I hope someone will have a stellar solution to my problem....I have a mouse that is behind my dishwasher...the dogs chased it into the house last weekend, and it found a SMALL gap between the side board and the bottom of the dishwasher...we don't think it has made it's way out because the dogs are now "hanging out by the dishwasher" and even chewing on the bottom of the cupboard next to it (which I am not happy about!)

No smell yet, so hopefully it is not dead, but finding enough snacks back there to sutstain it! My question is, does anyone know of a way to get the dang thing out (besides taking the dishwasher out). We have 4 dogs and 2 cats, so poison in the vicinity is out of the question.

Any ideas....anyone???? blast it with nitrox??? trimix???

Cynde,

Is a mouse trap out of the question? We had one under the dishwasher. Actually came up from the basement through the water pipe holes. Took the bottom panel off the dishwasher, place mouse trap with peanut butter temptation, replaced panel. Next morning ...... Well, you know.

Good luck!

Bill

hi bill, someone has suggested a d-con mouse trap with peanut butter. i don't know if the animals can get hurt on those. i just looked at the panel below the dishwasher, and it does come off so i will check to see if it leads to the area the mouse is in. yours is the best idea so far! thanks!

geezela came running through the kitchen flinging it in the air, then catching it, then flinging it, then catching it! funniest thing. i don't know if she knew what to do with it! then the dang thing shimmied into the tiny hole! normally the cats do a pretty good job, but this guy is about 5 inches long!

Cynde, try a sticky trap. You don't want this mouse poisoned and dead behind your dishwasher. You need a body, and you might get lucky and catch it live. Which would then involve a moral decision, thumbs up, thumbs down. I'm a thumbs up person and give then parole a long ways from the house. Down the toilet works, too.

On this note, Lily's present score is 5 and 11, I've caught 5 she's caught 11.

cecil, what is a "sticky trap?" i agree, the last thing i want is a dead mouse behind the dishwasher, so that is why i posed my dilema...i am definetly a thumbs up person (oh wait, i MUST be considering our birthdays!) this would be the first critter we would have to "extinguish" to catch...geez, hope this doesn't turn into another "save the donkey..er....mouse thread! just kidding. i am about to head out the door in awhile (if i can get michael away from the game) to get the "stuff" to try and get this guy..."sticky trap"...???? doublesided duct tape on the floor with peanut butter on one end?

I've had some sticky traps out (mouse sized roach motel). Never had a mouse dumb enough to enter one, though. Crickets yes, mice, no.

We use Hav-a-hart live traps. Have trapped chipmunks and mice (different sized traps). We bait the traps for either critter with roasted peanuts. Seems both mice and chipmunks can't resist.

Don't use D-con with dogs around, or kids. You don't want to poison either.

The hav-a-hart traps do not injure the captured animal. Once triggered, the trap is a small cage, which can be transported outdoors for release. Check with your local laws regarding release anywhere beyond your own land (or just be careful that folks not see when you release a critter elsewhere).

thanks daniel, i went to the store and got "glue trays" now i am thinking it won't work. guess i will put some peanut butter in the middle and hope it falls for it. it has a "human release" so i will let you know tomorrow!

we live in a very hilly area and have a big hill behind us. we get raccoons, skunks, coyotes, mice, bunnies, and an occasional mountain lion...no "quick relase for those!" lol!

Cynde, I am with Daniel on this one, but someone did tell me, when I had a mouse, that they do love a chocolate biscuit as well, or just chocolate. Good Luck. Annie B.

We used peanut butter/cheddar cheese crackers to lure our critters into the little plastic humane traps. Worked every time. They were redoing the roofs at our complex a few years back and it stirred up every mouse in the area and they all ened up with us...two cats and all! We would place the crackers (small pieces) in the trap and we always found a live critter in there and let them go in the woods behind us. This went on for a few weeks...we weren't certain if word got out that we had good chow for free and more relatvies and friends came for hand-outs, or if we were re-trappng the SAME critters each morining....the "return" crowd for seconds, so to speak! Have to be careful with little meeses...they can carry lyme ticks and all sorts of nasties. Our two cats did get to "play" with a couple of our visitors, but no one was injured during the "games". I am very glad we have not had this problem again since the roofs were completed. Our friends loved the Cheddar cheese/peanut butter crackers the best. Good luck, Cynde!! Keep up posted. Carole (Shutterbug)

We read something somewhere that said that chipmunks could return to the same spot if they were let out within 15 miles (yes miles!) of that location, so if you aren't going a long way with that mouse, it may very well be the same one.

Faith

I've heard it needs to be at least 5 miles with a mouse... Not easy to do on Bonaire incidentally.

The last mouse we had (about 2 months ago), managed to avoid the glue traps, so I designed a double whammy - a traditional mouse trap (eat the bait and it goes snap) baited with chunky peanut butter, next to a glue trap. Worked like a charm - the little beastie sprung the trap, the force of which flipped it into the glue trap (not that that was necessary after the spring trap did its thing).

For rats (something altogether too common on Bonaire), after 19 caught with spring loaded rat traps a couple of years ago (and still hearing scurrying about in our roof), we switched to FastTrac All Weather Blox from Bell - these are rat/mouse poison which metabolizes in the rat/mouse and becomes non toxic, meaning that if a dead rat were to fall out of the eaves and the dogs ate it they wouldn't be harmed. Worked like a charm. No more rodents in our eaves 2 weeks after placing the blox (nor since).

Jake

well, it's sunday morning and no mouse in the glue trap...dang. the dogs have stopped chewing the cupboard, so it may have either died, or gotten out on it's own. the rodents that we get come from our back hill, so i think it is ok to put them back there (you're right faith, might be the same one, lol!) anyway, georgie our cat manages to catch a couple a month, usually small, and by the time i get to it, usually dead! it's funny to sit on the couch and watch tv, and suddenly he will strut across the living room floor with the critter in his mouth, as proud as a peacock!

if we went 5 miles to release, we would be releasing onto concrete!

jake, we had roof rats when we first bought our house 9 years ago, and the homeowners association "took care of them" because they had infiltrated a lot of the houses.

so, hopefully it got away and we won't have a stinky kitchen in a couple of days!

update...mouse 1, cynde 0...a couple of days ago i told michael that there was a "smell" in the kitchen, well, yesterday he took the bottom of the dishwasher off (thanks for the suggestion bill) and yes, 1 REALLY dead mouse! house still smells a bit. i am going to have to get some candles and insence to get rid of it!

funny thing, 2 nights ago one of the dogs and georgie the cat were doing "something" in the dog run...looked out there and loe and behold, georgie had a little mouse (dead) and punkie was licking it..yuck!

Cynde Lee....must have been a pretty dumb mouse, eh? To get caught back there and not know how to exit the same way he entered...hmmmm. At least "it is no more" and you did not kill it....you can sleep better than way! LOL. Glad the hunt is over...for now, at least. Carole

carole, i think it didn't come out because it was scared of the 4 dogs and 2 cats hanging around! freddie has given me some good hints how to get the stench out now!

Expert advice on mouse/rat elimination... (in my profession it sorta goes with the territory.)

1. Understand your pest. "Mice" and "rats" are distinctly different. Most importantly, mice are curious and have short memories. Rats are paranoid and have long memories. Snap-traps kill mice easily. Rats either avoid them or outwit them. If toxic bait is left out long enough AND all other food sources are exhausted, rats will take the bait. Any kind of trap has to be left completely undisturbed for as much as two weeks before a rat accepts it as part of the environment and ventures into it. Mice procreate - a lot. If you see more than just one, there are dozens nearby. Unless duped into an obvious trap, both mice and rats tend to die in places that are pretty hard to reach.

2. Use this knowledge against your pest. When in doubt, overkill (traps+bait+whatever else) is better than waiting until the next generation is mature.

3. Aftermath: the SMELL. Get "XO" brand Odor eliminator. It is absolutely effective. Anything else just covers up the scent, which can last from days to weeks (until decomposition or removal is complete). XO chemically neutralizes it without otherwise perfuming up the place.


"I make a mean rat stew."

Jake had great suggestions about laying sequential traps, too. I had roof rats last year that were pretty darn smart; they learned to spring individual traps without getting hurt. So I laid minefield of five traps, each corner facing one in the center; and only baiting the center one.

Three nights later: snap-snap-snap! The rat had been bumping the traps to spring them. When the center trap's lever let go, it jumped up - not actually having any counterweight - and landed on another trap, causing the second trap to clamp the rat's tail - which would not have otherwise sprung a trap. This caused the rat to jump... right into the lever of a third trap.

Ultimately, though, it was leaving toxic bait out for 2 weeks in a secluded (but observable) place that worked on the rest of the colony. One day half the bait was gone at once. Never heard another rat... but had to run a humidifier with a dilute solution of XO for 3 days to kill the smell. Without the XO technique the smell would have lasted weeks. Of course, somewhere in the attic there are probably a dozen rat skeletons now. Oh well. At least they are quiet.