Mice :(

[waitmanff]

So first of all I love all animals, truly do! I haven't ate meat in years! However, this new house im renting has a few mice, just in my bottom kitchen cabinets and drawers I've had to wash all my dishes and sanitize everything! I need a way of getting ride of them without killing them I've put out some sticky traps, and peppermint oil everywhere but still woke up to find a few droppings in the cabinet . Anyone have any suggestions??? Can't have mice in my house but I don't like killing anything

 

[LolaMyLove]

Get a cat.

 

[wellington]

There are live traps. The only problem, is you can't release them near you. They will come back in. I hate killing any animal too, however, I have rats, big city equals rats. They aren't in my house, but in my yard. I lost a puppy to lepto the rats brought in a few years back. I kill every one I can. I won't loose anther dog to them and I won't allow my torts too be chewed on. If it were me, sorry, but I would have too kill them. They can bring in diseases.

 

[mike taylor]

Are you sure its rats? Have you seen the rat? I say this because I was thinking I had a mouse in my garage but it turns out it was geckos . They have poop that looks very close to mouse poop . Boy do geckos poop .

 

[RosieRedfoot]

Steel wool stuffed and caulked in the cracks they come in can keep them out.

Like most mammals they dislike spicy things in their noses... Or borrowing a friends' cat works if it hunts. Often the smell of cat alone is a deterrent. Maybe borrow some cat blankets?

I have pet rats/gerbils and when we had mice I used the snap traps. I didn't want them bringing in fleas/parasites to my dogs or rodents, or spoiling my dishes and food. I used kill traps for the two we had and filled the gaps to stop it from happening in the future. Figured poison bait could kill my dogs if they ate a dead mouse, sticky traps seem cruel, and I had no success with live traps. So I had no choice and was not calling an exterminator. A piece of dog kibble smeared in peanut butter on a snap trap solved the issue in one night.

I knew someone who got lepto from mice getting into his cabin and peeing on food prep stuff. You can always try live traps but I've seen rodents escape them (they climb in but their tail holds it open enough they flip it up and crawl back out).

 

[Jacqui]

I don't know how well just the smell of cats will work. I have a ton of cats and we still get a few mice that think they can work the system and live here, too. I like pet mice, but sorry due to the health issues wild mice here are not allowed to live. I never had a lot of luck with the live traps.

 

[lisa127]

The last house we owned we would get a couple mice every once in a while. My cat always took care of the problem. But like me, my husband loves animals and is a softy. He used to try to catch the mice and release them before my cat could get to them. I really believe though that we would only see a couple because we had a cat there. Well, we had two at the time but the male was not a mouser.

 

[TiyahLove]

If you cook food in oil such as frying french fries or anything like that make sure the oil is heavily scented with food. Place enough oil in a deep dish to make it slick enough to where they can't jump out but won't drown. Place it near the problem areas. Once they get in dry them off and drive a while away and release them. This works for me. Don't use sticky traps they'll get hurt coming off and when they're stuck they can cover their mouths and suffocate.

 

[T33's Torts]

Small no kill traps are good. But you have to let them go far far far away.

 

[waitmanff]

I will definitely try all of these. And I have TWO cats, n well they probably play with mice instead of attacking them!! They are softy lol. I called the landlord and she is supposed to send someone out to fill the holes in the cabinets where they are getting in. My tort n my rabbits they there own room in the back of the house, I'm only seeing the mice in the cabinets. Oh and I caught one this morning on a glue trap
I've bought some of the snap traps but can't figure out how to assemble them lol I even tried watching a YouTube video lol
Wish me luck!

 

[waitmanff]

So my landlord just messaged me to say she's not going to send someone over to fix our holes. She said she would drop off foam stuff for us to fill the holes. Which part of it is that the dishwasher doesn't have pannals on the side. Then she processed to tell me I have mice bc we have animals not because there are holes in the cabinets. Oh my goodness, I hate renting. We need to buy a house...

 

[wellington]

So my landlord just messaged me to say she's not going to send someone over to fix our holes. She said she would drop off foam stuff for us to fill the holes. Which part of it is that the dishwasher doesn't have pannals on the side. Then she processed to tell me I have mice bc we have animals not because there are holes in the cabinets. Oh my goodness, I hate renting. We need to buy a house...

I am a landlord. Your landlord is dead wrong. I would withhold a portion of the rent until they fixed the holes. You could demand an exterminator, which would cost them much more then them patching a few holes. Tell them that. You can also call the city you live in and report the problem too them.

 

[Kerryann]

First you have to plug the holes they are getting in. We live trap the mice and take them about 10 miles from home and leave them all in a field with a severance package. We had a rehoming project this fall but stopped for the winter. We know it may have set the rehoming project back due to live births but this is how we live.

 

[waitmanff]

They are just cheap, its a nice place, its older though so of course there will be maintenance. Her excuses is that they lived here for 8 years and never saw a mouse. Well that was a long time ago, stuff has worn down! I keep a very clean house. And it says in our lease that they pay our water bill (they offered) and now she's fussing at me because its higher than normal? Wants to know how much landry im doing...really and we share the same water as our neighbors (its a duplex) so they can't tell who's is who's...but of course blame in on the young couple we still have 9 months on our lease

 

[Kerryann]

Re: RE: Mice

So my landlord just messaged me to say she's not going to send someone over to fix our holes. She said she would drop off foam stuff for us to fill the holes. Which part of it is that the dishwasher doesn't have pannals on the side. Then she processed to tell me I have mice bc we have animals not because there are holes in the cabinets. Oh my goodness, I hate renting. We need to buy a house...

You will want to use a combo of the foam and steel wool if I'm remembering correctly. Critters will just chew through the foam. I'll ask my husband what he used when I get to work. He's the cruelty free fix it specialist.
Our mice don't seem to venture out of the basement. In the basement I have seen their evidence like little poops and found food stores while cleaning. I have never once found even a mouse turd upstairs. Either they are ninja good at hiding their tracks or the smell of my dogs keep them in the basement.

 

[waitmanff]

Thanks!