<p>When my parents divorced, I somehow became the de-facto “guy” of the house. Even though I’m female. Sometimes being the eldest stinks. Anyway, we had quite a few rats in the rafters, which you could hear gnawing at wood every night. I’ll take care of the spiders and gutters, but I refused to do the rats, and I’m certainly glad that I did make that distinction. We made my dad occasionally come back to check the traps we set in the crawlspace between the roof and ceiling. </p>
<p>One particular event I will always remember. There isn’t any lighting up there, so you can only see by flashlight. There was a trap propped up by a rafter, so that you could only see the bottom of the trap. It appeared that the rat had stolen the food and escaped, simply moving the trap. Imagine my father’s surprise when he reached over to grab the trap, only to find that the rat WAS still attached, by its tail. His shriek was possibly the funniest thing I have ever heard. I have no idea how he eventually killed the thing, but I will always remember the entire family rushing over to the ladder to find out what was wrong. Hee hee.</p>
<p>A few years back, W and I saw two huge racoons climb up and over the chain link fence and under our deck. We had a puppy at the time, so we freaked!</p>
<p>I went out a bought a Have-A-Heart trap, baited it with cat food and put it out. First night we caught the neighbor’s cat. Second night we caught a possum. Never saw the racoons again. The wildlife newsline worked wonders!</p>
<p>Bethie…count your blessings that the mouse was in the trunk. True story…one day I was driving home from work (it was winter) and I smelled a woodstove burning. This happens often in the winter around here. Well, I got home, put my car in the garage and didn’t think much about it. The I smelled that “woodstove” smell again. Dingbat that I am, I thought “gee…that smoky smell is really on my clothes”. But then I got smart and walked through my house trying to find the smell. Finally (and it really was my last thought), I opened the door from my mudroom to my garage. The garage was FULL of smoke. Oh my. I went to my phone and called 911 (the 911 person told me to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE). I grabbed my cat and dog…oh and went and opened the garage door. I didn’t want the firefighters breaking through my garage door. I went to the neighbors. Neighbor’s husband went to my house (brave soul) and said it smelled electrical. Terrific, I thought…just what I need, an engine fire in my car. Well…firemen came (and I mean CAME…four trucks). Turns out it was a mouse nest on top of my manifold…and it was smouldering, and creating a great deal of smoke. It had not ignited. Firemen disconnected the battery, and removed the car from the garage (at my request…didn’t want to take any chances). I had it towed to the dealership where THEY removed the mouse nest. Luckily there was no damage at all to the car. Oh…they put the mouse nest in a ziploc bag for me and left it on the front seat. I certainly BELIEVED everyone…I didn’t need the evidence!!!</p>
<p>The whole container of mouse poison I put in the trunk last night was gone this morning. I got one of those electrocution-type traps someone recommended so I’m going to bait that now and put it in the car. Another customer in the hardware store said Bounce dryer sheets repel them, so I got the smelliest ones I could find, but first I have to deep-six this batch of mice. I’m still very creeped out. Wish me luck!</p>
<p>Once my Mom found a dead mouse in one of her boots (probably a gift from our cat). It was years before I stopped checking my shoes before putting them on. Now I’ve started again–a flashback!</p>
<p>The car dealership told me to put a pan of mothballs on the floor of my garage so that the fumes would go into my engine and keep the mice away. I did that for a while (not wishing to repeat my "mouse smouldering incident) but I couldn’t stand the smell of the mothballs in the car. </p>
<p>What about getting a cat and putting the cat in the garage with the trunk to the car open??</p>
<p>“Once my Mom found a dead mouse in one of her boots (probably a gift from our cat). It was years before I stopped checking my shoes before putting them on. Now I’ve started again–a flashback!”</p>
<p>After sliding my foot in and being stung once, I always check my shoes before I put them on – for scorpions!</p>
<p>OK, I realize I can say I’m getting lots of laughs from this thread ONLY because I don’t have any rodent/other animal pest issues at the moment, but still … I do bugs, but not, under any circumstances, mice, rats, etc. When I was in grad school, I was one of 5 women sharing a big old house in New Haven. We were constantly getting mice in the pantry. We used the tried & true snap traps, baited with peanut butter. Worked like a charm, except none of us would deal w/ the mouse disposal detail. Several of us had boyfriends, and we all agreed that we wouldn’t break up w/ our guy before the end of the year, since who would get rid of the mice for us? Plus, once there was a mouse caught in a trap in the (walk-in) pantry, none of us would go in to get any food until a bf had come to get rid of it. And then, since we were all counting our pennies, as only grad students can, we wanted to reuse the traps – so the bf’s started a dead mouse pile in the back corner of the yard. Oh, the fun times of my youth … :)</p>
<p>They are kinda cute, but I’ve heard from several people now that they can basically destroy a car’s electrical system. Not going there if I can help it.</p>
<p>I checked the trap this am an there was a green light blinking which is supposed to mean there’s an electrocuted mouse inside. I was so afraid to open it in case there would be a live mouse inside, but I opened it and it was empty! Meanwhile every little noise in the car makes me jump. The poison should work in a few days if I can’t trap them.</p>
<p>Bethie, if there is moisture in the air, the trap can malfunction. Bait it again and see what happens. Good luck! Patience is a must when dealing with pests, but I have too many of them attacking my garden, I’m running out of it.</p>
<p>Once we trapped a whole mouse family one by one in my kitchen island. The mice came from the crawl space up the hole where the gas line to my cooktop runs. I guess the builder did not bother to seal it too tightly. The island has drawers that are very tight, and mice were roaming inside the island without getting into the kitchen. I mostly store junk in those drawers, and I rarely open them, so the problem would have gone undiscovered had I not paid attention to the crunchy noise coming from the island. I opened the drawer, and there was a fat mouse inside! It gorged itself on my costco bag of Ricola cough drops! An electronic trap strategically placed inside the island was zapping mice non-stop for a couple of days. I counted 6: 1 big whopper and 5 tiny ones. One baby mouse had only one eye - I guess pregnant moms should go easy on cough drops I had an awful time discarding everything from those drawers and sanitizing them!</p>
<p>H made sure that the holes leading to crawlspace are sealed, and repaired the torn mesh on one of the vents. So I’m not expecting guests surfacing in there any time soon.</p>
<p>Dead mouse smell could be a problem if poisoned mice die in your car.</p>
<p>I had a friend in Reno who took his boat in to have a new through the hull speed transducer installed. The installation involved removing and reinstalling part of the deck. After the transducer installation, the boat had a cat urine smell that could not be removed despite steam cleaning of the carpets.</p>
<p>After months of cleaning, he pulled up the floor boards and found a dead cat. He returned to the boat dealer and asked them if they had a cat. They said they used to, but hadn’t seen it in a while. At that point he dumped out a plastic bag and said, “Here it is.”</p>
<p>Mice and rats - had them all - roof rats, Yuck! You could hear them scratching and scrabbling at night. Horrible, but armadillos under the foundation - really destructive. Dig HUGE holes, dig up lawn, and used a humane trap and neighbor drove it away. Then the babies came, tried to trap it again, no luck. Then neighbor used his net and armadillo tore it open. At night, they wandered around and ripped up all the neighbors’ yards digging for grubs. Tied wolf urine, but it really stank, tried mothballs, to no avail. If you get them, catch them early and drive them to the next state, or they find their way back. Was I happy to sell that house 3 months ago!</p>
I had an awful time discarding everything from those drawers and sanitizing them!</p>