Mice have moved into my kitchen. I first noticed a chewed-up sponge under the sink 2 days ago. The point of entry is at the kitchen sink pipe: there's space around it where it goes into the wall. I have set out a plastic victor live trap with a dog kibble for bait, and also my rat-zapper next to it with the same bait. I've propped something heavy against the kitchen sink cabinet so the doors don't open, but mice could probably get out into the kitchen area if they wanted to anyway.

I know I should foam up the area around the kitchen sink pipe where it meets the wall...

But my question is: How do they get in the wall in the first place? Is there a way I can find out? I'm thinking I had better figure this out or else they will chew through the wall to get in the house another way, won't they?

You need to do a perimeter inspection of your home around the complete exterior up to and including any climbing points that would allow entry at elevated points. Soffit anf Facia areas, dormer corners,holes around porch roofline attachments etc.

Any holes around the foundation where electrical lines, A/C line entries into the home as well as any such similiar openings. Once you have secured the perimeter if that is possible with your house design and porch attachments you can begin capture measures. Go the archives on this forum and you will find much info that has already been discussed previously.

I get a bad feeling that this is going to require contact with spiders.

Maybe I'll hire a pro for that, as I'm not going to want to crawl around under the house or in the attic.

Do those plug-in things on the TV that go in your electrical outlet work at all or are they junk? Thanks for the reply.

Toughen up sissy....Get in that attic. You can wrestle with nutria but you can't face a spider?

Hire Vinke...he's just north of you!

Tsarevena-


If you dress properly no spider none of them can actually come in contact with you.Very few spiders in the United States can even pierce through human skin anyway.

The best way to control spiders is to remove those webs . Did you know if you make a point to remove spider webs you have a great chance of actually starving them in the first place then using any chemicals and makes that attic a lot safer for you, service technicians and your family.

A spider can go nearly 3 mos with out a actual insect meal. They can replenish themselves by re-ingesting the web and putting it back out again. So remove them webs and keep them down. Use insect baits in your attic in the future to keep their food supply down .

Now as far as a trapper afraid of spiders few of us can really help you other then I agree how LT put it "Toughen up sissy....Get in that attic. You can wrestle with nutria but you can't face a spider?

Peanut butter is a better bait. If you use the large pan with the little bait cup, smear a little on the end of the pan too.

What type siding on your house?
Vinyl,check the J channels,open high ways.
Check the bottom course on shakes,asbestos,the backer rots.
good Luck.
bob evans

My two main spots to check are: Air conditioning lines and the sump pump basin if you have a basement.

Make it a game . You versus the mice. "Snatch the peanut from my hand glasshopper."

spiders and Mice??????....I'd move........

I run multi catch trap around my house just like you would bait boxed........

Robb Russel, you give such good advice but then you post a scary picture of a woman;s head with spiders all over it. Man, you're freaking that poor girl out! LOL

a piece of snickers bar has been the death of more mice than i care to count. As for getting rid of them.. they are a fact of life down here. I've been fighting them every winter since I got here.
Why are you live trapping them? Plan to keep them as pets? If you turn them loose outside, they already know where the goods are and how to get in.. if you manage to close off the entry point ( goodluck in finding it) they will make another one. Kill them and be done with it.

Snickers bar?
Hey Jameson..got that in a paste bait?

Its part of my nutcracker formula.

Keep them as pets! O heck no! Rat zapper got a pregnant female yesterday, and I've confirmed it's a deer mouse, and that's bad as they carry Hanta virus, and it has been confirmed in my county. I have 2 rat zappers, but I have only been able to find one of them, and 1 old live trap...I'm setting them both hoping to get more mice, and the ones caught live are going straight to the drowning bucket. The CDC says to wetten any mouse bodies or fesces before removal, as the virus travels around on dust particles in the air, and when you inhale it, you've got a 50/50 chance of living after infection. That's worse than Smallpox, which only killed 30% of it's victims!

http://www.katu.com/news/local/27156654.html

This guy appears to have died yesterday from Hanta virus!



Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!




Correction, I can look a wild boar in the face, and stab it in the heart with a knife...but no! Spiders no! Get it away!!!!!!

Gulp! Thanks for your replies guys, the siding we have is LP siding, I'm not sure exactly what that means. I guess I have to go in the attic with a fuzzy wand.

Put some bacon grease on wheat and put that in the trap. The best I had was the last hour 2 traps and 4 mice!!! Man I hate when hte pick that cornfield in the back yard lol!!!

Hmm bacon grease, I'll have to try that.

I found the place the mice were getting in. There was a water faucet removed from an exterior wall, and even though the hole in the siding was plugged, the hole on the inside of the wall, which happened to be in the garage, was not. So, when the garage door was open in the evenings, mice apparently ran inside and jumped in the drywall hole! Acrobatic little buggers.