whats the best way to get rid of mice?

Answer 1

Mice are persistent little critters, and if you have one, you have more.

Set mouse traps in secluded areas - behind furniture, under furniture, along walls, in basements and crawl spaces. use peanut butter as the bait. Set the traps to spring easily and don't use too much peanut butter - you want the mouse to have to work to get to it.

Use the glue traps if you can tolerate them. I can't, but maybe you can.

Live mouse traps are a possibility, but also not for me.

Ask at a store such as Lowe's if they have a recommended poison. Not all of the poisons work anymore - the mice seem to have developed an immunity to warfarin, for example. You may need to contact an exterminator to be sure about the right poison to use if you want to go that route.

Put steel wool in all openings that you can access if they are getting in around pipes.

Don't leave any food accessible, including pet food.

Consider a cat if you have a persistent problem. However, not every cat is a good mouser.

If all else fails, call an exterminator.

Answer 2

I had the same question when my husband and I got married. My husband took a mouse trap or you could use a rat trap depending on how big your "problem" is. Then you take and bend the part where you clip the arm of the trap to and bent it up slightly. My husband would make it so sensitive that even the slightest touch the mouse would be caught. Then he would buy peanut butter. ONLY ADAMS PEANUT BUTTER! Just about all other peanut butters have shortening in it and other additives that the mice don't like and put a little on the trap and wait for the little buggers to eat :).
I dd this and I caught 3 in an hour. It works like a charm. I would not buy the poison especially if you have ANY little children around because they could swallow it and die
:(.
Good Luck with the little critters.

Answer 3

II've had great success with this trap in my house:

http://veganstore.com/index.html?stocknumber=266

I've caught over ten mice with it so far and it can be used over and over indefinitely. Or, you can try making the free homemade humane trap described here:

http://www.helpinganimals.com/wildlife_livingWithMice.asp

If you do live trap mice, please be sure to check the traps several times a day and release the mice promptly, approximately a mile away from your home. It is much more cruel to allow a mouse in a live trap to slowly starve to death than to kill it quickly with a snap trap. Also, if you use the live traps outside, put a little bedding (paper towels or cotton balls) inside the trap so the mice won't freeze to death during the night. When you release the mice, do it in an area with some sheltering bushes or plants. If you are a kind person, you might also leave a little bird seed or oatmeal for them.

The absolute cruelest traps are glue traps. Mice have been known to gnaw off their own limbs and tear off their skin in an effort to escape, as they starve or dehydrate to death or suffocate in the glue. Poison isn't any better, as the mice die slowly and painfully from internal bleeding. It can take up to a week for them to die.

Good luck!

Answer 4

find where they gained access and block the holes very tightly.

make sure there is nothing left out that could become a food item for them (ie: put cardboard boxes of food into plastic bags or plastic containers, don't leave food out on counters/etc, make sure all spills are cleaned up thoroughly and quickly)

if you still have mice after all of that, consider options that would terminate the mice's lives.

there is the old stand-by of snap traps w/bait, but then you have to remember to check them and to remove the dead mice when you find them.
you could try the 'box' traps where the mouse is lured into a box by a food smell, but once in the box cannot get out &/or steps onto a sticky pad and is transfixed.
you could also try poisons, but make sure any children and domesticated animals cannot get to the poison, and you still have the potential of finding dead mice around the house or even worse, having a number of them dead in your walls/floors/ceiling and stinking the place up until they have entirely rotted away.
there is also the old trick of putting out a plate of instant mashed potato flakes and a saucer/bowl of water. the mice eat and eat the flakes, then drink the water, and lastly expand and die from internal injuries (i believe, i've never cut one open to make sure that was the cause).
there are also a number of live traps available where you catch them then can release them somewhere else, preferrable far away from people.
or you could get a cat and hope it is a good mouser.

i had problems w/mice in my basement at the beginning of this winter. I used snap traps and poison, caught 3 in the traps and another 2 using the poison. my wife was a BIT unhappy when she found a dead poisoned one next to our laundry machine, but it was better than seeing a live one! i found where i think they got into my house at and it was a hold about as big around as a US nickel. mice can squeeze through amazingly small spaces!

Answer 5

moustraps work pretty well, or live traps if you're eco-friendly. Keep the kitchen clean. I bought 6 of those ultrasonic pest repellants that you plug into outlets. I didn;t get any mice in this year like I did in the past.

Answer 6

I 2nd Shmoops...

I also bought the Black and Decker plug in device at Home Depot. I also saw them at Wal-Mart. I bought a pack of 4 and just plugged them in around the house. I've had mine for about a year, and haven't seen any mice since.

Answer 7

I use Black and Decker ultrasonic mousie things that you plug in to the wall. It was about $20 for two in a package at Home Depot. They're supposed to work for spiders, too, but I still have spiders (but no mice!).

Answer 8

If you don't have kids or animals that will get into it, the mouse poison bait is great. But DON"T use it if you have kids/animals. It can kill them too.

Otherwise, the good ol' spring traps. Mice like peanut butter better than cheese!!!

Answer 9

I have 4 cats, but no mice

Answer 10

I saw mouse droppings under my sink and went ballistic.. Threw mouce poison up in the attic, set traps under every cabnet, got those plug-in dealies (not even sure they work) and sealed all the crevases i could find with expanding foam. I do not have mice anymore that's fer sure!