Gentlemen,

I worked on this place, a triplex in a little rural town nearby, and the owner says the ground floor tenants have complained of a couple of mice. The cat has killed a couple on the kitchen floor. So I look into it and notice that the plumbing for the sink comes up through huge holes in the floor and cabinets.

The place is a wood frame with siding and sits on a continuous concrete foundation with just a ~12" crawlspace and dirt crawlspace floor. When I had the bathroom of the ground floor apartment gutted for renos last year, I plascticked and insulated the floor right into the kitchen area- that is, I put vapour barier on the dirt and filled the crawlspace with Roxul. But I didn't do the plumbing.

So...I cut open the floor cabinet floors around the pipes, sprayed in a whole can of spray foam, trimmed the excess flat to the floor, and cut sheet metal to fit tightly around the pipes and screwed it down to the floor. Then I cut a sheet of plywood to fit well around the pipes at the level of the cabinet floor and screwed it in place to the cabinet floor, and sprayed some more spray foam in to seal those cracks. AND, just in case, I lay multi-mouse trap under the cabinet behind the kickplate.

I figured no mouse is getting through that.

A month later, the tenant has seen another mouse. So I'm going back this weekend to see what's what. And I'm wondering if it's worth the bother to take that sheet of plywood off the cabinet floor to check the sheet metal and spray foam I put in the apartment floor. I mean, there was at the largest point maybe a 1/8" gap between the sheet metal and any pipe. I know mice can squirm through tight spots - but 1/8"???? I can't believe it. And even before getting there, they'd have to chew through a foot of solidifed spray foam.

I'm thinkin' there must be another route in.

But, and here finally is my question to anyone with mouse eradication experience - it doesn't seem practical to me to go about the place looking for nd sealing up every little nook and cranny greater than 1/8". I could be there for weeks. Is there a more effective strategy for convincing mice they don't want to live in your crawl space?

Ya, I could rip up the kitchen floor and lay poison traps, but it would be real nice if I didn't have to rip apart my nice ceramic tile job....

 

Mice are sneaky little buggers and can get into darn near anyplace. They sometimes come in the door when you do.

Possibly there's a nest someplace by now, and they're not really coming in any more. But, check for any little openings around the house. They don't need much.

Best thing to do is set up a trap line, keep checking it, and you'll clear out current inhabitants. They like peanut butter. There are a lot of easy to use traps out there. They're cheap enough so that the squeamish can chuck trap and mouse. If there are cats around, keep the traps in places where the cats can't get to them.

Meanwhile it's a good idea to empty the cupboards and look for damage and
droppings. Clean things out and find ways to cover up boxes, etc. that they can get into.

ford2go

 

check the whole place for holes they can get in anywhere cause they climb.. stuff holes with steel wool and foam also use the poison blocks in addition to glue traps.. most of the time cats will eradicate the problem

 

sounds like you did a good job.

the part with the foam though, when i worked as a loss prevention manager for kmart, i was filling small holes and crackes in concrete, and was finding that rats were chewing through the foam after awhile.

i guess mice arnt as bad as rats but who knows, hopefully no more complaints for ya

 

I know Canadian mice will eat that foam and 1/8" gap will let a determined mouse in. I've had really good luck with sonic units you plug in. Humans can't hear them but mice hate them -- available at hardware stores.

 

I had a similar problem in Alaska... At 40-70 below, the little critters want inside REALLY bad! The only thing that finally worked was to take a screwdriver and force bits of SOS Pads into all of the tiniest cracks around the plumbing and wires that came up through the floor. They can't chew through the steel wool and the soap discourages them. It was the only thing that worked. When I moved out, I did it in my new house right away and have never had a problem. I know it's a pain and time consuming, but you'll only have to do it once! I promise!

 

2 ideas - get a better cat and/or get some Decon mouse/rat bait - and put it where cats and kids can't get to it. The traps I use look like a fat clothes pin and is spring loaded. You don't even touch the mouse to open it when the 'critter' gets flushed. My wife and daughter like them better than the 'old' spring trap. I use Decon in the barn and it keeps the varments out of the hay and such.

 

These traps work, and with the jar attachment you don't have to check it every day.

www.cooperseeds.com/viewitem.php3?prod=959

And steel and wire mesh is the only that a mouse will not eat through to re open a
hole.

 

Claymore mines. One of my favorite sayings is this..."There is no problem that cannot be solved without the proper application of high explosives" They do tend to create more entry holes than you may have originally had, but they are effective. Nieghbors may get a little rustled first time one goes off, but should do the trick.

Rich

 

FWIW

A bored cat on the outside of the house is more effective then a well fed one on the inside.

I agree, metal is the only way to stop them. Foam is nothing more then good nest material. Never tried a sos/brillo pad! I might go with that on my house.

Mice can get into the tinest spots. I have noticed when doing houses and kitchens over, that mice crawl into outlet boxes and watch for when people leave the room, and come out to raid the kitchen garbage pail.

Removing an easy water and food source works.

One thing people don't think about is gutters. Clogged gutters are a big source of mosquitos, ants, roaches, and other bugs where I live and where you find them, you can find mice.

 

fl1a - Looked at the "Ketchall" - looks good. What to do w/ a bunch of live mice ? Simple - find a person with a pet snake. OR maybe a pet shop that sells "exotics".

 

Preventive !

Make sure there isn't any WATER access to them....seal off all water related sources.

Without water they die.

I use the sonic blasters,Catch-all traps..regular traps.....seal all exterior access I can find.

 

I am a firm believer in cats now.
I used to have what I thought was a lazy indoor Siamese cat. She passed away a few months back. Well, just recently I started seeing a couple of mice around in the basement.
I think it's time for a new cat.

 

The Ketch-All has an attachment that is like a flexible metal habitrail that goes to the
water container of your choice. Or you could use beer, and give the little buggers a
real sendoff. then no live mice to get rid of.

 

We have a black snake that lives in our basement. It takes care of our mice and jumping mutant spider crickets. Every now and again my wife sees the snake and freaks out and I evict it but it always comes back. FWIW we have a cat as well but she is too prissy to touch mice.