# We've got visitors...



## Brandy456 (Sep 8, 2010)

So, I used to have my bedroom in the basement, then we found mouse poops and I moved to the bedroom upstairs.

Then I was sleeping, and Sparky was going crazy, walking in my room and out and back like 45463423 times. 

I opened one eye, and saw something jump from the window ledge (above my bed) onto my bed.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, my mom got up thinking there was someone in the house. 

Under my protest, theres traps around the house. 
But my moms friend knows someone, who if they concentrate on someones name, and their address, the mice will run away.

..So far we haven't seen any more poops, and all the traps are bare.
Pray it worked? lol


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## degrassi (Sep 8, 2010)

I'm having similar problems and on the weekend I freaked out. My room is in the basement and last year I started to hear mice in my ceiling(drop ceiling) at night and in the pantry(also in my room). We tried everything and eventually got them all by using poison and traps, all spring/summer I didn't hear anything or see anything. Then last weekend I heard them in the roof again at night. They were RUNNING around causing enough noise to wake me up, so gross. Then just as I was falling back asleep I am woken up by screeching in my closet, right next to my bed. I freaked out and shot out of bed. I got up the nerve to open my closet door and heard a mouse shrieking and saw the trap move. A poor mouse had gotten stuck in the trap but it didn't kill him. I ran upstairs and got my dad(thank god I still live at home!). He came down but by that time the mouse had gotten out of the trap. So i'm freaking out thinking there is a mouse with a broken leg or something somewhere in my room. But its 3:30am and my mom convinces me to go back to bed upstairs in the guest room and we'd deal with it in the morning. It was so freaky 

So now all this week we put traps everywhere in my room, in the laundry room, pantry and in the ceiling. We also put poison all around again too(in the ceiling, away from where the other animals can get it). I guess since its fall that the mice are trying to move back into the house for the winter. So far we caught 2 and my ada has to go back into the crawl space and see if there are cracks that the mice are coming in from. 

So gross!!! I don't blame you for being creeped out.


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## Brandy456 (Sep 8, 2010)

If you use the poision, dont they like, die.. then smell?


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## Luvmyzoocrew (Sep 8, 2010)

ha ha ha I feel for you, i am surrounded by farm land and open space so mice are a part of my life. I find evidence ALL the time unfortunately, when i start seeing it i set the traps out. I put the traps near and by the dog and cat food. I dont like too but i HAVE to , cause i cant have them running around my house pooping all over the place.

Give that person my name and address,lol, it will keep them busy lol


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## degrassi (Sep 8, 2010)

*Brandy456 wrote: *


> If you use the poision, dont they like, die.. then smell?


We've never had a dead mouse smell problem. I think some poisons are designed to make the mouse seek out water and that usually means they go back outside to find a source. I'm sure sometimes they make it back into the house before dying but we've never had a smell issue. 

Mice are also pretty small so if they die somewhere(like in a roof or wall) they might just dry out before really decomposing and smelling too bad.


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## Brandy456 (Sep 8, 2010)

Aha, my mom wants to get the poison pellets, but im scared the house will stink lol.
We had to lock the doors to the basement and upstairs bedroom because Sparky. 
We put some traps with peanut butter, and the other with cheese, which he loves both.


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## Brandy456 (Sep 8, 2010)

Oh, I forgot to mention.
They ate my comforter. 
Thank god I had just put a old one on, because all my good ones were at the cottage ( we were there all summer, and only came back for laundry).
But it was all shredded.
AND, I had a tank top on the side of my bed, which was pulled onto the floor and peed on.
UGH!
(I threw both out, btw)


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## degrassi (Sep 8, 2010)

*Brandy456 wrote: *


> Oh, I forgot to mention.
> They ate my comforter.
> Thank god I had just put a old one on, because all my good ones were at the cottage ( we were there all summer, and only came back for laundry).
> But it was all shredded.
> ...


Yikes, sounds like your infestation is a bit worse then mine. I haven't seen to many mice actually in my room. Only in my closet, the pantry closet and once I heard one chewing something inside my fish tank stand that is next to my bed. But I put traps along each wall and all around the areas where there is holes in the closets(holes for pipes) where they can get into my room from. I also removed most of the food out of the pantry except canned goods they can't chew. My rabbit lives in my room so I also have to make sure that his food and hay are stored in plastic containers. IN my closet I put all the stuff that was on the floor into bins. 

I don't want mice touching my things!


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## Nancy McClelland (Sep 8, 2010)

There are always no-kill traps.


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## kahlin (Sep 8, 2010)

We've had some issues in the past few months as well. Lots of screaming all around. But worse was when a chipmunk came in with the bunny hay. Yes, chipmunks are cute. When they are OUTSIDE. Inside they are creepy. They move way faster than a mouse.


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## Brandy456 (Sep 8, 2010)

Nancy McClelland wrote:


> There are always no-kill traps.


We were actually going to get some, but every place we went were not in stock (or they just didn't have any) or they'd have like, mega box's and were like 50$. 
.. My mom looked at me like I was insane lol


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## EileenH (Sep 8, 2010)

Just an FYI about mouse/rat poison: it doesn't just poison the mice & rats. We get in hawks and owls all the time that ingested poisoned mice; it's called "going up the food chain", or secondary poisoning.
Very sad, as most of the hawks & owls are usually only 1-2 years old (inexperienced hunters). They usually don't make it. The poison causes them to bleed out from the inside, as their blood does not coagulate.
It can also affect other wildlife, as well as outdoor cats. So, your cats, your neighbor's cats, dogs..any of them that get hold of the poisoned rodent will be poisoned themself.
It is a very sad way for the mice/rats to die; I have often had people bring me in rats toeuthanizeafter they put down poison, and they find the rat struggling. You don't just get to wake up and find them sleeping peacefully.

Here is a link to it:
http://hungryowl.org/rodenticide.html
http://www.fbbfs.org/writings/poisoning.html

I am certainly not advocating not doing anything, but there are more humane - and safe - ways to get mice out of your house. I work in a calf barn, and we manage the mice that want to take up residence in our barn without the use of poison. We use humane traps baited with peanut butter and other good and smelly stuff, and usually catch our culprit.


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## akane (Sep 8, 2010)

Mice are a weekly event... It's exceedingly rare for them to cause any illness. Even then it nearly always involves many mice over time before someone gets sick. A few mouse droppings or pee does no harm and is probably better than having the chemicals from rat poison around. Also we've had animals nearly die after eating the poisoned mice and it's a very horrible way to die. Even if they occasionally don't work properly traps are more humane. You can get live traps but mice can return from a mile away so unless you put them near someone else's building they will likely find their way back inside eventually. We use live traps and then feed them to something. Dog, cat, chicken... they all benefit from some whole live prey and the mice die really quick. The chickens just swallow them whole.


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## Brandy456 (Sep 8, 2010)

Im not using poison, lol.


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## slavetoabunny (Sep 8, 2010)

*Brandy456 wrote: *


> If you use the poision, dont they like, die.. then smell?


An office that I worked at in California put out rat poison (these were big cat-size rats, not mice). They crawled into the ceiling and died. Talk about STINK!!! It was a horrible, sickly-sweet odor that clung to your clothes.


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## Brandy456 (Sep 8, 2010)

akane wrote:


> Mice are a weekly event... It's exceedingly rare for them to cause any illness. Even then it nearly always involves many mice over time before someone gets sick. A few mouse droppings or pee does no harm and is probably better than having the chemicals from rat poison around. Also we've had animals nearly die after eating the poisoned mice and it's a very horrible way to die. Even if they occasionally don't work properly traps are more humane. You can get live traps but mice can return from a mile away so unless you put them near someone else's building they will likely find their way back inside eventually. We use live traps and then feed them to something. Dog, cat, chicken... they all benefit from some whole live prey and the mice die really quick. The chickens just swallow them whole.



.. are you serious?
I'm not going to do nothing about these things.. they're eating my stuff, peeing on expensive clothing, no.
Plus, Mice bite, and I can't let Sparky get bit by something, he's so little so if they have any disease or something, he'll be affected worse.


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## EileenH (Sep 8, 2010)

OK; at least if your mom wants to use it, you have some information to impart upon her.

And, I can tell you firsthand..when a mouse dies inside your building/house, it does indeed STINK. For at least a few days.


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## Brandy456 (Sep 8, 2010)

slavetoabunny wrote:


> *Brandy456 wrote: *
> 
> 
> > If you use the poision, dont they like, die.. then smell?
> ...


Ah, thank you! 
(I'll show her thiss, hehe)


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## Anaira (Sep 8, 2010)

*shifts eyes*

We used to have a family of rats living outside. My mum and I used to feed them, lol. I suspect my dad may have poisoned them, though.  And I always try rescue the mice our cats bring in;(bare hands, hehe) usually they're fine to let go outside.

Poison is a horrid way to die; very painful. Humane traps are best.

EileenH gave great advice about the poison, too. Traps aren't a great idea, for the reason degrassi gave; often they don't kill, unless they're really good quality ones. Can just leave them injured. Another horrid death.


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## Brandy456 (Sep 9, 2010)

Which is exactly why I threw a fit when she wanted the glue traps. Full on stomping my feet lol.
I have no control over what she bought, other then the fact we need a way to get them out, since they are ruining our stuff. 
(We think one..or a few got into a new futon we got last year.. but we are to scared to check and my brother is on vacation)


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## Brandy456 (Sep 9, 2010)

Also,
I didnt mean for this thread to turn into a 'how to kill animals' or whatever sort of thread, 
I just wanted prayers that the whole thing that guy did, worked. 
not even sure what to call it lol.


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## akane (Sep 9, 2010)

> I'm not going to do nothing about these things.. they're eating my stuff, peeing on expensive clothing, no. Plus, Mice bite, and I can't let Sparky get bit by something, he's so little so if they have any disease or something, he'll be affected worse.



I didn't say you had to live with them. I gave various options to get rid of them. Wishing them away is not going to work. Again illness is very rare. You don't need to throw out stuff that gets peed on a little. A run through the wash is more than enough. If they shred some fabric we cut it up and use it as rags to clean saddles or whatever. It's also unlikely any pet is going to get sick. I'd worry more about rodents since the closer related a species is the more likely they will share illnesses but we feed mice to our pets all the time. One year we had a ton of rats invade some oat hay and when we cleared it out one of our dogs killed about 20 of them in one day. Nothing here has ever gotten sick. 

I kept a couple field mice as pets for awhile once. As very young mice they got lost during our first snow storm of the year and were huddled in our garage. Since that species of mouse rarely invades homes or causes trouble I had no reason to kill them. I set them up in a cage over winter and they were quite happy. Come spring though they were quite bent on escape and eventually managed it. Their cage was out in the stable at the time so I assume they headed back out to the fields.

Mice and rats are not the dirty creatures people try to make them out to be. I have yet to see a sick mouse or rat (aside from ones dying of poison) and I have yet to see anyone or any pet get sick from them despite them existing around the farm for longer than I've been alive. So long as the population is kept under control illness does not spread. Plus a lot of the illnesses throughout history that were spread by rodents originated from humans and our poor hygiene. Which was then made worse by an over population of rodents.

That brings up another good point. Make sure you aren't leaving out food sources for the critters. Generally when you see several rodents about it's because they have found a food source to multiply with. Locate what they are eating and lock it up somewhere they can't get. Without a food source they will leave on their own. That's just not possible on a farm though where you have all sorts of animal feed.


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## fuzz16 (Sep 9, 2010)

i have had cats all my life and never had a problem with mice...even dogs will eat them. do not not not use poison...thats why so many big birds like eagles are almost extinct now. 

you really dont want them in your house though just for the fact they chew wires and what not. just dont poison. get traps and as horrible as it is kill them. keeps the population down where they dont get diseased.


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## Brandy456 (Sep 9, 2010)

Still nothing.
Day 10.. 
8 traps, 2 'house traps' (a little house with a trap inside) and nothing

Im supersitious , so im thinking the guy's thing may have worked.


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## Steph16 (Sep 9, 2010)

Actually a way to prevent them, is find the way they are coming in and put steal wool in the hole. (thats only if you can find the hole)

My apartment had mice, and I laid out the kill traps, cause I didn't want my cat to eat the poison. They would just lick off the peanut butter. So my sister researched them, and it said that they don't like to chew on steal wool, so we put it on every hole we found.... and low and behold, no more mice!!! 

You can use S.O.S pads, that's what I used.


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## Brandy456 (Sep 9, 2010)

No clue where they're coming from lol. 
I heard pepermint oil (on one of those scented oil burner things) but i'd need like 34354 of them all around the house (basement, upstairs ect) and pepermint oil gets annoying and strong after a while.


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## degrassi (Sep 12, 2010)

Ugh, these mice are driving me crazy! I can hear them running around in my ceiling all day and its especially bad at night.Its like they are fighting with each other or something as they are running and causing quite the commotion up there. I've taken to sleeping upstairs in our guest room as I can't stand hearing them at night, too creepy. We caught 2 more but i'm still hearing them so god know how many more there are. 

I wish I knew where they are coming in from this time. Since moving into my room in the basement 10years ago this is the first time I've regretting being down here. I'm so creeped out


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## Runestonez (Sep 14, 2010)

We have deer mice in the attic crawl space this fall...
I was already to take a butt whooping out on them...then we caught one.

Well crap...it was a younger one...grey on the top white tummy and tail...and her body is no bigger than the tip of my thumb to the first knuckle, tiny little girl! Big black eyes.

So that was the end of that...then I had guilt for even thinking of poison! 

SO in the end we decided to put aluminum pie plates with rags soaked in fox urine up in the crawl space.
You can buythe urinefor $10 a bottle at hunting stores....and I think someone on another board mentioned LLBean.

Works awesome...no poison! We haven't heardthe pitterpatter of wee feet in a few days now! Before it sounded like waterbuffalo migrating across the ceiling!

Just make sure you put the rags on a pie plate so it doesn't soak into the rafters!
Not something you want up there soaked into the insulation! lol 

Danielle


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## degrassi (Sep 15, 2010)

*Runestonez wrote: *


> Works awesome...no poison! We haven't heardthe pitterpatter of wee feet in a few days now! Before it sounded like waterbuffalo migrating across the ceiling!


I know! I'm amazed that tiny mice and make so much noise. 

Thankfully I haven't heard any mice during the last 2 days. I'm going to attempt to sleep in my room again so hopefully all goes well.


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## Brandy456 (Sep 15, 2010)

LOL! 
IÃ¨m going to attempt at sleeping in my room again too, 
If we get too scared, we could always log on here and compare haha!


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## degrassi (Sep 15, 2010)

I made it through the night ok  Its been 3 days now since I last heard them  Now the process begins to find where they are coming in from and plug it up.


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## Brandy456 (Sep 17, 2010)

I'm going to try and sleep in my room either tonight or tomorrow.. so I have to figure a way to make the mouse traps go off. I was thinking I could go at it with a broom, but I don`t want the trap to go flying and hit me lol.


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## degrassi (Sep 17, 2010)

Why do you have to make the mouse traps go off? 

Setting them off isn't to bad. I've done it a few times by accident. They dont' fly up and hit you. At most they flip around but dont' come flying at you. Or you can always just pick them up and unhook the spring. I've done that too. Its easy and if you hold the edges you won't get snapped. 

Still no mice noise in my room! been 5 days!


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## Brandy456 (Sep 17, 2010)

Because they were beside my bed, if I were to get up in the middle of the night, my toes would be kaput. 

It hit my foot, I took the handle of the swiffer to it, and I somehow also pushed it closer to myself at the same time.
I'm saaafe  haha


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## Brandy456 (Oct 13, 2010)

Ohhh my lord. 
I was laying in bed, and I hear my clock move. I yell for my mom, who was in the washroom beside my room . 
She tells me i'm just dreaming and to go back to bed. So I lay in bed and I hear it again and run downstairs. So, her trying to prove a point goes upstairs to 'show me there's nothing'. It was sitting there waiting for her on the window ledge. 
So I sit on the Chaise and turn on the news, as it was only 6:30 AM. 
Then (with the stairs in front of me) I see a little blur of black (it was dark) run down the stairs, and under the couch. Great, I have the biggest fear of these things. Twice, they woke me up, and twice, I screamed for my life. 

So my mom goes to move the couch, and the front of the couch is directly to my left, on the other side of the fireplace (like, to my shoulder) and when she moved it, 'blur' ran from under the couch and under my chaise and into the kitchen. I swear on everything I thought it was going to jump on me. 
I can't handle this crap. I have a PHOBIA of these things, and every where I thought it was 'safe' it seems not.
We put the baby-gate to trap the mouse in there, then leaned a mirror on it so it doesn't come out through the holes. 
Then we put a heavy piece of wood so it doesn't fall over. 

So it's in there, but.. we don't know what to do. 

 im like crying and shaking .


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## Momto3boys (Oct 13, 2010)

Wow, that's crazy.

You guys might have to hire somebody to come out and get rid of them. 

I know alot of people don't like poison but you might have to use it, you shouldn't be feeling scared in your own home, these mice are now affecting your life.

or you could get a few cats


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## Brandy456 (Oct 13, 2010)

We have hired exterminators, and they put traps in the city sewers that are actually pretty far from my house, and they put some traps in our basement but they aren't allowed to do anything more because we have a dog, and if he were to get trapped or get sick from poison we could legally sue them .


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## degrassi (Oct 13, 2010)

There is ways to use traps in the house with a dog around and the exterminator should have them. Its like a plastic box that has holes in the sides so the mice and get in but the dog can't get at the trap. Depending on the dog you can even use shoe boxes. 

I have a dog and I use traps. Most of them I put in areas he can't reach(behind things, in closets) and if I need to i've use the shoe box things before. Thankfully my problem seems to be under control now but we still catch the odd mouse in my ceiling. Atleast now I can sleep without hearing mice run around in my ceiling or chewing in the walls. Ewww

It sounds like your problem needs a full on attack. Put any food item(all the stuff in your cupboards/pantry) into a plastic containers so the mice dont' have a food source. Then put traps ALL around, on every wall(mice run mostly against the walls) and check them daily. Your problem isn't going to go away unless you do something.Its probably going to get a bit worse once winter sets in and mice all move in from the cold, atleast that what happens at my house.


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## Brandy456 (Oct 13, 2010)

They say to put traps against the walls, but every time i've seen them run, the ran from the middle of the room to the other side. 
The fact they are not normal scares me.


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## Brandy456 (Oct 15, 2010)

Oh my.. haha
We got it caught in the front entrance, between 2 doors. (theres a door between the front entrance/closet and the living room) and put a towel at the base of the door and a trap inside. 
This morning we woke up and looked inside. He wasn't in the trap, but under the heater (which is off.. I think). He pulled the thread in something, because theres black/grey thread AROUND the trap. 
So then we get a knock on the door this morning, and we're both scared to go into there, to open the door. So we open the door, and guess who it was? Mr. Pest Control 

He didn't get it, but he told us to put glue traps, and when it catches one to put olive oil on it, and WEAR COOKING MITTS and take 'er off and set it free.. far away from the house.


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## degrassi (Oct 15, 2010)

Ewww, I wouldn't use glue traps. I've seen a mouse get stuck on one and its not pretty(shrieking, mouse freaking out etc). I wouldn't be able to handle picking up the trap and removing the mouse. Plus that would be VERY messy and the mouse could get hurt or you get bitten(even through a mitt). 

You'd be better off using humane traps if you are going to set them free. Or snap traps if you aren't.


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## NorthernAutumn (Oct 15, 2010)

You can get powdered wolf urine at the garden store. It is used as a deer (and bunny ) deterrent in gardens.


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## Anaira (Oct 16, 2010)

Please don't use glue traps. There are more humane ways to deal with mouse problems, even if they may not be as efficient. Cliche as this line might be, they do have feelings just the same as our rabbits, or kids, etc.  

They don't deserve a death like that; it's not like they deliberately come to upset humans.


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## NorthernAutumn (Oct 16, 2010)

Seconding the no to glue traps here. 
A glue trap is a long, painful death. I wouldn't wish it on any creature. .

I think it is our job to be the "human" in "humane". If anyone feels that they must kill an animal, big or small, the onus on them is to do it as FAST, stress-free and painless as possible. Suffering is inexcusable.


***** Anyhoo*, let's be cautious not to get overly graphic in here, guys. Don't need the gory details...we're supposed to be sending good vibes to the mouse psychic 

Boy, I sure hope it works, Brandy! I wonder if you could catch them with peanut butter


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## Purple Mountain Rabbitry (Oct 16, 2010)

They ARE disease carrying creatures my grandmother was a nurse for many years and returned to the job a couple years ago. she has seen people die from mice related incidents. also if dust gets mixed with their urine or droppings the dust can be congested in your lungs(not a fun way to die). My math teacher had a sister die that way. sorry I know that is a bit graphic but it is true. Living on a farm I deal with them daily. If they get in the house I put down glue traps then after they are gone i mop the floor with a swifer mop to them then mop the floor with pinesol water. I have been freaked of mice since I was a little girl and they lived in my closet I had nightmares of them. so I would rather have them gone then worrying about them coming back.


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## Brandy456 (Oct 16, 2010)

We tried peanut butter, bacon fat, cheese, cereal.. everything.. and he PLAYS around the trap. It's like, common there lol.

We didn't put the traps, I don't want them there, I'm extremely upset he put them in our house. But he said if we don't keep them there, and per say they ruin our furniture then we can't 'sue' them because we didn't do what they told us to. 

So, my brother got a 'plan' that as Autumn said I wont go into gory detail, but I assure you he/she (they're both sexs right?) will NOT suffer one bit. 

We put Babii's to-go cage out with some food inside, hoping to catch it that way. He still wont go in, he doesn't know whats good for him and it's very upsetting lol. 

What worries me is we've seen him bunches of times beside Babii's cage (the one she's in) and it makes me so nervous, because they are sewer rats and most likely rabid. 

I can't even let her out of her cage for play time, because I have no clue where they are in here. They are officially all over the house, so no matter where I put her, they can be around. 
She's very feisty to, so she'd more then likely start a fight.


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## Brandy456 (Oct 16, 2010)

Also, i'd like to say, we're going to see 2 houses Sunday, we need to get out of here.. it's flipping insane. We don't sleep, at all, because they're running around .


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## Brandy456 (Oct 16, 2010)

I feel bad for writing this thread, 
but I needed somewhere to vent. 
I'm sorry.


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## Purple Mountain Rabbitry (Oct 16, 2010)

Its fine we all need to vent sometimes. I'm sorry you have to move due to this. mice freak me out. but I have grown to live with them (not willingly. UGH!) but they come with the territory.


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## Brandy456 (Oct 16, 2010)

The first house we're going to see is SOO cute. 
Bigg kitchen (whereas we have a galley kitchen now). 
So it's nice..


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## Purple Mountain Rabbitry (Oct 16, 2010)

Fun. A big kitchen is always best. It seems that with every move I get a bigger kitchen but it never seems big enough. lol. I love to cook and when a cook a big meal I cook a BIG meal and by the time I'm done I never have enough room. Good luck with your move.


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## Brandy456 (Oct 16, 2010)

I don't cook, I burn things. (meaning the oven catches fire..a lot) but it's always nice to have a nice kitchen, as I judge peoples house depending on their kitchens. 

It's a private owner, so these.. issues wont be put off if anything ever happens (it's a company thats the landlord now.. so they have a lot of tenants)


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## jcottonl02 (Oct 16, 2010)

I actually love mice, but I totally agree you don't want them in your home. Or any wild animal at all!! All wild animals are likely to carry parasites and therefore transmit diseases.

Please please don't use glue traps  - there are so many other ways to solve your mice problems. They just cause a huge amount of totally unnecessary stress, and a long, painful death. The PETA and RSPCA are both totally 100% against glue traps.

*
A regulatory impact statement released by the Australian government cited a study that concluded that glue traps should be banned "because of the enormous distress that these traps cause, even if the trapped animals are found after just a few hours and then humanely dispatched."(1) One New York City pest-control manager said that he had even seen rats chew off their own feet to escape from the traps.(2) *


Even snap traps are better (MUCH better in my opinion) than glue traps. I quickly researched it and every single site I went onto just now has said the glue traps are the most inhumane.
Of course- you can't guarantee that snap traps work ALL the time, but generally a very high proportion of the time (so high that I wouldn't feel as guilty using them), it's an instantaneous death for the mouse. 

The best thing to do is block off entrances to your house and use mouth deterring air vent blocks (apparently 70% of mice enter your house through air vents alone).

I live opposite a farm so I have caught GOD knows how many mice.

By hand.

Mice don't come in our house really. 6 or 7 years ago we had a bit of a mouse problem, so we set humane traps, blocked entrances, cleared space etc. and made sure NO food was accessible. It solved the problem. I used to leave open packets of crisps etc in my school bag so perhaps this was contributing....hahahaha :big wink:. So stupid. But I was only about 13...

Now my two cats bring in mice (shrews and bats also), totally alive and seemingly unhurt most of time, to play with. When the cats get a mouse, they sit in the same spot in the house and growl, with it still in their mouth. So I get the mouse from them, (in a glove of course) and set it free on the farm again.

When the cats let the mice go, I have to chase the mouse to get it. I put on my gloves, watch where it goes, trap it, and then as it makes a dash for it I grab it and take it over the road, where it scurries off. 

One time I was walking in the hall (where the cats bring the mice) and there was a tail sticking out my mum's bag NO JOKE. I was in hysterics and scooped the mouse out. Imagine if my mum (who has a huge fear of mice) saw the tail.

Anyway. My babbling point is- mice deserve the same respect and life qualities we have in the sense of suffering. How would I rather go? Instantaneous death as I am reaching for a piece of cheese, or getting shut in a box with food and water before being released? Or stuck in a trap where I might be in extreme pain, die of lack of water, try to knaw my own feet off to release myself (very common with glue traps) and have unbelievable stress? Obviously number one. So that is how I would always treat a mouse.

Remember, when using humane traps the most effective way of capture is to follow where the trails of droppings are, or where you know the mouse 'escapes' to- could be behind the fridge etc. Place the trap here. Be sure to check it every few hours. Also keep food and water in there. When you release the mouse make sure it's far from your house or it may just come back.

PLEASSEEEEEE don't use glue traps.

Brandy- god your situation sounds awful!!! I am not surprised you are moving. I think I might do the same in your situation. I quite like both mice and rats, and have no problems being near them/seeing them/touching them etc.(gloved obviously- stupid not to), but I don't think I could live where there are soooo many and ones that go near my rabbits!!! You need to be in a home that you know is safe and just yours! Lots of mice around could definately mean germs and parasites around.

Jen


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## Brandy456 (Oct 16, 2010)

They aren't mice, they're fat ugly sewer rats 
It's bad because we don't want to stay here, but we can't be gone all day because Sparky and Babii are here and we have to watch them.
I was going to bring Babii to my friends, but my friend has bad luck with rabbits (they just.. er, die randomly) but *thank god in a way* her cage doesn't fit in my moms car. 
Sparky has to stay here, he has so many medical conditions we have to watch for, and plus.. he's aggressive (because the medical conditions) so no one would properly be able to care for him.
Nothing caught yet, but the exterminator left our front door open for like 2 hours yesterday (and we froze our butts off) and we didn't hear the rat this morning, so we're hoping he ran out.


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## jcottonl02 (Oct 16, 2010)

My goodness!! I saw you mention rats but I didn't realise it was actually rats you were having a problem with because everyone was talking about mice too!!!

Ouchy! This is such an awful situation for you but it sounds like lots of people near you may be having the same problem?

Do you have a room in your house that is totally safe? Like a room that can be completely blocked off with no gaps in the skirting board etc. so when you want to go out the buns could go in there? I know I have a room like that but some places might not.

Jen


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## Brandy456 (Oct 16, 2010)

We don't  
The main floor was the only safe place, so we brought Babii up from the basement. But they started walking around down here too. 
The only safe place is a bathroom, but then again it's just a matter of time.


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## jcottonl02 (Oct 16, 2010)

Arhhh my goodness!! Poor you! Hope u get it sorted. I have no problem with rats and mice etc. but I wouldn't wanna live with them! Like I wouldn't wanna live with a wild fox marching round my house.....as much as I adore them.

Jen


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## Brandy456 (Oct 16, 2010)

And they are Sewer rats too, so nothing like domestic ones.


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## akane (Oct 17, 2010)

Actually the sewer rat/brown rat/norway rat/warf rat (they have tons of names) is the same species as a domestic rat. Domestic rats are the tamed descendants of what you have in your house.


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## Purple Mountain Rabbitry (Oct 17, 2010)

^Thats true. the only dif is mice are smaller. Thats sucks and the worst part is is that sewer rats carry more diseases from living in the sewers. I hope you find a house fast. best of luck and lots of prayers ray:

Crystal


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## Brandy456 (Oct 17, 2010)

Going to see the house soon, if we like if , and 'take it' we're going to move in a month. Yes I know legally you need to give 60 days, but legally they need to get rid of these things lol. (and fix all the other damage - asbestos anyone?) 


We're going to get a PODS and when we pack we're going to put the box's directly in the PODS so we don't bring anything with us.


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## Anaira (Oct 17, 2010)

good luck! =D


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