because I live out in the middle of a bunch of corn fields, I have to combat this every so often. The water heater for my house is in an external closet that you access outside. Mice get into it when it gets cold for the heat (and have electrocuted themselves on the water heater and made it blow up twice. >_>) and they often crawl along the water pipes on into the house and come up in the cabinets in either the bathroom or the kitchen.
I'm combating them now. I've tried the snap traps (little buggers clear every bit of peanut butter off them and never activate them) I've tried the little black disks that you put peanut butter in and then turn them a certain way and the mouse supposedly crawls in and it sets it off and it spins around and traps them inside, they set off to easy and never catch anything. I didn't want to fool with poison either because of the cat, but ultimately that is what I wound up having to do. I put it places where she can't get to it and I keep a careful eye out for dead mice, I've gotten a couple now, hopefully they are all gone. the one I use is called Tomcat, it's a plastic tray with a slightly complicated opening mechanism that you pop open a section, put the block of poison in, and then close it up. The mouse has to climb through it to get to the poison. (it's a hard block they chew on, so it's not a risk of it being drug through the house and it's fairly kid and pet proof) Only problem is the mouse usually does get sick and dies somewhere unknown, so you do have to look about for them a bit. I had an awful scare because Toni (my cat) found one, but good girl she is she brought it to me (she's doesn't really like to eat anything but cat food, she doesn't get into stuff or beg for people food) and she hadn't chewed on it or anything, just brought it to me like "mommy it's wierd what is it?" I praised her real big and gave her a tin of canned cat food (a very rare treat) and flushed it down the toliet. (My doors were frozen shut at the time so I couldn't throw it out and I didn't want to risk another animal finding it and getting poisoned. )
So, that's my experience, your mileage may vary, etc. In the past I always had a good mouser, but Hexadigit passed away a couple years ago and Toni has no inclination. She's so little a mouse might beat her butt anyway.
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Date: 2014-01-19 07:11 pm (UTC)I'm combating them now. I've tried the snap traps (little buggers clear every bit of peanut butter off them and never activate them) I've tried the little black disks that you put peanut butter in and then turn them a certain way and the mouse supposedly crawls in and it sets it off and it spins around and traps them inside, they set off to easy and never catch anything. I didn't want to fool with poison either because of the cat, but ultimately that is what I wound up having to do. I put it places where she can't get to it and I keep a careful eye out for dead mice, I've gotten a couple now, hopefully they are all gone. the one I use is called Tomcat, it's a plastic tray with a slightly complicated opening mechanism that you pop open a section, put the block of poison in, and then close it up. The mouse has to climb through it to get to the poison. (it's a hard block they chew on, so it's not a risk of it being drug through the house and it's fairly kid and pet proof) Only problem is the mouse usually does get sick and dies somewhere unknown, so you do have to look about for them a bit. I had an awful scare because Toni (my cat) found one, but good girl she is she brought it to me (she's doesn't really like to eat anything but cat food, she doesn't get into stuff or beg for people food) and she hadn't chewed on it or anything, just brought it to me like "mommy it's wierd what is it?" I praised her real big and gave her a tin of canned cat food (a very rare treat) and flushed it down the toliet. (My doors were frozen shut at the time so I couldn't throw it out and I didn't want to risk another animal finding it and getting poisoned. )
So, that's my experience, your mileage may vary, etc. In the past I always had a good mouser, but Hexadigit passed away a couple years ago and Toni has no inclination. She's so little a mouse might beat her butt anyway.