Other than the cat, where are they most likely to get in?
terri01,
May 29, 5:36pm
up through the floor under the sinks they climb up the outside of the drain pipes
tweake,
May 29, 5:59pm
also via the ceiling down through any holes eg cupboards/wardrobes, hot water cylinder pipes, follow electrical cables.
sue1955,
May 29, 6:14pm
We had our first one in the house last night. It didn't even have the decency to wait until Tuesday (1st day of winter). I have stuffed steel wool anywhere I think they can get in & also put a piece of handy kitchen towel soaked in peppermint oil beside them (apparently they hate the smell). Caught the little sod with peanut butter in the trap!
peacebird15,
May 29, 6:42pm
young mice can fit through a gap as small as 5mm, thats the width of a pencil.
lakeview3,
May 29, 7:15pm
I had a fully grown pet mouse who got through 2 layers of overlapping chicken wire. The wire had successfully housed 2 previous mice for 3 years. Once we located said mousie the door was replaced with flyscreen! Mum was terrified having a mouse loose in the house. We had to close all the doors and put food in each room. Eventually we found her! She lived to a great age and died in her sleep. Rip mindy. 🐭
funkydunky,
May 30, 8:51am
open doors
lythande1,
May 30, 9:04am
They can squeeze through very small gaps. And rats. yes they can come up the toilet pipe. had one do that once. Poor thing was young and tired, it couldn't get out, kept sliding back in, so exhausted so we rescued him and let him go in the garden. Probably one of the cats found him later but don't think about that.
stylus1,
May 30, 9:22am
mostly through the roofing iron as they run along the spouting and jump up through the gap in the corrugations. I have one place where mice regularly gain entry, at first i used jars and jars of peanut butter and the old style mouse trap, it got quite expensive. Now I just use an unbaited new trap pushed up against the skirting and it catches them every time. Apparently, mice prefer to run around the skirting and run over the trap, bingo they're caught!
tweake,
May 30, 10:37am
yes, thats surprisingly common.
tweake,
May 30, 10:38am
thats gets them into the ceiling but they still have to find a way down into the house.
lakeview3,
May 30, 10:46am
which trap are you using?
I can hear the scuttle of tiny feet….😨
lindymf55,
May 30, 12:28pm
Thanks guys.
Can they run up the side of the house (timber) and in through an open window?
I've not got a mouse, but there is a dead one lying outside that some cat has caught. Actually, it seems big, so wonder if it could be a rat. And then there is the mouse invasion in Oz. These little buggers absolutely terrify me. And yes, of course they are tiny, but I can't bear the thought of them.
And LV. Mindy. really. lol
trade4us2,
May 30, 1:33pm
I have stuffed rolled up chicken wire in all the corrugations on my roof, and put expanding foam in as well. I have finally blocked up all the ways rats and mice can get into the walls, after 160 years!
hound31,
May 30, 1:46pm
LV, I find the old wooden ones useless. I've had great success with the grey plastic ones, "The Better Mousetrap"? I think they're called. I found them at Mitre10 about $10 for two? Best investment I ever made as you don't have to touch mousy to release them (blerk), there's a hinge at one end you release and they fall out. I keep a "mouse bucket " in the laundry. when I've released the little horrors I wash the traps with disinfectant and reset with peanut butter which they love. Mine seem to like the hwc and the kitchen cupboard. I don't like using poison and these traps are very good.
cameron-albany,
May 30, 2:00pm
Very common. They'll wait till there's no movement around then make a break for it. I've had to resort to poison. They were nibbling something under the house - probably making a nest out of my house piles. Had to also have a serious conversation with the cat. He was adopted last year and for a while we were rodent and rabbit-free. One just about every day for months. Now the honeymoon period is well and truly over. He's finished trying to impress me. He can't be arsed anymore. So I've said the cost of mouse bait will be coming off his Fancy Feast supply until he manages to be more of a cat.
lakeview3,
May 30, 2:01pm
thanks for the heads up - will take a look.
hound31,
May 30, 2:05pm
Lol, quite right, put his board up the ungrateful little so and so.
lakeview3,
May 30, 2:07pm
I know cute eh. She had a little trundle wheel and used to go around and around. She loved being out of the cage and hanging out with me. She had a little empty margarine container I cut a little hole in it and she would build a wee nest. The night before she died she went mental shredding paper and tissue and built the most perfect and beautiful nest. That’s where I found her the next day tightly curled up in a little ball, after she died in her sleep. She was 3 1/2. Apparently a good age for a mouse.
The previous two mice where honey (brown) and clover (white). Mindy lived the longest.
Dad had made the cage from two wooden apple boxes. It had an upstairs and downstairs and I lined the floor with contact for easy cleaning. They loved running up and down the ladder and sometimes the cage door.
strathview,
May 30, 3:20pm
I have watched mice running up the bricks on the wall of our house and I have seen the little blighters running into the garage when the garage door is up. They don't get to live very long if they get into the garage or the house as the puss is a mouse hunting killer.
apollo11,
May 30, 3:48pm
You know you've got a mouse problem when you are finding just mouse heads in your traps.
shelleigh,
May 30, 4:00pm
LV I second using those mouse traps! We just put a little jam on them and it does the trick. We have mice some winters and none others. I hate the dirty critters!
bryshaw,
May 30, 4:09pm
Had regular mouse droppings under our sink so left bait for them and they never returned. Make sure you leave a bowl of water so they don't end up chewing your water pipes.
moby,
May 30, 4:56pm
The "Better Mousetrap" and Pic's Peanut Butter is a deadly combination. Have had excellent demousification results with these.
joanie04,
May 30, 7:11pm
I use the better mouse traps as well. Haven't caught many lately. Last year I replaced my laundry tub. When I went to clean out under the old one I found that I had had squatters, not only that they had partied and invited all their friends and relatives, but gate crashers as well. And it was a recent takeover.
The mice I can deal to but it is rats I struggle with. One got caught in the trap in the roof above my office. Being short I struggled to see inside the man hole even on the ladder, and was not risking it as said rat was not dead. Got the guy down the road to come and deal to it, since he is always offering to help me out. Most things I manage on my own, or I get people who know what they are doing. He thinks he is a jack of all trades, but sadly he is a master of none. Other than vermin extermination and pet feeding.
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