Saturday November 21st, 2009
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To Catch a Mouse
Posted by Kimberly Delaney on April 26, 2009 - 10:58pm.
This one had me stumped – what’s a green cleaning approach to getting rid of a mouse? It’s not like calling an exterminator is an option. Wouldn’t it be greenest to keep the cute little guy around, give him the run of the place? Let him dine on organic vegetable scraps. Fill his little dish with filtered water?
Fast-forward a few months and that fury friend may well have chewed through wiring, walls, plastic and furniture. A few more months and you may notice that you’re no longer dealing with just a mouse or two – they can have up to 87 babies in a year! Pack your bags – the mice are taking over! It’s enough to send anyone to the poison section of your nearest hardware store.
Poison can backfire
Rodent poison is not just toxic to the rodent and it’s definitely not something you want to keep around your home, especially if you have kids or pets. Plus poisoning your mouse or rat can create a far worse problem. That’s because they may eat the poison in plain sight, but they’ll crawl back in the wall to die. Decaying mouse is not exactly the clean house smell you were going for.
Be strategic
Try an integrated pest management approach and get inside the head of your mouse. How does he get in? Why does he stay? What’s his food and water source? You may find that you’ve inadvertently created a 5-star mouse resort and it’s time to stop treating your guests so well. Take these four steps and you may be rid of your freeloader in no time:
• Seal the cracks
• Eliminate hiding places
• Take away the food
• Cut off the water supply
Mouse Traps
If your mouse doesn’t get the hint, you may need to resort to using a trap. Start with the most humane and progress from there. Live traps come in a variety of shapes and sizes and snap traps are considered the next most humane because they kill the quickest. Make sure your trap is the right size for your rodent and keep them out of reach from kids and pets.
Rodents are smarter than you might think. It’s a good idea to bait the trap for a few nights to let them get used to this new snack source. Also, use gloves when you bait the trap because the mouse won’t go near a trap that smells like you.
So the greenest approach to ridding your home of mice is to take care of the problem as soon as possible. Wait too long and you may have to start replacing damaged furniture and wires or resort to more dramatic measures.
Kimberly Delaney is the author of Clean Home, Green Home: The Complete Illustrated Guide to Eco-Friendly Homekeeping, published by the Knack imprint of Globe Pequot Press.
Glue traps are a good option. Here's a link to a non-toxic glue trap. While these are non toxic, kids and pets often test what that means really. It's probably not something you want them to lick or stick their body parts in. If nothing else, they'll deter the mouse you're trying to catch. A simple solution is to put the traps in small cardboard boxes that are big enough for the mouse. The traps are baited so the mouse will find them and probably even be attracted to the cave-like ambience you've provided.
With glue traps, once you catch a mouse you can drive it 5 miles or so from your house and use vegetable oil to free it from the glue. It's humane, but may take some commitment from you if you have an infestation.
Keep in mind one of the biggest mistakes people make with mice is thinking they just have one or two, when really they're hosting a whole herd of mice. Even for one or two mice, using a dozen traps will get the job done better than just a couple. And if you are not efficient with your trapping you may have dozens of mice before you know it!
It's a bit cruel i know but glue traps are you're best bet when dealing with mice. It can prove very efficient and don't worry they aren't toxic. I'm saying this because i have a dog who accidentaly ate one of the mice while dead and sticky and he didn't had anything in the end.