Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

The purpose of this Thread will be to address individual Issues and Baggage that we all have.  This is to give up a place to vent and discuss matters of importance to us that do not fit in with a forum topic.

Oh, boy, Anna.....right now I think I could use all 50 pages!!!

I live in a very rural and remote area.  Being more or less a city girl, I am finding many things I did not anticipate before moving here.  One of those is FIELD MICE who invade my house seasonally.

Everyone says it's just that time of year and all that.  The mowing of hay nearby seems to make it worse.  No one else seems hysterical about it at all.   :roll:

It is bad enough that I just this week located a nest of these field mice in a vacuum cleaner in my laundry room but they have to make such a mess everywhere they go!

The terriers were going wild around the vacuum cleaner in the laundry room (I keep several scattered around the house, vacuum cleaners not terriers) so I took it outside (thank goodness!) and opened it up on the ground and tiny mice ran everywhere!!  I am truly frightened of them and actually felt dizzy!

OK, they climbed through the hose and chewed up the bag and its contents, made a nest, etc.  All that is bad enough but why or why did they have the chew and leave little mouse droppings on all the shelves in the laundry room and bath?  Now I have about a zillion towels to launder and all that to remove from the shelves, replace the liner covering and put all the stuff back.

Major!!  Lots of work for nothing. . . . they are outside those that survived the dogs. . . right where they would have been to start with!

I am getting lots of those glue traps and putting down to try to prevent any attempt at re-entry.  There is something about these mice that allows them to enter a house full of dogs.  Too much nerve or too stupid, one or the other!

My rant for the day but I reserve the right to make an additional one or ones later should the need arise.

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How about we name this thread Advice from Annabama?  :D You can help us solve all our problems Anna?  :D

oooh I have some advice for you Anna after renovating two 100-year old homes in GA, we had field mice too. You need to buy steel wool at the hardware store, stuff it around the pipes coming into your house, into the space between the pipes and the surrounding hole? Even under your sinks as well - it helped a lot! Those tiny spaces around plumbing is where many travel throughout our houses !

I always thought cats were for solving mice problems?

Have fun today, None, and I will get steel wool and try that.

Carnut, I have about a dozen dogs and a cat would lead a very bad life here, I am afraid.

I am starting out small and will work up to larger issues as I go along.  No, None, I can't handle my own issues much less have advice for others.  Maybe we can all pitch in and help, though!

Roll Tide!!

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A good mouser couldn't care less about dogs.

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/struct/ef617.htm

Anna.....this article is from the University of KY....and you might remember that is where I live....!  I don't think there is anything funny about mice in the house....so I am checking out any articles that might help you....I will probably find more than you need....so stop me when you have enough... :D

Mere

http://www.epestsupply.com/mice.htm?source=google?kw=ratsmice

This article contains the copper wool (like steel wool) for closing holes around pipes, etc.

Oy Vey, Anna.  :shock: I read your post with fascination and horror. Eeeeeeek. Little mice in your vacuum cleaner? All the work you have to do cleaning up the mess .... you poor thing. I would be hysterical, too!  

PS: Thanks for creating this thread.

Much to my horror, at least one mouse seems to have escaped and made its way into the rest of the house!   :shock: I have two Yorkies and my best Westie hot on the trail but the problem is that it is making such a mess as it goes from room to room.

I will never get this all cleaned and put back in order.  I am like a mad woman jerking things out of cabinets and buffets!

No time to install new mailbox from where the local juvenile delinquents hit my last one, third one in about that many years for I have this horror of this mouse.  What if it has more mice babies???

I am afraid it is in the main bathroom now, away from the laundry room entirely, which is yet another set of towels and sheets, etc.  Also large line closet and another closet with shelves with all kinds of things on it.
Hair care products, cleaning products, etc.  All going to have to come off the shelves looking for evidence the mouse has been there.

I can't find copper wool, only steel.  Someone told me to put out a packet of hot cocoa mix that this is poison to them and also aspartame so I have those all over the place and it isn't having any part of them.  Think it is stealing dog kibbles right from under our noses instead.  Or when we are asleep.  Hope to go to feed store this afternoon for major assistance.  But I can't use poison because of the dogs.  The dogs who behave almost as hysterically as I do.

But I am sort of afraid to go to sleep. . . .what if it got on the bed with me or bit me?  Have two Yorkies stationed guard but they sleep very soundly.

Have taken out eight drawers in the bathroom and there they were. . . mouse droppings under the bottom one.  I knew it!!

 :(

Ever see a dog with glue traps on all four feet.  Maybe I will take a photo!

Carnut,
Scotties are not often tolerant of cats unless they grow up with them.  And yes, they can do some major damage with their very strong long jaws.

Last cat I had was Persian and didn't know what a mouse was.  But then one of the Yorkies, who were bred to kill them, kept looking under a end table and wagging his tail and looking back at me and wagging his tail some more and smiling.

Yep, a mouse!  Was just this time of year also and scared me to death.  He was just too friendly of a dog.  These two mean business, they just can't find them.  I believe there to be more than one now.  One could never make this much trouble.  Of course, now I am imagining them where they are not and what if the walls are just full of them like in Willard?   :shock:

MeMere, thanks, I will keep reading and trying what I can.

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Mousetraps with cheese or peanut butter will get them. Ya really don't want to put poison in the house, ya might not like the smell of dead putrifying mice in places you can't get to.

Gee I wish I could fly in and help....   :wink:

Seriously, there is a product called Pest-A-Cator

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/pestacator

It is available at drug stores, department stores such as Walmart, Target and hardware stores.  We have it plugged into an outlet in the garage.  It sends a signal throughout the wiring in the house.  (we have only one story) and it keeps the mice away and drives them out.  The signal does not interfere with pets (unless you have gerbils or hamsters) computers, telephones or other home appliances.

The peanut butter idea may be a good one also because this will drive anything in the house out into the open to begin with and then keep them away.

hope this helps.   It has here.   We have been using the 2000 model for 6 years and have had to reoccurring problems.   The unit is still working.

You could always call in a pest control company, but they use traps too.

Anna ~ GreatOwl is right on the money about those sensor thingys.
We have a huge ranch in back of our subdivision, and there are always mice....whenever they get the nerve to invade us, we just use those sensors and they're history!

By the way, we have a Scottie, and the only thing she's interested in is chasing cats ~  I guess the mice aren't worth the effort!

Good luck, and let us know how it goes ~

Oh Anna,  

I will probably not sleep tonite just thinking of your horror.  As you know, I had field mice earlier in the year... I am so sorry!

FYI, I used one of those high frequency things once and it affected my dog Haley.... she went nuts - guess she could hear it/feel it??? Scarey..  so if you go there - just watch your dogs' behaviors.  (sorry)

The visual of the dog with the glue traps on all 4 feet was too much.

My dog Annie caught a mouse this summer- you want to borrow her?   :lol: Can you move the dogs outside (take them for a long ride?) while someone with cat or CATS comes in and goes hunting?

Man, the bathroom linens is just too close to home.  And you can't do regular poison.... have you called a pro to see what they SAY?  How about an extension service?  Sometimes we can get free help or at least advice from them.  

Good luck and you gotta keep us posted.

Hugs!

I read all the good suggestions above that came from Monkeys who know about mice and stuff. I am horrified. If this happened to me, I would call a professional pest controller/exterminator immediately. No fooling around with traps and glue.

Anna,

I feel for you because I hate mice.  We used to get a couple mice every year towards the fall/winter.  I hated it because I couldn't figure out where they were coming from.  I used the glue traps and would put them against the wall near certain interior doors.  Mice like to run along the walls.  Finally I realized how they were coming in and told my mom and of course she said no there not.  They were getting through the screen door in my patio.  Well I got so pissed off that I replaced the doors with solid doors in my patio and ta da no more mice.  Also check your dryer vent opening.

Speaking of clue traps one time there was a mouse stuck on one and when I opened the door to go into the patio my dog ran past me and put her face on the trap trying to get the mouse :shock:   Then she ran back in the house with the trap and mouse stuck to her.  We all scattered trying to get away from her :lol:

San  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

(http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b32/nonesuche/DaisySistahs/slider_funaward.gif)

Anna, We have had problems with field mice as well. I found they do not like moth balls, it is a repellant. I put them in my attic, closets & drawers.
House smelled like Grandma's closet but the mice left.    :lol:

 :lol:  :lol:

Yap,

No advice here on mice, but I LOVE your panda avatar. So cute!!!!! :D

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Oh, I have three of those electronic sensors.  I think the mice think of it as background music.  Also have talked to four exterminators so far and none of them will do anything because of the eleven dogs present.  Most use poison of some sort or other and that is why they won't put it out with the dogs present.

Talked to two vets who both say the poison is likely to kill the dogs at least the smallest ones.

But there were mice two on glue traps this morning.   :shock: Am going out for more traps as the dogs have stepped on or even sat down on most of the glue traps and I had about 16 of the huge ones and a dozen of the small ones.  Glue traps.  The large ones say for SNAKES or rats and mice.  Now there is quite a visual, isn't it?  A snake on a glue trap?  What exactly would you do with that?

Mice traps would be OK except of course the dogs want the peanut butter and would set them off as well.  The Yorkies are in the house with me.  Five of them.  They have never left anything alone in their lives, either.

They are much calmer today so I am thinking the glue traps are getting the mice.  Maybe one more night and that would be all of them?  How do you know?  :shock: Or maybe the dogs are sort of stunned from the fumes.  But as the workmen kept telling me, it could have been worse, right?   :?

Either the glue traps plus Yorkies are working or the PROPANE LEAK has killed the mice.  Or at least stunned them?  Sure gave me a headache, I know that.  Turned on heat because is supposed to be in low 30's Thursday night and woke up with headache in early morning.  The guys just left after digging up large sections of my back yard checking the line.  They seemed to think I should intuitively know where it might be.  Finally they found it but only $242.00 later.  Plus the cost of filling the propane tank.  I have never had anything but electric heat before living in the country so this has been a real eye opener.  

Maybe if the glue traps don't get the mice, the fumes have killed them.   :shock: Sure did a number on my head anyway.

Still don't have the new mailbox installed as had to spend all day helping the workmen find the propane leak.  Why to craftsmen always come without the right tools and just assume I just happen to have a correct shovel, know where the underground lines are buried and have a ladder handy to use to see the top of the heater in the Westie room, plus a flashlight as their batteries went dead and would I by any chance just happen to have a phone they could track mud in to use and a place they could make absolutely filthy washing the mud off their hands to use the phone they want to borrow?  

Sure I do!  I want to LIVE, right, and not die in my sleep from some massive propane explosion, right???  I will even give them my bottle of cleanser they use to look for bubbles from leaks in the line since they ran out.  What else can I do to assist?  Besides pay the bill, of course. :evil:

So to have heat required all my time so far today plus a mere $722.69.

Can't wait to see what this afternoon holds!   :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

See what I mean?  We ALL have stuff going on all the time that makes us just want to pull out our hair!

 :D

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I did make sure every cabinet in the house is CLOSED engaging the latch and not just pushed to.

And thought I heard tiny laughter as I did so. . . . . .  8)

 :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Yes, Anna, the mice were laughing as you firmly closed the cabinet doors. Alas, the critters can squeeze through small cracks. Keep up the glue traps. Seems your safest and most efficient means of capturing the little beasties. Should you use traditional traps, put them in those closed cabinets and areas up high where the dogs cannot get into. And for your own sake, don't forget where they are! Using cheese is ineffective. A smudge of peanut butter is your best bait.

Thank heavens that I have always had a good mousing cat! Of course, with the recent move into the boonies, I may well be commiserating with you before winter's end.

Also be careful of leaving any dry dog food bags around, they suddenly spring leaks.

Once I was retrieving bread from its bag, and the bottom of a few slices were missing chunks. Turned the bag over, and found a hole where a mouse had chewed through. All I could envision was a fat, little bastard laying inside that bag chewing on MY bread! Grrrrr!

We live in the country...sotospeak...and field mice have been off and issue.  The glue traps gave me the creeps (living but stuck) but it is an option, as I have a dog and cat.  If there's one, I've been told, there are more.  Have a sensor thingy in my kitchen, but am not sure it really works.  

Least of my worries, these days.  Dad is priority, and I know that the rodents may be invading with cold weather predicted.  Was greated in the powder room by a roaming vermit...just last year...nice, huh?  Angie and San would understand the schkeevy feeling under those circumstances...accck...

Good luck, Anna...hate the little suckers...

Anna, I am following your plight. You are a very good writer.

I agree, and just reread my last post...oye...misspellings and all....I had better slow down... :oops:

Well I guess I'm the jokester in this but saw this in my photobucket and just had to post it for Anna - be so glad you can't have a cat Anna!   8)

(http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b32/nonesuche/cats%20and%20dog%20gifs/catsurpriseani.gif)

Anna, one more thing I found at a new site www.danasoft.com

(http://www.danasoft.com/sig/AnnaMouse.jpg)

Anna, so sorry for your plight.  When I lived in the country, I also had field mice. But at the time I had cats, so the mice fled to another state.  :lol:  :lol:   I guess it's better to find little gifts of dead mice than to see their scatterings.

You'd think the Yorkies would be hunting down those little critters as they were originally bred to hunt the vermin.  My Yorkies would probably invite the mice to tea & crumpets.   I keep just about everything in Rubbermaid or glass containers after living in the country, including important papers & photos.  And especially stuff I have stored in the attic or garage.

As Jinxie said, " I hate meeses to pieces."

None, a few years ago one of my dogs brought a dead mole to my bed, so I can certainly relate to that picture.

My kitty brought a dead sewer rat to my front porch. :shock: It was a disgusting mess to clean up. He also brought in a mouse and my daughter accidently squished the mouse as she was trying to save it and get it out the back door. She slammed the door before the thing had a chance to get all the way out. Another wonderful cleaning experience, but this happened in the middle of the night, and I less than thrilled. After he died, we decided to keep our current kitty in the house full time. She has never surprised us with anything worse than an occasional dead toy. :lol:

cp405  :shock: poor you !!!!! Hug Nemo for us  :wink:

pdh3-
Our kitties got hold of a little lizard yesterday on the screen porch, daughter was having a heart attack over saving it too, and she did but only after a fight of her own with the head cat Abby around here - the Abbinator as we call her  :shock: Our cats stay inside year-round but Abby was an abandoned kitty we adopted, so her roots follow her! She would LOVE to be outside 24/7.

Our dog Big Red kills the rats and brings them to his master daughter  :lol: I always find a way to be real busy when that happens  and too busy to go outside and help !! That being said, I cleaned the whole garage alone recently - all's fair in love and war I say !

Anna,

Update?!  lol  Did you kill them all?  Sure hope so... Sending moral support!

Anna is having a tough week with the son home post injuries too !

I found this for you Anna!

(http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k101/daisysistah/GIFS/skater.gif)

Shameful to snip any of this - Anna, your WIT through all of this is amazing.

You should send some columns to a newspaper. After you're syndicated globally, we'll all remember how you got your start ...

And title it ANNA'S HOUSE! Credit none for this one!

Some people are TOO rich:
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/10/17/wynn-picasso.html

The plus side for me is that I've known Steve Wynn has Retinitis Pigmentosa and has a foundation set up for research & a cure.  I know first hand what it's like not having peripheral vision & night blindness, but do not have to worry about damaging a Picasso...like my Woman Ironing avatar.  

I worked for a guy who barely graduated HS, who ended up a millionaire before 30...he's in his late 40's now and still making more.  I just see it as being in the right place at the right time...reminds me of a Charlie Brown postcard I once sent to a friend....he said, 'Someday my ship will come in, but with my luck, I'll be at the airport.'

Anna...Maybe your field mice are related to this one????    :shock:

(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l286/yapperz1/mouse-150x81.jpg)

(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a360/AnnaBlueSkies/thha.jpg)

Ah, only in my dreams.  And he didn't exactly break my heart, more like I caught bronchitis getting soaked at 5 a.m. in torrential downpour with 40 mph gusts, etc. taking him for appointment with orthpedic surgeon.  Seems the lad will be fine if he can just remain relatively still a few more days.  

None, thanks for that nice calm visual.  This is more the sort of thing they actually do when no one is watching and yes, I am serious.  I have seen kids, not mine fortunately, but others, actually do worse.  I am not saying mine has not done worse, only that I have not personally seen it.   :? But look at all the time they save avoiding stairs like that.

 :P

(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a360/AnnaBlueSkies/thththkasperan11.gif)


.

Well, that certainly resembles the ones here, yap!   :shock: Now I haven't actually seen helmets but can believe they are that smart.  

Remember I was using the glue traps and was beginning to be afraid they had learned to avoid them the way I have taught the Yorkies finally not to sit or stand on them?  Well, I think the mice listened and learned right along with them but they did disappear.  More or less.

So whatever prompted them to come inside must have told them it was a beautiful day outside and I was beginning to think they just went back out because it warmed back up, etc. when I found something.   :shock: Harvey my lawn mowing man had purchased for me some very strong rat poison to use in a locked shed but I was afraid to use it anywhere near the dogs for fear they would either eat it themselves some way or catch a mouse who had eaten it, etc.  So I had it in a cupboard on the top shelf where none of the dogs could find it, but guess who did??

Right!  The MICE!  They just totally outsmarted their own little selves!  Harvey told me it makes them thirsty or something --half the time I don't know what he is talking about--and they go outside for water?  Well, I was considering using it and was going to read the ingredients to see what it actually contained and when I picked up the bag of it, the bottom was just full of tiny little chewed holes!

GUESS WHO???  It started bouncing all over the floor for it is in little round green pellets that greatly resemble dog food kibbles except for the bright color but dogs being mostly colorblind, I was horrified they were going to wolf it down and so could only grab the dogs and toss them out and slam the door until I could retrieve each and every kibble or pellet.

Now that was truly a heart-stopping moment but finally I was satisfied I had all of them and the big mystery of why the mice relocated is solved.  It was not the weather nor even my strategic placement of the glue traps but they poisoned themselves.

Doesn't that just beat all!   :shock: And naturally one of the sons just had to say poor things were suicidal because of my rejection of them, etc.  Why is there always guilt where children are concerned?  If they can't induce it directly, they will use whatever is at their disposal to do so.

So we are mouseless as far as I can determine and the Yorkies are very good at letting me know if one is about.  Now if I can only get everything put back in place from the total ransacking to find them.  Had I known, I could have just done this with the poison to start with and saved myself all kinds of effort and grief.

.

.

Ha, ha!  And send me fruit baskets to the funny farm?  

You know what they always say--this, too, shall pass?  Problem is that is is usually replaced with something equally stressful or even worse!

Just ready for some down time until this cold leaves!

Thanks for all the advice and support!


(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a360/AnnaBlueSkies/tag274.gif)

Skateboarding.

Anna,

I'm so sorry about your son who got injured.

In 1960, I was in the 10th grade in jr. high school (maybe now it's called middle school?) and skateboards had just arrived in Pasadena, CA. There was a very handsome and popular young student on the football, baseball and basketball teams who was a skateboarder. He was skating down a hillside road and lost his balance and he flipped onto/into a parked car's window which sliced off his right arm between the elbow and the shoulder. In those days, there was no medical technology to re-attach an arm. You can imagine how this impacted the rest of his life.

Fast forward in time. My daughter at 10 (1976) wanted a skateboard. Everyone in the neighborhood had one. I told her what I had seen and never allowed her to have one. She was very angry saying "Oh Mom, I won't crash into a car window." I said, "As if you would have control over that. The guy from the 10th grade didn't crash on purpose. It was an accident and you are not going to have that opportunity, PERIOD."

Fast forward again to 2006. Even though we now have helmets, elbow and knee pads, she will never allow her little boys to skateboard. Instead she channels them into art class, music class, swimming class, karate class, etc.

Anna, I wish your son a quick healing and a lesson well learned.

Small issue and small baggage.

I've subscribed to the Sunday Los Angeles Times newspaper for over 20 years. For the past several years, it goes directly from my doorstep into the trash. It costs $2 per issue and I'm wasting my money because I don't read it. I get my news from the computer and TV. Most newspapers are dying. I called the Times and told them I want to unsubscribe. The woman asked "Don't you read the opinion section, how about the calendar section, the parade magazine?" I said no. She continued, "I'm authorized to give you a special discount. How about 75 cents per paper instead of $2? And I'll give you a credit on your next bill for the past billing period." I felt sorry for her and the desperation to keep subscribers so I agreed.

Today I decided to sit on my front stoop and read the damn 75 cents paper cover to cover. I made coffee, took some pillows to put on my cement steps, a small table to put the paper on and my glasses. I left my door open a crack so the cats could see I was out there. It took me four hours. I have a headache, a backache and a butt ache. I don't like the newspaper anymore but it's a lot of "entertainment" for the money and it got me sitting outside instead of inside.

I'd like your opinions. Do you read newspapers? If so, do you subscribe to 7 days or just the Sunday paper? What value does it have to you as opposed to online news and TV news (as in FOX full coverage all day long)?

I only subscribe to the sunday newspaper and only take out the TV guide and use the rest in my fireplace.

The newspaper TV guide is more legible than the TV guide mag and still cheaper.

The TV guide mag website has recently become more readable than it has been in the past so I am referring to it more often now a days, but wouldn't want to have to rely just on it.

I get my news primarily from cable TV news, mostly from FOX.

I read daily news sites on the web including CNN.com, ABCnews.com and cnet.com and a few other more techie sites.

I've tried reading the FOX news website and just find it atrociously designed and just stay away from it.

The Fox news website seems to be designed by the USNEWS newspaper folks.

Thank you, George. I forgot about the newspaper TV guide. That itself cost less than the $1.99 I pay for the TV Guide magazine. I can save $1.24 per week ($1.99 - .75 = $1.24 savings per issue) and $64.48 per year. ($1.24 x 52 weeks in a year = $64.48 per year.)  I could use an extra $64 per year.

PS: I don't like the newly designed FOX website either.

Well, gee, Louise on saving money on a fixed income I have bunches of tips.

Being single I don't generate much trash, so, what I don't burn in the fireplace goes into my trash compactor, which only needs emptied about every quarter, so I haul my own trash to the dump and save about $40 a month I think on trash service.

Just guessing on the trash service cost, haven't had trash service for many years, so don't remember how much it cost.

Would you believe I'm doing my laundry right now, just so I can heat my house from my dryer exhaust because it's a bit chilly around here right now.

As a preteen, teen and undergrad, I faithfully read the paper and watched television news. I rarely watch tv news anymore, with the exception of when something that is of keen interest to me is being reported (such as Natalee's case). Ever since I got my computer and internet service, the net has been my main source of news, and occasionally the (regular) radio. My office gets a daily paper, and I try to bring it home a few days a week. Justin enjoys reading it. That's about my only use for it. That and to wrap breakables when I moved.  :wink:

George:
Over here in my 12 unit apartment building in the city, we take our trash to the dumpster in the back. No other options. Trash collectors come twice a week. The landlady has to pay for that and we do not pay for water. The few preserved houses around my area have fireplaces and it's lovely and fragrant when people start the fires around mid November.

Justins:
Thank you for your input. It sounds to me that your news input is in perfect balance ... the Internet, the radio and the daily paper.

Well, I just figured out after two weeks that the TV Mag comes with the Saturday paper. So, after my next statement for the Sunday paper, showing my refund, I will call them and cancel at the end of the next billing cycle. I will not allow them to talk me out of it. If they want to send it for free, I will allow them to do so. Interesting about Red's current front page post on the LA Times.