Getting rid of household pests...

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Getting rid of household pests...

Field mice actually much prefer to live in houses - nice, warm, cozy, food filled environment.

Where I live, if you don't have mice, it's because you don't have any food in the house.

We have five cats, and we still have mice - although they live a precarious existence, and often end up as play toys for the felines...

[anunitu]

Re: Getting rid of household pests...

Some cats seem to be bred to be mousers,I had a Cat with an ex girlfriend that was the Mouser king. This cat was always "presenting" us with its catch,He once left a dead mouse in my Ex GF's coat pocket...

[Munin-Hugin]

Re: Getting rid of household pests...

Usually once a year or so I end up with a mouse or two running around the house. You would think that with three cats, it wouldn't happen all that often at all, but two of the three couldn't care less about the mice. I sat on my couch one evening and watched as a mouse ran through the living room. Two of my cats looked up, watched it scamper past, then went back to sleep. The third, on the other hand, went utterly bonkers, and not too long after she came up with me with a present. Of course, it wasn't dead yet, but that didn't stop her from dropping it on the arm of the chair next to me.

Other than that, the last major pest issue I had was resolved two years ago, after I got divorced and my ex moved out.

[DanieMarie]

Re: Getting rid of household pests...

Sometimes, they just run in. We had that a few times in my childhood home in Canada (which was near a forest). Once, one ran through the door and another time the cat caught one and accidentally let it go. We had a cat, but she was old and very lazy (even before she got old). I'd just try to trap it in a humane way (the couple of times we had them, we managed to trap them under containers and take them back to the forest where they belonged. Watch out for droppings and other signs of permanent residents. If you see any and you're allowed to have pets, get a cat! They don't even kill mice that much. The mice just see a predator and stay away for the most part.

My aunt and uncle got mice once. They got a cat. No more mice.

[Thorbjorn]

Re: Getting rid of household pests...

I read the other day (because mice have invaded my garage, and my cat caught one in the house) that cat urine and poop will drive mice away. So will snake scat. Maybe get some from an exotic pets store. I can see it now: "May I help you?" "Yes, I need a container of snake poop please". If you have a cat scoop some of the wet litter and put it in a container near where the mice are going in and out, or areas they frequent. If you don't have a cat get some of its waste from a relative or friend. I know, you'll have to tolerate the ammonia smell for a while. I haven't tried it yet but I want to go this route before more drastic elimination measures.

[Willow]

Re: Getting rid of household pests...

Thank you, I'll have to try the peppermint thing on top of the traps.

[thalassa]

Re: Getting rid of household pests...

Peppermint oil is supposed to make a good mouse repellant, but you'd have to research how that would affect hedgie. We had a mouse (lets be honest, mice) in our apartment, but once I started spraying the kitchen floor (where it was coming in at) it with my personal cleaning solution (its a mix of lemon, lavender, and mint), it stopped getting into things--and then when we got the cat, its made itself scarce.

I also suggest pulling out all your appliances, furniture, etc...and cleaning your cabinets, particularly lower cabinets that might store foods in boxes or bags. Other than that, traps (and bait them with stuff that is tasty)

[Willow]

Re: Getting rid of household pests...

So... I saw a mouse run through the ceiling rafters in my basement, then heard it run down the back wall of the basement. I know hope it was a mouse (white/light grey underbelly, probably about 3 inches long). I've never seen droppings, footprints, or any other evidence that we've had mice in the house and I'm hoping it's just a single mouse whose found a warm space from the frigid outdoor temperatures. But realistically... I know that mice breed like... mice.

I've set a trap near where I believe it's coming out from the wall upstairs, but I doubt one trap will do the trick. I'll have to pick up some more.

What gets to me is that there have been no signs of mice, we don't leave food lying out or anything, and what I'm really afraid of is it getting into my hedgehog's cage (because we do leave food out for the hedgehog, naturally). I don't really want to find out who would win in a fight, my hedgehog or a mouse. So does anyone have any tips, insights, experiences regarding getting rid of mice?

[IsisSekhemetRa]

Re: Getting rid of household pests...

I've got bed bugs and so does half the city here in Louisville.

[DON]

Re: Getting rid of household pests...

Here are some tips I know of...
Diatomaceous earth is great for all kinds of insect pests like ant, bed bugs, fleas etc:

http://www.richsoil.com/diatomaceous-earth.jsp

For worms and things on fruit trees, there is a biodynamic preparation using 33% clay, 33% cow manure, 33% sand. You mix it into a stiff slurry and apply it thickly in late winter to the entire trunk of the tree up to the lower branches. It fertilises the tree, it seals in insect larvae and boring insects so they die, and it confuses crawling insects that are expecting the smell and texture of wood.

For tree nibblers like deer, mice, goats etc, there is a preparation made from bones you can apply and it lasts about 10 years:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4xVKVc4NYQ

Hope someone finds this useful :-)

[DanieMarie]

Re: Getting rid of household pests...

I'll ask for my mom, because I think she might really like to have fruit trees, but racoons are a problem.

Anyone know how to keep raccoons out of the yard? She tried those motion sensor sprinklers. They're great for a lot of animals, but racoons are really smart. When something scares them once, it doesn't seem to scare them a second time.

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: Getting rid of household pests...

There are coyotes around, but not close enough. I might try a sprinkler. There's one cat in particular who seems to have given up his brain for pizza toppings long ago. He runs after birds in the air( Lol , hilarious to watch) and keeps coming back in the yard after he's been chased. I don't want to do razor wire or electric fencing. But I might......

[thalassa]

Re: Getting rid of household pests...

Feral cats. I have a lovely bird habitat in the back yard, and they climb the chain link fence and hunt. There are 3 who were born last year, and one of those had kittens this year. Those haven't come in my yard yet but they will when they're old enough. The city here does nothing about cats, there are no rescues who will come trap them, and I just want them to stay off my property. I've tried lime juice, lemon juice, vinegar, some sulphur-smelling granules I bought, fox urine, cayenne pepper, and a battery-powered gizmo that makes a sound that should scare them (sent that back for a refund).

Have you tried a motion-senor sprinkler?

(or, you could try getting a coyote )*


*I joke, but I'm sort of serious...coyotes are good to deal with feral cats (from people that feed them), the Canada goose overpopulation problem (from people that feed them), plus they take care of mice and rats. But, they'd probably also be a nuisance for the birds too. Less so than the cats, I would think, because its a different type of hunting...but still a potential problem once they cleared out the cats, the geese, etc.

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: Getting rid of household pests...

Feral cats. I have a lovely bird habitat in the back yard, and they climb the chain link fence and hunt. There are 3 who were born last year, and one of those had kittens this year. Those haven't come in my yard yet but they will when they're old enough. The city here does nothing about cats, there are no rescues who will come trap them, and I just want them to stay off my property. I've tried lime juice, lemon juice, vinegar, some sulphur-smelling granules I bought, fox urine, cayenne pepper, and a battery-powered gizmo that makes a sound that should scare them (sent that back for a refund).

They just lie in a pile of all of the above LOL. I really don't want to shoot them but it's at that point. They are going to multiply exponentially. Does anyone know anything that will REALLY work, without hurting the birds or costing a small fortune??

[DanieMarie]

Re: Getting rid of household pests...

Most pests also hate lavender. Generally, a lot of herbs that are pleasant to us are repulsive to insects and small mammals.