We had mice a few months ago in our townhome. Set traps, kept killing them. After a few days of that I called around and got some quotes and we had The Pest Control Guy come in. They walked through the place and noted possible entry points to seal and set their bait stations. After two days we've never seen any evidence of them since. I did the sealing based on their recommendations with spray foam.
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Once mice have moved into a place once, they'll set up a network of passages and abodes that will have them keep coming back. You can mitigate this by sealing.
We renovated our house, including tearing down a chimney, which gave the mice a way into the main house. We also had to move our pantry contents to boxes around the house. The mice found a few bags of crackers to feast on.
These mice were smart. We caught one in a trap and one ate the poison, but they wouldn't touch them after that. Maybe learned the recent smell of human = death? We had an extermination service come in and that didn't help.
We have renters in the basement, who didn't help things by leaving food out.
We eventually gave in and just got a cat. The cat smell keeps them away now.
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The most important part is the house seal up. You don't want them getting in. A pest control expert will often have experience and see things you might not. Mine saw "runs" where the grease from the fur was left on surfaces (70 year old house, moved in after elderly couple moved out).
Make sure you're not doing the dumb sh-t stuff like leaving pet food or garbage around your property. If you feed em...they will come. If you have a veggie garden, or fruit trees, and aren't keeping up with them, it's going to attract vermin.
Once that's done, exterior traps with poison bait. One on each facing side (usually 4). They carry the bait back to the nest and it kills the crew.
Interior traps baited with peanut butter. Run those trap lines twice a day. Replace the traps if you get a hit. You'll see smaller and fewer mice with time.
If you start to smell sickly sweet scent, it's probably decomposition. Find it (even if you cut drywall to do it) and remove it.
Finally - don't get a cat unless you want a pet cat for ~15-20 years. Like... duh.
(I got my cat from someone who thought she would be a mouser instead of... a sleeper? I don't have mice (anymore) but have seen her casually watch a cricket walk in front of her face and she does f-all about it).
Last edited by SutterBrother; 03-21-2025 at 11:37 AM.
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(I got my cat from someone who thought she would be a mouser instead of... a sleeper? I don't have mice (anymore) but have seen her casually watch a cricket walk in front of her face and she does f-all about it).
Cats are ***holes
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Haha yeah have been told many times now all they need is the size of a dime to get in somewhere.
I think we're beyond bait and traps at this point though since they are continually getting in or somehow surviving.
We have an issue with a space below our garage entrance door, in the winter they would move into the garage for warmth then come into the house from there. I have one of these pointing out on the stairs below the door and we haven't had an incursion since. When we were infested I saw them work in real time, the mouse wouldn't get within about 2 feet of it if running along the base boards.
(I got my cat from someone who thought she would be a mouser instead of... a sleeper? I don't have mice (anymore) but have seen her casually watch a cricket walk in front of her face and she does f-all about it).
Yeah, when you're in a market for a cat you really need to ask yourself, would you rather have a smart cat (aka evil #######) or a dumb cat (slightly less evil lovable lunk)
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Thats why Flames fans make ideal Star Trek fans. We've really been taught to embrace the self-loathing and extreme criticism.
Beyond actually killing them, just their presence is a solid deterrent.
Turns out mice can't figure out why they should stop scurrying into a minefield of traps, but when cat enters the equation, stay the #### out of there!
Last edited by TrentCrimmIndependent; 03-21-2025 at 12:40 PM.
I don't know if this is common knowledge, or something I had to learn myself. But I noticed vole trails in the grass last fall or winter, and bought a ton of bait blocks and bait block stations and put them all around the house and yard.
I thought what the heck and put one in the garage just in case, then a few weeks later noticed piles and piles and piles of mouse #### everywhere (I mean everywhere) in the garage.
When I took the bait station out of the garage, the mouse droppings disappeared. So I guess I was attracting them.
I live about 50m away from Confederation Park, and just expect there to be wildlife of all types-- but I've been refilling the bait block stations about twice a month since I installed them. There are 12 stations - so there's a lot of voles (or mice, I don't actually know) out and about!
They've never come in the house, and I don't know what the nuclear option would be, but I'll hit that button at the first sign.
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Started with traps, would have to empty it every couple days so I needed something else. Moved on to the bait block stations with no success. I would have to replace the bait every week and no signs of dead mice anywhere, just constant refill of the bait. Also tried the Rodent Away bags from CT, still signs of mice. Wife has me spray peppermint oil all around the BBQ now, apparently mice hate the smell. Still visible droppings...
I need a nuclear option before they find a way into the house.
__________________ "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog!" ~ V.Lombardi
Started with traps, would have to empty it every couple days so I needed something else. Moved on to the bait block stations with no success. I would have to replace the bait every week and no signs of dead mice anywhere, just constant refill of the bait. Also tried the Rodent Away bags from CT, still signs of mice. Wife has me spray peppermint oil all around the BBQ now, apparently mice hate the smell. Still visible droppings...
I need a nuclear option before they find a way into the house.
Would you ever see signs? Doesn't the bait take them out when they get back to their nests. And if they do die elsewhere they would get consumed by other means so you wouldn't see them much anyways?
Started with traps, would have to empty it every couple days so I needed something else. Moved on to the bait block stations with no success. I would have to replace the bait every week and no signs of dead mice anywhere, just constant refill of the bait. Also tried the Rodent Away bags from CT, still signs of mice. Wife has me spray peppermint oil all around the BBQ now, apparently mice hate the smell. Still visible droppings...
I need a nuclear option before they find a way into the house.
Lighter up! Heat it to the max and burn off any residue inside. If the peppermint oil didn’t deter them try spraying the area with diluted bleach to kill the smell of the mouse trails.
Would you ever see signs? Doesn't the bait take them out when they get back to their nests. And if they do die elsewhere they would get consumed by other means so you wouldn't see them much anyways?
I was filling the thing up with poison for months, every single week. Never saw any dead mice anywhere. It's like they were completely immune to it and I was just feeding them.
__________________ "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog!" ~ V.Lombardi
I’ve have several of the poison stations for years. I know they work. Once I found one dead mouse. That means we have had numerous corpses but have never had any odour.
I’ve have several of the poison stations for years. I know they work. Once I found one dead mouse. That means we have had numerous corpses but have never had any odour.
Yeah, you'd never be able to track it unless you dug around to find their bodies after the fact.
I’ve have several of the poison stations for years. I know they work. Once I found one dead mouse. That means we have had numerous corpses but have never had any odour.
Mice are pretty small. They don't have much meat on them. When they die, they just kind of dry out. No real smell most of the time. They also tend to set up their nests far from people. So if you do get one of the smelly ones, it'll likely be in a place far from human traffic.
If the poison stations are being nibbled on, the mice are being killed.
