DIY -- mice

I put this on the DIY thread because it's intended to help you keep mice out or, if you have them, do something other than have an exterminator bring poisons into your house.

But you will kill mice using my plan. If you had the plague I had, live traps mean almost daily trips to take the mice away from your house. Where they can get into somebody else's house.

Preventative measures.

PUT ALL FOOD IN STURDY CONTAINERS WITH TIGHT-FITTING LIDS. Mice chew through cardboard in case there's something edible inside. They also chew through plastic re-sealable bags and duck tape. This means re-packaging things as soon as you get back from the grocery store or take delivery on specialty products. When you repackage spices and herbs, cut off the label that says what it is and put it in the container so you don't get cayenne when you want paprika or cloves. Oddly enough, while I have had mice chew into flour bags, they have ignored sugar and mylar bags. DON'T COUNT ON THAT. There are plenty of BPA-free heavy plastic storage sets that will help with this, aside from the typical kitchen canister sets. I bought a 24-piece set and could use a few more pieces, except see the next paragraph.

BUY STORAGE UNITS WITH NO AIR GAPS. I mean it. NONE. Mice can get through holes the size of a dime. Rebrilliant has stackable storage on wheels, with tightly fitting doors. You can easily move them to a closet once filled. They come flattened and take about 2 minutes to assemble, requiring no tools but occasionally a hefty slap with your hand. You can also take the lid off to put in and take out large things. You must make sure the lid is properly seated when you put it back on. I have 11 of these, filled with freeze-dried veggies, jerky, baking supplies, herbs and spices, medicinals, dried fruit, snacks and shelf-safe things like unopened condiments.

UNTIL YOU HAVE THE RIGHT STORAGE, use your refrigerator as a stop-gap, in two ways. One, of course, is that mice can't get inside it. The other is to put things on top of it. I keep flour inside my refrigerator so I have a couple of spare bags handy at a time, but I put party-size chips, goldfish and pretzels on top, including after I have opened the bag and used a clothes-pin to keep the food fresh.

COLLAPSE ALL CARDBOARD BOXES AND PUT OUT WITH THE TRASH. This includes boxes in which project items were shipped to you. I'm a serious knitter and I had to sacrifice some leftover yarn (and if you read my knitting thread you KNOW there's no such thing as useless leftovers) because mice nested in the boxes.

GET RID OF STYROFOAM. Mice will chew it into soft little pellets for nesting. Your town may have collection days for safe disposal. They are literally always on a day I can't get to them so once or twice a year I send styrofoam out with Got Junk. I also know which of my vendors tend to use styrofoam and limit how much I buy from them.

Now to deal with the infestation.

CLEAN UP. Any time you see the evidence of mice, clean that area. Wash it down with kitchen grade vinegar (5%, not the 10% sold at garden stores for weed control) or buy some Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap in peppermint scent. Wash with that. Also put about a quarter cup in a spray bottle, fill with water, and spray carpets and floors. Mice hate the smell. They also hate cinnamon, but if you have a bad infestation you'll put cinnamon in so many places, the house will look unclean. Try Humphrey's Handmade or Adam's cinnamon scent castile soap, or use the recipe on Dr. Bronner's site for adding cinnamon scent to their unscented soap. You will never waste castile soap, you can use it for almost everything. I have a post about that.

BUY TRAPS. Do not buy glue traps, I have known mice to work their way out of them. See above about live traps. Buy snap traps. Place them where you see mice debris, such as nesting preparations. After a couple of days, bait and set them. Keep traps in stock. Even if you get rid of mice one year, they will return a few years later.

Put traps on top of every place where you clean away nesting materials. 

Put them everywhere you find mouse "debris" whether it's hair or not. 

If you see mice skitter across the floor, don't go after them with a broom: watch where they go and put a trap there. 

Set a trap in the doorway and close the door to a room so the mouse can't get into or out of the room without going over the trap.

Lay a line of traps across an entry with no doors, or use your storage to block most of it and then lay up to 8 traps across the rest. Face half of them each way. I used this to control mouse access to my kitchen; it was extremely successful.

If you booby-trap a wall, line up three traps with the bait side against the wall. The mouse might get past the outside traps but the center one will work.

If mice get into a closet, put two traps on the inside of the door, one facing each way. Also watch for them to chew alternative entrances and booby-trap those. Once you catch them, clear everything out of the closet and wash it down with castile soap, then set new booby-traps in case the mice are not getting into the closet from inside your house. 

REARRANGE YOUR HOUSE. Mice can climb, and they will climb on top of something and then jump to where they think they will find food. Do not leave paths from floor to cabinet tops or buffets. For example, I tore apart my kitchen for remodeling and let a tension rod rest on the floor, leaning against a chair. The mice climbed the rod, and leapt from the chair onto boxes they wanted to explore. They also climbed up into a closet and chewed through the plastic of bags of comfrey and chickweed leaves and used the leaves for bedding. Wash down the legs of furniture with the scented castile soap.

SEE IF THERE ARE GAPS YOU CAN SEAL. You'll need a professional for this and that's why it's last: this is not DIY and it will cost you. If mice can get to plumbing, they will get into your house. If there's a gap around your dryer vent, mice can get into your house. 

That said, some mice seem to be tougher than others. Most of the mice in my traps are gray house mice; they seem to be pretty naive. The smaller brown field mice are more wary of traps and their size makes it easier for them to find hidy holes.

If you're asking yourself why I didn't recommend getting a cat -- well, there are people who should never have the care of animals. There are also people who have enough work and expenses caring for kids or the elderly; a cat also needs care and attention. There are allergies; a young relative of mine loves cats but allergy shots did not help her. Cats are not mouse-catching machines; you do not buy them until the mice are gone and then just send them to a shelter or abandon them. They have feelings -- feelings of loss and abandonment and depression. So unless you can make a commitment to the physical and emotional well-being of a cat, don't get one because you have mice.

I know this sounds like a war, but it is. I live in the northeast and my chances of hantavirus are not large -- but they are not zero. Also, it's mice not deer that carry the ticks that spread Lyme disease. Mice leave a definite funk in the air and I have a sensitivity to odors. I also had bronchitis the other year due to mold in the kitchen (causing the renovation) and it took nine months to get over. If mice can get in, mold can get in; so can mildew. Both can be hazardous to your health. This is a war you have to win if at all possible.