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 Party Girl
Posts: 12293
   
Location: Buffalo, Wyoming | There may be nothing we can do but thought I would see if anyone had any ideas?
I live in a house that is conected to an indoor arena. We believe the mice are getting in the walls from the arena (one wall contects to the house) and then going where ever they please once they are in the wall. This summer we fought the smell of dead mice and now that winter is getting closer they are at it again.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what we may do? There is no way to 100% keep them out. We do not own the place so we can't really do anything major with the walls. Is there anything we can put on the arena side that might help keep them out and is there anything we can do about the smell? Everytime I turned over the other night in bed I would get a wiff of a dang dead mouse.
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 Tough Patooty
Posts: 2615
Location: Sperry, OK | I would talk to the landlord/owner about getting an exterminator. |
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Cold hands and Warm Heart
Location: oklahoma | I use that expandable foam that comes in a spray can and seal up all holes where they can come in. They can fit through the smallest cracks. and I think the only good mouse is a dead one. I've heard that steel wool stuffed in places deters them too. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Get some cats  |
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Party Girl
Posts: 12293
Location: Buffalo, Wyoming | Southtxponygirl - 2014-10-14 4:47 PM Get some cats
There are a bunch of cats out here. They are not doing their job very well.. LOL |
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I Need a Xanax!
Posts: 2774
| I'd have at least 15 locked mouse poison stations if I were you. I have about 5 here and it keeps them knocked down but I sure can tell if I haven't refilled them and they start sneaking back in! I use the Tom Cat brand in locked boxes so no kids or animals can get to it. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1092
Location: OK | There are certain rat poisons that keep them from stinking when they die, they just dry up. Get in the attic or however nad drop that down in your walls. This way it's safer for pets etc and it will get them. Super clean the house, especially the kitchen and oven/stove so they will go eat those blocks. |
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Veteran
Posts: 102
| I've heard of those poisons you are talking about that dry a mouse or rat up but what is the name of them and where do you buy them? |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | UTAHCANCHASER - 2014-10-14 5:56 PM Southtxponygirl - 2014-10-14 4:47 PM Get some cats
Those naughty cats  |
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | Get some dachshunds....
I'm really of no help. I battle them under my stove in my cabinets. Nothing sucks more than washing a pan, putting it up and then having to wash it again before you use it! |
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 Lady Di
Posts: 21556
Location: Oklahoma | Longneck - 2014-10-14 9:58 PM
Get some dachshunds....
I'm really of no help. I battle them under my stove in my cabinets. Nothing sucks more than washing a pan, putting it up and then having to wash it again before you use it!
Amen to the dachshunds! Mine is a mouse killing fool. lol We had mouse traps everywhere and they would just steal the food we put on them....then they got so bold that they were running across the floor. Bad idea....Blue saw them then and promptly chased them down and caught them. lol Now she's always sniffing under the stove and the couch, and anywhere she thinks they might be. lol With that said, I've heard mothballs will keep them away. |
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 Texas Tenderheart
Posts: 6715
Location: Red Raiderland | I cracked up when I read get a Dachshund! I have had many Doxies throughout my life and can say most are pretty good mousers but the two I have now are not. I think they are little prime donas. They won't work for their keep. 
I have had great luck using real peppermint oil. You have to get it at a health food store but it has kept the mice completely out of our motorhome after they infested it last summer. I put a drop or two on a cottonball and put them all over the motorhome, like in cabinets and drawers and on the countertops. Put these cotton balls or cotton makeup pads out and in cracks and crevaces. I also put some in my tack room and *BAM* no evidence of mice.
You could also hit LRQHS up for some super kitties. She gifted me with one and that little girl had a mouse trapped in the corner of the barn tonight!  |
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 Expert
Posts: 1392
Location: Central Texas | Running B - 2014-10-14 9:33 PM I've heard of those poisons you are talking about that dry a mouse or rat up but what is the name of them and where do you buy them?
That is the stuff I use. I can't remember the name of it. My feed store guy suggested it to me. I bought the first one from him and then I saw them in Tractor Supply too. It looks and feels kinda like a brick. Solved my mouse problem. Sometimes I find their dried up flat carcass but I don't ever smell them. |
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 Serious Snap Trapper
Posts: 4275
Location: In The Snow, AZ | We seem to always have issues with mice. We move, they follow. We are not dirty people. We do not leave food out. We practice good habits to deter the little suckers. But when we think were in the clear, one shoots across the living room. We have traps set in different hidden areas. We can go weeks without trapping one, and then get three in one night. We have poison in the garage. Chickens always on pest control. Getting a cat is the next step.
My mom is also dealing with it right now. Her landlord brought an exterminator out to discover they have mice and packrats. YUCK. And they're dying in the walls and smell something awful. Exterminator sealed up all entrances/exits. Set many traps. And wait to catch them. |
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 I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | do some investigative work in your house, pull out the oven, fridge, check in the back of cabinents, look for common areas and where they have done some damage. we use those sticky traps and the three way "tomcat" traps. Like others have said, we will be "mouse free" for months and then all of the sudden one pops out of the blue and he's in my dogs food dishes!
the sticky traps are the best to get them in my opinion. but I feel like a horrible person when they are rolling around in it trapped and alive. once we get them in the trash bag we kill them to put them out of their misery. poor mousy!  |
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 Experienced Mouse Trapper
Posts: 3106
Location: North Dakota | Follow all a/c lines, electrical, gas and water lines and seal them with "thumb gum" it's a putty like substance that sticks around pipes and stays soft. The foam in a can is a good idea, but the mice we had in our house when we moved in loved to eat it and make nests out of it! There is a place they are getting in the walls, find that and seal it up with heavy duty material-tin, wood etc and seal with caulking. Be sure grain is stored in sealed. Hay, there isn't much you can do with that if it's in the attached arena other than don't feed your cats too often-2 times a week is all mine get, they have to work for their keep. Then either set a trap line-mice are mostly blind so they follow the edges of walls so placement of traps and poison along walls is where you will catch the most.
Once we found where the mice were coming in our house, we found a bunch of pee/poop soaked insulation, cleaned that up and no more smell.
I'm going to try the peppermint oil. I've always used dryer sheets when I store a vehicle/boat or camper. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1446
Location: Wisconsin | GraciousLegacy - 2014-10-15 7:50 AM Running B - 2014-10-14 9:33 PM I've heard of those poisons you are talking about that dry a mouse or rat up but what is the name of them and where do you buy them? That is the stuff I use. I can't remember the name of it. My feed store guy suggested it to me. I bought the first one from him and then I saw them in Tractor Supply too. It looks and feels kinda like a brick. Solved my mouse problem. Sometimes I find their dried up flat carcass but I don't ever smell them.
Would this happen to be it? Hubby and I woke up to scratching in the walls last night, haven't had a problem with mice since we moved in 3 years ago, but I suppose they are looking for somewhere warm for the winter. http://www.trapman.co.uk/eradirat-5kg-tub.html |
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Cold hands and Warm Heart
Location: oklahoma | LMS - 2014-10-15 11:37 AM
Follow all a/c lines, electrical, gas and water lines and seal them with "thumb gum" it's a putty like substance that sticks around pipes and stays soft. The foam in a can is a good idea, but the mice we had in our house when we moved in loved to eat it and make nests out of it! There is a place they are getting in the walls, find that and seal it up with heavy duty material-tin, wood etc and seal with caulking. Be sure grain is stored in sealed. Hay, there isn't much you can do with that if it's in the attached arena other than don't feed your cats too often-2 times a week is all mine get, they have to work for their keep. Then either set a trap line-mice are mostly blind so they follow the edges of walls so placement of traps and poison along walls is where you will catch the most.
Once we found where the mice were coming in our house, we found a bunch of pee/poop soaked insulation, cleaned that up and no more smell.
I'm going to try the peppermint oil. I've always used dryer sheets when I store a vehicle/boat or camper.
that was my point too. Seal everything and stop them before they come in. I'll have to remember the thumb gum. I use snap traps also.....quick death. |
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  Angel in a Sorrel Coat
Posts: 16030
Location: In a happy place | My Rat Terriers are good mousers too. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 452
Location: Alberta | We use Contrac Blox (warfarin bait) in the Tom Cat bait stations and they seem to have helped our mouse situation. When we moved in to our place there was a window missing in our basement at ground level during harvest season. Needless to say our place was FULL of mice. Absolutely the most disgusting thing I have had to deal with and our cat wasn't even coming close to cleaning them out.
I'm not sure what the laws are where you live but we could only buy the bait after having a exterminator look at our place and sign off that we are a farm and now we can go to their store and buy it and not have to have an exterminator deliver it every time we need more. You can buy other baits at your local farm store but the stuff you get from an exterminator is super powerful and usually kills them after one feeding - totally worth the extra money!
I have found a couple dead mice just laying randomly around the basement and some little puffs of fur that are left from them dehydrating but they don't smell at all after they die. We put the little bait stations in our basement and then put big boxes outside by our front and back steps and it was amazing how fast that bait was gone after the first couple times filling them but its slowed down now. Also try and keep tall grass down around the edges of your house/arena, as they can climb tall grass and slip up under your siding. I have sprayed a foot wide all the way around my house so its just dirt to try and keep them away.
Another thing that helps keep them out is putting peppermint oil on cotton balls and placing them around your place. A friend of ours that works on my inlaws ranch lives in a travel trailer during the summer and was having major issues with mice (her cat was catching 2+ a night in her trailer) and since she started putting these cotton balls everywhere in the storage areas and cupboards she hasn't had a single mouse since and it smells good!
I feel your pain and know how disgusting it is, hopefully you can get them slowed down soon! |
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| Get them before they get in. Set up bait stations along the perimeter of your buildings. A exterminator gave me this tip. I have had no problem since. Also have some inside my feed and tack room. My cats use to do a pretty good job, but are old and worthless now, when it comes to hunting.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1092
Location: OK | I can't remember the name but it's a tan colored block that is a little bigger and longer than a bar of soap and you can break it into maybe 4-5 bars. It comes in a clear cellophane package that maybe has yellow on it. That stuff works! I bet it will say on the package of those poisons though which ones will dry them up. |
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Dead mouse smell/Keeping mice away