There's a mouse in the house!

[Stacy]

Ok, in the garage! And where I saw one, he probably has friends that I didn't see! I set out sticky traps because I'm afraid of chemicals, but I think my mouse is too smart for that. So today I found this product at Home Depot called Mouse X and I wondered if anyone has any info on the product. 

The packaging says Nontoxic mouse control. 100% naturally derived - safe for use around livestock and pets. The ingredients are: 

corn gluten meal 55%

sodium chloride 2%

inert ingredients: maltodextrin, sorbitol, wheat flour, wheat germ oil 43%

Now, I can't figure out how that would hurt the dogs. But I can't figure out how it would hurt the mouse either. My secondary concern beyond the dogs somehow getting ahold of poison is will they find and eat a dead mouse (please no - that's just gross) and if they would ingest poison via the mouse. 

I haven't opened this stuff yet - it was kind of expensive $20 for a pound. And if you think it's a bad idea I will take it back. But I'm definitely not loving the idea of a mouse/mice in the garage and I really don't want them to migrate to the house. 

Thanks!! Stacy (Katie and Ava say thanks too)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

LOL! 

[Stella]

Last spring I had mice living in my car!! I opened the glove box one day and there was a mouse just sitting there looking me.....luckily I was parked at the time or I might have crashed! It took forever to get rid of them, mechanics ripped my car apart looking for them, but they were well hidden between the engine and the dashboard. I ended up putting warfarin blocks inside the glove box and under the seats (anywhere the dogs couldn't get to) to kill them, but then they died behind the dashboard and my car stunk! It was awful, I couldn't get rid of the smell because we didn't know where the bodies were, I just left the windows down whenever I could and had to resort to using fabreeze plug ins. It didn't offer anyone a ride all summer!!

[Stacy]

Yikes! That's no good at all! If it had been me I would have gotten a new car! (It's not a stretch for me to say that. I'm driving a total beater and a newer car is in the not too distant future) 

I screamed really loudly when I saw that mouse this morning. I'm not afraid of mice, but I wasn't expecting to see him there and he startled me! Maybe I scared him away. One can only hope.

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

I have had way too many mouse encounters in my life! Your post has made me relive some of them - looks like a sleepless night is in my future!! Ugh!!

You may want to check under all of your sinks, specifically where the plumbing pipes come in from the wall. The hole cut in the wall is usually quite a bit bigger than the pipe - a good entry point for little critters. Get some steel wool and stuff it into the gap!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That's exactly what the exterminator told me about the pipes. He also mentioned the pipe behind the toilet and showed me how big the hole was behind that round silver thing that fits around it. 

[Wendy and Myla]

One time we had one in our dishwasher!   My girlfriend had one in her boat which was tied to shore with a rope - the mouse had walked along the rope and into the boat (which apparently is very common). 

[Stacy]

Oh, man! Thanks for the tip! Now I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight either! But I will check.

[Stacy]

I caught the mouse! Now if it's the only one I'm all set!! 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

YAY!!! I hope he was a loner!

How'd you do it? 

[Stacy]

Me too! But it almost seems like that would be too good to be true after reading everyone's mouse stories!

It was a Tomcat Kill and Contain mousetrap. I baited it with a dog treat. The sticky traps don't seem to be getting any action. And it's too soon to tell about the mouse X. But the dog treat got him! I have so many mouse killing devices in my garage right now that it's ridiculous!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The problem with the sticky traps is that they catch the mouse but don't kill it, and you can't release the mouse unharmed, because part of him is stuck to the trap. So he suffers, and you're either going to have to ignore his suffering and throw him into the trash alive and still stuck to the trap, or kill him yourself. Sorry to be so graphic, but they used those sticky traps at a place where I worked years ago, and one fine morning, sitting at my desk, I looked down to see a tiny mouse struggling futilely to free himself. I removed myself from the area and let the manager deal with it, but I was sick all day and have never forgotten it. 

[Stacy]

I actually had that concern about the sticky traps when I bought them. I didn't like any of the options. I don't really want them dead, I just don't want them living in my house. I think I would also be traumatized by a mouse looking at me stuck on that thing. It's such a moral dilemma. I just want them to be my friends outside! 

So after fumbling my way throught this I think that kill and contain mousetrap is my best option. I don't even have to see it. There's just a little lever on the side that goes to the area that says "mouse caught" I think I'll pull up the sticky traps and buy a couple more of those and hope that this is the end of the mouse drama.