Of Mice and Men
Posted on January 8, 2010 - Filed Under Uncategorized | 13 Comments
No, I’m not going all literary on you (though Of Mice and Men
We have mouse problems. Our house is so far from mouseproof, it’s laughable. First of all, our walls don’t seal with the tin roof in the main room, so there are huge gaps along the roofline. Secondly, the builder, despite being told repeatedly (but only by a woman, so I guess it doesn’t count) to fill in the concrete blocks at the top, neglected to do so, creating a number of cell-like mouse houses all around the perimeter of the main room. I should also mention that man-made mouse houses are also perfect homes for critters like centipedes, giant spiders and assorted other creepy crawlies who see fit to sneak out and scare the heck out of me every so often.
Anyway. Every night, we can see the mouse run down the wall in the corner behind the bookshelf. Yes, down the wall. You see, Guatemalan mice are . . . different. They LOOK the same, they’re all that rodent grey that is so popular among non-lab mice, but they have spider abilities. Probably due to the fact they live with the biggest eight-legged fiends you’ve ever seen. These suckers climb trees, walls, and even, get this, sleek wood surfaces like my new bookshelf. They can RUN up and down completely vertical surfaces. I’m surprised I haven’t seen one edging upside down along the rafters.
We have had a succession of mice. Each one has met with a grisly death in one way or another. We first got poison, little green pellets, back when we had no mobile children and put them on top of things, out of reach. No takers.
We then tried traps. They gave us huge rat traps. Now, I’d seen the mouse, so I knew that was too big. Turns out the rat trap was so stiff you couldn’t even get a cat to set the darn thing off! I got a new trap, a wooden one. And it turned out that Guatemalan mice do not care about cheese. Well, some dietary differences might be expected, so I polled the locals and discovered that meat, cooked beef, in particular was the way to go. Except our mouse was really, really good at stealing the meat without setting off what turned out to be a very sensitive trap.
Our neighbors got a cat and that cat appeared to have caught the mouse, who had a penchant for slipping out the front door some mornings after running over my foot in an attempt to create further chaos in the house. We were mouse free for a blissful few weeks.
Then they were back. I say they because I’m positive there were two at this point. Probably children, cousins, uncles or aunts of the first, this being Guatemala.
Traps were useless, they shunned the poison. So one morning, Irving went out to investigate an odd noise, found a mouse trapped in the bread bag and smashed it with a shoe. The next one was dispatched by slapping a yogurt container over it, capping it, shaking vigorously and feeding it to the neighbor cat.
And yet, we still have mice. They get into the drawers on a nightly basis, leave droppings on the upper shelves of the bookshelf, get into my mouseproof food box and nibble every single bag open and generally wreak enough havoc for an entire army of rodents.
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13 Responses to “Of Mice and Men”
Talk to Me, People!
Unless you can fill in the gaps between the roof and wall, this is gonna happen ALL the time. Try to get some fine mesh to “staple” to the roof and wall. If a pen can go through an opening, you can be sure that a mouse can squeeze through. Try to not have any plants, wood (leña) or any general stuff around a 1 meter perimeter of your house. It helps hide and house the mice. In fact, if you can pour “cal” (lime, I think it is) around the house, it´ll be easy to see where these mice are coming from and you can put traps there. You could also try sticky traps. And use a bone instead of meat, to lure them into the other traps. If you´re gonna use poison, mix it with corn. Remember, these are Guatemalan mice!
We had a rat problem until one of the kids came home from the tienda with the cats. No mas rattones.
I still have one child-friendly, already vaccinated male cat, if you want a long-term solution….
I would love a cat, but Irving is 100% against them.
Cristina, thanks for all the tips! I’m guessing you’ve dealt with this before.
Our house is bordered on two sides by other people’s properties, so we have no control over the plants there, but our side is bare dirt. Also, our house was badly done . . . there are gaps under the doors, around the windows . . . I think it’s going to be a full rehaul to make sure everything is sealed. I really, really, really want to put up terrazza this year so then everything up top will be sealed. Until then, I’m going to try the mesh idea.
Also, where do you find sticky traps in Guatemala?
Another idea is to take pieces of steel wool and stick in the holes and other openings. This is suppose to keep mice out. Also, when I first started using mouse traps I didn’t think the position of the trap was important but it is. Mice run along side things and so the trap needs to be set parallel to the wall.
You will never have just one mouse, they always bring their families. Our mouse population decreased when a really BIG snake moved in nearby. I think the snake is gone because now we have a family of feral cats which I am sure keep the mouse population down. Also my two Tibetan mastiffs are big hunters and will take down anything.
I know you know this but be so careful with the poison. I don’t have it at my house or at the children’s home. Good luck and I hope you can get your house mouse proofed (holes and openings fixed) before too long.
I have had cats for so long that I have only ever had to deal with one rat ever (considering we lived in Egypt, this was pretty good). I have always been told that peanut butter (with a strong smell – fresh though) makes great bait though I’ve never tried it. We used a stick to catch (bash) our rat.
I put the poison behind the counter in the corner. . . unless the kids turn into mice themselves, no way they are getting back there!
Rat Terriers are good with kids, better than a doorbell and think mice and rats are invaders from Mars. My self, I like the Jacks but they are very hyper and want you to play with them all the time. My daughter’s Jack cleaned out my barn in less than a week, I had so many rats that they were running over my feet-not one lived after that dog visited for a week.
I’m surprised you haven’t found a way to fill in the concrete blocks yourself! You always take on projects that would blow my mind. It’s a shame that Irving is anti-cat, because it sounds like the best answer to your problem!
Genesis, part of my job description is pest control, but after 8 years of doing this, I have to tip my hat off to Nancy. Steel wool is a wonderful idea. Except it is kind of expensive if the you have a large area to seal off. You might want to nail Neolite to the bottom of your doors. This material is found at any place where they fix or make shoes, or at a peletería.
I think I saw sticky traps in Cemaco. If not, you can contact ADISA tel: 2483-2503 or 2483-2471, but they´ll only sell them to you by the dozen.
Cristina: my mom used steel wool to keep mice out of our house when we lived on a farm. I can remember helping to stuff the mouse holes. It must be a very old remedy, since that was at least 45 years ago. But I never knew anyone else who used steel wool to keep mice away.
Well, I would, Jessie, but there’s not much space between the roof (which is bolted down) and the blocks.
Oh, thank you, Cristina! I’ll check Cemaco next time we’re in. And if not, well, I bet I’m not the only one in San Juan with a mouse problem.
I’ll do what most people do around here and walk the streets ringing a bell and calling out my wares, with mouse traps of all descriptions hanging off my shoulders!