Mouse Help

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Turkishcoffee
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Joined: Sat May 25, 2019 5:16 pm

Mouse Help

Post by Turkishcoffee »

While i have used multiple traps with peanut butter, I have a mouse (mice) running between my refrigerator and dishwasher. Both the water lines have holes cut out of the wood floor and I need to stop the entrance points. I am kind of a crazy about fires so i want to seal these areas without any risk of heat causing a fire.

I have heard steel wool is flammable. I heard mice will eat through caulk. Can anyone advise me?
oldfatguy
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Re: Mouse Help

Post by oldfatguy »

You are not going to cause a fire by filling gaps with steel wool. My kitchen floor is made of wood, which is also flammable.

However, where are the mice coming and going through those holes? Is there a basement under your kitchen?
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unclescrooge
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Re: Mouse Help

Post by unclescrooge »

Borrow a cat for a few weeks.

Many cities have a working cat program, although usually meant for outdoor cats. Under this program, cat adoption is free.

I got two such cats from a kill shelter. One was unfortunately killed by a coyote after a year and then the other moved in with my next door neighbor after her husband passed away. But the yard was rodent free for that year.
seawolf21
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Re: Mouse Help

Post by seawolf21 »

Water lines (even hot water) don't combust. Seal away with copper mesh/steel wool.
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lthenderson
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Re: Mouse Help

Post by lthenderson »

I've sealed up many a mouse hole with steel wood. It doesn't spontaneously combust and it isn't the only flammable thing in a house should a fire be in that area.

You can seal up holes with things like caulking and spray foam but I have found those won't deter an established mouse colony. They will still gnaw through it to get to where they have always been going. Steel wool is one of the few things that will.
livesoft
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Re: Mouse Help

Post by livesoft »

You can probably also buy copper scrub pads that will do the same, but will never rust from moisture. And keep them in place with spray expanding foam.

Mice will chew through the wires in your dishwasher and refrigerator and possiibly live in the insulation of these appliances. I rented a home that had a broken dishwasher in the garage. I repaired the rodent damage by splicing about half a dozen chewed-thru wires to the control board and vacuuming out the turds and it was a good as new.
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MarkerFM
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Re: Mouse Help

Post by MarkerFM »

livesoft wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 9:28 am You can probably also buy copper scrub pads that will do the same, but will never rust from moisture. And keep them in place with spray expanding foam.

Mice will chew through the wires in your dishwasher and refrigerator and possiibly live in the insulation of these appliances. I rented a home that had a broken dishwasher in the garage. I repaired the rodent damage by splicing about half a dozen chewed-thru wires to the control board and vacuuming out the turds and it was a good as new.
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GrowthSeeker
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Re: Mouse Help

Post by GrowthSeeker »

There’s a guy named Shawn Woods who has a YouTube channel all about different ways of catching rodents. IIRC steel wool was superior to caulk; and expanding foam failed (maybe technique related)
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Capsu78
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Re: Mouse Help

Post by Capsu78 »

We have had 2 cats most of our 35 year marrage. We moved from our longest house (29 years 2 years ago. Apparently the new (house and dog) owner and my old neighbor were chatting it up at a BBQ last summer. Each complained of mouse problems. Then my old neighbor remembered he used to have cats for neighbors! Apparently our cat roaming range kept a 3 property perimeter!
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Sandtrap
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Re: Mouse Help

Post by Sandtrap »

Steel wool (not fine but course mesh at all entry points. Caulking for small gaps)
or. . copper scrub pads if there's a possibility of moisture and rust.

Disposable wooden snap mice traps

Jiff Peanut Butter (Creamy) (9 out of 10 mice prefer this in an independent research study).

j :D
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Vogatrice
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Re: Mouse Help

Post by Vogatrice »

Where do you live? My brother caught dozens of mice with a water bucket/suspended can coated with peanut butter on a California ranch. My Brooklyn mice just danced across the suspended wire, licked the tin can coated with peanut butter perfectly clean, wandered back across the wires without falling into the water, and continued to terrorize me. Old fashioned snap traps were the only things that worked for us. We caught about 18 of 'em, then the renovation down the block finished and they wandered off to bother someone else.

Soooo...I can only say keep trying different things, check YouTube, stuff the holes with steel wool, consider visiting cats...I think it's like trying to keep your house from being burgled by making it just that little bit harder to enter than your neighbours. There is no single perfect solution.
seawolf21
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Re: Mouse Help

Post by seawolf21 »

I use snap traps as well.

Got mice in the attic and a hole that is not easily sealable. Pointing a Wyze camera at the hole and traps and I only go up to the attic if I see activity.
jibantik
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Re: Mouse Help

Post by jibantik »

Plastic snap traps with peanut butter and/or a cat. Both work great.
BalancedJCB19
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Re: Mouse Help

Post by BalancedJCB19 »

I recently went trough the same thing and I didn't have a lot of luck with the snap traps because they were very small. I don't agree with the glue traps because of the inhumane nature, but they did work the best. Once I caved in and put them down, I got all three mice and the problem was solved, I hated to do it though.

Now, having said that when I first moved in 1993 there was a field across the street and they started building house on, once that happened, I had a lot of mice. They were full size field mice and the traps worked very well in that instance. They love Peanut Butter.
iamlucky13
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Re: Mouse Help

Post by iamlucky13 »

I believe firestop putty would be the most appropriate product to use to seal holes between floors. Duct sealant putty would probably also work
Here's an example of each:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-Fire-Bar ... /206873182

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardner-Ben ... /100212441

I don't know whether mice would chew through it, but it's worth a try. The consistency is like modelling clay, so you can build up a thick layer of it if desired.
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