Mice, acorns and sticky traps

The house came with mice.  They do not bother the flour in the paper sack, but Phil put his fruit loop cereal in the fridge.  

My handsome distance runner researched on line how to rid the house these pests.  

There are spring traps:  The mice ate the bait off them and the springs do not snap.

There is mouse poison.  They ate the block, leaving dust where the block had been.  I've found no dead mice.

There is the sonic noise maker that is plugged into the wall.  The mice have been storing their acorn collection next to the outlet they are plugged into.

There are cotton balls infused with oil of peppermint.  The basement smelled like a peppermint patty.  Nummmmm.  The smell wore off and the mice stole the cotton balls.

There are sticky pads.  These have been catching mice.  6 last week.  The mice are smart.  They are flipping dirt onto the sticky pads so they are no longer sticky.  

Now that the weather is cooling off the mice have begun to store their acorns in the house.  Most are in the basement.  This last weekend my handsome distance runner found an acorn in his weekend duffel bag when he pulled out his underware.  Another acorn dropped to the floor when I folded an afghan.  The sticky traps have been brought to the main floor until we find the entrance these vermin have been using.   

Update: October 9, 2016

Last weekend a barrier method of the vermin repellant 'Great Stuff' was implemented from the outside of the house.  This weekend the mouse count was down to one, with NO additional activity noted.  No new acorn stashes.

Older sticky pads were removed and new ones put in place.  3 crickets were captured overnight.   

I also filled in the gap between the cellar door opening and the cellar door frame with Great Stuff.

I began removing the paneling and insulation from the basement walls.  The mice have been using the sill of the poured basement walls designed to support the steel beams of the prefab as their well insulated home.  Acorn shell, fur, pebbles and a red lego.    The rest of the basement will be stripped down to the original cement and everything left by the mice will be removed, bleached and HEPA cleaners will be set up.   

Before putting new fiber glass insulation back on the sill, all seams will be covered with more Great Stuff.  

Outside, all landscaping will be removed from right next to the house before the first snow.  

Update, October 26, 2016:

I swept out the cellar entrance, removed all the leaves and sand.  The basement and cellar entrance were and searched for mouse entrances and any holes in the rim joist and foundation were filled with vermin repelling great stuff and steel wool.  I vacuumed the spider webs from the ceiling.  

We discovered the damage the mice have done since the house was built.  

The original basement had been finished with 1970's wood paneling.  There was polystyrene sheeting between the paneling and the poured basement wall.  All was removed and any area that looked like a mouse outhouse was sprayed repeatedly with bleach. 


The rim joists were insulated with 6" thick, R19 fiber glass.  What I removed from the rim joists was infused with pebbles, acorn shells, dead and living Japanese beatles, fur, tons of excrement and a little mildew.  Nasty, nasty stuff. Maybe an R5 at best.

 The hose on the new shop vac is too short to reach the rim joists.  The canister has to be balanced on a cooler to reach.  All the plumbing runs on the West side of the basement ceiling, just a few inches from the rim joists.  Not easy to get into the loose debris on the rim joist sill. Half of that wall is done

 Dust mask on.  Safety goggles on.  Safety goggles steamed up.  Dirty, nasty, eeeuiuuuuuuiiicky.  The clothes I wore went straight into the washer.  

The only place left for the mice to hide is under the basement steps.  I set up a sticky trap, pushed a few poison blocks through the crack in the rise, and there is now one less mouse in the basement. The Japanese beatle population has been significantly reduced with the help of a broom and a shop vac. 

When all is finally cleaned up, the rim joists will be re-insulated with pink board (R10) surrounded by a bead of great stuff to provide a vapor barrier.  But not this week.