Since we moved out here to the middle-of-nowhere to avoid expensive city-rent, we’ve encountered some things we weren’t expecting.
Like the orange water. Country water out here is H-A-R-D. So we bought a water softener.
Like the moldy walls. The trees here are old and dense. And we live in a valley. Near a creek. Lots of moisture, only a few hours of direct sunlight. After spraying much bleach and throwing out many stuffed animals, we bought a dehumidifier.
Like the lack of modern conveniences, mainly, a dishwasher. But that’s remedied, too, now.
Like the lack of cell phone reception. (Yes, family, this is why I don’t call. I still love you.)
And, most recently, like the mice. I’ve had moth problems before, so I was already storing grains either in bug-proof containers, or the freezer, so it took awhile for them to make themselves known.
But they’re known now.
And we don’t tread lightly when our Nestle chocolate is being attacked.
Our first attempt:
I don’t have a picture of the result the next morning. And not because there was a mouse corpse involved. Our sneaky little rodents made off with the chocolate and then Josh had to test the trap to see if it was faulty. It wasn’t.
So the next day, after some advice from a friend, we tried again with a slightly different tactic:
It was ridiculously hard to stare at a peanut-butter-covered-milk-chocolate-chip all day, knowing I couldn’t touch it for fear of breaking a finger. Ridiculously hard.
And apparently the mice couldn’t resist the temptation either. Two nights in a row we set that same bait and two nights in a row, we caught out bandits.
But it stopped after two, so either we are officially out of mice, we are officially out of chocoholic mice, or we are officially out of dumb mice.
(I tell myself it’s the first one.)
Yay, country life!
Ugh, I HATE mice in my kitchen!!! In our last apartment, we had mice eating through the rice bags, and the sneaky little guys even went after shredded coconut in a bag. It felt like I was absolutely violated!! Thank goodness they never got my chocolate, that would have made me LIVID!!
I was not so happy, at all, to find my evidence of mice in our new apartment only about 5 months after we moved in. I was thinking we’d be vermin-free, since the new building offers 8 inches of concrete between each unit. But there’s still entry points through the outdoor utility pipes, I suppose. Anyway. I moved my bread to a safe location before the could ever get to it (I see the wisdom in breadboxes, now), and started storing my grains in glass containers. And then out came the traps. I’ve blogged about it fairly recently, but long story short, we had the same genius mice you’ve got – they take the bait but don’t trigger the trap. We switched things up, and since then, we’ve caught SEVEN mice, for a total of EIGHT. YUCK!!!! I haven’t seen any more evidence for a several days now, and I’m *hoping* that might be all of them, but the last one we caught was small enough that maybe it was a very young one. And we all know that mice aren’t born one at a time.
I wish they were ALL dumb mice, though. That would make me feel much less a hostage in my own home.
YAY! no more mice! I’m glad the peanut butter worked. They do get smart though and can figure out how to get the peanut butter off with out setting the trap off.
You can tell you guys have never dealt with mice before, the picture of a chocolate chip on a mouse trap made me seriously laugh out loud.
You’re such a city girl. 🙂 I loke you so much though.
Ugh! I’ve lived out in the country my whole life and our last house was the worst! We actually (gulp, this grosses me out so very very much!!) had a rat get inside a few months after we moved in!! Next day we bought foam in a can an sealed up every nook and cranny in the foundation. Then when Cody was just a newborn, I was sitting there nursing on the couch and one ran across the living room floor. And yes, I screamed like a little girl and barricaded myself in the bedroom, with towels shoved under the door, until Todd caught it and tossed it back outside. And then we resealed.
(and just as bad as the mice, were the bats that lived in the walls during the day. Man those things make horrible noises! Come nightfall it was like living in a horror movie with them all flying out! Talk about heebie geebies!)
Seriously why did we live in that house for 4 years?!?!?!
And yup – that’s why we don’t have cell phones. I’m home all day, if I can’t get or make calls – why bother? 🙂
We live on the verge of the country (it’s less than a mile to the first farm and the city water/sewer/etc. stops). We also have a mouse/rabbit/vole/woodchuck/goose/fox problem.
Or did.
Apparently this isn’t an area where only cats excel. I actually like the dogs to do it too, because it’s so much safer…
I’m laughing at the use of the word “city” here. 😉
You should get a cat! I’ve never had problems with mice. 😉 I think I’d have a hard time setting a trap like that though, so hopefully I don’t ever have to worry about it!
hi
we live in London and we have a mouse that visits every now and again. So its not just countryside living. and hey! you know we have bits of london where cell phone reception is really bad 🙂 hope that makes you feel better
and as for the water – London tap water is yuck yuck yuck
Big hugs
Great blog
XX
Hey there. I totally hear you on the mice. Back when we rented, we caught seven in 48 hours, and there were many, many more. Luckily, we were buying a house and moved out. 😉
Just wanted to share a tip. It looks like maybe you have the trap set on your table? Or at least on some pretty piece of fabric? Without being too graphic… you might want to place a piece of cardboard or plastic underneath, next time. It can occassionally be um… messy. 🙁
Oh, humid Indiana.
Sorry about the mice. That’s just gross!
Happy third trimester, lady! Would love to see some posts on how you’re preparing for your little one.
And I wanna see some belly shots! 🙂
It sounds like you could handle moving here! If you don’t mind occasional power outages and hardly any hot water added to the mix. I wish we could buy a dehumidifier. Not that it would work, since our house doesn’t seal. If you have any tips on what to do with mold, I would gladly take them. All our dish clothes are moldy, and almost all of Jer’s sippy cups are moldy. Any help is welcome!!!
Ahah! I love kristina’s tip. When I bought my first house we had mice too. We set a trap on the stove of all places and the next morning we couldn’t get the trap or the squished mouse off! I’d definitely use cardboard next time.
I remember that house being disgusting and creepy (we had bats too) but now that I’ve moved out, I miss it 🙁
Hopefully this new country life starts feeling like home soon.
Mice TERRIFY me. I read in an organic gardening magazine a long time ago to use coffee grounds to repel mice from your property. Apparently they wont cross it ??? I also use the electric plug in repel things 🙂 When we set mouse traps I put them in a small lunch bag so that when it goes off I dont see the results. I told you that they terrify me, Did I forget to mention my extreme prissiness?
Oh I also keep chocolate, sugar and cereal in Tupperware containers 🙂
Ugh, do I feel for you. We’re in the same boat, but we live in the city, so we don’t have wide open spaces to make up for it.
I’m willing to bet actual money that you have more mice. Sprinkle flour on your counter or where you know they were coming in to be sure.
Couple other tips:
Put all your non-refrigerable produce in hanging baskets.
Keep your grains, pastas, and cereals in tupperware or sealed glass containers.
Make sure the kids haven’t been stashing food under their bed.
Look for any holes from the outside and inside of the house. Remember, mice can fit anywhere their head will fit. Fill the holes with steel wool and then silicone on top of that.
The decon hockey puck traps are worthless.
Keep clutter to a minimum. If you have many items stored in boxes, like I do, regularly check them for mouse activity. I have been gradually throwing things away or switching over to tupperware storage containers, but in the meantime, I have a lot of stuff in boxes because there is no storage in this apartment whatsoever.
Good luck!
A dime. That is how big a hole has to be for a mouse. Even a FAT mouse can get in the house through a hole that small. I guarantee you if you caught a big mouse, you have babies.
I agree with Natalie about dealing with them. We have battled many a war with them. Two years ago was the worst ever. In 48 hours we trapped 12 INSIDE our house. 12. YUCK!!! I would set the trap and walk away only to hear it snap. Thinking it was faulty, I went to check and yup, dead mouse.
I took steel wool and put it in any hole I could find then sprayed the foam insulation in a can all over and around the wool. Check all around your pipes under the sinks and any plumbing in your house. this is usually the super highway they use to get in your house. Since I did this we have caught only 4 in the last two years.
As for using Decon, I found it works as long as you use it out side of your house. The mice will stash it in things and it is a bright blue-green pellet that can be mistaken for candy. I only used it in our unattached garage as I was scared of my kids getting into it.
Best of luck to you and the mice wars. The spring and fall are the biggest time for infestation as they prefer the warmth of a house for their nests.
Definitely look around and try to find any cracks that the mice could be getting in from, but also, mice will stop going to the same trap spot. You have to keep moving the traps around. My husband says the most important thing is to completely remove any chance of a food source, which I know is hard to do with kiddos, but this includes things like dirty dishes and keeping the floor swept. My husband was in pest control for quite awhile, and his top two tips are 1. Keep things clean and 2. Exclusion (plug up the holes, find where they are coming from and block it)
And move the traps to different spots.