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If you think of getting rid of mice as one of life's exciting challenges, it might be a lot more fun.
Discourage Entry Outside
The first line of defense is making it difficult and undesirable for mice to get in your house in the first place. It’s tough, because mice like to be warm, dry, and well-fed, just like we do.
 | | Keep 'em outside! |
•Plug all holes around the outside of your house. Remember that mice are small, can climb walls, and can chew through most wood and plastics.
•Create a buffer zone by removing any mouse-friendly situations on the outside. Remove trash, brush piles, boxes, seeds, and thick vegetation from within ten feet around the house.
•In the garage, keep dog food, seeds, or other edibles in sealed, mouse proof containers.
Discourage Comfort Inside
As much as possible, make your house inhospitable to mice.
•Keep all food in sealed, mouse-proof containers. Mice can quickly and easily bite through cardboard and thin plastic or paper bags.
•Clean up all spills on counters, cupboards, and floors. Check for spills under appliances.
•Remember that food to a mouse might not be what you think of as food to people.
•Get a housecat. Even a non-hunting cat on the premises can make mice think twice.
Mouse Removal
Once you have a mouse in your house, remember that most mouse removal solutions require the mouse to be literally physically removed.
•Get a reliable mouser housecat that lives and stays in the house. A housecat that is also allowed to roam outside, not only is less interested in house mice, but also brings into and around the house its own share of problems and parasites. And remember that cats are also animals and will do what animals do.
•The traditional spring-loaded mousetrap still works well. Variations of this trap are now available, but the principle is the same.
•Live traps. Catching a mouse alive burdens you with the challenge of finding a new home for the mouse or donating it to someone who needs to feed another animal, such as an owl or snake.
•Glue/sticky traps catch a mouse when it makes contact with the trap, usually by the feet, then by other parts of the body as the mouse maneuvers to free itself. The convenience of these traps is that you do not have to set a spring, and the mouse and trap can be thrown together into the household garbage.
•Poisons work well, but they can also poison pets and children. Keep them well out of reach of both.
•Caution: Anything that will catch a mouse will also catch a gerbil or other small animal.
Trapping Tips
•Keep bait, such as peanut butter, fresh. Make sure the bait is more attractive than other foods around. Don’t expect a mouse to be lured to a trap if there are plenty of other edibles easily available.
•Check the traps often. Not only do you want to remove captures – dead or alive – before they starve or stink, if a trap is not producing, you may want to move it to a better location.
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