Mouse in home today - advice


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Old 09-07-14, 09:48 PM
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Mouse in home today - advice

LIttle baby mouse was found in the house today. We trapped it and took care of it. But I'm worried now there may be more. We did have the garage and front door open for most of the day today since we had the gardener do some work in the front lawn. My wife thinks he took out a shurb of bushes and maybe disturbed their home ????? I am not sure. It came from the area of the bedrooms but maybe it snuck in and was wondering around, who knows

But what should I do next? Watch for more? call an expert? put out some traps? Worried.
 
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Old 09-07-14, 10:06 PM
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Get a cat. Worst thing that would happen is that you get a friend for life.

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Actually, Douglas isn't a "mouser" but he IS my best friend.
 
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Old 09-07-14, 10:22 PM
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Now Squirmy would be the perfect cat as he was a serial killer. Alas, he disappeared four weeks ago tomorrow.

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Old 09-07-14, 10:52 PM
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thanks but the cat solution may take a while. if not for a cat, should I be on the lookout for more? I wonder if this one had a mommy who'll come looking for it.
 
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Old 09-07-14, 11:54 PM
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I'm far from being expert in these matters but I doubt the mother will come looking. On the other hand, when you see one mouse or rat you KNOW there are more in the area.

Stay tuned, our resident pest control member will post within a day or two.
 
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Old 09-08-14, 12:24 AM
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Keep a trap set for awhile. Bait with Pecan. Run trap line daily, minimum.
 

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Old 09-08-14, 03:40 AM
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IMO traps are best. Poison is very effective but you run the risk of the dying rodent crawling into some inaccessible space .... and the smell from decomposing is almost worse than having the mouse
 
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Old 09-08-14, 05:00 AM
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If that’s the only one so far and you’re not seeing evidence such as droppings, chewings, etc elsewhere then at this point I’d suggest snap traps, rodent glue traps, live traps, etc.

Snap traps kill the mouse; rodent glue traps will catch it alive but it squeals, squirms, etc. requiring someone to kill it. Unpleasant experience for all but it works. The repeating live-traps are a nice option but someone still has to kill the mouse or remove it far away from everyones house.

Search “tin-cats” for the repeatable live traps. I do not like the “wind-up” traps as that mechanicsm will break in time. The low profile rectangular traps are simple and easy to clean and maintain.

Put one in the bedroom closet(s) since you saw one there; put several in the garage.

Disturbing the shrubs outside could be the reason that you find it out of its’ element.
 
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Old 09-08-14, 07:13 AM
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Thank you. i will get some traps today after work. I hope it is not enough. Maybe I'm going paranoid but in the morning I heard a sound from my bedroom from the other room like someone was jumping on the bed. I wondered if it was a scratching sound but it has not happened since and I have already left for work. Maybe it could have been the kids but it sounded weird. But i'll get those traps and put them around the house when i get back home later today.
 
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Old 09-08-14, 11:32 AM
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HI All,

GUy at work told me that maybe that 'bed squeaking' noise I heard could have been the mice in the plumbing while the shower was on. Could that be correct? If so, would the water made them drown? I know it doesn't sound right but just wondering if they're dead now.
 
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Old 09-08-14, 04:20 PM
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I’ve never heard of anything like that.

Do you have access to the attic? Even if you can’t get up there can you at least stick your head up there with a good flashlight to inspect the insulation and any stored material? If there is a squirrel up there then they will have torn up the insulation. They also like to rip and tear cardboard boxes.
 
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Old 09-08-14, 06:19 PM
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HI PAbugman,

Yes we have checked the attic and it looks good. I got the supplies you wrote about this morning and we will put them out tonight.

I hope it was just a stray mouse. We did the analysis and don't see any droppings , nothing tore up, etc... I think the guy at work sort of worried me because he said it probably has a mommy or something around and this one was inexperienced.

We even have left fruits out and don't see anything eating them.

I hope we catch whatever's there but also hope it was just a fluke one that just happened to come into the home. But with it being a young one, i wonder if he has siblings or if their family is living underneath the home.

Other than going down underneath the crawlspace, is there another way to tell if they're there?

Also, I saw this thing at the store where it emits an electronic signal. Do you recommend these things? They got mixed reviews on many websites , 50 percent say they work and 50 percent say their useless. I am a bit hesitant with electronic emitters since we have kids. even though it says it doesn't affect humans, I've heard of stories where kids couldn't sleep etc...
 
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Old 09-09-14, 04:52 AM
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Forget the sonic devices; it’s a “feel good” gimmick. Some people can hear and feel them and it is quite maddening to them.

Short of a visual inspection of the crawl space, there is no way to know what is or isn’t going on down there. I had assumed that Calif homes were all on slabs; didn’t think to ask you about basement/crawl space. How do you access the crawl space? A door outside on house perimeter or a hatch door in the floor? The crawl space will be the most likely space for rodents. I would certainly put traps down there. Me personally, I’d keep fresh rodenticide down there. If it’s a hatch in the floor and you don’t want to go down you could get rodenticide bait blocks, push them onto a wire and lower it down to the crawl floor. This way you could check it and replace it easily.
 
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Old 09-09-14, 04:54 AM
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About 35 yrs ago I bought one of those electronic bug/rodent devices and best I could tell it didn't work. I hung on to it for a long time mostly because my mind said if I threw it away, I was throwing away the money I wasted on it.
 
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Old 09-09-14, 09:44 AM
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PAbugman - i have access to the crawl space but never been down there because it is really narrow. But looks like I may need to start doing this.

So we put the traps overnight and this morning didn't see anything caught. We put peanut butter in them. We will keep them another night to see if anything appears.

I just hope it was a fluke incident where the mouse came in after the gardener distrubed it's habitat.

How long should I keep these traps out for if we still do not catch anything? When is it safe to say it was a fluke incident?
 
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Old 09-19-14, 01:04 AM
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Rats and mice can be a big problem for households and businesses. Unfortunately, they are sneaky rodents and aren’t always easily detected. Dark, out-of-the-way nesting grounds, like your attic, are their favorite places to call home. Disease like Leptospirosis, Rat Bite Fever, Salmonellosis are rat infestation can have serious effects on our health.
Don't put garbage open and inside the house. Clean your bathrooms and basements.
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