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Post by bouncy on Oct 8, 2020 12:36:55 GMT
Try bait, rather than straight poison. If it's on something like grain, they will take it back to the nest to take care of the rest. Traps and lights tend to just shift the problem to a neighbour. They can be very destructive!
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Post by hpdegus on Oct 8, 2020 13:27:42 GMT
My landlord offered up the use of a bait station (which presumably has poisoned food). Should I take her up on it? I'm a bit concerned about using certain poisons, because I know it can be really harmful for the local wildlife.
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Post by bouncy on Oct 8, 2020 14:15:47 GMT
If it's baited food, and it's somewhere only mice can access it (not somewhere goos will run), it should be ok.
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Post by hpdegus on Oct 9, 2020 23:06:56 GMT
Update: this morning also no signs of mice. Fingers crossed this continues, but remaining vigilant!
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Post by hpdegus on Oct 12, 2020 6:45:19 GMT
Ok, just woke up (almost 3am) which seems like it would be prime mouse time. I did think I heard something, but its below freezing and an old house so it could be that.
But I did wander around the apartment a bit, didn't see anything.
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Post by bouncy on Oct 12, 2020 12:03:12 GMT
I used to hear scrabbling, which stopped as soon as I made any noise......
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Post by hpdegus on Oct 12, 2020 12:52:25 GMT
Yeah... thats what I'm afraid of. But I havent seen any droppings at all over the past five mornings.
I also don't trust my senses much in the middle of the night. I thought I saw a mouse this morning. Turned out to be the shadow of a wheel on the goo cage!
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Post by hpdegus on Jun 2, 2021 10:31:13 GMT
Noooooooo
I just saw a mouse again!
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Post by deguconvert on Jun 2, 2021 16:20:26 GMT
G A S P!!! NOOOOO!!! CRAP!!
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Post by hpdegus on Jun 2, 2021 16:40:26 GMT
It was awful, I woke up and the little guy was sitting right by my nightstand! And I didn't hallucinate him since the goos sunflower seeds were broken into.
Potential good news, there were some treats missing yesterday morning, but absolutely nothing before then. So hopefully I caught this early?
House smells like peppermint and landlord is supposed to bring traps sometime today.
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Post by savvy on Jun 3, 2021 0:01:44 GMT
You need to find out where they are getting in. Try sprinkling either talc or flour around the edges of the rooms to see if you can follow their tracks.
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Post by hpdegus on Jun 3, 2021 0:16:09 GMT
It looks like it's from the closet.
The landlord did come with traps, so thats good. The goos will not be getting outside time for a few days, I don't want even a chance of them getting into the traps.
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Post by savvy on Jun 3, 2021 0:19:37 GMT
Are there any pipes in the closet? Or any gaps in the walls, floor or ceiling? Mice are really good climbers and being soft boned they came squeeze through the tightest gap.
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Post by teemu on Jun 3, 2021 0:28:47 GMT
Mice and the like are REALLY tenacious and clever about getting inside. It's likely that there are multiple places of entry into the house itself, but there must be some specific holes they are getting in through. The problem is, of course, that after a location has been marked by mice, other mice know that it's a good place, too.
From experience, if a house is prone to mice, it's really hard to actually proof it. Savvy's suggestion might have merit though. Mice can come through incredibly small holes. Their skeletons are so tiny. A mouse's skull has around the same diameter as a bigger finger, so you can imagine how easy it is for them to get into places through whatever crack in a wall, foor or ceiling they find. But since you've been mouse-free for a long time, it might be possible to get thing sorted with just trapping.
I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but the mice might of course carry diseases that can be infectious to degus (and humans, but even more so to degus), so any food they get into should not be fed to degus, and all locations they might have visited should be cleaned thoroughly. A secure, preferably metal box of some sort is good for protecting foods that mice might try to get into. And just putting them on a table or similar elevated surface with nothing they could use to jump or climb up there will also be helpful. Experience has taught me that mice are not able to actually climb table legs, at least if the legs are metal or under the table rather than right at the corners.
(Back when I used to have pet rats and lived right next to a farm in an old house, I had a couple of stupid mice actually try to get into a rat cage on top of everything else. I'm sure they regretted it a lot...)
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Post by hpdegus on Jun 3, 2021 0:56:45 GMT
Yep, big holes in the closet! I live in an old house that's been converted to apartments and a lot of the work they did to convert it is shoddy craftsmanship. I absolutely agree with Teemu, I think this place is prone to mice (landlord even mentioned that they used to have bait stations here, previous tenants took them) so I'm not sure how much I can do.
Sorry, I misspoke, they dropped off bait stations, not humane traps. I just don't think traps will work for this house.
I'm really really hoping this works, because I'm really concerned about possible diseases. I had all of their food other than sunflower seeds already in sturdy containers, so thats good.
Also, I'm sure the mice really regretted that Teemu! I think my goos are wimps though, haha.
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Post by teemu on Jun 3, 2021 1:06:40 GMT
If you know where they are coming from, an age-old trick (literally from the middle ages) is to place something irritating (lye, traditionally, but anything irritating will do) in front of their entry holes on the floor. That way the mice will quickly learn that entering the place will make their feet hurt and they will, hopefully, look for easier hunting grounds. It's a bit sketchy in practice, though...
Is it possible to somehow cordon off the closet or seal it in a way that would prevent the mice from getting to the rest of the apartment? It's very good that there's a clear entryway they're using, you can work around that and try to either limit their potential interests to just the closet, or actually prevent them from getting out of there.
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Post by hpdegus on Jun 3, 2021 1:19:45 GMT
Oh interesting! I appreciate that its from the Middle Ages, haha.
My goal last time was to make my place as absolutely irritating as possible by dousing entry holes (mainly bathroom) with peppermint oil. That seemed to work very well. I'm trying that again this time, just with peppermint oil soaked rags placed near my closet, as well as where I saw them last time.
Well, I kind of need my closet. And I think even if I did seal the whole thing off, there are so many other places they could enter through. But I can add more peppermint oil to the whole perimeter, see if that helps.
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Post by bouncy on Jun 3, 2021 7:30:36 GMT
Rats can fit through a hole the size of a bic biro, so the kinds of holes you're looking for can be miniscule. You're looking at things like inlets in brickwork for pipes/waste, missing rendering, etc. If they have a nest inside the building, then blocking anything may result in them dying inside, perhaps even in the wall cavity (yes, they climb walls). Put the bait down again, be sure it's been taken, THEN go back and block any holes. Perhaps go around with a can of expanding foam. Unfortunately, it's more likely a job for your landlord, unless all the tenants are going to be happy joining in the fun!
In the meantime, try and use metal tins and glass jars for goo and food stores, rather than plastic and card!
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Post by deguconvert on Jun 3, 2021 7:37:20 GMT
IF you use expanding foam . . . make sure you buy metal scrubbing buds to place in the hole, from edge to edge, no gaps, and then saturate the bud and the surrounding area with the foam. You need to be generous in the usage of the metal scrub buds because it is the metal that dissuades the mice from chewing through. If you don't use metal scrub buds, they will chew through again in minutes.
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Post by teemu on Jun 3, 2021 8:04:03 GMT
Oh interesting! I appreciate that its from the Middle Ages, haha. My goal last time was to make my place as absolutely irritating as possible by dousing entry holes (mainly bathroom) with peppermint oil. That seemed to work very well. I'm trying that again this time, just with peppermint oil soaked rags placed near my closet, as well as where I saw them last time. Well, I kind of need my closet. And I think even if I did seal the whole thing off, there are so many other places they could enter through. But I can add more peppermint oil to the whole perimeter, see if that helps.
Yeah, that all makes sense. You might actually want to try stuffing some of those doused rags into the holes as well. If they find it foul, then they likely don't want to start actually eating through that. As others have said, actually blocking off the holes for real is something your landlady should do, but it's likely a good temporary solution.
I do agree with Deguconvert's assesment that you'd likely want to put in more than just the expanding foam. Mice will tear through it in a heartbeat, and they might even be enticed to do so. They're prepared to eat and/or steal the craziest things if it can technically be eaten or used as nest material. I've seen a situation where they have, for example, just stolen all the fiberglass wool insulation out of a wall. They really aren't picky!
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