What do I do about the mice?

[leftyladyfrommo]

The Buddha stated that we are no to kill things - any living things. And I really agree with this. Their lives are just as important and valuable as any other life.

So what do I do about the mice that have come into the house. This happens every years as soon as it gets really cold outside.

I can't put out regular death traps. And I have heard that the sonar stuff doesn't work. And I can't trap them and put them outside when it is this cold.

So do I just live with them?

[Neoma]

1. Killing creatures doesn't ever get rid of them anyways.

They'd have to be relocated.

[TeeYiYi]

2. Get a cat.

I don't kill anything. Not even spiders or ants. I found and photographed my first black widow, ever in my lifetime, last summer. She was beautiful. She was HUGE. Probably had a million babies in her but I just watched and photographed from a distance. She was by my garage.

I live in a rural setting, surrounded by life of every variety; pastures with cows and a handful of chickens. I share my place with two cats that found and adopted me. The first cat wasn't much of a threat to mice. He'd catch one or two, here and there. Mostly, the mice just laughed at us.

The second cat showed up last summer. She is a stone cold rodent killer. She seems to be fine with her cat karma and I'm relieved that the mouse invasion inside my house has been reduced to the occasional straggler. I haven't actually seen evidence of a mouse in almost a year.

Circle of life.

TYY

[ZombieHorde]

9. Buying a cat for the purpose of killing mice is the same as just killing them yourself. nt

[leftyladyfrommo]

3. Can't have a cat at my house.

I have two dogs that I wouldn't trust for a split second around a cat.

It's starting to warm up here in KC and usually the mice just disappear on their own - they go back out into the fields.

Hopefully that will happen again this year.

[eShirl]

4. we catch them in 2 humane traps & set them free at wooded lakeshore w/ food supply (wild bird food)

http://www.havahart.com/store/live-animal-traps/1020

we averaged 1 a day for a week and a half but nothing for the last week now
and no longer hear them in the wall

[FreeState]

5. I tried this with no luck

We had mice for a good 4 months. I tried everything, cinnamon, live traps, anything that did not kill. I came to the conclusion my health and the health and safety of my pets and partner were important and I had to do something. We called an exterminator who used bait - they are gone now, we have preventative measures in place, and we also have a $1700 vet bill from our dogs getting into the traps. Hows that for instant karma.

Prevention is the key for mice, fleas, etc. It's a hard lesson to learn though, if you dont have a problem now, plan ahead and you won't in the future (hopefully).

[Shankapotomus]

6. Build them a little house of their own outside

with indoor heating.

[leftyladyfrommo]

7. I'm going to try the live trap

pretty soon. Then I will relocate them to a neighborhood park that has lots of woods.

They may just go away by themselves pretty soon. It's starting to warm up outside.

[JudyM]

8. The sonar thing worked for me this year (only)

So what I did differently this year:

The very first time, and then every time that I heard them scratching around I started slamming a metal pan against that wall, hard and erratically like a crazy person. Then I immediately plugged in the sonar thing right next to that wall, but only for about an hour. I plugged it in at odd times every day for varying periods of time, accompanied by a lot of pan-slamming whenever I heard them. Within 2 or 3 weeks I never heard from them again, all winter, and this is the first winter that happened. I think I might've still had a couple in the house but I think I kept them from nesting, though I know nothing about mouse nesting habits. Just my impression.

Also, the best thing is to try hard to figure out where they're coming in from. They don't like aluminum foil if you find any holes you can't plug with cement or caulk or whatever.

I also heard that cinnamon oil repels them but never researched its accuracy.