We were all sitting in the living room and watching television last week and Koko was doing his usual "patty-cake" routine on my daughter, when he suddenly ran off her and went running over to the heating vent. Naturally, I was curious, so I went over and looked through the grate and saw a little tail and a small brown butt. Great, the mice have gotten into the ducts.I knew that we had mice under our house, but I had no idea that they had chewed through the ducts. This means that I am going to have to go down there, find where they chewed the hole, and then tape it back up. In order to do this, I'm going to have to invest in a good work light (it's always nice to see what I'm doing) and try to put a curb on my claustrophobia.
Luckily, it seems that they have only gotten into the duct that leads to the living room. Now, after I get the duct sealed, I will still be left with mouse problem. Here's the big question: short of a very expensive call to the exterminators, does anyone know how to get rid of mice?
Gandalf and Grayson: We have a very lazy cat. The only mice he is used to chasing are filled with catnip:)
ReplyDeleteLea: Koko is strictly an indoor cat, so the only scent they would have would be from the occasional stray that would come through our backyard.
Ewww! I'd hate to have mice in MY house! Your cat was interested enough in the mouse to lead you to it. Can't be too lazy, after, he did charge over to the heating duct, didn't he?
ReplyDeleteYep, I've got a mouser. It makes a huge difference, but it begs the question of how dumb the mice are if they don't know the scent of cat...
ReplyDeleteMom said her house in New Jersey was out in the country and she had mice around this time of year even though she had cats. Good luck! She never let her cats get them 'cause she didn't want Mouse Breath on her pillow!
ReplyDeleteSniffie and the Florida Furkids
Karen &Gerard Zemek: Yeah, I guess I was a little hard on him. Although, he did take a nap a few minutes later:)
ReplyDeleteSusan Helene Gottfried: I guess if we had outside cats it would help. All we have are a few strays that wander through every once in a while.
Furkidsmom: I guess I need to go to rent-a-cat and have them run around our crawlspace.
We've never had a mouse problem because of having cats but back in Kansas when the fields around our house were plowed, we always had to put steel wool in any hole leading to the outside to assure that the mice seeking shelter from the fields stayed out of the house. That's the only suggestion I know of!
ReplyDeleteKoko's the best for letting you know! I've never seen one of those, although I did catch that lizard one time!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with sealing the ducts. We're not sure how to get rid of mice!
BeadedTail: Thank you very much for that suggestion. I'll try it:)
ReplyDeleteLux: A lizard? Wow, that's a little bigger than our mice. Thanks, it's going to be too much fun going into that crawl space.
Mom here.
ReplyDeleteWe had mice last year. Texas was a very good mouser, but obviously not having them in the first place was the way to go. So BigNameExterminator came out for months and still we had mice and swore there were no holes to speak of. Hubby had caulked a few times but when I finally said "Since BNE can't get rid of these, I'm about ready to live in the car" he spent an ENTIRE DAY caulking every teeny tiny hole in the house, and now we have no more mice and it is much warmer in the house this winter! Just seal up the holes yourself, apparently exterminators dont even work...
Niko and Cloud: I guess I'm going to have to go around the entire house and try to find where they are coming in. I'll try caulking and steel wool (BeadedTail suggested this). We heard them in the ceiling last night. This has got to stop. Thanks again for the advice, I guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend:)
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised you have mice around your house as I've always heard that mice will not come near homes of cats. Wonder why the mice aren't picking up your cats scent.
ReplyDelete(Repaired bad link...originally posted on: November 5, 2008 9:44 AM)
Ummm... you have a Cat, right? Hellooooo? hahaha!
ReplyDeleteEdited to remove dead link. Comment originally published on...
05 November, 2008 00:27