They're back.

[OAITW r.2.0]

Thought I got rid of my little mice friends last Fall. Live trapped 8, dead verified 4.

Had 2 cuties in the last 2 days. One I caught in the kitchen. Easy, little (1-1.2 in) guy/gal was like a programmed toy. Sense my hand, go away. The concept of 2 hands hasn't registered, He/She got freed to live his/her good life outside. The other one drowned In Skippa's waterbowl. He had a smile on his face,

[MontanaMama]

1. This cracked me up... AND

I am at constant war with mice. I have chickens…mice seem to be part of that dynamic forever. I have now devised a “hotel California” where the mice can check out anytime they like but they can never leave. It’s awesome. 😜

[OAITW r.2.0]

3. "Hotel California"....that cracked me up.

Thing is, there are no gaps in the 2 x10 plates that support the 1st floor frame and the 8" log walls. No chance to squeeze in. The electrical conduit from the garage has steel wool stuffed in it. I have no idea how they are arriving.

[House of Roberts]

2. I have cats.

Haven't seen a mouse in a long time. My little girl Gisela caught the last one, found in an empty laundry basket after she wore it out playing with it.

[OAITW r.2.0]

4. If they get caught by a cat, they usually die of fright, unless the cat is really hungry, it's no longer of interest.

[multigraincracker]

5. I use to feel bad. I'd see a few turds and put out traps.

Just catch one and no more. If I knew it’d be only one I could live with it.
Since I got my Worlds Best Cat? Not any more. I wonder if the word got out that there’s a cat here?

[usonian]

7. Some say that spreading some cat litter is enough to scare them away.

But I'm not asking for donations!

[OAITW r.2.0]

8. They don't bother me, per se......

But you can't let them infest your house, Live traps are out by the food source, the dried dog food.

[multigraincracker]

11. If I didn't have my cat, I'd get a white lab rat for a pet.

Had one for a term for a lab course in college. Wonderful little guy.

[Hekate]

13. One year we were forewarned of a mouse stampede -- El Nino rain, lots of wild grasses...

…mouse population explosion, normal hot dry weather ensues, end of feasting, they head for houses.

I put Othello, big black fluffball with golden laser eyes, to work. After scrubbing out the pantry and stuffing steel wool in the cracks, I encouraged The Mighty Hunter to walk through those cupboards at will, and leave his scent.

Ick! Some people said. Pfft, said I. I had already thrown away every package of pasta and pancake mix that had been chewed open and peed in, so all Othello had to brush against were cans.

I miss Othello, Mighty Hunter. He died at a ripe old age many years ago — I never had another like him.

[usonian]

6. There are plans on the Internet for water traps.

They have a little ramp up a water bucket, a plank to walk, with some bait, whose end buckles. I accidentally caught some this way, less the plank.

[OAITW r.2.0]

9. Skippa's stainless steel water bowl seems to work well. I've found 5 floating quietly in it.

[Solomon]

10. We had a pretty bad mice problem all of a sudden a couple years ago. My wife wouldn't consent to getting a cat.

We were catching 'em in glue traps but it didn't stem the tide. One day I said to my wife, if we don't get rid of the mice somehow we're going to get a snake. All of a sudden after about a week or so went by, I noticed the mice had seemed to go away. Then about a week after that I went downstairs to brush my teeth one morning and stepped barefoot on a big black snake! I was so spooked I ran around in circles in the iving room screaming until I could get my senses back! Turns out the mice were going from the shed in the back yard, climbing a pipe and jumping into a hole in the back of the house under the stove! The snake must have gotten through the hole and feasted on the mice who were going back and forth between the shed and the house. He must have been under the stove for who knows how many days eating mice. And when the mice stopped coming, finally slithered out to search for more, winding up in our bathroom near the sink.

On the one hand it did us a favor. We've not had a single mouse since then and he showed us where the hole was where they were getting in at and we plugged it up. But on the other hand, he scared the hell out of me! And we don't live in the country. We're in an urban area but close to a park.

[multigraincracker]

12. I see signs of them in my crawl space under the house.

I got some cans of spray cans of spray foam insulation and sealed up around the pipes going into the house. That seems to worked.