Mice in my house?!

Ew, right? When we first moved in, this was the anthem of my life. More like the anthem of Andy's life, "ANDY!!! There are mice in my house!!!" Followed by tears and lots of bleach.

For real.

At first it seemed like a never-ending battle that we would never win, but we gradually gained control and I daresay, now, we have become victorious!

{knock-on-wood}

So if you're living the country life, you might be experiencing some mice woes. First let me say, I feel ya. And I'm sorry! And I'll buy ya some bleach. But don't loose hope and want to move {basically, don't be like me}. It will get better - I PROMISE! This winter we only had one mouse, and we caught it within 24 hours of realizing it was under our sink. I didn't even have to re-wash all my dishes. So don't loose hope and check out what we did to gain control and how we maintain it now.

Get some cats.

Get some cats. Like 1 cat per 2 acres if your mouse problem is real bad. Seriously. It seems excessive but that will control the over-all population and limit the ones that actually make it into your house. I only let one of my cats inside {Turtle the Cat} because he is ridiculously endearing and well-behaved. My other cats are ill-mannered indoors and do things like climb all over the counters and climb up my curtains.

#nothanks.

So they stay outside. I think having a cat indoors 24/7 would help more than just periodically, but I'm not a huge cat-in-the-house person. After you take so many parasite and disease courses about animals, cats don't seem quite so tidy and clean. Ahem.

Get the right traps.

Traps not working? Those little buggers eating the bait right off? Yep. You gotta get the really light-touch traps. We use these mouse traps. You'll get your fingers in there a few times trying to set them up but it's worth it. Wear some gloves!

We also load our traps with sticky things, like peanut butter or ez-cheese. That way the mouse can't knock it off and get a free meal.

Block their entrance.

When we had so many mice we couldn't keep track of where they were getting in, I was desperate. It didn't help that we were in the middle of a bathroom remodel so there were openings in the walls and floor. Anyways, I realized something important: the mice aren't magic. They have to have openings to get into my house. The openings may be really small, but if I block the openings, I block the mice. We used this insulating foam sealant to fill every single nook and cranny we could think of. We still had some get in, but it was much easier to find where they were coming in and then find the hole and plug it. There is still one area we aren't sure about, we've looked and looked but it is in the wall behind our cabinets somewhere and we can't physically get back there.

This is what makes the biggest difference. You find the entrance and block it, you totally fix the problem.

Keep them away.

We also use these ultrasonic rodent repeller plugins to repel the mice. They just let off a sonic noise that only bothers mice and it keeps them away. I have one in every room because I'm a spaz and I really hate mice. It has also helped with how often we hear them in our walls.

And yes, that will happen. No matter how old or new your house is.

#hatetobreakittoyou

I was skeptical about how well these would work but I have been amazed at the difference it has made. Ours lasted for about 9-12 months, so they are definitely worth it!

Some things to avoid.

Hopefully this goes without saying, but keep things real clean. I have been told I am a little bit of an obsessive cleaner, but I promise that the cleaner you are, the less problems you'll have with mice. Also, avoid storing food in open containers or baggies and boxes that can be chewed through. If you have a really bad problem, I recommending finding an area of your home where they mice physically can't get - my pantry cabinets are this area for us.

Don't use poison. I really dislike poison. If the mice are in your home, they will eat it and then die somewhere. Usually in your walls. And that smells SO DANG BAD. Really, do you want rotting dead mice in your walls?!?

#ijustpuked.

Also, poison is harmful to other animals in the area. The poison is an anti-coagulant. That means that it acts as an extreme blood thinner and basically the mice bleed out. If a cat happens to eat one of these mice, the cat will also ingest the poison and the same thing will happen to the cat. This has happened to us twice because many people out here use poison. And it can happen with your dog, owls, hawks, etc. Any predator of the mice. It is super effective if you live somewhere like an apartment building and other animals eating the mice isn't a big deal. But way out here, it's not the best idea.