Mice in walls.


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Old 10-20-11, 06:49 AM
W
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Mice in walls.

Hello,

My wife has mentioned she's been hearing 'chewing' sounds in the exterior walls of our bedroom for the past couple of nights.

We do have chipmunks in our area, but it could also be mice. Not sure.

In terms of where they are getting into the house, there are countless points of entry for mice (it's an older house, and not terribly well built). Chipmunks, I am less certain they could be getting in, but that's a possibility.

My best guess is that they could be getting into the crawlspace somehow and going up from there.

I understand it's the right time of year for these guys to be coming 'indoors'.

We have block foundation, and a dirt floor crawlspace with very little height in there so it's not easy to move around through the myriad of plumbing, etc. It is however possible for me to worm my way around down there and put traps down, or poison or whatever.

Any suggestions? Anyone have anything to say (+ or -) about those things you plug into outlets that emit some sound mice don't like?
 
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Old 10-20-11, 09:25 AM
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I like the sticky pad traps, especially the larger ones intended for rats. Place them wherever you can access and throw them away when you've caught a mouse and keep placing new ones until you stop catching mice. Most importantly seal up the entrances to your house or the problem will recur.

I don't like to use poisons because the animals may die in the walls or other inaccessible spaces. Then you will have a new problem... getting rid of the smell.
 
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Old 10-20-11, 09:30 AM
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Bill, you probably don't want my reply, but it is important. The damage mice can do is far beyond chewing and a few tunnels. A friend asked me over with my IR camera and we could see tunnels everywhere AND his wife was with us. Well, out with the walls and insulation right to the studs and what they discovered was gross, mice like indoor potties. They designate an area to do their thing and had been doing so for some time. The results were shocking. Add in that mice must chew to keep their teeth from growing too long so everything inside those walls is at risk, including your electrical wires.

Short answer, fix the problem ASAP. Also, poisons can result in animals crawling into your walls to die and decompose. I've run into them in attics and it can get bad.

Good luck
Bud
 
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Old 10-20-11, 09:47 AM
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Bud, I want every and any reply that gives me good information. I also know you and Pilot have been around here for a while and I always respect your opinions.

I know this is serious stuff. I did just get back from the hardware store with a bunch of poison. Might be returning that I guess, and getting the glue or snap traps. Preference going to the snap traps I guess. I want them dead quick.

I'd read somewhere here in the archives that the body mass of mice is so small that if they did die in the walls there wouldn't be enough 'material' to create much of an odour. Rats were a bigger problem due to their size.

I also read that these stupid things can have litters between 5 and 10 times a year. That's exponential growth!

First time we've had this problem at the house. What a pain.
 
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Old 10-20-11, 09:58 AM
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Bill, the poison is very effective but the decomposition can be a real issue. I've heard that there is a poison that somehow keeps the smell at a minimum.... but I don't know the brand or even if it's a fact

Even though we have two outside cats, we get mice in our house from time to time. IMO the traps work best although the last mouse I had was able to eat the peanut butter off of the trap 3-4 times before it got him..... and that particular trap had a hair trigger

Getting rid of every possible entrance might be a big job although every entrance you plug also seals it against air loss or leakage.
 
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Old 10-20-11, 10:27 AM
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Mark, from one painter to another... Got any reason to come to small town Canada in the next couple of days to help out with this?

Just kidding. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and crawl into that little cave every day for the next while and check on sticky tape. I guess my first consideration in terms of placement would be beneath the spot where my wife heard the chewing noises at night? Or anywhere else I see little paths? I don't even know if there's more than one at this point.

Actually at this point I guess I can't even say I know it's a mouse. Could be a chipmunk for all I know.

These things can worm their way into the smallest of crevices, I have no idea where to start looking for entrance points. I've heard they can get in between the seams of vinyl siding! On top of that, we're into fall right now and it's cold and rainy all day long so caulking isn't really an option.
 
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Old 10-20-11, 02:34 PM
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Snap traps and glue traps are a good way to go, although labor intensive, and rodents don’t do what we want them to do. If there are a lot of rodents, then trapping may never get ahead of the problem. Dead rodent odors can be bad, but oftentimes they dry up fast, or air currents from vented crawls and attics take the odor out. There are lots of rodent skeletons in houses that were never smelled, but you are taking a chance, especially in the initial phase of a problem as there are more potential bodies. Once you feel that the current problem is eliminated, then poison in attic and crawl will kill them as they come in, therefore not a lot of bodies at once. Thats the idea anyway-remember rodents don’t do what we want them to do. The problem is you have live rodents, somehow we need to make them dead rodents with minimal impact to you. Can you place the poison bait outside your house to establish protection? Can you build a box with entrys or cover it in such a way that non-target animals and rain can get to it?

The sonic devices don’t work period. Don’t do any harm either, unless you spend to much.

If they lick pnutbutter off of trigger, tie a small piece of cotton to trigger and smear pnutbutter on cotton. They will yank on it-they then belong to you.

There is no rodenticide that will minimize decomposition odor.

There is a brand of multi-catch live mouse traps called “tin-cats”. I prefer the kind that you do not wind up. A passive ramp/counterbalance system.
 
 

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