How can I get rid of "critters" crawling in my under house crawl spaces?

Question

Can I scare them away? I've plugged some obvious holes in the foundation. What would repel them? What would make my crawl space undesireable? The colder weather seems to attract them to my home.

Answer 1

Moth balls always work. But don't put too many or the fumes come up into the home!

Answer 2

One little thing you left out and that is what type of critters are you talking about. The four legged kind like mice or rats or many leged kind like ants, spiders and such.

With the four leged kind, there are autra sonnic devices that do work. I am not really fond of using poisons and croaking them outright because of the pets I have.

These all can be found on the internet and the same with insect sprays that are applied to the outside foundation that will repel the many legged critters. or croak them outright your decision.

All the critters are doing is finding shelter from the colder weather and what better is there then your craw space.

If you have a hardware store near you you might be able to find
the same sort of things there without looking on the internet

Answer 3

I found out about a month ago that we have a mouse. Not a big guy, but it's still a mouse. So, I started with the glue traps and these traps that supposedly spin and then trap the mouse in there. I think it may kill them as well, but the point of the thing was that you wouldn't see it...there's an indicator that will let you nkow if you caught one. It never worked. Then we got the standard, tom & jerry mouse traps...still haven't worked, still have a mouse.

Then I went with a suggestion from someone else...they said peppermint oil. 100%. You dab some on a cotton ball and put them in spots you see them. You can even pour a small amount in a spray bottle with water and "coat" an area. I bought it at a CVS or something, but be warned, it ain't cheap. It was $25 for a small amount...think smaller than a bottle of vanilla extract. It's supposed to be such an obnoxious smell that they won't even bother, but you do need to "recharge" it once every one or two weeks.

That being said...I haven't seen the bugger yet. However...we do have a smell. I think we may have actually trapped it in an area with no escape, and he's since died.

SO....it works I'm pretty sure. I haven't seen anymore nor have I seen any signs of them (you know what I mean). It's a little pricey, but it works, is safe, smells good and doesn't hurt them as badly as say something like a glue trap. It apparently works the same for all rodents as well, not just mice.

Answer 4

I am trying to get rid of raccoons in my crawl space. Big problem is my home has the vinyl skirting which raccoons can just pull apart anywhere. I blocked one end of my home with block, but for my age that was a big job to do. Do not have the money to hire someone. I was trying putting a wire fence next to the siding around the rest of the home, but since the home has been here for 10 years already, there are lots of shrubs around the siding. Plus when trying to push the wire fence into the ground some, the siding came loose from the bottom and the wire fence bent like crazy. Looks like I will have to crawl on my belly under the house and put the fence on the inside and some block at the bottom. Am not looking forward to that.

Answer 5

Rid A Critter

Answer 6

I don't know what kind of critters you have but I recently watched a show about squirrels and all the different methods people use to rid their homes and gardens of them. Evidently the squirrle is a very smart and talented critter that does not get deterred by much. The mothballs did not work and mesh screens at the entrance and exit of areas where they were not wanted were just ripped and chewed through. 'Scary' bird statues did not seem to phase them at all either. In the end there was little that could be done about the squirrel problem short of poisoning. I don't know if you want to do this , especially with the risk of dead critters in your crawl space (ugh!) You could possible fashions some kind of door or steel mesh (what they tried did not seem that strong to me) or gate at the entrances and exits of your crawl space- I don't know if this would work as I cannot picture where they are getting in and out.

Answer 7

Depends on the critters. You don't really want to lay down classic traps because then you will have to go and clean up all the bodies. The best thing you can do is take a very strong scented herb, spices work especially well, but they must be potent. Then make a thick line of them on the borders of your crawl space. The scent will overwhelm and repel them because their sense of smell is a hundred times more potent than ours.

Answer 8

Critters are justs as scared as you may be. Be gentle and try coaxing them into a box....you didn't mention what type of critters. There is a humane rodent repellant that plugs into the wall. It has a high pitched noise that drives them out (as long as they have an opening to get out. Of course don't use it anywhere near any rodents that you may have as pets, such as gerbils, hamsters etc. We once had a possum in my living room. My husband and I managed to gently push it into a box where I closed the box and released it back into the wild at the back of my property

Answer 9

I had an old trailer I rented that I closed in but did not close completely to cut down energy bills. Since it was difficult to close it completely and cats got under it at night as it was warmer I threw mothballs under there to help get rid of them and cockroaches were the original intent in the warmer months such that it worked for both of them. It smells bad and is not the best for your health so try to keep it to a minimum I probably over did it a bit. Also in my attic I put an old suitcase I had cleaned up washed up a cat had sprayed on which barely smelled of cat which ran off the roof rats such that since they are back I am going to get something from the local cat place probably to run them off again. These are more like long nosed mice but they are afraid of cats and leave when they smell them before a cat catches them. They are having a hey day again in the attic since the suitcase lost the little bit of cat smell from the heat in the summer time in the attic and then was given to someone for traveling purposes.
I have used glue traps and the mouse rat traps with peanut butter in it which they do not seem to be able to resist. Both have worked for me well. My friend likes the poison because she says if you have no water leaks or standing water it causes them to bleed internally such that they crawl off somewhere looking for water from thirst but then they may die under your house which does not smell good often.

Answer 10

What kind of "critters?" If it's dogs or cats or some animal like that, you need to enclose the openings to the under part of your house. There are products on the market that repel snakes. Sulfur is a good repellent. There is an old remedy called cotton dust that people used to put under their houses many years ago. It keeps bugs down (not completely) and most animals won't bother it.

Answer 11

If it's mice, D-Con works best. Just make sure to keep it away from children and any animals you don't want to die. It's based on the same medication as Coumadin, a blood thinner, so anything that eats it basically bleeds to death inside themselves. If you're really unlikely (like I was recently), you'll get the mouse to injure themself in your cabinet after eating the D-Con, then it can bleed all over everything before dying in the corner where you have to clean up the carcass.
The good thing is, I've only had it happen once, and I've used the product for 15+ years.