# Caught some more mice



## debodun (Jan 1, 2020)

In my (hardly) never fail humane tilt trap - one last week and one overnight. Winter makes it awkward in knowing what to do with them. I took them out to a rural area and upended the canister. The last I saw, both scurried across the snow into a ditch. I hope they can find shelter. I felt bad because it is so cold here now, but I am not buying mice plane tickets to Florida. I know mice are resourceful. I just wanted them out and away from my house.


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## Keesha (Jan 1, 2020)

debodun said:


> In my (hardly) never fail humane tilt trap - one last week and one overnight. Winter makes it awkward in knowing what to do with them. I took them out to a rural area and upended the canister. The last I saw, both scurried across the snow into a ditch. I hope they can find shelter. I felt bad because it is so cold here now, but I am not buying mice plane tickets to Florida. I know mice are resourceful. I just wanted them out and away from my house.


Don’t feel bad Deb. They aren’t personal pets  and if you don’t take them far enough away, they will just return back to your house. They will find another place for shelter.


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## tortiecat (Jan 1, 2020)

My hubby would catch them and take them across the road into the field and I
would laugh and say that they probably got home before he did.


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## Knight (Jan 1, 2020)

Finished watching a Netflix series called Alone.

Catching mice wasn't about being awkward not knowing what to do with them.  Skinned & roasting over an open fire helped their need to eat protein.


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## Llynn (Jan 1, 2020)

I'm from an earlier more elemental time. I use lethal traps and have no problem dumping the bodies out in the field for the hawks.


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## Catlady (Jan 1, 2020)

Thank you for not killing them.  They're like us, looking for ways to survive.


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## retiredtraveler (Jan 1, 2020)

Llynn said:


> I'm from an earlier more elemental time. I use lethal traps and have no problem dumping the bodies out in the field for the hawks.


Me too. They've done hundreds of dollars of damage to our cars over the years. They find nice warm spots in the garage, and often nest in one of the cars and chew the insulation off the wires. I got lucky just last year. They nested inside the firewall and got into the fan that is used for cold/heat inside the car. The dealership fixed it for free knowing that it was not a warranty item. Would have been $250 to fix.


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## Old Dummy (Jan 1, 2020)

retiredtraveler said:


> Me too. They've done hundreds of dollars of damage to our cars over the years. They find nice warm spots in the garage, and often nest in one of the cars and chew the insulation off the wires. I got lucky just last year. They nested inside the firewall and got into the fan that is used for cold/heat inside the car. The dealership fixed it for free knowing that it was not a warranty item. Would have been $250 to fix.



I live in the boonies and despite having two good cats, there are still a few mice around. I have a Corvette that sleeps in the barn over the winter and the last thing I need is mice around/in it. I used to have traps all over which work well, but are messy affairs.

A few winters ago I got the idea of putting bright lights around the car, knowing that rodents avoid light. It's worked very well, although I do have a bucket trap next to the car and get the occasional rodent in it. 

The bucket is filled partly with water (brine in sub-freezing weather) with sunflower seeds sprinkled on top, and a ramp going up to it.







I also learned to keep the hood up during the winter, so the engine compartment is exposed to the cats (I also have a light right above it). With the hood down the mice would have a grand old time, messing and destroying everything, not being exposed to the cat threat.


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## win231 (Jan 1, 2020)

I haven't seen a mouse or rat since I started caring for wild cats.  I wonder where they all went.  
HAHA.  I know where they went.  I've walked outside & seen 1/2 of a rat left by the cats as a "Thank You."
Sometimes, they just leave the head.......  Yuk.....cleanup is much stickier in the summertime.


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## Old Dummy (Jan 1, 2020)

win231 said:


> I haven't seen a mouse or rat since I started caring for wild cats.  I wonder where they all went.
> HAHA.  I know where they went.  I've walked outside & seen 1/2 of a rat left by the cats as a "Thank You."
> Sometimes, they just leave the head.......  Yuk.....cleanup is much stickier in the summertime.



Haha, in the summertime I often find rodent body parts on my porch in the morning. I've learned to look very carefully before I step outside.

My cats seem to eat less catfood in the summer, not sure why that is.


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## Duster (Jan 1, 2020)

A mouse family moved into our house last spring. They get in the suspended ceiling and are bold enough to run across the light panels. They are dumb country mice and are easy to catch in traps. I cleaned out a nest in my fabric drawer, complete with some lentils they moved there. We caught 7 mice in traps.  We threw them into the woods, where there are so many hungry critters.


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## debodun (Jan 2, 2020)

tortiecat said:


> My hubby would catch them and take them across the road into the field and I
> would laugh and say that they probably got home before he did.



I read someplace that if you let mice go, it has to be at least 2 miles from your house or they will just return.


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## RadishRose (Jan 2, 2020)

Let's hope they didn't pee all over things in your house. Check your kitchen cabinets.


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## debodun (Jan 2, 2020)

I know they poop - that's what gives away that I have some unwanted guests. Then I have to Chlorox the kitchen counters.


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## Catlady (Jan 2, 2020)

Best thing to do, for yourself and for the mice, is to find out where/how they come into your house and fix it.  Find a long term solution rather than have to continually catch them and release them, or as many have suggested, destroy them.    I love mice but would NOT want wild mice inside my house.


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## RadishRose (Jan 2, 2020)

debodun said:


> I know they poop - that's what gives away that I have some unwanted guests. Then I have to Chlorox the kitchen counters.


They go *inside the cabinets too*. They don't just stay on the countertop. They get into the walls, run across floors..... they chew their way through a house more than you may think. They pee on your rugs and on everything.

They may get in via multiple entries, then breed inside.


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## Old Dummy (Jan 2, 2020)

RadishRose said:


> They go *inside the cabinets too*. They don't just stay on the countertop. They get into the walls, run across floors..... they chew their way through a house more than you may think. They pee on your rugs and on everything.
> 
> They may get in via multiple entries, then breed inside.



All true!

Also: It's nearly impossible to keep them out especially with an older house. They can squeeze through the tiniest crack.

They will always gravitate to wherever there is a food source, and a warm place in the fall. Having a cat around is the easiest deterrent; also keep the grass/weeds around the house foundation clipped low.

I've lived here in the woods for 38 years and always had at least one cat except for a three-year period. Never again! It just got worse and worse every year.


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## Catlady (Jan 2, 2020)

LOL, well I have 14 cats inside and two ferals outside that I feed and water, so I should be mouse free, eh?


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## Catlady (Jan 2, 2020)

@debodun =  I'm really curious, did your mice problem start after Gus got sick and died?  If it's true like some posters said that it's hard to keep mice out of older homes, maybe you do NEED to get a young cat to help you catch those mice.  Only as long as you're willing to treat it good and love it, though.  

I remember you complaining that cats walk in front of you and could make you trip.  I have a young black and white one, Juliet (her blond brother I named Romeo), she loves to criss-cross in front of me when I'm walking.  I just keep an eye on her, she doesn't do it all the time, anyway.


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## Keesha (Jan 2, 2020)

RadishRose said:


> They go *inside the cabinets too*. They don't just stay on the countertop. They get into the walls, run across floors..... they chew their way through a house more than you may think. They pee on your rugs and on everything.
> 
> They may get in via multiple entries, then breed inside.


Completely agree. Once mice are in your house, they breed then eat pee & poop on everything. It’s incredibly unsanitary. 


Catlady said:


> LOL, well I have 14 cats inside and two ferals outside that I feed and water, so I should be mouse free, eh?


I’d hope so. Lol


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## debodun (Jan 3, 2020)

I've had many cats at the same time I've had mice. Once in a grest while I'd find a mouse head or hind quarteres and know one of my cats scored,  but mice are a chronic issue in my house.


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## win231 (Jan 3, 2020)

Keesha said:


> Completely agree. Once mice are in your house, they breed then eat pee & poop on everything. It’s incredibly unsanitary.
> 
> I’d hope so. Lol


Well, mice are pretty small, so their bladder must be very small, so how much could they pee?


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## debodun (Jan 3, 2020)

Enough to spread disease. You'd be surprised how much poop they produce. I know I have a "guest" when the stove top is covered in what looks like black rice grains. I am keeping the Chlorox company in business!

Probably why my oven isn't working - could be a mouse nest in the igniter.


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## Camper6 (Jan 3, 2020)

Catlady said:


> Thank you for not killing them.  They're like us, looking for ways to survive.


Of course everything is looking for ways to survive.

However, I'm not going to let a mosquito infect me with malaria so I'm going to kill it.

It's the same with mice and rats.  They harbor disease.  The plague that wiped out thousands in Europe.

If they are invading your home you have to get rid of them.


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## Doomp (Jan 4, 2020)

I stopped using "humane" traps after a few tries. The poor mice were trapped overnight in a dark little box, and pooped all over the inside. They looked frazzled and sweaty when I let them out. It's kinder and quicker to use snap traps.


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## old medic (Jan 4, 2020)

We have feral cats outside, Death is slow by being eaten alive....
Inside is a good chance of a quick immediate death....
Hopefully they tell their friends and family and just move on down the road....


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## Catlady (Jan 4, 2020)

old medic said:


> We have feral cats outside, Death is slow by being eaten alive....
> Inside is a good chance of a quick immediate death....
> Hopefully they tell their friends and family and just move on down the road....


Only well fed cats play with their mice, feral and other starving cats dispatch them quickly.  At least, those mice serve their nature purpose instead of dying painfully by poison or being caught in a inhumane trap.


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## debodun (Jan 4, 2020)

Cats do not catch and eat mice naturally. They have to be taught this by watching other cats. If your cat(s) is(are) strictly an indoor pet(s) and also has a mother that was an indoor cat, thay may not know what to so other than the instinctual urge to bat it around.


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## george-alfred (Jan 4, 2020)

*I had an Aviary for many years but was never troubled with mice only on the odd occasion,i found them more in the garden shed so I bought a trap which was very easy to operate and did the job really well.*


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## Ladybj (Jan 4, 2020)

debodun said:


> In my (hardly) never fail humane tilt trap - one last week and one overnight. Winter makes it awkward in knowing what to do with them. I took them out to a rural area and upended the canister. The last I saw, both scurried across the snow into a ditch. I hope they can find shelter. I felt bad because it is so cold here now, but I am not buying mice plane tickets to Florida. I know mice are resourceful. I just wanted them out and away from my house.


Mice and I DO NOT GET ALONG.  I had experiences in my younger years.  I shared with hubby if I ever saw a mice in our house, I will go to the nearest hotel.  Mice are one of my biggest fears.  I can take seeing a snake rather than a MICE .


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## debodun (Jan 4, 2020)

Catlady said:


> Best thing to do, for yourself and for the mice, is to find out where/how they come into your house and fix it.  Find a long term solution rather than have to continually catch them and release them.



I shudder to think of what they would cost in my Swiss cheese of a house. LOL


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## Doomp (Jan 4, 2020)

Catlady said:


> Only well fed cats play with their mice, feral and other starving cats dispatch them quickly.  At least, those mice serve their nature purpose instead of dying painfully by poison or being caught in a inhumane trap.


The feral cats around here are pretty fat and happy. I even left some cat food out for them to lure them into my yard, so they would hopefully catch mice. They didn't eat it. So they must be getting better food somewhere else.


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## debodun (Dec 7, 2020)

Mouse invasion again. They are probably looking for a nice warm place to stay for the winter. Poop on the kitchen counters and stovetop. I've set my tilt traps in various places, but apparently the critters are getting smart. Either the traps aren't touched and the few times they were, somehow the mouse escaped. Funny how I only see droppings in the kitchen. I don't keep any food out unless it's canned, except for bananas, and they look like they've not been touched.


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## fmdog44 (Dec 8, 2020)

win231 said:


> Well, mice are pretty small, so their bladder must be very small, so how much could they pee?


Depends on their beer intake.


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## fmdog44 (Dec 8, 2020)

debodun said:


> Mouse invasion again. They are probably looking for a nice warm place to stay for the winter. Poop on the kitchen counters and stovetop. I've set my tilt traps in various places, but apparently the critters are getting smart. Either the traps aren't touched and the few times they were, somehow the mouse escaped. Funny how I only see droppings in the kitchen. I don't keep any food out unless it's canned, except for bananas, and they look like they've not been touched.


Set them touching the walls and in corners that is their paths.


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## Don M. (Dec 8, 2020)

I set a half dozen "snap" traps in the basement/garage areas about a month ago.  This is an annual necessity as colder weather arrives.  So far, I've only had one mouse caught in the traps....he probably snuck into the basement when I had the garage doors open.  He didn't get far.  I put fresh cheese in the traps every 2 or 3 weeks, and usually "eliminate" a half dozen mice throughout an average Winter.


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## Aneeda72 (Dec 8, 2020)

This is the first house I’ve lived in that does not have mice.  Don’t know why, don't care, just very happy.  Knock on wood it continues but with the cold weather probably not.


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## debodun (Dec 13, 2020)

Caught one, but for some reason it died during the night. I only had that happen once before, but that one was alive when I looked but by the time I got it to the release point, it was dead. I wonder what happened.


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## win231 (Dec 13, 2020)

debodun said:


> Caught one, but for some reason it died during the night. I only had that happen once before, but that one was alive when I looked but by the time I got it to the release point, it was dead. I wonder what happened.


Call the CDC.  They'll count it as another Covid death.


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## win231 (Dec 13, 2020)

Several years ago, I went into my basement to check for plumbing leaks (before I re-piped).  I was eating a Persian Cucumber.
A huge rat ran right up to me & stood on his hind legs - like a pet would do.  He must have read up on the health benefits of green vegetables.
I gave him the rest of my cucumber.  He took a few bites, then ran away with it.
When I re-piped my house, the plumbers fixed the little screen where he was getting in.


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## debodun (Dec 14, 2020)

Some people keep rodents as pets. Mice, rats, guinea pigs, hamsters and gerbils are all rodents. They are clever and agile. When I was working in the lab we kept some white rats separate from the experimental ones. I remember one they called Hank. It was a really old rat and his fur was mated and yellow and had long orange teeth. He was a biggie too, probably weighted 3 to 4 pounds.


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