Killing Mice
By cassidy22
@cassidy22 (2974)
United States
July 20, 2008 1:07pm CST
OUr house is OVERRUN with mice. The previous owner had several cats, some outdoors, and one purely indoor. She had no mice.
She offered to leave her outdoor cats with us in the barn, but my husband said no. We have one cat who is now 13 or 14 years old, and he doesn't chase mice anymore.
We started noticing mice in the barn. We moved a bail of hay one day and found TONS of them. WE can't use poison, because we have a ton of dogs who will eat the dead mice, and the poison would kill them too. So we've been setting traps. We catch 3 or 4 a day in the barn in ONE trap!
I also started hearing them in the house. I now have 6 traps set in the house where the dogs can't step on them accidentally. I have caught 6 mice today alone. I feel really guilty killing all these mice, but they breed like crazy, and can carry diseases.
What would you do if you found mice?
6 people like this
10 responses
@xsquid (111)
• Indonesia
21 Jul 08
Wow, you really have a "bunch" of mice problem there, I advice you to call on pest control or someone professional to handle this kind of problem. Because like you said, mice can carry diseases, and the can really do damage to you house including furniture. And also beware if you have children in the house, mice can bite too and really nasty if you didn't treat the wound quickly.
But something is not right here, you have a lot of dogs right? didn't your dog chase and kill the mice? I know my dog do these of thing ^^
1 person likes this
@rusty2rusty (6763)
• Defiance, Ohio
20 Jul 08
If I found mice I would scream.....literally. That si what I did when I first found mice when I lived out in the country. I didn't scream because it was mice. I screamed because they scared the heebie jeebies right out of me. As I was opening a box I had still hadn't unpacked from moving in. Shortly afterwards I got several cats and never had a probelms with mice again.
@danishcanadian (28953)
• Canada
20 Jul 08
I would have taken the previous owner up on the offer to leave the cats, first for practical reasons, to get rid of the mice, and secondly because my husband and I absolutely love, love, love, mice!!!!!
Yeah it sucks to have to kill all the mice yourself, but it would suck to have to lie with them too.
1 person likes this
@saigonwarrior (1331)
• United States
20 Jul 08
Ugh, we had a rat problem this past winter.
We had rat traps set up in our basement and like you they were going off constantly.
And they were HUGE.
Our problems was that one of the caps had come off of the sewer drain and we hadn't noticed it, so they were coming and going at will.
Once it was covered again the rats could no longer enter the basement..whew.
I would just buy a few mousers. Or better yet, you could probably get one for free.
There are people constantly looking to give cats away.
Where we used to live we had little field mice. There were constantly in our home.
One good cat and problem solved :)
@easymoney75503 (1702)
• United States
20 Jul 08
well one thing i have found that really works and it doesnt kill them just gets them to stay away is moth balls. they cant stand the smell of them. it will keep out raccoons, possum, all kinds of critters. just through a box under the house and in the coners of the barn. see if it helps.
@cassidy22 (2974)
• United States
20 Jul 08
I plan to get barn cats for the barn, as soon as the Humane Society has some suitable ones for us. I won't get more house cats, because I am allergic to cats.
Thanks for the tip, but there is a chemical in moth balls that is a known carcinogen, so I don't want to have any moth balls around. They can make people really sick.
@TessWhite (3146)
• United States
20 Jul 08
The same thing you have done. Traps. The last house we lived in was overrun with both mice and a creature called a vole. Even my housecats couldn't keep up with it. So, I bought traps. We joked that our first weekend hunting expedition we caught over 24 mice in the first 24 hours. It was unreal. We always used the traps with peanut butter. Never failed to draw them.
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
21 Jul 08
I totally agree with everyone else here who said your Best bet might be to get a good mouser or two to help chase some of these mice, and that might help solve some of the problem for sure. That is why the old tenants of that place apparently had them, and offered to leave some of them there for you. All I can say, is I wish you luck as I would not want to have mice running around my place either.
@baileycows (3665)
• United States
21 Jul 08
I would get a bunch of cats. There are so many animals being killed everyday that need good homes and most cats don't get to have a field day with rats like they would have around your house. So get you some kitties from the local cat shelter and save the animals and your house.
