INTENSITY²
Start here => What's your crime? Basic Discussion => Topic started by: WolFish on February 28, 2016, 07:14:44 AM
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This is not ghost mouse, and I am not hearing or seeing things. I caught two of them trying to get into my backpack at the same time. This in spite of a dousing with a reeky men's cologne. Peppermint does not deter them - they ate the peppermint stick I left out and they chewed the peppermint tea bag.
I caught one on video. Tried to get them both but they stayed behind things after that.
The little bastards are following me - they made noise in my room all night and now I am down in my office and they are here making noise. Two fat, sleek mice. At least one will be dead within the week because I have one snap trap left and a nice hunk of snack bar as bait. The bucket trap is still untouched.
For the rest I am buying ramp traps and putting glue boards inside. I think we caught one or two with glue boards so I might add some of those in the areas too small for a trap.
If the squeaking means kids, then this is mom and dad and the kids are going to be orphans very soon.
And just FYI we could call the landlord but that would precipitate a visit from the handyman who probably is the only thing worse than the mice. He smells, he goes into off limits areas and we are pretty sure that once when we were away he made himself at home here - we found food missing. We had "visits" during the week as well; those stopped when we installed a camera pointing at the door.
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Peppermint works, till the mice get used to it.
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Go forth, and wreak thine vengeance! :pirate:
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Peppermint works, till the mice get used to it.
I hope they don't get used to the Lysol. I hope the ammonia has them pissing their little pantaloons! :arrr:
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Peppermint works, till the mice get used to it.
I hope they don't get used to the Lysol. I hope the ammonia has them pissing their little pantaloons! :arrr:
In the end they get used to anything apart from traps that kill. They get immune to poison too.
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Peppermint works, till the mice get used to it.
I hope they don't get used to the Lysol. I hope the ammonia has them pissing their little pantaloons! :arrr:
In the end they get used to anything apart from traps that kill. They get immune to poison too.
They're so adaptable, they're like cockroaches. :-\
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Peppermint works, till the mice get used to it.
I hope they don't get used to the Lysol. I hope the ammonia has them pissing their little pantaloons! :arrr:
In the end they get used to anything apart from traps that kill. They get immune to poison too.
They're so adaptable, they're like cockroaches. :-\
Furry fierce cockroaches.
(http://www.bayerpetcare.nl/static/media/images/content/risicos/muizen.jpg)
One day, cockroaches and mice may swap DNA to make themselves even stronger.
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If mice really want to increase their survival odds, they need to grow fur on their feet and tails.
I'm all the more hostile toward them because of their little rubbery tails and sticky little feet. :sick:
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I had mice when I was a teenager. The house mouse kind, not white rat. They were kept in a covered aquarium. I really enjoyed them.
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I had mice when I was a teenager. The house mouse kind, not white rat. They were kept in a covered aquarium. I really enjoyed them.
Like that they are really cute. But finding evidence that mice have been under your bed covers, maybe even while you were sleeping, is a different thing.
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I had mice when I was a teenager. The house mouse kind, not white rat. They were kept in a covered aquarium. I really enjoyed them.
My former landlady had a few pet rats, and she had a mouse (deermouse I think) in a tank
in the bathroom. I wasn't aware at that time of the germs mice can carry, so I didn't mind. 8)
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I had mice when I was a teenager. The house mouse kind, not white rat. They were kept in a covered aquarium. I really enjoyed them.
Like that they are really cute. But finding evidence that mice have been under your bed covers, maybe even while you were sleeping, is a different thing.
Agreed. When the houses behind us were torn down we had a mouse or two (and babies) for a while until we exterminated them.
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I had mice when I was a teenager. The house mouse kind, not white rat. They were kept in a covered aquarium. I really enjoyed them.
My former landlady had a few pet rats, and she had a mouse (deermouse I think) in a tank
in the bathroom. I wasn't aware at that time of the germs mice can carry, so I didn't mind. 8)
Pet mice are probably less likely to carry nasty germs, because they don't have to go through all kinds of dirt to get to their food.
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I had mice when I was a teenager. The house mouse kind, not white rat. They were kept in a covered aquarium. I really enjoyed them.
Like that they are really cute. But finding evidence that mice have been under your bed covers, maybe even while you were sleeping, is a different thing.
If I ever thought a mouse had been in my bed while I was sleeping ... :runaway: :GA:
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I had mice when I was a teenager. The house mouse kind, not white rat. They were kept in a covered aquarium. I really enjoyed them.
Like that they are really cute. But finding evidence that mice have been under your bed covers, maybe even while you were sleeping, is a different thing.
If I ever thought a mouse had been in my bed while I was sleeping ... :runaway: :GA:
Ours have been. That's really what decided it for me, finding evidence on waking up in the morning. Apparently they could be carrying at least one virus and or bacteria that make people really sick, and my immune systems is impaired. It's called hantavirus and can cause severe upper respiratory distress. I have asthma in the spring, and that's coming so I don't want to take chances on anything that might exacerbate things.
I set the last snap trap today. Hoping to reduce the problem. Ordering a multiple trap and some other kinds from Amazon. Hopefully something will work.
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I found another bag of Py's that had a snack bar and ginger tea in the water bottle pocket. They shredded everything.
However I slept well last night with no mouse noises and no surprises in my bed.
You guessed it. Got one in the snap trap with the bits of snack bar as bait. The other one probably is in mourning.
I wish I could reuse the snap traps. At least they are biodegradable.
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So today while i was at the store one of them ate a hole in a canvas bag that doesn't have any food in it.
Or so I thought. I found a tin with a snack bar in it.
I was gone for maybe two hours.
Clearly the snack bars are the best bait, and this could be why they have not touched the peanut butter trap. I'll need to stick more snack bar bits in the peanut butter.
The snack bars basically are dates, nuts and seeds held together by honey or rice syrup. The problem with putting them on the can is that if I put it on one side it's unbalanced. Though at this point I might be willing to sacrifice a couple of dollars per bar to get the little monsters into the trap.
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So today while i was at the store one of them ate a hole in a canvas bag that doesn't have any food in it.
Or so I thought. I found a tin with a snack bar in it.
I was gone for maybe two hours.
Clearly the snack bars are the best bait, and this could be why they have not touched the peanut butter trap. I'll need to stick more snack bar bits in the peanut butter.
The snack bars basically are dates, nuts and seeds held together by honey or rice syrup. The problem with putting them on the can is that if I put it on one side it's unbalanced. Though at this point I might be willing to sacrifice a couple of dollars per bar to get the little monsters into the trap.
Maybe they'll go for cheaper muesli bars too.
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There are still mice plural. Heard them squeaking, I think behind the stove.
Right now one is tearing the wrapping of something behind the shelves in my office.
I may go to home depot tomorrow for more snap traps. I still have plenty of the bar they got into in my backpack.
Today also I found another bag they chewed up - I don't remember leaving anything but grocery receipts in it, but it was shredded like the others. I've lost count of how many bags they've chewed holes in. This seems crazy - I never had this kind of problem with mice even when I didn't have cats.
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Looks like we've finally eliminated the bag issue. Last night they went after the meal bars that were in boxes - until last night they hadn't touched those. So now most of the boxed items on those shelves are switched to high cupboards and the little used pots are on the shelves. We will just have to remember to wash before we cook. The high traffic bars are in a plastic box, which no doubt they will learn to chew through, but by then we will have better mousetraps.
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Wonder if that handyman of yours relocated a few? Wow.
Seriously sounds like they've been established there for awhile, not good.
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Wonder if that handyman of yours relocated a few? Wow.
Seriously sounds like they've been established there for awhile, not good.
Actually I think it was the guy downstairs, who has a dog and not the best hygiene regarding the poor thing. I can imagine that they are established down there and overpopulation sent them up here.
Last night they could find nothing more than the jar of peanuts I left on the shelf. It's curved, so all they got was the label. Still no takers on the bucket trap. Will have to make that more enticing. But we have metal multi-catch traps waiting in the U.S. - we are picking them up on Saturday. Hopefully that will solve the problem. Thought about getting plastic traps but the reviews suggest that our smart mice will chew through them or pull the doors open and escape.
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They gave up on the peanuts but kept me up last night searching my room for stuff. My room looks like CBC's chair used to look, as I am sorting and trying to get rid of stuff. Lots of crackling noises and things shifting.
Today I put my hand in my coat pocket for a tissue to blow my nose, I found it shredded mouse style - I had hung my coat on a hook outside the closet instead of in the closet. I suppose I should be happy they didn't chew through the pocket.
Tomorrow I pick up the new traps.
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Tomorrow I pick up the new traps.
Here is a song for the battle! :pirate: ( Note artist name ;) )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnwfTHpnGLY
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the mouse would eat that song for a snack.
https://youtu.be/qlicWUDf5MM
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:tooledup: *Samuel L. Jackson voice* :tooledup:
"I've had it with these muthafuckin mice in this muthafuckin apartment!"
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I got the ketch all and the victor cat.
The ketch all says no bait needed; I am thinking I should put in some of the snack bar they demolished.
Also thinking of putting glue traps inside. I put this one on their commuter route on our pantry shelves.
The victor cat only holds two but that should be enough to reduce the problem. It's reusable.
One of the two has to work.
There is a bad smell in here; the last time it was a mouse in a snap trap. This time we did not leave any set, so it could be that the one that ate a medication capsule died somewhere. It wasn't a stimulant; that would have been as bad as the one that ate the coffee.
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There is a bad smell in here;
The last place I worked, the mouse problem in/above the HR manager's office went on too long and her office began to smell like a dirty hamster cage. Not sure if she even noticed the smell due to being in it all day, but finally said something about it because worked closely with her and simply couldn't stand to go in there anymore. The soda route is always a good suggestion for barns and sheds, but usually assume people are unwilling to try it in homes due to the likelihood of mice dying in the walls or other inaccessible areas. Though after a certain amount of time, one way or another, there will be smells anyway.
If you don't mind killing them, in childhood, mom used dark soda for mice in the barn. Any one will do, but she swore dr pepper is the best. Mice can't burp, so it kills them with no worry of poison for other animals that might want to eat them afterward.
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SO tonight I am in my bedroom listening to scritch scritch near the wall at the back of the room. The small trap is under my bed, baited with the snack bar that was already chewed by them. No sign of interest. I am hoping that they're just waiting until I am asleep.
The big one I put on the shelf where they have been commuting to the kitchen. Supposedly it needs no bait but if there are no mice in it I will bait it tomorrow. The path they travel isn't narrow enough to restrict them to the area of the trap.
The cheap $20 vac I got did a good job picking up the mess - too good. It picked up all the fine dust besides, and the filter is too permeable so fine dust is going right into the motor. I will have to clean it regularly if I want it to last. However it is good to have a dedicated vac and really good to have a clean pantry.
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There is a part of me that senses the presence of an animal, so today I turn around in my office and at first nothing.
Then, a mouse the size of a - no, smaller than a tablespoon, comes out and walks under my chair and out into the pantry area.
i was so surprised that i did not use my cup to catch it. clearly the parents should be cited for neglect. my guess is that they are ill or maybe dead from ingesting crap from around the house that is food based but not food. Or maybe the guy downstairs is poisoning them.
In any case, this is the worst kind of mouse, because it's too stupid to stay away from me, which means it could go anywhere.
It might run across my feet or decide to sample my skin, or worse, decide to nest in my boots.
i am wearing slippers. not used to them because went barefoot most of the time in florida. maybe i will have more motivation now.
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There is a part of me that senses the presence of an animal, so today I turn around in my office and at first nothing.
Then, a mouse the size of a - no, smaller than a tablespoon, comes out and walks under my chair and out into the pantry area.
i was so surprised that i did not use my cup to catch it. clearly the parents should be cited for neglect. my guess is that they are ill or maybe dead from ingesting crap from around the house that is food based but not food. Or maybe the guy downstairs is poisoning them.
In any case, this is the worst kind of mouse, because it's too stupid to stay away from me, which means it could go anywhere.
It might run across my feet or decide to sample my skin, or worse, decide to nest in my boots.
i am wearing slippers. not used to them because went barefoot most of the time in florida. maybe i will have more motivation now.
Next time, catch it. Barehanded if need be.
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need to figure out how to sneak up on them. i got one foot close to this last one and then it scurried off.
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the big one is almost a tablespoon in size. I got close to the little one but lost it - teaspoon sized. are they really old enough to be on their own at this size? still wondering what happened to the parents.
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Meet Teaspoon. It's probably bad that I named him. But seriously. That white thing next to him is the thing used to close bags of bread. He's twice that size.
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Meet Teaspoon. It's probably bad that I named him. But seriously. That white thing next to him is the thing used to close bags of bread. He's twice that size.
I think you are doomed to have Teaspoon as a pet now. Naming is serious bonding. :laugh:
Time to catch it and give it a home in a big glass container with a decent lid on it. Though, who knows, Teaspoon could be pregnant already, and then you'll have a whole set of spoonettes.
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Meet Teaspoon. It's probably bad that I named him. But seriously. That white thing next to him is the thing used to close bags of bread. He's twice that size.
I think you are doomed to have Teaspoon as a pet now. Naming is serious bonding. :laugh:
Time to catch it and give it a home in a big glass container with a decent lid on it. Though, who knows, Teaspoon could be pregnant already, and then you'll have a whole set of spoonettes.
I was thinking of a ramp that goes up to a glass jar that's tilted at an angle that it won't be able to climb out. Then a nice nap out in the below freezing temperatures. It's actually too small for the traps I bought online. The trick will be to get it to go in. It hasn't taken any of the food I've left for it.
When I find out what it likes I will set a small trap.
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Py saw Tablespoon while we were eating dinner. She says he really is bigger.
They are chewing on the styrofoam bumper for our dishwasher.
This morning, upstairs, I found rice on the floor. Haven't found the hole yet, but clearly they got into Py's weighted blanket, which was filled with rice. It was a prototype; I have nice blue beads (not crystals) to use for the actual blanket.
Giving myself until tomorrow to come up with something that will capture the kids live. If not, I will just put out poison. The little ones shouldn't make too much of a stink in the walls. Also going to check the trap upstairs - weird for the parents to disappear so suddenly.
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Meet Teaspoon. It's probably bad that I named him. But seriously. That white thing next to him is the thing used to close bags of bread. He's twice that size.
I think you are doomed to have Teaspoon as a pet now. Naming is serious bonding. :laugh:
Time to catch it and give it a home in a big glass container with a decent lid on it. Though, who knows, Teaspoon could be pregnant already, and then you'll have a whole set of spoonettes.
Ah jeez. I don't know whether to laugh, melt, or freak out. :laugh:
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Meet Teaspoon. It's probably bad that I named him. But seriously. That white thing next to him is the thing used to close bags of bread. He's twice that size.
I think you are doomed to have Teaspoon as a pet now. Naming is serious bonding. :laugh:
Time to catch it and give it a home in a big glass container with a decent lid on it. Though, who knows, Teaspoon could be pregnant already, and then you'll have a whole set of spoonettes.
Ah jeez. I don't know whether to laugh, melt, or freak out. :laugh:
only if it's true that teaspoon could be pregnant....
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Meet Teaspoon. It's probably bad that I named him. But seriously. That white thing next to him is the thing used to close bags of bread. He's twice that size.
I think you are doomed to have Teaspoon as a pet now. Naming is serious bonding. :laugh:
Time to catch it and give it a home in a big glass container with a decent lid on it. Though, who knows, Teaspoon could be pregnant already, and then you'll have a whole set of spoonettes.
Ah jeez. I don't know whether to laugh, melt, or freak out. :laugh:
only if it's true that teaspoon could be pregnant....
Don't know how old she is. Four weeks is old enough for a female mouse. :runaway:
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haven't seen the kids in a couple of days but a couple of nights ago the parents got into Py's prototype weighted blanket (made with rice). we hung it over the railing but she heard them again last night. sure enough there was rice on the floor and we uncovered a nest in the folds of the blanket. we are going to empty it tonight since it's also been making me ill - possible mold. the rice wasn't cooked, but it was Florida and the blanket is a couple of years old at least.
turns out i forgot about the candy cane i put out to see if they would eat it. found that in the folds of my rope bag.
no interest in the traps of course. going to get some snap traps today or tomorrow.
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Seems like they'll let you get fairly close.
Get yourself a container, coffee jar, or one of those clear ones pretzels or cheese balls come in...plop it over him, ease a sheet of thin cardboard or stiff paper under it (notebook cover)...pick up carefully, then quickly invert so that he's now in the bottom of the jar.
Cover the top of the jar with some saran and a rubber band, poke a few air holes...wait until dark, take him for a walk over to your neighbors (maybe the nice one that parks his cars out in front all the time). >:D
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Seems like they'll let you get fairly close.
Get yourself a container, coffee jar, or one of those clear ones pretzels or cheese balls come in...plop it over him, ease a sheet of thin cardboard or stiff paper under it (notebook cover)...pick up carefully, then quickly invert so that he's now in the bottom of the jar.
Cover the top of the jar with some saran and a rubber band, poke a few air holes...wait until dark, take him for a walk over to your neighbors (maybe the nice one that parks his cars out in front all the time). >:D
:mischief:
i wish i could but it's right across the street and the mouse likely will come back here because the neighbor is too ornery to leave even a crumb.
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today i fell asleep after eating too much ice cream and woke to hearing scrabbling noises like a mouse was getting into a box.
the scrabbling noise turned out to be the mouse getting one of my heating pads - it was filled with rice and an earlier casualty. i hung it on the door thinking i would repair it. i took it down, but no mouse. took some other things off the hook. no mouse. finally i got impatient and whacked the things remaining there - mostly shirts - and it fell out and ran like the wind. i am thinking of baiting the trap with ice cream on the little ramps.
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still no luck and one of the snap traps in the package is defective so no mouse trapping tonight.
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no luck at all. Next step is poison.
i have pepsi in kitchen along with a snap trap. I have the live catch traps upstairs. I have a snap trap in the lobby along with the water bucket trap.
so far they have eaten the meal bar off the snap trap in the lobby without setting it off. tomorrow i will glue on more with melted chocolate, and wrap it with a candy wrapper just to be sure. they took a wrapper from Py's trash and brought it into my room to eat it. Remember that my office looks like classic Asperger's so they are always coming in here looking for crumbs. Last night they found one, and they also found my m&ms jar that i thought was too deep for them to get into.
these mice are smarter than some people i know. at least if they are eating from the snap traps they are not eating sheets or clothing in search of something that only smells like food.
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caught one in a few hours with a snap trap. they are more expensive bought in bulk at home depot than two to a package at the local grocery.
Current scores
5 - snap traps
1 - glue traps
0 - bucket trap
0 - live catch ramp trap
0 - ketch all
0 - peppermint deterrent
the lysol (ammonia type) works for a couple of days at a time. up north it had no effect, but in Florida we could spray it on one coming in under the door and watch it convulse and die. i wonder if it causes minor nerve damage to the mice as well?
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i have pepsi in kitchen
Are they drinking it?
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i have pepsi in kitchen
Are they drinking it?
no, they didn't touch it as far as I could tell.
I got reusable snap traps and they haven't touched anything so far, including the last wood snap trap. no noises or anything either. they might be in mourning over the last one that died. or they are off nursing hangovers from st. patrick's day.
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i have pepsi in kitchen
Are they drinking it?
no, they didn't touch it as far as I could tell.
That's interesting. Childhood home had a huge barn and chickens, thus always grains scattered around. Dr. Pepper is the only thing mom ever used to keep the mice away. Have never had to battle mice in a home but always figured if it were ever needed, then that would be the first course of action.
no noises or anything either. they might be in mourning over the last one that died. or they are off nursing hangovers from st. patrick's day.
Or they did drink some and they're dead.
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It's quite possible. The mice were very small and I caught an adult in the large trap. So it could be the little ones that died.
I spent part of yesterday's chores cleaning mouse poop from the pantry. For the past three days there has been nothing new anywhere. I checked the traps upstairs and more importantly, the piece of snack bar I left out in the open. I also forgot to sweep the kitchen floor last night. Nothing. All untouched.
We might declare the pepsi the unofficial victor of mouse wars.
New scores:
5 - snap traps - all dead
1 - glue traps - 1 caught, 1 escaped
0 - bucket trap - no interest
0 - live catch ramp trap - no interest
0 - ketch all - no interest
0 - peppermint deterrent - stopped working
0 - lysol with ammonia (still works - 2 day deterrent)
2 - pepsi in a sauce dish
there is no smell but it's only been a couple of days and the mice left were pretty small. with any luck they will go downstairs and not nest in my room to die.
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Holy shit, that's a lot of weaponry! I'm glad at elast some of it seems to have worked.
FWIW, some of the poison in my apartment was definitely eaten, but no mice died in my walls.
I hope this whole pain-in-the-ass business is over for you and Py. I know how distressing it can be. :thumbdn:
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Holy shit, that's a lot of weaponry! I'm glad at elast some of it seems to have worked.
FWIW, some of the poison in my apartment was definitely eaten, but no mice died in my walls.
Have read poisons make them very thirsty so they will leave a dwelling to seek water, if water is not readily available for them, making it likely they will not die indoors.
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Holy shit, that's a lot of weaponry! I'm glad at elast some of it seems to have worked.
FWIW, some of the poison in my apartment was definitely eaten, but no mice died in my walls.
I hope this whole pain-in-the-ass business is over for you and Py. I know how distressing it can be. :thumbdn:
i hope so too. still cleaning "evidence" from everywhere and the idea of the bacteria involved is the most distressing. can't see mouse pee but i know they do it everywhere.
"poison" will be the first line next time. we almost always have pepsi in the house.
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Holy shit, that's a lot of weaponry! I'm glad at elast some of it seems to have worked.
FWIW, some of the poison in my apartment was definitely eaten, but no mice died in my walls.
Have read poisons make them very thirsty so they will leave a dwelling to seek water, if water is not readily available for them, making it likely they will not die indoors.
I did go through an initial period of paranoia about water availability.
I would dry out my sink with paper towels after use. Anyway, no mouse evidence in awhile. :crossed:
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Wow...never knew about the pepsi.
Beer should work too then. Wonder what they like better? :apondering:
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Wow...never knew about the pepsi.
Beer should work too then. Wonder what they like better? :apondering:
Beer might give them beer goggles, leading to a population explosion. :hide:
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Wow...never knew about the pepsi.
Beer should work too then. Wonder what they like better? :apondering:
is beer sweet? as a child i thought it was kind of nasty bitter. when i tasted it again in college it seemed kind of watered down weird, so except for exotic stuff like sam adams triple bock i never drank it. now since i can't have gluten i can't try it again.
i thought the mice went for the pepsi because it was sweet.
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Dng it!
I think I picked up the bit of corn chip near the trap but did I? I can't remember so now I have to do it all over again.
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the corn chip is gone.
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the corn chip is gone.
Shit. It was probably a bit soon for all of them to be gone. :hide: What's your next move?
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the corn chip is gone.
Shit. It was probably a bit soon for all of them to be gone. :hide: What's your next move?
Well, last night I passed out after eating five chocolate chip cookies (Py made them; each was a bit smaller than a CD) and left the bag on the floor. It was untouched in the morning so I think it's Teaspoon and her family, which, if she's still that small, could survive for a week on that corn chip fragment. I did leave out some more pepsi, so my next move is to look for "evidence" which so far I have not found anywhere. Teaspoon will be harder to catch because she won't trip most trap sets. She's also too small to consider the bucket trap unless I add to the ramp.
Suggestions welcome.
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Any chance the corn chip was moved because of a door opening, or someone brushing by?
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Any chance the corn chip was moved because of a door opening, or someone brushing by?
no, it's in a niche under the counter near the stove. found "evidence" on the counter as well. we've used a lot of disinfectant spray this winter. it does keep them at bay for a couple of days at a time, but then they go elsewhere. I'll just have to wait for Teaspoon to get big enough to trip one of the traps.
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When I had a mouse infestation, a few years ago, I cleansed the house, starting at the corner that had no escape route for them, working towards the spaces where escape routes to outside where available for them.
Every bit cleansed, I marked with peppermint oil. My territory. Cats, my own catching, and the weather improving, made that they were gone before they had gotten immune to the peppermint smell.
Used that tactic on every floor.
Maybe haunting them, but leaving open an escape route will help you too. The weather is improving, no need for them to stay inside.
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We're hoping that's why they are being inconsistent. It's been warm off and on here. It was snowing this morning.
While we were in the U.S. they got into a capsule of medication I had left in a cup on a table. The medication has a warning that it could cause birth defects. Makes me wonder if Teaspoon's mother is the one who chewed it. Teaspoon could be the first in a subspecies of mutant teaspoon sized mice. Unfortunately they probably would mate with regular size mice and in a few generations we'd be catching the fat ones in the traps again.
I had to buy a new backpack. They ruined two of mine and one of Py's. There have been a lot of casualties because we cleaned like heck in the kitchen but forgot about things like seaweed snacks, and coffee on the shelves and snack bars in backpacks.
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While we were in the U.S. they got into a capsule of medication I had left in a cup on a table. The medication has a warning that it could cause birth defects. Makes me wonder if Teaspoon's mother is the one who chewed it. Teaspoon could be the first in a subspecies of mutant teaspoon sized mice. Unfortunately they probably would mate with regular size mice and in a few generations we'd be catching the fat ones in the traps again.
That's a fascinating thought. Either that, or Teaspoon is of a different breed of mouse than the others.
My former landlady had a pet mouse who, at least when she first arrived, was about the same size as
Teaspoon. I remember a photo of her in a little basket with a penny to show scale. She was about
twice the size of the penny. I don't think she grew much bigger than that. Anyway, good luck. :viking:
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The kitchen is almost mouse proofed. Covered the toaster after reading that they could get down inside it and eat the crumbs. No evidence of that but since we've been cleaning with lysol there's been less evidence on the counter. Last night there was none.
On the other hand, they benefit from my carelessness. I somehow dropped a corn chip on the floor and they got that without my realizing. I heard them munching it and took it away. Actually saw a tail. Other than that, no sign of them sometimes for a day or so. Thought I heard one in my room but no sign of it - could have been a dream or one of CBC's ghost mice. My old backpack still stinks of Mont Blanc Presence. And one day we had sweet rice flour in a bag on the counter and they got into it in broad daylight.
Bottom line is that they are still here. We had some recycling folks come from the city and they told me put Vick's on the bin lid to keep critters away. They are taking meat scraps as well as regular compostables. But I think I might try that to keep them off the counter. I am also giving them the nasty chocolate that comes in kinder surprise in the hopes that they will try to get it out of the trap under the counter. I made the opening Teaspoon size, but so far no luck.
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I'm sorry they're still there. Do you have any idea how many there might be? :tinfoil:
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Found mouse droppings behind the kitchen bin. Left a humane trap behind it for a few days and caught nothing. Changed it to a couple of lethal traps and got 3 mice in less than 24 hours.
Sorry mice, but either you or me had to go.
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Found mouse droppings behind the kitchen bin. Left a humane trap behind it for a few days and caught nothing. Changed it to a couple of lethal traps and got 3 mice in less than 24 hours.
Sorry mice, but either you or me had to go.
Indeed. They spread diseases and have no place in your living space. >:(
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I'm sorry they're still there. Do you have any idea how many there might be? :tinfoil:
Probably two or three - no signs of a family yet. So far there are few signs unless we leave something out by accident. There is a path from downstairs so they may be commuting. I am going to get some vick's to see if that will keep them out. I put stuff there with peppermint but i am sure they are used to it by now. It's on the short list to get in there and nail something over the holes.
At my mother's summer house the mice would bring in their own food and we'd find the remains of nests in the furniture. They'd bring in seeds and things that fell from the bird feeders. I think she gets an exterminator these days.
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Any chance they are eating from both your place and the neighbours, while living in between?
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Keep offering them soda.
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Any chance they are eating from both your place and the neighbours, while living in between?
Since the leavings are not daily anymore, I suspect so.
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The trap behind the bin has just bagged mouse number four. This one is smaller than the first three.
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This morning when I went out to do the compost I saw the neighbor's discarded mousetrap. So she's got them too. That means three potential sources of infestation.
The ones that chewed everything are all dead, i think. I am going to try soda and also the thing that I should have been doing all along - putting a trap on the kitchen counter. Cleaning up a blood spatter might not be as bad as all that. Also going to leave them a cape cod sans vodka.
Can mice get alcohol poisoning?
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This morning when I went out to do the compost I saw the neighbor's discarded mousetrap. So she's got them too. That means three potential sources of infestation.
The ones that chewed everything are all dead, i think. I am going to try soda and also the thing that I should have been doing all along - putting a trap on the kitchen counter. Cleaning up a blood spatter might not be as bad as all that. Also going to leave them a cape cod sans vodka.
Can mice get alcohol poisoning?
Never been drinking with any before. :oneliner:
A Cape Codder without alcohol would be just ... cranberry juice? Are they allergic to that? :orly:
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This morning when I went out to do the compost I saw the neighbor's discarded mousetrap. So she's got them too. That means three potential sources of infestation.
The ones that chewed everything are all dead, i think. I am going to try soda and also the thing that I should have been doing all along - putting a trap on the kitchen counter. Cleaning up a blood spatter might not be as bad as all that. Also going to leave them a cape cod sans vodka.
Can mice get alcohol poisoning?
Never been drinking with any before. :oneliner:
A Cape Codder without alcohol would be just ... cranberry juice? Are they allergic to that? :orly:
I don't have the enzyme that lets people drink, so I had virgins - the version they made at the bar where I hung out made them with ginger ale, cranberry juice and vodka.
maybe I will make sangria for the mice. we have lots of white wine. if they drink they may exercise poor judgement and run into the traps.
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This morning when I went out to do the compost I saw the neighbor's discarded mousetrap. So she's got them too. That means three potential sources of infestation.
The ones that chewed everything are all dead, i think. I am going to try soda and also the thing that I should have been doing all along - putting a trap on the kitchen counter. Cleaning up a blood spatter might not be as bad as all that. Also going to leave them a cape cod sans vodka.
Can mice get alcohol poisoning?
Never been drinking with any before. :oneliner:
A Cape Codder without alcohol would be just ... cranberry juice? Are they allergic to that? :orly:
I don't have the enzyme that lets people drink, so I had virgins - the version they made at the bar where I hung out made them with ginger ale, cranberry juice and vodka.
maybe I will make sangria for the mice. we have lots of white wine. if they drink they may exercise poor judgement and run into the traps.
So do you get that alcohol flush reaction? :nerd!:
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maybe I will make sangria for the mice. we have lots of white wine. if they drink they may exercise poor judgement and run into the traps.
Either that, or they'll just become high-class drunks. (http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/drink/martini-smiley-emoticon.gif)
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maybe I will make sangria for the mice. we have lots of white wine. if they drink they may exercise poor judgement and run into the traps.
Either that, or they'll just become high-class drunks. (http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/drink/martini-smiley-emoticon.gif)
Or they become low-class drunks, sing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall", smoke mousy cigarettes and leave tiny burns in your carpet, and order Pizza that you're expected to pay for since you're the host
:beergrin: :kumbaya:. :pee: :puke: :puke:
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So I cleaned everything off the counter, including the toaster and other appliances. Cleaned any spatter I could find on any wall, floor or cabinet. Took away the soap and all but one sponge (it's holding the faucet from hitting the wall). Left a jar top with white wine on the floor, reset the snap trap with bacon and brought the live catch trap down from my room. Took out the snack bar and put in buttered toast and bacon. Covered it with a cardboard egg carton and put that where they run.
Just heard a sound that is either the mice getting into the pots in the dish drain, or one got into the live catch trap. Pics to follow.
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My mice are best trapped with peanut butter as bait.
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As best as we can figure, last night they ate the baked on oil on the bottom of a low hanging cast iron pot. Twice I heard noises that sounded like the trap - it's possible they escaped the ramp before it could swing away. We may need to find something that works with a smaller mouse.
The snap traps are untouched.
There was little evidence of a counter incursion except by the spice rack, so we are taking that away tonight as well. Haven't cleaned the oven since there's no evidence there and also, if the oven were viable they would not be visible in the rest of the house.
There was one on my bed last night. I didn't hear it but I did find evidence on, of course, the mouse tray attached to the laptop cooling board.
They don't seem to have touched the wine. Maybe I should sacrifice my port. They might like sweet things better.
Clearly the mice in the house reflect the intelligence level and personality of the human occupants.
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No sign of them.
Not anywhere. I wonder if they all have little hangovers from drinking wine all weekend?
Moved the trap to another place on their trail that's less inconvenient for me.
Maybe they're mad that I ate all the bacon instead of putting more in the trap.
I have to admit, if I had to eat the grease black off the back of a frying pan, I'd be trying a new restaurant.
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Checking in, preparing for battle. Just got message at work from kid. There's a mouse in the house.
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Checking in, preparing for battle. Just got message at work from kid. There's a mouse in the house.
Oh shit! My sympathies! Are you giong to hand-catch, or is it time for the big guns? :litigious:
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Maybe it's the weather. We got 15+ cm of snow and voila - signs everywhere. We did leave out a bowl of kiwi fruit but the signs were in other places - the usual ones. I suspect that they were not expecting the storm.
We are supposed to get more snow on Saturday - we'll be prepared.
I am positive we have NIMH mice. They haven't touched any of the traps. They didn't touch the wine either and I am loathe to give them my port, so it will be back to pepsi and hope they go outside to die.
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Checking in, preparing for battle. Just got message at work from kid. There's a mouse in the house.
Oh shit! My sympathies! Are you giong to hand-catch, or is it time for the big guns? :litigious:
If it was only one, then we've got it and sent it away in the wide world outside.
Cooperation of cat, kid and me.
Put all furniture away from the walls so cat could go behind them. Mouse crawled under a cupboard. Shifted that a bit more. Then cat angled with her long front legs and finally got the mouse, to play with.... So, mouse escaped, I got it, mouse escaped, kid got it, mouse escaped, cat got it, mouse escaped, and then I got it and brought it outside, far away enough to not come back. And with nice shrubberies to play hide and seek with cats, magpies, buzzards and other critters.
Now there is hoping it was only this one.
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We caught ours too in the ketchall. Py woke me at 4am because it was making a racket.
I am going back to bed. the trap has a frosted top so pic isn't great. Looks like teaspoon grew up, though. This one is tablespoon sized. it's still alive. It's chewing on the metal so probably it will die of mystery metal from china poisoning by breakfast
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Congrats on trapping it.
Now don't clean the trap after you've got rid of this mouse. It now has genuine mousescent. The others may like it better now.
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Cat's are still patrolling alongside the long wall of my livingroom. Don't know if it is because the scent of the mouse that got caught still lingers, or that there is more fun to be had for them.
Sirius is in the mood to check every possible nook and cranny lately.
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Here Sirius is, checking the borrowed spinning wheel for mice.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc445/hetiswat/cats%202010/waaristienou_zpsjycxfkvr.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/hetiswat/media/cats%202010/waaristienou_zpsjycxfkvr.jpg.html)
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Congrats on trapping it.
Now don't clean the trap after you've got rid of this mouse. It now has genuine mousescent. The others may like it better now.
I've read that even bloody snap traps are best reused without being cleaned.
Apparently the smell of the blood attracts more mice to the trap, instead of scaring them off. :hide:
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Sirius is absolutely gorgeous. :heart:
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Congrats on trapping it.
Now don't clean the trap after you've got rid of this mouse. It now has genuine mousescent. The others may like it better now.
I've read that even bloody snap traps are best reused without being cleaned.
Apparently the smell of the blood attracts more mice to the trap, instead of scaring them off. :hide:
dang. we've been tossing them for fear of germs. Since one got into the ketchall maybe we will get to see if it works with the snap traps. It's still alive and making a racket. Probably we will let it out even though it's snowing to beat the band and supposed to snow through Saturday. Snap trap would have been much better, I think. We might get another few centimeters. Agreed about Sirius. We can't get a cat until we have a house in which they can be separate from Py's living space.
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Release it half a mile away from you. It will probably find some warmth and shelter under the snow, or it will be food for a cold critter out alone in the snow. In both cases it is good.
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Release it half a mile away from you. It will probably find some warmth and shelter under the snow, or it will be food for a cold critter out alone in the snow. In both cases it is good.
I will let Py know. She's going to take it down and across the railroad tracks to let it go.
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Release it half a mile away from you. It will probably find some warmth and shelter under the snow, or it will be food for a cold critter out alone in the snow. In both cases it is good.
I will let Py know. She's going to take it down and across the railroad tracks to let it go.
It may find the love of its life there, between the tracks. :2thumbsup:
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Congrats on trapping it.
Now don't clean the trap after you've got rid of this mouse. It now has genuine mousescent. The others may like it better now.
There don't seem to be others but we will reset the trap anyway. I think it was Teaspoon - that dark blob in there is a Dove Bar chocolate egg.
Py reports that she let Teaspoon out down by the canal, across the road from some buildings, in a nice copse of trees with nooks and crannies in which to hide. Teaspoon ran away from Py at a 90 degree angle which took her through traffic across the street to the buildings. She made it safely. Py left the food from the trap but we agreed it's unlikely that Teaspoon will come back for it.
I am worried that Teaspoon was keeping the fabric chewing mice away, and now those will come back, but those were vulnerable to the snap traps so maybe it's all good.
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No signs again. I miss Teaspoon. If it weren't for the germs I might have fed her and let her stay here.
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* scratches Wolfie behind ear *
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Cats now and then check the places they did the days before we captured our tiny mouse. But the eagerness is gone. I'm suspecting Luna brought the little one here, as a nice toy.
:zombiefuck:
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No signs again. I miss Teaspoon. If it weren't for the germs I might have fed her and let her stay here.
Li'l Teaspoon. :heart: She's gone on to her next little adventure.
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No signs again. I miss Teaspoon. If it weren't for the germs I might have fed her and let her stay here.
Li'l Teaspoon. :heart: She's gone on to her next little adventure.
I fully expect her to migrate to the US and take the Republican candidacy away from Trump.
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No signs again. I miss Teaspoon. If it weren't for the germs I might have fed her and let her stay here.
Li'l Teaspoon. :heart: She's gone on to her next little adventure.
I fully expect her to migrate to the US and take the Republican candidacy away from Trump.
She'd be a great POTAS, without a cat in the white house.
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No signs again. I miss Teaspoon. If it weren't for the germs I might have fed her and let her stay here.
Li'l Teaspoon. :heart: She's gone on to her next little adventure.
I fully expect her to migrate to the US and take the Republican candidacy away from Trump.
She'd be a great POTAS, without a cat in the white house.
She's such a boss, I can see her having a cat anyway, and being the boss of the cat. :laugh: :heart:
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Checking in again.
My war is not over yet. The mouse we caught last Thursday was really tiny. I thought of teaspoon, when putting her outside. But this morning I heard daughter call me: "mom, dead mouse!". It was BIG. The biggest mouse I've seen in this house so far. A massive male, full grown, with wide male mouse hips. Probably at his peak in life, taken by Luna. We had heard Luna making huge havock during the night, with her typical mousing sounds.
The head of this male mouse was as big as the whole little mouse we got last Thursday.
So, maybe Luna did bring the little one in the livingroom, but not from outside. The massive one she got on the attic.
I'm back in this mouse war thread. Two mice gone, no idea how many still left.
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We are waiting for new mice - had snow this morning and now rain. Plus the neighbors are not the best housekeepers.
No signs yet, though. They might not know that Teaspoon is gone.
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Time to put some welcoming Dr Pepper in jar lids for them.
I've been wondering if yeast in sugar water would not even work better, with the yeast producing CO2 as long as the sugar lasts. Maybe Jack has thoughts about that.
I had hoped my mice would be leaving. The weather is really spring like. People wear summer jackets or no jackets at all. Some even have put on their shorts. The temperature is above 15ºC, is is sunny. Time for mice to go outside and nibble on bulbs and such.
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I've been wondering if yeast in sugar water would not even work better, with the yeast producing CO2 as long as the sugar lasts. Maybe Jack has thoughts about that.
That might need Lestat, or at least someone who can cook. :laugh:
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I've been wondering if yeast in sugar water would not even work better, with the yeast producing CO2 as long as the sugar lasts. Maybe Jack has thoughts about that.
That might need Lestat, or at least someone who can cook. :laugh:
But if you cook it, the yeast will die. :chin:
Maybe Hubert will know. He knows about pet physiology, and mice can be pets too.
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I've been wondering if yeast in sugar water would not even work better, with the yeast producing CO2 as long as the sugar lasts. Maybe Jack has thoughts about that.
That might need Lestat, or at least someone who can cook. :laugh:
But if you cook it, the yeast will die. :chin:
Maybe Hubert will know. He knows about pet physiology, and mice can be pets too.
the mice didn't go for the wine. kombucha continues to ferment if left out and is slightly sweet so that's an option too.
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Further spring cleaning turned up evidence of mouse poisoning and trapping.
The one we found in the storeroom was beyond photography. There were tufts of hair and what looked like seeds everywhere. Looked like flax seeds.
This one I found in the dustpan, which is about six inches tall, so we think maybe he fell in and was trapped. Since it looks like he was sleeping I expect he starved to death.
Otherwise there have been no signs. Pretty clear that something this size would not tip a regular size mousetrap so if we get infested again we'll have to go back to pepsi.
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Rest in peace, Teaspoon 2. :heart:
And all the rest of you, GTFO of that house and leave the wolf and the Py in peace! :police:
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The snap trap in the kitchen was sprung today. No mouse poop anywhere, but it looked like the food was gone.
I reset the trap and tomorrow we will go back to spotless kitchen.
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Big mouse signs have appeared overnight. I put the live catch trap back. They don't seem to have discovered the counter or the upstairs yet, so hopefully we will get them sorted early on this time.
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Big mouse signs have appeared overnight. I put the live catch trap back. They don't seem to have discovered the counter or the upstairs yet, so hopefully we will get them sorted early on this time.
ketchall got it overnight; py let it out this morning. going to put the trap back again. snap trap was untouched.
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Back to ghost mice. No signs but caught one in the snap trap. Py heard the death throes. Wolfish slept like a stone.
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Back to ghost mice. No signs but caught one in the snap trap. Py heard the death throes. Wolfish slept like a stone.
I'm glad you slept through that. Do you have any sense of how many mice remain? :orly:
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Back to ghost mice. No signs but caught one in the snap trap. Py heard the death throes. Wolfish slept like a stone.
I'm glad you slept through that. Do you have any sense of how many mice remain? :orly:
no, and now we can't leave the trap as it was because we have ants. the ants don't like diatomaceous earth but neither do the mice.
a few signs but more ants than mice signs
no ant traps at the grocery store so i will have to make my own.
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Can you find their nest?
I' ve poured boiling water in nests of intruding ants. And after that, when the ants started cleaning their nest from dead ants I poured a mixture of lukewarm sugarwater with yeast in the nest. Ended with lots of dead ants and a nest too small to invade my house. The dead ants were no problem for birds etc.(maybe they were for mice, because of yeast producing co2)
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Can you find their nest?
I' ve poured boiling water in nests of intruding ants. And after that, when the ants started cleaning their nest from dead ants I poured a mixture of lukewarm sugarwater with yeast in the nest. Ended with lots of dead ants and a nest too small to invade my house. The dead ants were no problem for birds etc.(maybe they were for mice, because of yeast producing co2)
Out house starts on the second floor so it might be hard.
I have found where they are coming in - likely a window.
Plan is to poison them with sugar and borax.
The problem is that might be off putting for the mice. Once I get the sugar out they might stay there and not invade the traps.
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we put out commercial ant bait for the huge ones that were invading my desk which is by the back porch window.
meanwhile ketchall caught another mouse with no food at all in the trap - i had removed the goodies because of the ants. it still smells a little of kinder surprise.
kinder chocolate is likely similar to those mcgross hamburgers that people leave on the shelf for years that don't get moldy or deteriorated. the oldest one will be 16 or 17 this year.
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So are you getting the upper hand in the war? :arrr:
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We are still getting the occasional "sign" but nothing like the destruction that went on earlier. I did find a shirt with a hole chewed in it, but that could have been from the past. No signs of intrusion on the counters or the stove so I am guessing we are winning.
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We are still getting the occasional "sign" but nothing like the destruction that went on earlier. I did find a shirt with a hole chewed in it, but that could have been from the past. No signs of intrusion on the counters or the stove so I am guessing we are winning.
That's good. It's been months since the last "sign," and I've only recently resumed storing food
in the refrigerator. I'll probably pull it away from the wall again today to check for "signs." :tinfoil:
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We are still getting the occasional "sign" but nothing like the destruction that went on earlier. I did find a shirt with a hole chewed in it, but that could have been from the past. No signs of intrusion on the counters or the stove so I am guessing we are winning.
That's good. It's been months since the last "sign," and I've only recently resumed storing food
in the refrigerator. I'll probably pull it away from the wall again today to check for "signs." :tinfoil:
Where were you storing it until now? :zombiefuck:
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We are still getting the occasional "sign" but nothing like the destruction that went on earlier. I did find a shirt with a hole chewed in it, but that could have been from the past. No signs of intrusion on the counters or the stove so I am guessing we are winning.
That's good. It's been months since the last "sign," and I've only recently resumed storing food
in the refrigerator. I'll probably pull it away from the wall again today to check for "signs." :tinfoil:
Where were you storing it until now? :zombiefuck:
In her Weeble tummy.
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We are still getting the occasional "sign" but nothing like the destruction that went on earlier. I did find a shirt with a hole chewed in it, but that could have been from the past. No signs of intrusion on the counters or the stove so I am guessing we are winning.
That's good. It's been months since the last "sign," and I've only recently resumed storing food
in the refrigerator. I'll probably pull it away from the wall again today to check for "signs." :tinfoil:
Where were you storing it until now? :zombiefuck:
In her Weeble tummy.
:lol1: Some in the freezer (I trusted it more than the lower part of the refrigerator/freezer unit),
and the rest in the microwave. I've eaten very well lately despite the paranoia, believe me! :sumo: :P
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Ah, I forgot about weeble food, which apparently does not need refrigeration.
I could do without the refrigeration outdoors this week. I am sure it will drive more mice to our trap. It is still a lot warmer in here than outside (4C). It's a balmy 14C indoors.
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Ah, I forgot about weeble food, which apparently does not need refrigeration.
:lol1: Weeble chow keeps very well frozen or at room temp if necessary.
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We might still have the odd mouse but we have moved on to warm weather pests.
Flies are not out yet (this thread was not in time for the Great Maggot Wars of 2015, but noseeums, mayflies and moths are. We got rid of the small ants but the carpenter ants remain a problem. The sleaze put up unfinished new wood in place of the wood he broke up to disturb the carpenter ants. we have had about three days of really heavy rain and a few days of plain rain since. Guess what he used (pine) and guess what happened? Hopefully this will lure the carpenter ants back outside where they can feast on common fare.
The moths are another story. I am not sure how they got in, but we have had open windows. I found two with loose screens and one with a hole repair gone bad. I found a grocery tote (i thought made of cotton) with holes - some so small that it wouldn't make sense for a mouse to have made them. I also found a shirt that had been hanging on the back of my door with a hole near the shoulder.
Next research project, I guess. I wonder if pepsi in a tin lid would kill some carpenter ants?
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Carpenter ants.
DE or Diatomaceous Earth. You can get the food grade, non toxic, they have an accordion like thing on amazon too (pest pistol) to spread it with (definitely wear a mask, it's not poison but you don't want to inhale it).
DE is a drying agent, basically they get coated with the dust and will wither and die. Go along the baseboards and the base of the foundation if you can.
This crap works on spiders, millipedes, and centipedes too.
Unfortunately it does diddly squat to asian stinkbugs. :P
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DE or Diatomaceous Earth.
I used to live in the same town as the largest diatomaceous earth mine in the US (at one time, the entire world).
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DE or Diatomaceous Earth.
I used to live in the same town as the largest diatomaceous earth mine in the US (at one time, the entire world).
(http://i.perezhilton.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/today-omg-jaw-dropping-reaction-shot-gif-video-2.gif)
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Carpenter ants.
DE or Diatomaceous Earth. You can get the food grade, non toxic, they have an accordion like thing on amazon too (pest pistol) to spread it with (definitely wear a mask, it's not poison but you don't want to inhale it).
DE is a drying agent, basically they get coated with the dust and will wither and die. Go along the baseboards and the base of the foundation if you can.
This crap works on spiders, millipedes, and centipedes too.
Unfortunately it does diddly squat to asian stinkbugs. :P
In florida we made a poison for the pharoh ants we had and it worked for a little while.
worked wonders on the roaches though. i made a batch and put it in plastic because their favorite thing was to come in under the doors or windows - though the windows were pretty well covered by anoles and toads, some still got through. Anyway, they would head straight for synthetic stuff - they seemed to like styrofoam, silicone (they ate the silicone covering on my water bottle) and plastic wrapped stuff. So I made baits with wax paper and plastic and put them near the doors (and yes, I never thought of changing the door sweep). They would come in, eat through the plastic and then go out. In a few days they started showing up dead.
Never saw any dead ants, just a reduction in activity and a few days absence after a while. Then they were back. Followed their path outside and sprayed regularly with this foul smelling all natural stuff and same thing - gone for a few days, then back. Can't remember what finally worked, just that it was a less toxic formula that had to be reapplied if you looked at it wrong. Haven't seen anything like it here, that's why the research. Apparently the U.S. is a lot better at some kinds of toxic.
Since we are on the second and third floors I would not be able to do the base of the foundation without letting our neighbors know. Would that stuff harm dogs. There is a little one I don't care about, but there is also a very friendly aging german shepherd named Larry who eats our steak bones. Wouldn't want to harm him.
What about the window sills? Could they be coming in there? There is also a chance they are coming in from the roof. The sleaze was repairing the gutters, which were attached to the roof via the wood he replaced. Very strange arrangement. The building is from the 1800s. I also have a hole in my wall. My bedroom is under the back part of the roof, and the hole is about 3/4 down from the top of the roof, which might leak. I could put some in there, but I don't want to waste what i have until i get a source for more. Haven't seen that here either.
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They say it won't hurt animals/pets (foreseeable that it could dry out the pads of their paws and cause them to crack if they walked through it enough) which was why I went that route...I do not put it anywhere my fur kids might track through it though.
We had carpenter ants bad here. Had steps up the hillside made out of railroad ties, they were totally infested with them. The kitchen faced the steps and that was the room that was affected the most. I dusted at the base of the foundation and along the bottom of the baseboards inside. It kept them at bay until I finally ripped the steps out last year.
We had the T 111 siding taken off in 95 and went with vinyl and I think they just migrated to the steps since they couldn't eat the siding anymore. Been dusting with this stuff for almost 3 years now...I haven't seen a carpenter ant in 2 years, and don't see many bugs at all now, even though I have a jungle of plantings all around the house and woods in back of me. Stinkbugs are the exception. There is always one. :LOL:
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we only see the occasional carpenter ant these days. mostly the little ones show up if we drop something on the floor and don't see it.
unfortunately the ketch-all is still working. py took out the garbage a couple of days ago because it smelled so bad but today when i was washing the floor i had to move it and it wasn't the garbage smelling. except now it is because stupidly i thought that two layers of plastic bag would contain the smell.
had to wash the trap so not sure it will work now. pretty sure the mouse must have died of heat exhaustion because it got trapped on one of the really hot days.
we have also graduated to flies. time to make more screens; meanwhile have to track down how they are getting in - a loose screen somewhere, i think. so far flypaper is not working.
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found the loose screen but now we have an undetermined number of flies in the house.
two have met their match: one died in a plate of grease drained from the fried chicken i heated up today. the other was (literally) doing the backstroke in a glass of water that py had left on the table at her place - hopefully it will be dead by morning. i am still hoping for the flypaper, that it will work without my having to sacrifice any real food.
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First there were indeterminate signs, then we caught two in three days in the ketch all - no bait at all.
It's the cold nights.
There is one in my room now.
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The PR freaked out because there was a cockroach in the car yesterday. AFAIK it's still there. If you hear a scream followed by a screech and a BAM then you know I found it while driving.
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The PR freaked out because there was a cockroach in the car yesterday. AFAIK it's still there. If you hear a scream followed by a screech and a BAM then you know I found it while driving.
Last winter I saw something scuttling down the hall in my apartment. Before I killed it, I got a good look,
and I'm about 96% certain it was a cockroach. I haven't seen one since. I know they occasionally
gain entrance to a home in the folds of paper grocery bags or by other means. This evidently was not
an infestation, since there have been no others. But I have to check my paper bags more carefully. :tinfoil:
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The PR freaked out because there was a cockroach in the car yesterday. AFAIK it's still there. If you hear a scream followed by a screech and a BAM then you know I found it while driving.
The kind of lysol spray that comes in a yellow bottle - it has ammonia in it. It will drive the roach out of hiding and if you spray it directly, it will kill it.
We had them climb into the car from places like grocery stores when we lived in Florida. Then unexpectedly they would climb or drop out from the wheel wells or other places.
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The PR freaked out because there was a cockroach in the car yesterday. AFAIK it's still there. If you hear a scream followed by a screech and a BAM then you know I found it while driving.
Last winter I saw something scuttling down the hall in my apartment. Before I killed it, I got a good look,
and I'm about 96% certain it was a cockroach. I haven't seen one since. I know they occasionally
gain entrance to a home in the folds of paper grocery bags or by other means. This evidently was not
an infestation, since there have been no others. But I have to check my paper bags more carefully. :tinfoil:
you killed it so badly that it was unrecognizable afterwards?
i am never sneaking into your apartment in the middle of the night...
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The PR freaked out because there was a cockroach in the car yesterday. AFAIK it's still there. If you hear a scream followed by a screech and a BAM then you know I found it while driving.
Last winter I saw something scuttling down the hall in my apartment. Before I killed it, I got a good look,
and I'm about 96% certain it was a cockroach. I haven't seen one since. I know they occasionally
gain entrance to a home in the folds of paper grocery bags or by other means. This evidently was not
an infestation, since there have been no others. But I have to check my paper bags more carefully. :tinfoil:
you killed it so badly that it was unrecognizable afterwards?
i am never sneaking into your apartment in the middle of the night...
Heh, bugs are fairly soft, so squashing them is easy enough. :laugh:
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The mice in the shed have gotten out of control not really sure why but they are getting into everything and the cat doesn't seem to care so I'm making a bucket trap today
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The mice in the shed have gotten out of control not really sure why but they are getting into everything and the cat doesn't seem to care so I'm making a bucket trap today
The cat's too busy watching Hoarders on TV! :tv: :flo:
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Well, it seems my neighbor across the hall had a mouse in her apartment just now.
I returned home from lunch at my friend's house to hear several minutes of ear-splitting screaming
and panicked running and thumping around, as my neighbor and her guests chased something.
One of them brought it outside, while another yelled, "Take it far, so it doesn't come back!" Then the
first one reported, "It's coming back in!" Sounds like mouse behavior to me. Time to gear up! :pirate:
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We are expecting company as we are having our first snowstorm. Nothing over the weekend but it was warm.
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We are expecting company as we are having our first snowstorm. Nothing over the weekend but it was warm.
Am I invited too? :zoinks:
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We are expecting company as we are having our first snowstorm. Nothing over the weekend but it was warm.
Am I invited too? :zoinks:
Yes, there's a special trap just for you! :trollface:
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We are expecting company as we are having our first snowstorm. Nothing over the weekend but it was warm.
Am I invited too? :zoinks:
Yes, there's a special trap just for you! :trollface:
I hope it has potato chips in it. :zoinks:
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If I catch you, I'll release you rump first into a snowbank.
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If I catch you, I'll release you rump first into a snowbank.
You hear that, gopher? You're gonna be in MY house! (http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_108.gif) :snowman:
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If I catch you, I'll release you rump first into a snowbank.
You hear that, gopher? You're gonna be in MY house! (http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_108.gif) :snowman:
Whoops, I guess the gopher's already in the snow! Serves ya right! :snowman:
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Well, the screaming across the hall happened about 30 hours ago, and I've seen no signs of mousage
in my apartment since then, so I think this may have been a lone wanderer, probably frightened
off the property by the shrillness of my neighbors' hysterical voices. But I shall remain vigilant! :police:
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If I catch you, I'll release you rump first into a snowbank.
You hear that, gopher? You're gonna be in MY house! (http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_108.gif) :snowman:
Are there potato chips at your house? :zoinks:
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Mice don't like cough drops. I left one on my bed and over the weekend the paper got shredded but the cough drop was intact. halls honey lemon.
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If I catch you, I'll release you rump first into a snowbank.
You hear that, gopher? You're gonna be in MY house! (http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_108.gif) :snowman:
Are there potato chips at your house? :zoinks:
No, but I do have a big frying pan! :fatchef:
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If I catch you, I'll release you rump first into a snowbank.
You hear that, gopher? You're gonna be in MY house! (http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_108.gif) :snowman:
Are there potato chips at your house? :zoinks:
No, but I do have a big frying pan! :fatchef:
That would make a very small thanksgivings dinner.
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Now that I have an actual mouse in the apartment again, I don't need the gopher. :trollskull:
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Now that I have an actual mouse in the apartment again, I don't need the gopher. :trollskull:
Mice want to have their share of your Thanksgiving dinner.
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Now that I have an actual mouse in the apartment again, I don't need the gopher. :trollskull:
Mice want to have their share of your Thanksgiving dinner.
Joke's on them. I'm eating at a friend's house. ;)
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tonight i was awakened by the wound of cratching which is the sound of something chewing on something likely made of plastic, which means mice trying to get into something.
joke was on me. they were chewing straws. found two plastic straws that look like swiss cheese changelings. the straws were covered with paper and the paper was eaten too.
this gives me some reservations about taking straws from public places. i think those two must have come from the popcorn and nacho infested movie theater. i take extras because it's possible that i will lose mine on the floor.
the other mouse was chewing on a box, i think. no sign of them downstairs. it's time to clean and set the traps.
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Damn! The price of mouselessness is eternal vigilance. :tinfoil:
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even that isn't enough. but i will leave it to py to share that hair raising tale.
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@ Wolfie. Could there have been starch in the paper? I once found my wheatbag nibbled on. But the mice had not eaten the fabric to get to the wheat. They had eaten fom the lable instead.
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@ Wolfie. Could there have been starch in the paper? I once found my wheatbag nibbled on. But the mice had not eaten the fabric to get to the wheat. They had eaten fom the lable instead.
ah, that's a good guess. but i think maybe they were made out of something that can or was recycled. i had some pens once that were made of corn.
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I don't think popcorn or nachos are traditionally classed as 'infestations'
When was the last time you saw or heard of popcorn trying to swim up the U-bend of a toilet out of the sewer and bite somebody on the scrotum?
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Last night I woke up at 2:30am and reached above my head half-asleep and felt something furry and moving. :zombiefuck:
I yelled and jumped into the middle of my bed and sat there trying to figure out if I dreamed it. There was silence and then frantic scrabbling coming from the corner of the room under the head of the bed.
I do not want a mouse on my pillow.
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When I was a baby we lived in a converted garage beside a canal and a railroad. Mom would find rats in my crib chewing on my bottle. She said she could handle the rats, but when the apartment was invaded by fleas that was the straw that broke the camel's back.
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Last night I woke up at 2:30am and reached above my head half-asleep and felt something furry and moving. :zombiefuck:
I yelled and jumped into the middle of my bed and sat there trying to figure out if I dreamed it. There was silence and then frantic scrabbling coming from the corner of the room under the head of the bed.
I do not want a mouse on my pillow.
What was it doing on your pillow? What was it trying to eat? :runaway: :GA:
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My hair? ??? Either it had terrible taste or it was very lost. Argan oil shampoo notwithstanding, there are surely tastier things in this house to eat than human hair.
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My hair? ??? Either it had terrible taste or it was very lost. Argan oil shampoo notwithstanding, there are surely tastier things in this house to eat than human hair.
I sometimes use an argan oil conditioner, and the scent lingers for days ... :hide:
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Last night I woke up at 2:30am and reached above my head half-asleep and felt something furry and moving. :zombiefuck:
I yelled and jumped into the middle of my bed and sat there trying to figure out if I dreamed it. There was silence and then frantic scrabbling coming from the corner of the room under the head of the bed.
I do not want a mouse on my pillow.
When I was still living in a rented log cabin on Old Hickory Lake in Nashville TN, I had not yet discovered that there was quite a bit of chinking repair that was needed to make the place pest-free. I had gone to bed with the television playing, set to go off after a bit. I had just heard the TV go off as I was very dozy.
Then something landed on the foot of the bed. I was alarmed! I sat up and turned on the light, thinking, "Fucking rat?" It was not a mouse, much heavier.
As I turned on the light I saw something flying across the far end of the room. There was nothing on the foot of the bed. WTF!!
Turns out, I had been infested by a family of flying squirrels. FLYING FUCKING SQUIRRELS!!! I do not think that they are particularly harmful or dangerous, but they do not belong in my living quarters. I grabbed a blanket and slept next to a well stoked fireplace that night once I was finally satisfied that they had all gone back into hiding.
Next day I discovered a large hole in the upper logs where I could place my entire hand, not far inside, a bunch of nesting material. Needless to say, I bought mortar and shored it up, while giving the landlord an earful. Next day he had a crew of professionals out there with heat sensing equipment to find all the places where there were "holes" and fix them.
All better then, but at first? Flying fucking squirrels, REALLY!?!?!?!?
:GA:
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:lol1:
WolFish had a bat in his living room once.
I think my favourite was the time down south when I was in the kitchen and felt something moving in my pants. It was a fricking lizard. A brown anole. I like the little guys, but not THAT much. :laugh:
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My brother had bats :flyingbat: evicted from his attic a year ago,
but now he's hearing those scratching sounds again ... :hide:
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I love squirrels. :LOL:
They chew like rats though, my grandfather had them.
No shrews here as of lately. All is quiet on the pest front for now.
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This thread has just reminded me of my first apartment, where I lived alone part of the year
because my roommates were college students who went home during school vacations. During
one of those vacations, I started to hear a crackling sound in the living room wall, like
Rice Krispies. Never occurred to me to report it to the landlord. This was my first time living
on my own, and I just passively shrugged off the noise as something that was happening for
whatever reason. The landlord must have let himself in at some point and heard it for himself.
Turns out there were bees in the wall, maybe carpenter bees?
Imagine if they'd chewed through and swarmed into the living room.
Landlord was not happy with me. :-[
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I've got my share of stories - bats coming out of light fixtures climbing up living room curtains, mice falling on my bed and opening a packet of crackers and eating it, and worst of all waking up in my first ever apartment on my own to find a giant roach munching on my ear wax.
squirrels are cute so long as they don't get in the house. then they are the worst pests. they chew through everything and pee all over the place. i wasn't able to get rid of them until they put on a new roof. the squirrels didn't like it. they left and never came back.
the current mouse issue is weird. they haven't bothered anything i have left out downstairs. py doesn't eat in her room while i have lots of food in mine. haven't seen any mouseness (droppings, shredded nesting material, chewed things, etc.) outside of the chewed straws. lots of noise and no sightings, just feelings. makes me wonder if it isn't really a ghost mouse.
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I keep hearing things myself. I think they're legitimate sounds of other things.
I really hope so. I need to clean up again. I don't want to keep on hearing ghost mice. :boo:
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:lol1:
WolFish had a bat in his living room once.
I think my favourite was the time down south when I was in the kitchen and felt something moving in my pants. It was a fricking lizard. A brown anole. I like the little guys, but not THAT much. :laugh:
Never had personal contact with a lizard, as far as I know, other than a ten pound iguana an ancient girlfriend had. It roamed the house when she was home, but went to its terrarium at dusk.
A cat we once had used to hunt all night and he had free reign of the neighborhood where we lived. He would often bring us "gifts." One night my wife and I were both asleep when he comes in through his door and runs into the bedroom with a kind of panic in his voice with something in his mouth, obviously. He plopped a live bat down on the bed between us and gave out this confused sounding whine. Seemed like he said, "WTF is THIS!??!"
At that time we had two fifty gallon aquariums in our bedroom and they made really interesting nightlights. We could see this bat with about a two foot wingspan take off from our bed and disappear into the next room, where it was darker. The game was afoot!
First thing I did was to grab one of my high intensity copy lights, four thousand watts of 5500K brilliance (in that house I had a darkroom AND a copy room) so I could keep up with the "guest." I caught it with a large towel and got it safely outside after a few minutes of blinding it with powerful light.
That was a kind of harrowing Bat Night.
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^ I had not thought of bats having a two-foot wingspan. :bat:
Yikes. :hide:
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^ I had not thought of bats having a two-foot wingspan. :bat:
Yikes. :hide:
I could not tell what kind of bat it was but we do have some big insectivore bats in Indiana.. This one had a body larger than one of my fists and I do not have small hands. Once I had finally caught it up and gathered it into a huge towel (me wearing my leather gardening gloves, too!! I did NOT want to be bitten.) I had it held out away from my face and one of its wings that was loose could easily rake across my biceps as it struggled to free itself. From my hands to my biceps is at least one foot any way it can be measured.
Generally the bats around here are fruit eating bats who also eat insects. They have wingspans in the fourteen to eighteen inch range for the large ones. The one my cat managed to catch and bring home alive was probably old and slow and flying low - just a guess.
We had a "baby bat" hanging on one of our overhangs at work for a while, a few years back. It was only about seven feet or so up hanging onto the side of the slanted overhang. This is where I used to go to smoke and I noticed it right away, but was not sure what it was until it moved. I thought it was a fungus of some sort, then it moved.
It had a body about the size of my thumb and I doubt that its wingspan was a foot wide. I had been injured some how and it had been bleeding along its back. It sat there for three days before it disappeared. DO not know if it got better and flew off or if some other predator got to it. We have night hunting kestrels -tiny, starling sized- barn owls, smallish but larger than kestrel - in the area. As well as those two raptor types, we also have many, many red tail hawks - huge fuckers! Stand almost knee high. Talk about a wingspan, wow! Three to four feet, easy and they hunt in broad daylight as well.
Do not know what happened to that baby bat, but it allowed me to stand within a couple of feet of it, before I could tell that what I was seeing was not a fuzzy spore covering, but real fur, then it moved. :yikes: