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MICE! HELP!

post #1 of 4
7/9/09 at 10:45am
Thread Starter 
grr... so we live in the county surounded by farm land, which means plenty of grubs, which means plenty of mice and voles which unfortunatly means mice in our house, argh... I know when you live in the country mice are one of those facts of life... but I don't like it. I've been cleaning like crazy trying to stamp out any possible food source, we are sealing up the foundation wall to try and keep any more from getting in or at least reducing the possibility (I know it's a long shot) my cats (oh how I love them) have killed 3 and we've caught one. I think it started as one pregnant mom because the one we caught a in may was a baby but the three my cats have caught in the last month or so were bigger, and we didn't really see any more after catching the baby in may until late june. I've been keeping the mouser cat we have inside more or less all the time lately, I feel sorta bad that he can't go out and roam like normal, but he just goes and catches the mice/voles in the fields, and I'd rather he catches the ones in the house. Also, I'm reasonably sure their nest is in the top of or behind the stove (I think I can hear them squeaking sometimes back there and my cats will sit at the stove for hours with their tales going just intent as all get out), but neither I nor Trevor have any clue what to do about it? Is a stove like other appliances? Can we just unscrew it and pull it out then put it back in? We are all electric so there's not any gas or pilote light to worry about. I'm not cool with poisons of other pesticides to kill them in the house (or around it) because I have a toddler and pets. Anyone have any advice? Thanks in advance
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post #2 of 4
7/9/09 at 6:23pm
If it's an electric stove, yes you should be able to pull it out and put it back, the cord is usually long enough. To be safe shut the breaker off first. Also take the bottom drawer out first and you may be able to see the cord.

To trap the little buggers there are some traps called "Tin cats" that are pretty effective, and safe.
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post #3 of 4
7/13/09 at 2:24pm
This doesn't answer the question about the stove, but I found this post on Allie's Answers for eco-mice trapping. I looked into it a while ago because my parents tried using decon and I was the lucky one to find a dehydrated dead mouse. Not a pretty sight. Anyway, live mouse traps definitely take more work because you have to take the mice far away but on the plus side, you're also not using poisons and stuff which aren't great to have around if you have kids (and if you want to get rid of the mice in a more natural way whether that be via cat or otherwise).

Wish I could help with the question about moving the stove.
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post #4 of 4
7/27/09 at 1:41pm
You will want to get that stove pulled out and clean really good behind it... If they are living there, just be ready for a "yucky mess" back there.  Not really advocating chemical cleaners but you want to clean REAL GOOD back there.  You may need to pull the bottoms of your cabinets up to get under them - or put out those green waxy cubes (has a blood thinner in them that kills by heart attack).  They might not be your style tho.  The reason I mention them is that they have a hole in the center that you can nail them down with so they stay put for months (even years).  BUT, you may smell dead mice now and then, which is not very pleasant.  You can tack them down back there and just leave them.

The metal live traps are great, but many you can't release the mice from - they are meant to be thrown away after some time period when full/smelling. 

If you want to use traditional snap traps, peanut butter as bait is awsome.  There are baitless ones as well.

Not so sure that is all eco-friendly, but for sanitary reasons (especially with kids around) sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do...
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