Saturday, January 12, 2008
Getting rid of mice in sofas, beds, and furniture
Mice in my sofa! Are you kidding me? It's true and more common than you may think. Mice in sofas furniture, and beds occur because these items are perfect nesting sites for mice and rats. So how do you get rid of the mice once they infested your furniture? I would suggest first and foremost to eliminate any crumbs from the area. If you are a snack muncher I would stop this practice of eating on the couch to make a fast meal for the mouse impossible. Then you want to buy a bunch of snap traps. Why not just throw some bait packs under the sofa and hope for the best? Well the best reason not to do this is what if the mouse or rat dies in your sofa? Now you have to deal with a rotten odor and a carcass rotting under your butt. Mix up some peanut butter and chocolate syrup on a spoon and then put a smear of this on your trap to make the mouse have to work at getting a taste. This will optimize a catch. Then, at night before bed, take the cushions off of the sofa of chair, put a newspaper down to protect the upholstery, and place the snap traps on top of the paper. Put out many traps to optimize your chance of catching the mice. Also place the traps behind the sofa or chair and if the trap clears the underneath of the sofa I would place a few under there. You might not have success right away, you may have to repeat this process for a few nights, especially if you are dealing with rats. Be sure to always wipe off the trigger and place fresh peanut butter each night. Now if you are unfortunate enough to have the rodents infesting your bed I would recommend just placing a ton of traps under bed using the same process. Having said all this you will have to take some things into consideration. IF you have had a rodent infestation for a long time and the mice have been infesting your furniture for a long time then there is a chance that there are droppings in the sofa or bed area. If this is the case then you have to think about the dangers of the mouse droppings. It may be safer to throw away the furniture. If this is not an option than at least the mice are caught and the increase in mouse dropping will stop. So good luck with the trapping and happy hunting!
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2 comments:
Hey there, just found this blog via google. I have a question, which I've also emailed.
We have a place in the country where we saw a mouse crawling between the cushions! Going back there tomorrow. Here's the problem: we have a cat (not a very effective mouser) so that makes it tough to set traps in the evening, as they could injure him. Here's what I'm wondering: the cat doesn't go in the basement. If I set the traps in the basement (which is a possible or even probable point of entry), would that take care of mice in the living room.
Any thoughts on this would be gratefully appreciated.
If you have a serious mouse problem, it is best to use a multi-pronged approach--look for any holes or cracks in exterior and interior walls and corners, seal those up with silicone caulk; certainly be neat about your eating habits, taking care not to leave crumbs around; and leave out traps--but I would add that, if the problem has been going on for some time then poison is a must. Otherwise, the mice will multiply exponentially. Traps are 100% effective when the mice land in them, but what about when they don't? They can learn to avoid them. Many times you'll see one scamper right past a trap. Poison, on the other hand, is actually (for whatever bizarre reason) very tempting to them and they will be attracted to it (just be sure that it's their only food source, because if you're not storing actual food in hard containers that can't be easily chewed into, they would prefer that and could get to that first)and will gravitate toward it. It is SO disgusting having to look around for random rodent carcasses lying about, but better that than having them roam freely, chewing up your woodwork and leaving a trail of nastiness. Just deal with the problem, clean up thoroughly afterward with disinfectant cleaner and hot water, discard or wash any contaminated items, and put your best efforts forward to ensure your home will no longer be a hospitable environment (or easily accessible) to these vile little devils.
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