HELP! Mice in house: Calling exterminators

[Sophia3]

Ok, I usually allow no chemicals and was going to try and get rid of mice in "live catch and release deal." well, the doors didn't trip shut and the mice ran in for snacks and kept going. I have seen TWO MICE at the same time in the trap under kitchen sink(eating peanut butter before escaping) and heard them in far other parts of the house in the ceilings!!!

i have heard they can live for years in attics above ceilings but only come into living quarters when overpopulated.

So, I am calling Scherzinger first thing tomorrow for estimates since they treated our home decades ago for termites (had no pets then)

Has anybody here had to use the bait program by PROFESSIONAL EXTERMINATORS for mice with pets in house? OBVIOUSLY that is better than the spraying systems they used to use but I worry about a stray mouse getting to cats and cats maybe ingesting mouse AND the poison. I have heard they rarely spray even in cockroach situations but I am still worried about where the bait will be (under stove! under fridge, under kitchen sinks and mice may stray out)

I do have a freind who I can stay with for awhile with my cats. Would I have to stay gone long or does it depend on the severity of infestation? we are clean folks and have NEVER had mice before...except maybe one when I was a kid and there was still farmland a couple blocks away.

Am I over-reacting?. It is tough to close cats up in a couple rooms when they are used to run of the house w/o my losing sleep but of COURSE their safety is number one.

I will call my vet tomorrow but just wanted some feedback here. Thanks

[steph37822]

oops

[MightyMouse]

Sounds like your kitties aren't very good hunters! that's okay...mine have only seen one live mouse, and they just played with it...

I don't know anything about exterminating--we just used those nasty snap traps at my dad's house. My stepmom paid me and my sisters lots of $$ to empty the traps and dispose of the deceased. Gross, but it was way more cash than my allowance!

Nina

[wareagle]

Hey Sophia..thought I'd make another suggestion..have you thought of using the glue boards? It's actually kinda' disturbing to witness..but it's safe for your cats and any other animals..no chemicals involved. We had a "mouse" problem when I was younger..we lived in an apartment complex and they used the glue boards to catch and remove the critters. The "traps" are basically a shallow dish filled with some kind of sticky material..once the mice walk on it they become stuck.

The only downfall is once the mice get stuck..someone has to take them out of the house..they're usually still alive..I'm getting a little nauseaous talking about it..I have this crazy fear of mice!

Anyway..I hope this helps!

Michele

[blackbirdsings]

We had this a few months ago. The company we used put some traps in the attic and basement. Our pet doesn't go in that area and we don't go often. The man set some sort of "food" that they eat, and than they go outside...problem solved. I wasn't around when he was here, nor have I seen whatever he used BUT on a good note, no more mice. I would assume most companies would have something like that, because we didn't want to do chemicals either. Hope that helps, if you need something more specific I will ask what was used. Good luck!

[Sophia3]

Hey

I tried to reply to this post and must have sent a private message...Didn't mean to...I reworded my ORIGINAL POST to ask about PROFESSIONAL BAIT SYSTEMS...not do it yourself.

Thanks

[Merrill]

Sophia, first, fire the cats and hire new ones. You may have to take an assertiveness training course, offered free by Forum Folks, in order to do this effectively. Unlike doctors, cats--especially the highly domesticated variety--have a way of squirreling their way into our hearts and it can be very difficult to get rid of them. (Squirrels and mice are like that too, unfortunately.)

Important question: Are your cats currently catching (and eating) ANY mice? Or are they lolling about, enjoying the extra company? If they're not impressing you with their mousing prowess, then don't worry about the goodies the exterminators put out. If they are showing off even a little, then you MAY have a problem--but your veterinarian will tell you everything you need to know.

This is the fourth winter in my house (in ANY house--I always lived in mouse/bug free city apartments, remarkably...and I'm 43) and this is the FIRST year we've had mice. I have shed quite a few tears over this (maybe it's not all the beta blocker--or the bb exacerbates other problems...chicken? egg? mouse? drugs? I digress) and the first thing we did was hire an exterminator. Same guy that captured a bat from a bathroom vent and released it in the wilds of the suburbs, but I digress again.

Anyway, the "professionals" (and I use that term lightly) put out sealed boxes (with a hole on 2 sides) of a kind of poison that basically dries the critters from the inside out. They eat, they go back to their nests, and they croak (like frogs)--but no smell for you. Only thing is, we found that the mice don't really like to eat that poison; they much prefer birdseed and whatever else we have lying around.

If your mice DO like this stuff and eat it...and your cat catches and eats a mouse who's ingested the poison... that's where you could have trouble. If they just catch the mouse and kill him, you might be OK.

Snap traps do work great--we've caught many that way. My husband handles the carnage, and I sob in the bathroom. Everyone's happy. Except the mouse, who doesn't know what hit him.

Then again, your cats could investigate the snap trap and injure himself! We put little cardboard boxes around a few traps in the kitchen ... but our parrot doesn't typically land on the floor. We weren't too worried ... but cats are really curious--and the box might not be enough protection. Ooh, this is hard.

Anyway, if you do try snap traps, use Three Mousekateers candy bars--teeny bits--for bait. This is not a joke; we learned it from the "professionals." Mice love chocolate. Are you going sugar free too? This is a good way to get rid of your sweets without feeling wasteful. Put the traps along the routes they travel, typically along the floor next to a wall. Altho one evening, a mouse just marched right into our den down the middle of the hall and into the room while we were watching TV. I screamed at him, "HEY, I'm LIVING here..." and he ran away. Awfully, bold, don't you think?

You really must do this: as you're killing the mice inside your house, hire someone (or do it yourself) to carefully examine the exterior of your house to find out how they're getting in ... and then seal it up. There are foam products you can use, and steel wool. Combination ... Start talking to people at hardware stores. If you go to certain chains, someone may try to sell you a gun. Turn around and run far from this person; he's not to be trusted.

Ok I gotta run. Best of luck. I feel your pain!!! I really do. This is a tough tough tough situation. But you can work it out in time. Be patient. And try your best to NOT feel badly about killing a few if you can do it painlessly. (The sticky traps turn my tummy too, and we won't use them.)

Merrill

[Sophia3]

thanks Merrill,

I have to wait for the exterminators to call back...their inspectors are VERY BUSY with this being termite season..so it could be a few days (yikes) before they get here.

This Saturday a friend is coming over to help seal some cracks in ceiling between garage and the house..and anything else we find. so we are doing the no brainer first.

My "catch and release" deal from FL may not arrive until MONDAY so I hate to kill but hey, my 84 year old mother is phobic and afraid to be in her kitchen and so am I.

My cats are darned curious and hanging in kitchen so I do NOT WANT to take a chance...so if they want to try bait for aweek and come back to check, the cats and I will leave. Also, I have read and heard peanut butter is the top fave snack. I put some on a toothpick and into the 'live catch thing" that the mice escaped from and within 30 minutes, two mice snacking. This was under the kitchen sink which shares a wall with attached garage. So the fact the mice are VERY BUSY in the kitchen, that is an obvious place to set traps or whatever. If they will set traps inside and bait the attic and garage, I will still leave for a few days until we see what is happening.

Thanks for your input. Yes, this is all distressing and sad tho it needs to be done. I really miss having a husband or beau thru this. I have one friend that lives 20 minutes from here but he isn't wild about mice or killing them either. *Sheesh*

So now I have to be patient...this exterminator has an alleged good reputation adn we know NOTHING about others listed in the phone book.

[Sophia3]

Bummer...Professionals ONLY USE THE SLOW DEATH GLUE TRAPS in homes with pets!!

Heck, I would think they could use the quick snap traps under stoves and sinks away from pets? and in the attic.

This is a real bummer.

i am glad they don't use bait around pets but you think they could use electronic gizmos or SOMETHING. This stinks.

[Merrill]

Sophia, you're right, you can put either snap traps or glue traps in places the cats could never get to ... under the stove (we did catch several in the trap we put there), under the refrigerator, under the sink and inside drawers or inside any other spot you know the mice go or have been. Your cats will be safe and the mice, hopefully a few of them anyway, will be dead.

I know it's distasteful to do this kind of thing yourself (this is exactly the kind of problem I too like to throw money at; hiring someone else is sometimes the way the way to go) ... but you must! (I don't reuse snap traps, by the way; they're cheap and it's easy to dispose of the whole thing, mousie and all.)

As for the poison thing I told you about ... it's completely enclosed inside a black box, and your cats could never get to it and eat it. You have to open the box with a special key--and you only open it to check for nibbles and see if they're taking the bait. My exterminator told me he gave it to his son, promising big money if he could get it open. He couldn't.

The danger to your cats is if they EAT a poisoned mouse. Have you talked this over with your vet yet? I don't think you'd need to move out ...

Also, they are typically more active at night than during the day, although some of the bolder ones pretty much ignore humans and go about their business whenever they feel like it. I too have a phobic response to these critters ... but they really are soooo small. Keep your food safe by wrapping everything in plastic ziplocs and/or canisters and your counters superclean. You'll be OK.

My mice live under the dishwasher and cabinets and haven't gotten into any food, thanx G-d. Check for holes there, under the cabinets just above the floor. Stuff em with steel wool; I'm told they don't chew through that. Put steel wool also around water pipes under the sink etc.

We tried peanut butter in our snap traps but it didn't work. All the mice we've killed were killed going after chocolate. Mice after my own heart. (They've gotten into my purse in search of a Twix! GROSS!!!)

Merrill