Could Just One Mouse Be Such a Problem?

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Aug 16, 2019
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I noticed last week that I had mouse activity in the cellar again. I had to go around the house and I insulated an area where I think they / it got in.
I was refilling 2 dishes of Ramik mice poison every day for a few days, plus I put out some new traps with peanut butter.
A mouse or mice must have put away about 60 pieces of that mice poison.
I think they do that when they have other food sources available, and when they can't get out any more they eat the stored poison
.
Yesterday I finally got a mouse in a trap, by the front leg, but it killed him after he tried to walk away with the trap.
Since then I've had absolutely no activity at all down there.
I'm seriously wondering if I only had one mouse total.
 
That my friend would be a rare occurrence. Kinda like 1 termite. Chances are the others ate the poison and have died in your walls somewhere. Keep the traps out and check under any open insulation you have access to.
The remaining mice might be paranoid after seeing one of their mates die in the trap.
 
I think they might have a tendency to build a tolerance to poison. I know it is possible in rats. Use a different kind of poison or multiple kinda at once. I have used rammik and havok and I think one other name that that company makes. The tomcat stuff or the just one bite never seem to do much.

I use the big bait chunks. It seems like they always die out in the open when they get into those.
 
I think they might have a tendency to build a tolerance to poison. I know it is possible in rats. Use a different kind of poison or multiple kinda at once. I have used rammik and havok and I think one other name that that company makes. The tomcat stuff or the just one bite never seem to do much.

I use the big bait chunks. It seems like they always die out in the open when they get into those.
I have some of the Tomcat chunks also.
I'll leave a couple of them out down there.
 
I believe mice travel in about a 30 ft. radius of their nest.
Hopefully the nest is outside your house and the lone mouse was exploring / looking for food.
Mice are easy to catch / rats are smarter.
Once you think you have them all trapped, keep the traps out to get any stragglers.
Especially this Spring.
Mice are dirty and carry disease.

What confuses me is:
We kill mice, but think chipmunks are cute.
We kill rats, but think squirrels are cute.
 
I believe mice travel in about a 30 ft. radius of their nest.
Hopefully the nest is outside your house and the lone mouse was exploring / looking for food.
Mice are easy to catch / rats are smarter.
Once you think you have them all trapped, keep the traps out to get any stragglers.
Especially this Spring.
Mice are dirty and carry disease.

What confuses me is:
We kill mice, but think chipmunks are cute.
We kill rats, but think squirrels are cute.
depends
I 100% see your point of view, but my better half likes squirrels and they havent touched the house in any way and live in their giant maple tree (15+)
I told her if they start eating the house they will have to go.. so far no problems in 9 years.
A hawk?? got one and left it in 2 pieces in the middle of my yard.. that was the worst.
 
My wife calls for me when the squirrels are on her bird feeder. They see me in the window and scram now—I guess the great white hunter strikes fear in their little hearts.
 
Deer mice tend to hoard food more than house mice. You have to be careful that their built up cache(s) are not found by house pets. Be concerned if your house pet starts weezing a lot (bleeding in the lungs). Vitamin K is the antidote to many of these anticoagulant poisons.
 
Deer mice tend to hoard food more than house mice. You have to be careful that their built up cache(s) are not found by house pets. Be concerned if your house pet starts weezing a lot (bleeding in the lungs). Vitamin K is the antidote to many of these anticoagulant poisons.
80% of my cellar is crawl space and I don't let my cats down there at all.
Thanks for the tip.
 
No activity today either, nothing at all.
I wouldn't be surprised if that mouse was the only one down there.
Time will tell but it's good to see no more activity down there.
I feel there's a good chance I'm getting it under control.
 
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Be careful with poisons.. Mice are one of nature's food supplies - you poison them, you poison other predators.
 
Deer mice tend to hoard food more than house mice. You have to be careful that their built up cache(s) are not found by house pets. Be concerned if your house pet starts weezing a lot (bleeding in the lungs). Vitamin K is the antidote to many of these anticoagulant poisons.
With the ban on anticoagulant baits for consumer use, there’s vitamin D3-based bait(d-con) or bromethalin-based(Tomcat, Real-Kill, etc). No antidote for them, bromethalin is an acute poison that works almost like cyanide.

Baits take 2-3 days to kill their target via bleeding(anticoagulant), heart failure(vitamin D3) or brain death(bromethalin).
 
7 Years and I never had mice in the crawlspace, cats died and then mice appeared, a new cat (never let any of them in crawl space) and still have mice, caught 6-10 over a year or so. Last week sealed all vents and cracks with spray foam, have bait on outside of foundation which does get eaten at times (only a mouse can get in) so will see. May have to fire this cat as he is not emitting the correct scent to scare them off.
 
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