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Oh, noes! The mice are back. The ultrasonic thingy kept them away for

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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 10:57 AM
Original message
Oh, noes! The mice are back. The ultrasonic thingy kept them away for
almost a year and now all of a sudden they are back and making a mess under my kitchen sink and stove.

I can't put out poison and I hate traps (even have-a-hearts. I managed to kill a mouse with one once) and I can't not put down food for the cats.

Grrrrr. This is so annoying!

Any suggestions?
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joeybee12 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 11:02 AM
Response to Original message
1. Tell your cats they won't be paid unless they do the job!
Surprised just knowing cats are around the mice showed up.

Three years in Yellowstone and no mice in my cabin or any small rodents...they knew my wussy cats were around, although the mice didn't know my cats were shiftless.
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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 11:05 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. They are 16 and retired. LOL
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SoxFan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 06:56 PM
Response to Reply #1
28. LOL
I'm actually surprised, too. Usually the mere presence of a cat keeps mice from showing up. These guys must have good intel on your critters.
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TZ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 11:06 AM
Response to Original message
3. You really should just put out traps. Awful yes but
mice carry some very dangerous diseases. Including Hantaa virus which makes one drown in ones own fluids.
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Deep13 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 11:21 AM
Response to Reply #3
6. Agreed. Snap traps make the best of a bad situation.
It's not poison. It's not glue. It kills them instantly. Otherwise they will keep multiplying until all available food is consumed.
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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 11:45 AM
Response to Reply #6
8. Man, I really hate those. :^( But I guess we can find a spot the cats can't get into.
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applegrove Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 09:12 PM
Response to Reply #8
30. I had a landlord who suggested I use the 'humane traps' with glue on them then
put the caught mice in empty ice cream containors in the freezer. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
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Maine-ah Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-21-10 06:53 AM
Response to Reply #8
33. well, if they're getting in under your sink
I suggest that's where you put the traps. I have the same problem every year and that's where my traps go. I also have a child lock on the doors to get under my kitchen sink. If your cats can open the doors to under your sink, I would get one of those so they can't.
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petronius Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 11:11 AM
Response to Original message
4. If you've used the sound thing for a year, then a new generation of deaf mice
has probably evolved by natural selection. You need to move on to something more drastic, like tiny little landmines. I've also read that tiger urine is an effective mouse repellent. :)

Or perhaps a new cat? The retirees might enjoy watching a young whippersnapper running around doing all the work...
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Capn Sunshine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 10:14 PM
Response to Reply #4
31. I was just thinking that after a year, it's worn out?
How else would you know? You can't hear it.
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Gormy Cuss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 11:15 AM
Response to Original message
5. It's either a new young cat or havahearts. : )
Maybe the ultrasonic thingy isn't working anymore. Is there a way you can check it?
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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 11:29 AM
Response to Reply #5
7. I have no idea how you would check one of those things. I suggested to hubby we get
a different brand and see if that makes a difference. (Maybe they use different frequencies?)
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Gormy Cuss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 11:56 AM
Response to Reply #7
9. Maybe just get another one of the same brand, if it's not too much $$.
It may just be worn out.
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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 01:00 PM
Response to Reply #9
10. Might be worn out, but there are two of them in the kitchen which means they both gave up the ghost
at the same time. I guess it's possible as they are the same brand. Who knows, maybe they are only good for a year so that the companies can get repeat customers?
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Gormy Cuss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 03:00 PM
Response to Reply #10
13. Two? In that case, get an older kitten.
Kittens will chase anything for hours. That'll wear out the mice in no time.
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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 03:55 PM
Response to Reply #13
17. Hubby looked at me like I had 3 heads. I think the kitten solution will take more discussing. LOL
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Kali Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 05:16 PM
Response to Reply #10
19. maybe it was just a coincidence and they don't work at all
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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 05:48 PM
Response to Reply #19
20. Possibly, but we had a really bad infestation last summer and the only thing
that changed was me putting in those little devices, at which point I stopped seeing feces and urine in my kitchen where up until the day before new deposits were turning up. :shrug:
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Dyedinthewoolliberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 01:09 PM
Response to Original message
11. Snakes eat mice
:shrug: jus' sayin'
:)
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realisticphish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 02:47 PM
Response to Original message
12. Hey la, hey la, the mice are back nt
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old mark Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 03:32 PM
Response to Original message
14. Call an exterminator NOW. That is the only thing that gets rid of them - KILLTHEM ALL!!!!!
Edited on Fri Aug-20-10 03:33 PM by old mark
We had a few here and there, then suddenly we had them all over the place, like walking above the dropped ceiling in the bedroom...they had to go. They have been gone all spring and summer, and we will see the man again in the fall just to make sure. He puts poison bait out where our animals can't get to it, and it got rid of them all in a few days and is keeping them away.
He came back to remove the bodies and there were around a dozen of them.

You never really have a few mice - they never stop breeding if they find a good place to live.

Get rid of them.

mark
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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 06:14 PM
Response to Reply #14
26. How much does something like that cost?
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old mark Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 06:49 PM
Response to Reply #26
27. Depends who you get. We had were going to call a national chain, but
we found a local guy who runs his own company, and he has been great. He ia a middle aged hippie guitar player, and the first time he came to our house and saw the SG on the living room couch and the piniata fish hanging from the ceiling, he felt at home.... He had done great work for us and he charges around $130 per visit, but he has been really effective.


mark
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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 08:10 PM
Response to Reply #27
29. I will definitely keep that in mind for when we move to the new house
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marzipanni Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 03:37 PM
Response to Original message
15. This is the kind of humane trap I would get
Edited on Fri Aug-20-10 03:39 PM by marzipanni
http://www.buzzillions.com/reviews/woodstream-victor-tin-cat-mouse-trap-m310-reviews

I have this, a smaller plastic version from the feed store($4.99-~$6.00) but, as one review here says, while in use a few times mice have gnawed it from the inside starting a gap near the door. It caught two mice at a time , twice!
It has worked 3-4 times over the years and would still work if I made sure to release the mouse (somewhere away from houses) before one could gnaw the gap big enough to escape through. The whole top slides off, and is transparent gray plastic, but is a bit difficult to align under the tabs that hold it on. I painted the bottoms of the tabs with white-out so I could see that they are hooked over the edge of the lid.

http://www.amazon.com/Woodstream-M323-Mouse-Trap/dp/B0036UXLGQ

(BTW-The one-mouse 'tipping' traps are useless)
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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 03:53 PM
Response to Reply #15
16. I had one and forgot to check it. Poor little mousie died a terrible death. :^(
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marzipanni Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 04:57 PM
Response to Reply #16
18. I know, that happened to me with the one-mouse kind
Edited on Fri Aug-20-10 04:58 PM by marzipanni
:hug:
I kept checking it and it hadn't caught a mouse, but the bait was gone. I guess the mouse was long enough to stretch in and get the little square of bread with peanut butter, and back out. Then the mouse got in enough to tip it, and the door closed. The next time I checked there was a dead mouse, but I also think they can die from the stress of not being able to turn around, in a tiny space.

I won't use snap bale traps because years ago, my friend put one under her sink, and a mouse had his little snout peeled severely by it, and she found him dead a few days after she found the empty trap. :(
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Taverner Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 05:54 PM
Response to Original message
21. Eat 'em like Farley Mowatt would've!
Edited on Fri Aug-20-10 05:56 PM by Taverner


:P
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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 05:55 PM
Response to Reply #21
22. Please tell me that is a picture of an owl and not a human being. LOL
Edited on Fri Aug-20-10 05:55 PM by GreenPartyVoter
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Taverner Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 05:56 PM
Response to Reply #22
23. No - it is rat meat, cooked to perfection
Nice crunchy skin on the outside, tender ratty tasting meat on the inside.
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Old Troop Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 06:02 PM
Response to Original message
24. Check the batteries on the thingies?
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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-20-10 06:14 PM
Response to Reply #24
25. Theese are the plug in kinds. They still have lights, but I have no way of knowing if the sound
is working. :(
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old mark Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Aug-21-10 06:36 AM
Response to Reply #24
32. I think they are worthless in any ccase - our mice were sniffing them, I guess
to see if they were edible....I still hae several left, I will gladly mail them to you...


mark
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