expressing movement

[ntl]

A swift blur of medium brown/gray movement, rectangular but with "points" at the ends. Seen in the quiet room, leaping across a small box along the baseboard. Now I know one way to paint one...

 

[ZenDruid]

Mouse?

 

[Enyaw]

Zen... Mouse on the run in someone's house.

 

[laika]

My first thought: Tom & Jerry.

 

[ntl]

It was, and still is, a mouse! Haven't caught him yet, but have 2 traps to set.

 

[Artyczar]

I think I would die if there was one in my house. I don't even like seeing them on my porch.

 

[ZenDruid]

We live in an old country house and occasionally get them in the kitchen area. I either trap them with a snapper or the cats get them and leave them for me to pick up. I put the bodies outside for the crows to eat, they think they're a great treat.

 

[Artyczar]

I would be scared to kill them. Not scared, but I'd feel bad. There's plenty of wildlife out here that eat them, but that's the circle of life.

We have a ton of them that live out here and they eat the wires in our cars. The whole neighborhood keeps their hoods up to expose their engines to some light as a deterrent, but it doesn't always work. We have light strips under our cars that we turn on at night. They are set on a timer. Most businesses have box traps outside to catch them alive, but I don't know what they do with the mice and rats that wind up inside the boxes. I wonder if they try to take them out of the area? Not sure.

 

[ZenDruid]

I would be scared to kill them. Not scared, but I'd feel bad. There's plenty of wildlife out here that eat them, but that's the circle of life.

We have a ton of them that live out here and they eat the wires in our cars. The whole neighborhood keeps their hoods up to expose their engines to some light as a deterrent, but it doesn't always work. We have light strips under our cars that we turn on at night. They are set on a timer. Most businesses have box traps outside to catch them alive, but I don't know what they do with the mice and rats that wind up inside the boxes. I wonder if they try to take them out of the area? Not sure.

Wow, I had no idea, that sounds like a horror movie!

 

[Desforges]

I once lived in a house, in Holland, where there were many of these little creatures. I never killed them because I couldn’t but once I cleaned the cupboards, and that all remains of food , they vanished like pure magic.

 

[ntl]

"...We have a ton of them that live out here and they eat the wires in our cars. The whole neighborhood keeps their hoods up to expose their engines to some light as a deterrent, but it doesn't always work..."

Talk your neighbors into making bucket rat traps ( https://www.ratrelief.com/bucket-rat-traps/ ) . Remember, there may be unexpected consequences...

 

[Artyczar]

Thanks ntl. Yes, those unexpected consequences are not too popular around here. Even most of the businesses here have those box traps that don't kill the rats. But then they let them go later and I don't see the point in that either!

I do know some people that set the snap traps. Then you have to deal with a bunch of dead critters.

 

[Ellen Easton]

Mice and fleas and other nuisance little critters hate peppermint. I use that. I don't like killing them and I don't want to use poison because of the neighbors' pets and also the wild animals that eat the mice so using peppermint is really a great choice. I bought some peppermint seeds to plant outdoors near where the mice come in and bought some spray and it works really well. It has to be sprayed around every week or two but it's working better than everything else I've tried.

 

[Ellen Easton]

Try peppermint. Amazon sells a reasonably priced spray but you can also use springs of peppermint. It repels mice and other nuisances. It's caustic to them----the oils in the plant is----and they avoid anywhere they smell it. It doesn't kill them. They just don't like it and will avoid wherever it happens to be.

I agree that just live trapping them and moving them doesn't make much sense because they just come right back. Peppermint makes them stay away voluntarily and seems like a better solution to me.

I would be scared to kill them. Not scared, but I'd feel bad. There's plenty of wildlife out here that eat them, but that's the circle of life.

We have a ton of them that live out here and they eat the wires in our cars. The whole neighborhood keeps their hoods up to expose their engines to some light as a deterrent, but it doesn't always work. We have light strips under our cars that we turn on at night. They are set on a timer. Most businesses have box traps outside to catch them alive, but I don't know what they do with the mice and rats that wind up inside the boxes. I wonder if they try to take them out of the area? Not sure.

 

[Artyczar]

We use the peppermint, but it gets very pricey to spray all the time and it makes the engine block sticky and goopy. I don't mind using it sometimes though, then rinsing it off, then using it again.

 

[ZenDruid]

Anybody use cats? They have a long history of rodent control.

 

[Ellen Easton]

Cats don't work for me. I can't be cleaning a litter box because of my health problems and can't let the cat outside because the cougar likes to snack on cats. I have to use peppermint.

If you can find a place to buy just oil of peppermint, you can dip a toothpick into the oil and then swish it around in a spray bottle of water. Or use a dropper to put a drop into the water. Shake well before use, since oil and water don't really mix and then use that to spray. It should work just as well. The smell repels the rodents as much as the actual peppermint.

If you grow peppermint, you can put sprigs of it into your pet's bed and it helps combat fleas, too.

 

[Rich53]

Living out in the country, we have black snakes that enjoy mouse snacks. Knowing this, we let them be. Our two cats sometimes bring examples of "real cat food", but they don't know how to "open them up", so to speak. I haven't heard any owls around here, but they also help with pest control.

--Rich