Mice

[twirlgrrl]

We have mice in the garage! Actually they've been around for a while; the cats catch one every once in a while and bring it upstairs. But we've started to deal with them. Evan cleaned out the area behind the fridge downstairs. It was full of mouse droppings, and little styrofoam balls-not sure where they're getting styrofoam. It looks like they're hanging out in the insulation, and/or in the intake vent for the heater. So Evan sprinkled nontoxic rodent repellent all around the area, and we brought all the dry cat food (potential food source for them) upstairs. Today, the cats brought one upstairs (I tried to save it but it died from its injuries before I found it and brought it outside) and then Nathan saw one run under his bed, so I think they're trying to leave. Which is great, but I hope they do it soon. And I am such a softie... I hope they find a nice place to move into. We do have some no-kill traps that we can set if we need to. We got them because of the rats at our last place (they crawled around in the walls and they chewed up all the hoses and tubes in both of our cars!) but we never ended up using them.

Comments

[momwifenurse.livejournal.com]

eww I dont like mice. Well I like them in a cage, but not running around in my apartment. I have 2 cats and havent seen a mouse, and the bug population has dropped also haha

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

We have two cats too!

[janisfan.livejournal.com]

Don't know if you know this or not but you gotta take the mice WAAAAAY far away - Golden Gate Park would be a good idea - because they have an incredible tracking ability and they will come back to their home.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm hoping they move out on their own. The rats we had at our old place did just that, due to removal of food source/repellent/cats I think. *fingers crossed*

[artemis-rich.livejournal.com]

Find the hole they are using as an entrance. Pack it with steel wool. Mice can't chew through it. This has worked for me twice, once when I was a kid (this was my mom's method) and I've used it as an adult.

Safe. Humane. No muss. No fuss.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I don't know how I would go about finding the whole in our maze of a garage... eek... We might just have to tear the whole thing apart though.

[artemis-rich.livejournal.com]

It's surprisingly easy to find, as long as you can get to your walls! Look around pipes, etc. first. Also look for any gaps between the wall and the floor. They can be *very* small and the mice will still get in, so anything that looks vaguely suspicious, stuff it with steel wool!

Start with the area that you found all the droppings and styrofoam and work from there. I'll warrant it's close by.

Good luck!