-of-the-way corner in her room--someplace warm if it's been terribly cold out where you are--and wait.

Dynagrip

You can run them down and stomp them with a shoe if you're patient enough. It uh, isn't exactly humane though.

Drez

Don't care about being humane. This is like an invasion...go fucking build your own house you mice fuckers.

I don't really have the ability to go get traps tonight, unfortunately, so I guess my question is - is it likely back "in the wall" as my father says, or is that nonsense, and it is probably hiding out in the room somewhere? We'll have to deal with the problem, obviously, I'm just not sure if I should go on a mousehunt tonight or if it is safe for her to sleep in the room.

bone daddy

Well, you don't use humane traps because honoes teh poor mousie, you use them because you don't have to scrub a possibly-diseased corpse off your walls or worry about the animal dying and rotting in the walls or have the animal not take poisoned bait. You also don't have to be concerned about the "Oh, fuck, dead animal" smell warning others off of the trap-site.

So long as she's not in the habit of sleeping on the floor, she'll be fine. Whether or not it's in the walls really depends on how it got in. If it ran in through an open door or was brought in by one of your pets, it's probably hiding in the room. If it's found an entry point and made a nest, it's in the walls.

japan

Yes, it is likely to be "in the wall" the spaces that mice can squeeze through have to be seen to be believed. It'll be safe to sleep in the room, since mice aren't particularly dangerous, they're just unhygenic. It will be back though.

Get some traps and bait them with peanut butter or chocolate.

Drez

bone daddy wrote:

Well, you don't use humane traps because honoes teh poor mousie, you use them because you don't have to scrub a possibly-diseased corpse off your walls or worry about the animal dying and rotting in the walls or have the animal not take poisoned bait. You also don't have to be concerned about the "Oh, fuck, dead animal" smell warning others off of the trap-site.

So long as she's not in the habit of sleeping on the floor, she'll be fine. Whether or not it's in the walls really depends on how it got in. If it ran in through an open door or was brought in by one of your pets, it's probably hiding in the room. If it's found an entry point and made a nest, it's in the walls.

Yeah, we don't have pets and would have noticed a mouse coming in with us, so I'm guessing there's a nest somewhere. Uggggg. We actually killed (accidentally) one mouse about three months ago in the bathroom...my mother didn't even realize it but she stepped on it...though it looked smaller than the one I saw if memory serves. Maybe this is mama mouse?

The thing about the floor worries me though because, actually, she uses an airbed which simply lies on the floor. So do I. And my airbed is a bit deflated...not sure why, but it has a slow leak I can't find. Always, by the time I get up, it's nearly empty and I'm technically "on the floor."

I know that sounds irresponsible, but that literally happened to my airbed two nights ago...I found out yesterday morning...and I've been sick so I couldn't get to the store for either a replacement or stuff to patch this one with.

Should we be worried, having airbeds?

bone daddy

Drez wrote:

Yeah, we don't have pets and would have noticed a mouse coming in with us, so I'm guessing there's a nest somewhere. Uggggg. We actually killed (accidentally) one mouse about three months ago in the bathroom...my mother didn't even realize it but she stepped on it...though it looked smaller than the one I saw if memory serves. Maybe this is mama mouse?

It's possible the one your mom killed was a female or adolescent. It's also possible you had mice that have been displaced by rats, I suppose. You'll have a better idea if you catch the thing intact.

Drez wrote:

The thing about the floor worries me though because, actually, she uses an airbed which simply lies on the floor. So do I. And my airbed is a bit deflated...not sure why, but it has a slow leak I can't find. Always, by the time I get up, it's nearly empty and I'm technically "on the floor."

She may want to move to the couch for the night if she's just got an airbed. The first thing you should do is get rid of anything that might tempt the mouse to make a foray into the room--get any food or organic trash out of the room and where they belong, and get any clutter straightened up and off the floor. After that, a trap with non-poisoned food a good distance from the bed should be more than enough of a draw to keep them away from her while she's sleeping.

If your room is neat and doesn't have anything worth going after, you probably don't have much to worry about.

AbsoluteZero

We used to get mice every year in the fall. Mouse traps work well enough, but where there's one mouse there are several.

It is worth nothing that since we got a cat, I have not seen one mouse in this house. I don't think the cat is eating them, I think the mice can somehow sense the presence of cats (smell, perhaps?) and stay the fuck out.

Ant000

Yeah I was thinking about suggesting a cat if the problem persisted. Although if you live in New York City, the mice might be pretty diseased up and such, and that might screw up the cat somewhat if it ate a couple of them, and then you'd have some nice vet bills.

saltiness

I woke up to a mouse sleeping on my hand for warmth 6 months ago. Everyone told me that meant there were bajillions of them living in my house. So I bought some traps, killed two of them and haven't seen any since. So the infestation theory is not always true.

durandal4532

My apartment had a mouse or two in it a while ago, coming in to escape the cold. One turned up dead before we got off our lazy asses to get traps. I think my roommate stepped on it by accident. We haven't seen any more, so I figure they moved on to a house that actually turns on the heat.

When my family had them back home, a few traps that you check regularly in the corners of the rooms you've seen them in, as well as other likely areas, seemed to work fine.

EggyToast

We also got mice this year, mostly because we have a basement (yay homeownership). We bought some fancy re-usable trap that, while gross to clean (mice inevitably shit themselves when their head becomes nearly severed from their body), are essentially splatter-free.

They're like a little 'mouse hotel,' and the mouse enteres through a little hole. It eats the food, and when it tries to get out, it triggers the trap. It will always kill them, because they can't eat it "backwards" and they also can't be off-center. Because of where it tends to hit 'em, and the fact that it's contained, they don't splatter blood or guts on the floor/wall, so it's surprisingly nice compared to "old traps," and as nice as killing a rodent can be.


Glue traps are quite successful but I feel they're very inhumane. An animal caught in a glue trap is still alive, and will struggle until they essentially rip their skin off. A quick, merciful death is preferred if you ask me.

Are they in the wall? Yes, or basement. They had to get into the room somehow, after all. It's probably in a closet corner or underneath some heavy furniture.

Fun fact: poison for rodents is actually not too bad if you're worried about cleaning up guts or dead animals. The common "rat poison" on the market is a blood thinner that works slowly, and turns a rodent's insides to mush. But as it works slowly, they become more and more thirsty, and leave the house dwellings in search of water. And then die.

Mr_Rose

A brief note on traps and mouse sized holes; if you do get a humane trap, try and stick your finger through any holes there might be in it (air/observation holes if it's plastic, or the whole goddamned thing if it's made of wire): If you can fit your index finger through, the hole is probably too big.
EDIT: In fact, now that I think back, you probably want to make sure your pinky doesn't fit trough at that...

Also, whatever kind of trap you get, check it every day; they can be tricksy buggers and wild mice can and will escape if you give 'em time enough to figure out how...

Blake T

There is always at least two mice. If you can get them before they breed that's all there will be.

Popular spots in my house for mice traps are, near the bin, bottom level on pantry and near my cat's food bowl. (Please keep in mind my cat is over 20 and decrepid and can no longer even jump onto the couch, if she was in her prime she would of found the mouse played with it until it died of exhaustion then wandered off upset that it doesn't want to play with her anymore).

Just keep the traps around (someone mentioned peanut butter, it works quite well) until you go for a week without catching a mouse then you'll pretty much have covered all the mice in your house.

Corvus

A few mousetraps with peanutbutter on them should sort those little furry bastards out. Thats what we use at my family's cabin which used to get mice in the winter. It was on posts instead of a foundation, so there were lots of possible entry points for mice.

They do like to crawl through walls, and can squeeze through smaller holes then you would think possible.

In your kitchen, make sure there aren't any holes inside the cupboards that could let mice in. They'll chew right through carboard food boxes (cereal, etc), so make sure your cupboards are sealed well.

Everywhereasign

If you find possible holes (like others said, those guys can make themselves really small to squeeze though) try packing steel wool into them. We used to glue gun it in. They can't chew through it and won't be able to pull it out.

Other than that, like Corvus said, traps and peanut butter will take care of them. I like to put a mark on the bottom of a trap when it catches one. Then I know it's in a good location and has a nice action to it. I've got a few kicking around with a kill record of 10 or 15. You know those are the good ones

TrippyDK

Also, whatever kind of trap you get, check it every day; they can be tricksy buggers and wild mice can and will escape if you give 'em time enough to figure out how...

Back in the day, me and my dad placed this circular traps that would have one entrance, and would snap shut when the mouse reached the center, in my sisters room. Well fast-foward a few months, and it turns of we forgot they were there. We come back and find all the traps had been busted open from the center by those crazy mice.

AlyceInWonderland

I read this as "So I just saw a Moose"....I'm very disappointed in this thread.

Fibretip

Okay.. first thing get rid of anything food based in your whole upstairs (or wherever your bedrooms are). food should be in kitchen/dining room and nowhere else if you have mice about.

I woke up last year to one sitting on my chest, i launched it across the room and it ran away, then that night i could hear rustling the whole night, in the morning i found a shreded mouse eaten chocolate bar behind my shelves that had fallen there months ago and i'd forgotten about, so check EVERYWHERE.

chances are he'll come back looking for his dorito fix, and go "ah shit, nothing here" and not come back. once i moved that chocolate bar, we never had mice upstairs again, they won't risk running around if there's no gain.

Mice can fit through holes the diameter of a pencil... that's what i was told by the guy at the pest control shop. so check your walls and side boards etc for litle gaps, fill them with wire wool (they can't bite through it) and then hot glue gun glue to seal it up.

Have a logical think about their entry point, we were in a rental house at the time, and found out that the genius landlord had left the entire bottom of the house open under the floorboards, we could see dirt with a torch through the cracks in one area, and feel a breeze, so we stuffed it all full of wire wool.

Try and trap them, i'd advise against poison. Whilst we nailed tons with poison and never had a trouble we did have one horrible experience where one died and melted behind our fridge, it took us about 4 weeks to find it :x

oh and check for shit, it's tiny little black pellets, check behind things for it, it tends to show their path around the house and places they've sat for a few minutes, they can't control their body at all, so shit and piss everywhere all the time, so if he's been in your sisters room a lot.. . you'll know. if there's a huge build up somewhere, put the traps there. no point putting them in a clean area, you'll have to wait a mouse out on curiosity then, which if it's had a scare could take a while!

oh and important : if you find mouse crap... don't hoover it, that churns it up and any bacteria in it can become airborn and make you sick... soak it with hot water and clean it up with a towel and disinfectant.. wear a mask if you can. you can catch some nasty shit from mice, even the cleanest ones.

tony_important

I believe that you can also purchase things that plug into the wall to deter mice.

It makes some kind of ultra sonic noise to repel them.

Unfortunately, you have to get rid of the one(s) within your house first, so they don't get used to it.

My Girlfriend has one of these at her cottage and it worked wonders. I'd say trap the mice (however you wish) and then set a few of these things up.

Szechuanosaurus

I honestly wouldn't worry about it. You only need to go to the extent of mouse traps if you come downstairs every morning and find all the food in your cupboards has been eaten and droppings on the counter.

Almost all houses have mice and they aren't much of a problem. Yes, they live in the wall cavities and yes it will have WTFBBQGTFO'd of the room back into the wall when you surprised it. I'm honestly surprised at the stories of people waking up to find mice on their hand or chest, that is extremely uncommon as mice will typically give you an extremely wide berth. Fibretip and saltiness must slip into a near-death comma when they fall asleep .

They don't tend to carry diseases like rats and they rarely reach infestation concentrations. Typically they will come out very late at night when the house is extremely quiet and scavenge for loose food, scraps dropped on the floor of the kitchen and kicked behind the refrigerator or chips fallen behind the couch. Store food in you kitchen in the top cupboards and don't leave open bags of doritos lying around on the floor and they'll go scavenge in someone else's house for food.

Raggaholic

My parents had some mice in their crawl space a few years back. I got humane traps because "OH NOES, TEH POOR MOUZE!!" The traps were really cheap and just involved a one way door. A piece of Ritz with peanut butter was the perfect bait. I found a spot a few miles from the house to release them.

After I caught three, I didn't catch anymore and there were no more chewed up rolls of toilet paper, so I'm assuming the infestation thing isn't true either. It's just probably a few coming in to get out of the cold.

saikocat

Years back we moved into a new house, and the mice had seemingly fled from the cold building site into the house. We left a humane trap out and caught a mouse, in total we caught about 4 (2 babies awww) over a few nights, and let them all go (not near the house). Bit of peanutbutter and chocolate did the trick. No mice since then at all, and we leave the trap out regularly to make sure.

One of the mice didn't go in the mousetrap, but climbed into a Coke can we'd left sitting around during the night. Picked up the can the next day, seemed a bit heavy, dead Cokey mouse in it :shock: Little bastard climbed in and drowned himself in the Coke.

I caught another one myself. Heard a rustling in our bin (garbage), pulled out the bag and put on some rubber gloves. Actually caught the mouse by the tail and pulled it out. Fat little fucker too, had been eating garbage all night.

CephalicCarnage

catch them in nice traps that dont hurt them, so you can keep them and train them to do circus acts, then you can make tons of money. plus mice are cute ftw! lolz. or you could just kill them all, but why kill mice when you could just as easily kill people and rid the world of a more prevalent problem "the human plague" ahahahaha. lol. pwned.