Moved to the country and I'm infested with mice!!
 

Not really "infested", but the tenants that were here before us must have been fucking pigs. We moved our stuff here on Tuesday, just got internet and TV yesterday, and have been cleaning all the while. Today I made my way into the laundry room and holy fuck is it bad.

The dryer vent isn't even hooked up and you can see where the mice have been living. Its by far the worst part of the house and really the only room we didnt examine when we came to check it out. There's also a piss smell coming from the AC when I turn it on. I have a feeling they're getting into the ducting under the house.

I'm on Amazon looking at those ultrasonic units that claim to repel mice. One unit in particular has some pretty good, seemingly legit reviews, but I'm still skeptical. We've used the regular old school wooden/metal traps in the past with success, if you consider success just catching them. I'd like to keep them the fuck away for good, not just kill them.

We're renting and have the 2 small dogs, but we've used controlled poison outside the house before with success as well. Unfortunately that was like $500 to have done and it only last 3 months. We already plan on calling the guy and having him come check this place out, but in the meantime I'd like to get started on these bastards.

Please share any experience, advice or recommendations with us. I told her that if I could I'd catch the fuckers by hand, one by one and squeeze them to death. :vash: This place is beautiful and we love it, but the mice are going to make me crazy!

trade the dogs in for cats.

trade the cats in for snakes

lol

Funny you say that because the tenants before us also had a cat. Which lived in the laundry room.

Unfortunately for me I'm allergic to cats. Even since I've been a kid I cant go near cats, gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, ferrets, etc etc. I found out just how allergic I was from working with them at Petco when I was in HS. Picture eyes popping out of your head allergic.

Eat a lot of peaches.

Move to the country [check]
Eat a lot of peaches [check]

are canned peaches ok? :)

Clean up the mess and seal the holes where they've been getting in. Turn a few rat snakes loose in the house for a week and go on vacation. Mau5 problem solved.

They're nature's candy in your hand, or a can, or a pie...

I'm dealing with the same problem. I've heard the fuckers scratching around in my walls.

If you get that sonic whatever-the-hell it is, let me know if it works.

If you're renting why aren't you making the landlord take care of this?

I came here looking for peaches. Where the hell are the peaches?


Fwiw we have several rat repelling beeping things in the garage. The rats dont care.

I started going around the outside of the house moving the brush around to try and disturb the area. Any holes or gaps larger than 1/4" will be sealed.

I ordered it from Amazon and it'll be here tomorrow. It says it takes awhile for it to start working, but I'll keep this thread updated with the results.

Also ordered a 4oz bottle of peppermint oil as well after reading many reviews saying the combo of both works.

We haven't even met the landlord yet. He lives in MA and we've yet to run across any other people on the property as well. 30 acres and we have about 3-4 to ourselves. Only we get the land that's 100% surrounded by deep woods. Bears are known to live up in back, but at least they don't come crawling around pissing in the duct work. :vash:

I'll talk to the landlord about it, eventually. We just moved in and the last guy I want to be is that pain in the ass that cant do it himself. As long as it stays under $100-$200 for now, thats ok. If it turns out we need to shell out the $500 for the exterminator to come back then I'll talk to him about our options.

Any chance you could share which units you have and how long have you had them?

YOU WILL NEED:

-5 Gallon bucket
-Paper towel tube
-Peanut Butter

Place the bucket underneath a counter space.
Smear a small amount of PB into the end of the paper towel tube.
Place on the counter with the PB end hanging off the edge over the bucket.
Win.

A more appropriate The Presidents of the United States of America song:

After spending the last 3 days cleaning the last thing I want to do is give them a reason to go up on the counter. lol

If I did do that, I'd punch the fucking thing inside the bucket until it exploded.

set the house on fire. that will show them

You know, thats probably the best idea in the whole scheme of things.

I really love it here. Its going to help me be much more productive during the days I stay home to work. Driving to the shop is no longer right around the corner. I'm about 25 miles north of where we lived before.

Here's a few pictures I took today.

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The bedroom and bathroom are still full of boxes. lol

Nice digs, too bad about the mice.

Get a 12 gauge. That should take care of them.

I've pretty much always lived on the water, so I've grown up with having rats/mice in my garage, porch, etc... It is hard to get them completely gone, especially in Florida. But once you've done it a few times you can get them gone in a matter of days, sometimes on the first day .

Here is my latest problem. I was able to get him in about 9 hours after I first spotted him in my hangar. He brought some friends in and I got the rest in the next few days. He might be bigger than what you have to deal with. (That is peanut butter, not his brains)
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The best advice I can give you is to make sure you get a VERY good look at your mice. Make sure you have a good idea on their average size because most traps are not one-size-fits-all. The same trap I used to get that monster fucker was too big for a small one on that came on my porch on night. I was the swing bar go right over him, lol.

Also, DO NOT use chemicals or poison if you are not prepared to play hide and seek later. It's very rare for a poisoned rat/mouse to go off and die in a area where you will be able to find them easily. They will most likely die inside a wall or in a tight space. You will have to smell them for a while before you actually find them.

Good luck.

Are you allergic to dogs? There are a few types of dogs that would catch mice.
http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/basenj...and-other-pets

Jack Russel Terrier = Mice problem solved.

Its not that I don't want to kill them cause I'd gladly pound them with my hands if I could catch them. Its that I don't want them to keep coming back, meanwhile I just rack up points per kill. I've done that before and although there's some level of satisfaction, they just keep coming and coming.

The electronic Pest Offense is plugged in and I'll see if it seems to be doing anything. It hasn't bothered the dogs at all yet (min pin and min pin yorkie mix) which is a good thing. I also got my 4oz of peppermint oil and made a mix and started to spray that shit around the place. Super strong and in tight spaces it can really burn your eyes. Touch your face afterwards and it burns the fuck out of your skin too.

I'm going to call the landlord today and tell him I want to get an exterminator and have a HVAC person come out and take a look at the ducts, probably have them cleaned. Hopefully he doesn't try to battle me on the subject cause I'd hate to start off things here on a bad note.

You need a honey badger

you live in the country now.


they happen and always will.

I'd be camping out in the landlords ass. Fuck rodents.

Well I've been spraying the peppermint oil and plugged up a bunch of holes with spray foam but there's still a good amount of activity. The dogs are interested in a few of the floor vents and I can still smell rodent stink coming from them.

I just got off the phone with an exterminator and the duct cleaning place and both guys are coming up this afternoon to take a look and give me an estimate. Hopefully they're "within reason" like the landlord said and I can still get it taken off the rent.

When its 83 degs inside and you have central air but cant use it.......:vash:

Duct cleaning guy came and so did the landlord. The 2 of them got in a fight over the price and the landlord said he'll be back later to talk to me about it.

The exterminator just came and set up 8 boxes for us. $433 and he said it'll be $160 to re-bait the boxes whenever they're empty.

In the meantime I've been in the newly found crawl space pulling out shitted up insulation and mouse nests. The filter cover to the A/C unit was opened and that's probably how the mice have been getting in. I put in a new filter and kept the old one out to show the landlord when he comes back.

How in the fuck do some people live like this? I'm all for getting dirty as piss at work, but when I come home and shower I'd like to at least feel clean in my home.

Pictures to follow.

Dude you're nuts. I'd be outta there or taking that shitty ass landlord to court. That's not good for your health, not to mention not having any A/C.

Maybe, but I'm looking at the big picture. The guy used to own a nationwide food company and is multi-millionaire. I'm sure as long as I don't bombard them with demands and keep it reasonable that they'll take care of us.

The guy that owns the property and lives here is the go to guy. Our "landlord" is his brother that lives in MA somewhere. We just send him the rent check every month. Otherwise he really has nothing to do with the building I guess.

I'll get all this straightened out one way or another. So far its going ok. I spoke to both guys about the $433 bill and they said take it off the rent. He said to try and find another duct cleaning company that's not $650 for a 1500sqft house and we can set that up and deduct it from the rent as well.

I talked with the guy that lives here for 30-40 mins just now and he's really a good guy. I told him that I felt bad moving in and having issues with this, that and the other thing right off the bat and he said "well we have to keep our women happy" and laughed. He gets it and I'm sure in the long run he'll do us right.

Not to mention once we started talking he got into the eBay talk and told me maybe we can work something out and I can sell off some of his toys for him. I look for places like this and they aren't exactly easy to come by, so the mice wont get rid of me just yet. lol