Maybe saw a mouse in the garage? What next?

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  • #816505

    trickycoolj
    Participant

    Yesterday as I hit the button on my garage door opener in the pitch black garage and when the light blinked on, I swear I saw something black scurry across the floor. First time homeowner nightmare! I didn’t get a good visual, just swear I saw something streak towards the corner out of my sight when the lights came on and the door started opening. It’s the city, I get it, vermin are around (the rats at UW were racoons size and the raccoons were dog sized). I was just hoping that with newish (2.5yrs) construction it was still a long way off. I don’t store food in the garage but do have to keep the garbage/recycle/compost bins inside per the HOA. Of course my natural reaction was to slam the door and hide in the house for a minute and freak out (heh) but when I did go out and back out the car I made sure to stop in the driveway and shine the headlights across the floor and didn’t see anything under the shelves in that corner. Foundation is 2-3ft high concrete and the garage door doesn’t have any big gaps, there’s no light leak during the day. I did tons of organization out there over the holidays so there’s not much to hide under on the floor just one set of shelves. So what’s a reasonable next step at this point? Thinking I saw something doesn’t seem to warrant calling someone to come in, but I know I can’t let it go if something is in the garage, can’t have them multiply. Set a trap? Is there a good kind to get? I know they put big metal box traps outside all the doors at work. Ugh. Really was hoping I could keep my extermination needs to the annoying tiny black ants we all love to hate. If only I wasn’t allergic to cats!

    #820803

    squareeyes
    Participant

    Did you see any droppings? That would be a strong indication of rodent presence. I know they also can nest inside the car, but I have no experience in that regard. If they did, I wonder if there would be debris under the car from whatever they might chew on/nest with.

    #820804

    Ms. Sparkles
    Participant

    Get the old fashioned traps, bait them with peanut butter, set them where you think you saw the scurrying (make sure pets can’t access) and see what happens.

    We had rats – no food source for them, but they seek the warmth. Had to block off all their potental entrances / exits and then set the traps in their normal path.

    #820805

    trickycoolj
    Participant

    Definitely no droppings. My grandpa lives out in the country and his outbuilding and carport get them bad. I’ll grab some traps at Home Depot on my way home tomorrow. No pets so luckily that’s not a worry. Fingers crossed nothing found their way in but I really can’t be too surprised in the city sometimes!

    #820806

    DaveB
    Participant

    I’ve had better luck with glue traps than the spring kind. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Real-Kill-Mouse-Glue-Traps-4-Pack-HG-10095-3/100187510

    Warning, the mouse may still be alive after getting stuck but you can easily kill it with a good whack.

    #820807

    justducky
    Participant

    even though I had 2 cats, I found mouse droppings in the garage, didn’t keep any pet food out there so I figured it was the weather.

    Bought snap traps and found them with the peanut butter licked off.

    Bought glue traps and found them with fur and droppings stuck to it.

    Set up water bucket traps, they didn’t work.

    Finally went on the internet to look for other ideas and set out yogurt cups filled with used cat litter, didn’t find anymore mouse droppings after that.

    #820808

    JoB
    Participant

    just ducky..

    but.. do you still want to go into your garage?

    #820809

    justducky
    Participant

    Hahaha….

    I still went in there. Mind you this was back when I lived in an unincorporated area of snoho county.

    I knew it was a mouse because the droppings were chocolate jimmy sprinkle sized. Not so sure I would have gone in there if it were a rat, one of my cats caught one and left it at the door for me, must have been at least 5 pounds. Ick.

    #820810

    dhg
    Participant

    am I helpful? no, but I love Ogden Nash:

    You get a wife, you get a house,

    Eventually you get a mouse.

    You get some words regarding mice,

    You get a kitty in a trice.

    By two a.m. or thereabouts,

    The mouse is in, the cat is out.

    It dawns upon you, in your cot,

    The mouse is silent, the cat is not.

    Instead of kitty, says your spouse,

    You should have got another mouse.

    #820811

    cbof
    Participant

    I’ve had mice in our family cabin A LOT. I was never a fan of killing them. Plus if you’re freaked out by one scurrying, I’d imagine needing to finish one off that was in a trap would be pretty unpleasant, and not high on your priority list. :-) Not on mine, for sure!

    The most effective thing we’ve done was to identify where they are likely getting in. Often you’ll see some fluffy debris near the entrance, and it can seem like a very unlikely place sometimes. I don’t know how effective this part is, but I like to wait for a time of day when I think they might be outdoors… Then block the entrance with steel wool. They don’t go through it.

    I also like the used kitty litter idea – might try that sometime.

    #820812

    etohick616
    Member

    please explain used kitty litter method.

    thanks ever so much

    #820813

    justducky
    Participant

    etohick616: mice/rodents have an excellent sense of smell, and cat urine warns them to stay away. It’s kind of an ingrained reaction so it’s an easy and inexpensive deterrent.

    One could also try to use those cinnamon pinecones sold during the holidays as well.

    #820814

    trickycoolj
    Participant

    DHG – That’s cute… I seem to be doing it in the wrong order though! :)

    cbof – BINGO. No I’m probably not brave enough to deal with one caught in a trap but if I need to I’ll put on a brave face…. and a paper mask and elbow length rubber gloves and safety glasses LOL. Thankfully a possible 1, is nothing like my grandpa’s garage/outbuilding that everything is covered in sprinkle poo, there is often one drowned in the garage toilet that no one uses and my mom often mentions to wash up really good after being in there mice have hantavirus. Like I said I just did a major organizing project and never saw any signs and there aren’t even any cracks to the outside that let in light, my cement foundation goes up waist high as well so if it were accessing through drywall then it’s coming from my townhouse neighbors. I might try stuffing steel wool along the sides of the garage door anyway since critters can wiggle into the tiniest of places.

    justducky – the cat urine trick sounds interesting, too bad I’m too allergic to cats to consider trying! Last time I emptied someone’s litter box my face looked like I cried for a week.

    No signs of scurries in the week since, fingers crossed it was a fluke!

    #820815

    JoB
    Participant

    i cleaned the cupboard yesterday. The very large mice or possibly rats that were in the attic and i thought i got rid of… at the very least they made a visit not so long ago :(

    i think it may be time for an exterminator

    #820816

    miws
    Participant

    This doesn’t address how “…finish one off”, but a suggestion for general uncomfortableness in seeing/handling a dead, trapped mouse; back when I had a house, and had a (bad) problem with field mice, I would put the peanut butter baited snap trap in a paper lunch sack.

    Granted, they would basically have only one direction to access the trap, (but that may have been for the better overall anyway), but I figured they would find their way in there.

    If I wasn’t around to have heard the “snap”, I would just regularly give a quick glance in the bag, and if I saw a mouse tail, would simply grab the bag, roll the top down a bit, and dispose of it.

    Mike

    #820817

    etohick616
    Member

    justducky

    thanks for the help. i have access to all the kitty droppings i need!

    #820818

    anonyme
    Participant

    Do nothing.

    #820819

    seattlesparkle
    Participant

    I had a similar problem when I was up late one night, recently, and saw a mouse scamper from behind the couch. (It turned and ran back). Since I am a bit paranoid about rodents, and didn’t want to take chances that there were more, I called Adept Pest. They came out within a day, and looked over the inside and outside of our house/garage, showing us some places that a mouse could get through. My husband was able to do the repairs himself. We set out some traps, but have not caught anything. We have lived here three years, and I have heard the stories of the rodents in this area, and definitely don’t want any in our house.

    #820820

    India
    Member

    We called Willard’s to come out and handle our mouse problem, as we were too worried about hantavirus to do it ourselves. We wanted professionals. Welp… we were quite unhappy with Willard’s. Barely cleaned anything, all they did was splash some bleach water solution on a few places. Much of the surface area was left completely untouched (we could tell because some was wet but most wasn’t), and we could still see feces everywhere.

    #820821

    Marathonmom
    Member

    India,

    We had the exact same experience with willards ! Payed the extra fee to have them do a run through and block and bait areas. Horrible, they didn’t do any thing but open the attic and place un-bated traps around entrance while standing on a ladder and they did the same with the crawl space below. We could have done that ! And again the traps weren’t even bated! So of coarse it didn’t do anything! Total rip off !

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