Mouse control

What to do when there's a mouse in your house!

Mouse control - they may be cute little critters but you don't want them in your dwelling!

When we bought our cabin, we got an unexpected bonus thrown in for free - a colony of mice. The building was a "fixer-upper" that had been empty for five years. Although we planned to renovate extensively, our first task, at possible risk of Hantavirus, was to move the mice out!

We were successful, but when you live in the country, mouse control is not a one time effort... it's a constant vigil.

Food and shelter

Mice come into cabins seeking food and shelter. They will eat human food, pet food, bird seed, and garbage. The best method of mouse control is to prevent them from entering in the first place. Cracks or gaps from the outside need to be sealed.

Once inside, mice will look for places to nest. One such place is in a pile of firewood - so keep just the logs you need inside, don't stockpile. Store the rest of your firewood well away from the house.

Mice will also look for spaces between walls or floorboards. If you are aware of nesting spots, you can fill them with caulking or stuff them with steel wool.

They will even tunnel into upholstered furniture to build or gather material for their nests.

Protect your food!

Keep a clean cabin. We clean our kitchen, wipe down all food preparation or eating surfaces, and take out the garbage when we leave.

Keep your food in glass and metal containers. Don't bother with plastic - unless it's hard plastic, they'll gnaw right through it. They can be very destructive. Not only will they eat your food, but they can chew electrical wires, linens, clothes, and they leave droppings and urine on your belongings.

Keep your sheds and garages free of clutter that could become a nesting area.

Trim tall grass, shrubs and brush in a 100 foot/30 meter radius around your dwelling and outbuildings.

Consider planting mint around your house - mice apparently don't like mint - plus as a bonus you can use the herb in your kitchen!

How to get rid of them

You can trap mice with the good old fashioned mouse traps available at hardware stores. They are quite effective but a bit gruesome. And you need to be careful if you have small children or pets.

You can also get traps that operate on the same principle as fly paper. They have a sticky surface that the mouse can't escape from once it makes contact. These are not recommended as they can cause the mouse to urinate out of fear, which is how some infectious diseases, such as hantavirus, are spread. The same is true of humane traps that catch the mice live.

"Humane" traps ineffective

I tried this method of mouse control in an old farmhouse we had years ago. The problem is you only catch one at a time and if you have a significant infestation, you'll never be done - unless you have several traps that you can put out at one time. It only takes 21 days to gestate a new litter of six to eight mice.

Some people kill the mice after trapping them (that seems to defeat the purpose of a live trap) while others take them outside away from the dwelling and let them go. Wildlife experts actually recommend disposing of the mice rather than relocating them.

For greatest success, place your traps along the walls near where you have seen evidence (droppings) of mice. Peanut butter makes good bait. Place the traps with the bait pan against the wall so they form a "T". Mice like to run close to the wall for protection rather than in open spaces.

By far the most effective means of mouse control is poison. Mouse poison is made with warfarin, a powerful blood thinner that essentially causes the mouse to bleed to death internally. It does the job but the risk is the danger of pets or small children ingesting the poison. As well, with poison there is a possibility the mice will die where you can't get at them but you may be able to smell them.

We close our lodge over the winter and I do put out poison because we're not there for over four months. It has allowed us to control the mice. I haven't experienced problems with bad odors - but it may be due to the cold temperatures in the winter when the poison is used. I don't use poison the rest of the year mainly because of pets and children, but also to avoid the issue of unpleasant odors.

You may have seen or heard of high frequency sound pest control plug in units. We've tried them and not found them effective and I've since read that they are a waste of money.

Natural mice catchers

There's always the natural food chain method. We used to take our cat out to the lodge every weekend and he was quite effective at keeping the mice away - and our granddog who visits periodically has also been known to catch a mouse!

If mouse control is something you're unable to manage on your own, you may have to consider bringing in an exterminator.

Have you got a mouse tale to share? Send it our way.

Readers'Comments

I have had good success using a pail of water with a tight wire near the top holding a soup can that can spin freely and is close enough to the pail's edge so as to entice the mouse onto your baited tin can with peanut butter.

A paint stir stick or whatever is needed to act as a runway to the top of the pail in order to give the mice access to the top of your pail. The larger the pail the more you may catch,but some modifications may be required in order to outsmart your rodent. Such as baiting possibly inside the tin can ? use your wit, as I've had lots of peanut butter stolen by a clever one.

Sometimes I smear it (the peanut butter) on the sides so they have to lean over the sides of the tin can, but often one or two are there floating or if days later I arrive, they are at the bottom.

I then take a cat litter strainer with a 12" handle, scoop them out and fling them into the bushes. Light weight oil or anti-freeze, maybe a deeper pail can be used in the winter but you need to dispose the mice in a way that your children or pets do not get sick/die from the anti-freeze.

For better welcoming I bait the stick going up the pail to invite them up. There is no patent on this trap so feel free to improve on it and share it with us. Maybe spray silicone on the tin can might aid in the ride over the edge, who knows.