Unwanted visitor

[mrissa]

There is a mouse in our pantry. Live and running around and stuff.

How do you get rid of mice when you have a small dog in the house? We put traps down in the basement when we found a dead mouse there last fall, but Ista is small enough that we can't put traps where she could get into them, or they could hurt her. Ditto poison: if we need to put poison out, it needs to be somewhere she can't get it.

I did not need this.

Comments

[mark-everson.livejournal.com]

I've had good success with live traps baited with cheese. The live traps were branded Victor and were a box-like enclosure with a door that swings down when the mouse enters the back part of the trap. The cheese is oh so cliche, but it was the first thing that I tried and it worked well. None of this should have any risk of hurting your dog in any way. (You could feed your dog some of the cheese so that a small amount extra wouldn't be of much interest.) So the dog doesn't bother the traps, failing cabinets or other enclosed spaces, my guess would be to put the trap under something. Maybe a bushel basket w/ enough space for a mouse to squeeze through. I released the mice at work 20 miles from home. You could release (far away) or get rid of the captive in any way that you're inclined.

Good Luck!

Mark

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

We have a park near enough to be convenient but far enough to be better than letting them out in the backyard. This may work. I have a Home Despot run in my immediate future, I guess.

[apis-mellifera.livejournal.com]

You can get humane traps, the kind that captures the mouse in a little box and then you can set them free outside. Googling "humane mouse trap" turnes up a bunch of different kinds you can buy. They're more expensize than the kinds that kill or torture the mice, but they're good for around small people and small pups.

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

We have found that the humane traps work nicely, and peanut butter cups work. (Neither of us eats peanut butter, so we didn't feel like buying a whole jar just to bait traps.)

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

If the small dog in question were a terrier, an obvious solution would present itself. However, as I do not know the ratting proclivities of poodles, I'd go with the live traps.

Not sticky traps: those are the most awful inhumane things you could imagine.

[ammitbeast.livejournal.com]

No better way to start your day than to have to drown or bludgeon a rat that didn't die in the trap. Not exclusive to sticky traps, btw.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Ista thinks she is a Mighty Hunter Of Small Rodents, but she has not proven terribly effective so far in the backyard, much less among the bags of flour and boxes of taco shells.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

She needs classes!

[ammitbeast.livejournal.com]

Get a cat.

Upside: New pet!

Downside: Broken dishes in the pantry.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Larger downside: entire household suffocates in own mucus after eyes swell permanently shut.

[ammitbeast.livejournal.com]

Okay, scratch that idea.

My bad.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

No way for you to know.

[seagrit.livejournal.com]

Rent-a-Cat!! (And an air purifier for afterwards.)

I can't say that our cats would be much good for hunting mice. They will sometimes kill (and eat) small bugs, but half the time they appear a bit scared of the bug and we end up needing to kill it anyway.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Alternately, you could invite a reknowned mouser, feline or canine, over for a sleepover. Which is a time-honored tradition. I just thought of that.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

We are all so allergic to cats that I don't think that's a good idea, even if we knew one. And we haven't heard of any in the canine categories.

[cadithial.livejournal.com]

So much for loaning you Sport.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

That *is* a problem.

You need somebody with a schipperke....

[greykev.livejournal.com]

Our traps in emporia had an enclosure around the bar (looked something like a squared-off igloo) so unless a pet were to stick a curious paw inside no accidental damage would happen. YMMV

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

She has extremely curious paws, so I'm guessing the "humane trap" kind may be our solution.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I think you must have a very different idea of our pantry than its actual appearance. It's not that she would make a mess, it's that it's mostly swinging shelves that would be hard for her to get into in the first place.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It's awesome but very unusual. I tend to show it off to people when they come over, if I think of it, because it's such a convenient use of space. timprov is convinced that if we just open it right, we'll get through to Narnia.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It's very hard to photograph accurately, unfortunately. I will try, if I can remember.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I know! I know!

There are little plastic rectangle mousetraps that have an entryway at one end, and once the mouse is inside, it can't go back through the door, which only opens one way.

I've used these for years. Once the mouse is inside, lured by a bit of peanut butter on a cracker, it must wait for you to find it (there are air holes in the box-top), and then you simply carry the trap and mouse outside (far outside), open the trap, and the mouse runs away!

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

P.S. The plastic traps are very cheap--maybe $2.

I found some at a health food store and a year later found some at Walmart.

[eugie.livejournal.com]

I want to second (or is that third?) the suggestion of humane, catch-n-release traps. We used to have a mouse problem every autumn in our previous house. We'd bait the traps with peanut butter and usually catch the fuzzy varmints within a few hours. Then we'd drive them a mile or so away to a nice field and let them go. Those traps work really well.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

I would offer to loan you Selena, the Fuzzy Mouser of Doom! but I know you are allergic. I would suggest you use the humane traps everyone keeps talking about?

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Put the traps inside ground-level cupboards. Esp. the one under the sink - mice always go there, even if that's not where you're seeing them. If you're worried about the pup opening the cupboards, put child-locks on them.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I went and got two of the humane traps this morning. Not sure they'll work, but we've got them set up.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yah, well, Ista seemed to regard the mouse as a subject of academic, not personal, interest, so that should be all right.

I hope the humane traps work, though, because I don't think I could deal with repeated changes of strong scent in that way. Well, I mean, more than I have now. We'll see what we can do about sealing off the dog food and the walls, and then we'll hope for the best.