MICE

Here's some fast facts: Mice can swim, are good climbers, eat about .1 ounce a day, will travel between 10-33 feet from it's nest, can have 8 litters a year and in each litter have 4-7 babies with the babies ready to mate in about 2 months. Yikesaramma! ! By the way...over 120 million dollars a year is spent on rodent control programs in the United States alone. Treating for mice has to be a mission. It can't be throw a couple of snap traps down and hope for the best. It's inspecting your home from top to bottom, looking for signs like dropping so you know the areas they are visiting. It is cleaning up any crumbs and throwing away the 500 plastic bags you are saving under the sink "just in case". It's getting rid of clutter and it's sealing up holes on the outside of your home, putting weather stripping on the bottom of garage and entry doors if needed. It's pulling out refrigerators and stoves to see if there are dropping under there, and sealing holes where the gas line and the water pipes come up form the basement. In other words, it's a battle! Your weapons are few, but effective. The snap trap, the old stand by that is used time and again, but often times not used correctly. First: Use many traps and don't put a glob of peanut butter or a piece of cheese that could feed the neighborhood, use just enough, make the little guy work for his grub. Remember that mice have very keen sense of smell. Why not try some chocolate syrup or bacon on the trigger. Try trying a small piece of cotton on the trigger (nesting). Here's an idea. Try all of these ideas at once!! Use lots of traps and lots of techniques. This will boost your kill. Next thing in the arsenal is gluetraps. Again, use a lot. Mice tend to follow the same path time and again. So if you're watching television and see the little bugger dart across the wall then put out 4 or 5 along that path and hopefully the next day or night you'll catch it. I like to use glue traps because you catch them and can see how many you caught and then you can throw them out. Next in the arsenal is bait. Use as a last resort and in safe areas. Don't place where children or animals can get to them. The one drawback is that if they die in the walls or behind something you will have to deal with an odor for a while and possibly flies. I've been asked about those sonic devices from time to time and I always say that if you are going to spend the money on them to get the kind where you can change the frequency so that the mice won't get used to the sound and return. Good luck. Any questions please post them on the comment section and I will respond. Use caution and read the important disclaimer.