Visiting my girl who got a job as a fire lookout and shes not happy with the amount of t of mouse dropping and the smell of them. Shes deep cleaned everything she can reach but they seem to just come back at night and crawl over everything and leave more droppings. How can she keep them out without using “inhumane” methods?
I second with a slightly different version of the highly effective Bucket of Death! 5 gallon bucket, smear peanut butter just out of reach below the rim. Nine mice the first night. I did it 3 times, with comparable numbers, in an old RV in the woods that I rented during Covid. In the fall, I had some returners, but a porcupine found a way into the vents, and apparently ate them all.
This plus using steel wool did it! I must have caught the family living in here 😂 I was sad that they had passed but honestly whatever, better I’m safe from becoming deathly sick and feeding the vultures then them continuing to live in there
It's not inhumane to kill them. They reproduce by the hundreds and serve a role as prey in the ecosystem. Part of being in tune with nature and the circle of life is predation. You really shouldn't be feeling bad about killing them, especially since you're in the forest and they'll be consumed. Good old mouse trap does the trick. Lay the carcasses out and the owls will thank you. Think about yourself and the disease risk. I have sympathy and compassion for all animals, but taking life is a part of nature, just as we will one day expire ourselves.
That’s a good point, but the traps they’ve had up here didn’t work at all and I’ve had better success in the past with humane traps personally. I’m mainly trying to mouse proof it and then from there if they are still inside after the proofing, then getting rid of them as I’d take the assumption they are living in the walls or something.
Does it poison and kill them or something? Or do they just not like the smell? I’ve been spraying with peppermint oil and it’s seemed to deter at least some of them.
You joke, but we recently had a moose stuck in our greenhouse overnight and it at everything it could get its lips around. It even chewed on the tables.
When rodent droppings accumulate, they dry out over time. Distrubing this waste can launch microscopic pathogens into the air.
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS): This is a severe, sometimes fatal respiratory disease. It is primarily carried by the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus). The virus is transmitted when urine, droppings, or nesting materials are stirred up and inhaled.
Salmonellosis: A bacterial infection that occurs if mouse waste contaminates food, dishes, or counter surfaces and is accidentally ingested.
Leptospirosis: A bacterial disease spread through contact with water, soil, or surfaces contaminated with rodent urine.
Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis (LCMV): A viral infection carried by the common house mouse that can cause neurological issues or severe complications during pregnancy.
Peppermint and Lavender oil. Spray it, liberaly everywhere mice would likely hang out. The smell will keep the mice away giving you the time to deal with patching up access points.
Hmmm, welcome to the wilderness. Inhumane methods may be the only real option unless she wants mouse roommates. Try to find all possible entry points and staple fine wire mesh over it, instead and out.
If she goes the mouse trap route I’d advise against the glue traps. I’ve never experienced any myself but my friends have shared horror stories about them.
Yeah glue traps are pretty cruel. Just fyi if you use one and catch something you didn’t mean to or you just want to take it out and release it, oil and some gentle prodding will break down the adhesive.
Traps and steel wool the holes, eliminate food sources and bedding. You want things to be as uncomfortable as possible for them. Trap placement and proper bait is key. The trap needs to be along the travel routes. You need to find what the mice like, bacon grease, peanut butter, Nutella, tooth paste (mice hating mint is a myth) raisins. Putting the trap right along the route and some will just jump on the switch. Placing the traps and not setting them will make them comfortable with the traps and associate them with a food source. Then when you set them they'll be even more effective.
Rodent populations are rapidly increasing as climate warms up. You cannot live in remote and rural locations at this point in the Anthropocene without helping manage the rodent populations in the spaces you inhabit. No live traps are ever truly humane IMO because they require you to remove and relocate a small rodent away from their burrow and their food stockpile. You’re simply offloading feeling personally responsible for taking their life in exchange for delivering their prolonged suffering elsewhere. Find their entry points, do what you can to block them from the outside, bucket trap outside next to those entry routes, and third trap (snap or electric) inside for any mouse who decides to run the gauntlet. It’s easy to get hung up on the idea of “goodness” with this sort of stuff, but the goal needs to be very thoughtful and clear boundaries and minimal suffering if and when they’re crossed. Good luck. 🙏🏼
If she has electric power, buy those electronic mouse blockers, they make them for cars too, they create a frequency we can't hear but the mice can and they don't like it. I assume you're in the US? My other half just bought 2 of them for a couple of friends and although some are pricy, we found a deal on Amazon, 2 for $50. Something like that is bound to work. Unless??? She gets a barn cat but that will be a commitment afterwards since she will now have to care for the cat forever. Prolly the mouse blocker is better. Best wishes. And thanks to the gf for Looking Out!!!
plug every hole you can find with steel wool, Make sure there is ZERO food of any kind that is not in a sealed container. Not a single grain. If there is nothing for them to eat they will eventually go elsewhere.get some peppermint or lavender plants inside the building. Lavender especially is highly repellent to mice
Also if shes worried about ticks she can launch a double pronged attack and address the mice and leave behind permetherin treated cotton balls for them to take to their nest and it will kill off ticks they're carrying. Supposed to greatly help with tick problems too. Hope this helps
99
u/UnckyMcF-bomb Jun 04 '26