Ants and Mice

Yesterday noticed ants in the house. Opened pantry door and found two small piles of poop. Very little poop but thinking we must have mice! Have not seen any ... just the end results. Not sure how to contain them or the ants as I have a toddler and am afraid to try anything that could cause her harm.

Would have pest control (spray house perimeter) for ants work? As for the mice, we have an unfinished basement, could they be hiding there and coming up at night looking for snacks? We keep a pantry in the basement too. Have only seen droppings so far in kitchen closet. Maybe I will take a look in the hall closet tonight to be sure.

The sticky traps sound like they work the best, but sound really messy. Not sure I can handle that. But also pretty sure I don't want to share my house with uninvited guest.

 

Hi,

We had the same issue with little friends ourselves right after we moved in. Frankly I felt the same way, it just grosses me out! If it’s any consolation apparently they do not carry disease but I’m with you [:0]! My husband caught four mice by hand but after the cats staked out the pantry I gave up and called an exterminator. He placed two small baited traps in the pantry and the basement. The traps are entirely enclosed to prevent accidental poisoning so they are safe with children and pets.

The exterminator did find the access point. If you look around the edge of your garage door you'll notice a rubber "flashing" thing. The exterminator said this is the most common access point. The mice chew it away and come in through the garage. We put a large trap there as well. The mice eat the bait and go away to find a water source and die outside. We have not had any since then.

As for the ants the exterminator did address this as well. A preventive spray can be applied to the exterior to keep the ants away. I have not done this personally so I can not atest to whether or not it works. Good Luck.

 

Yeah, the little buggers are coming out of hiding. Had one in our water heater room in garage (Southern Walk townhouse)and he ate through some styrofoam near the water heater. Hubbie put out a trap AND a sticky. He halfway survived the trap and tried to take the trap with him, but alas then dragged himself and the trap over the sticky pad. He's a goner....but I think he's got syblings [|)]

 

How much was the exterminator and if this is a pretty common thing, I would imagine the expense can be a bit. Who did you use?

 

We used Holiday Termite and Pest Control. They are local. Their number is (703)-471-5533. It was $140.00 and as far as I am concerned worth every penny. Supposedly the traps are good for up to a year and it's nice to have my morning coffee without the fear of seeing furry friends scurrying into the pantry or under the sofa etc. [:0]. Plus I'm not dealing with them after they have expired. Chattycat you are braver then I. Just seeing one dead or alive gives me fits! Apparently mice are very common around here because of the construction. The exterminator told me he does multiple houses in the Courtyards section alone!

PD

 

Donna - please have fire your exterminator and remove your traps. I would rather have the mice in your house than mine!

 

We had mice right after our section was built. There are a few cats around that have kept the population under control and haven't seen any since. Ants are another story.

 

Hey T8erman,

All's fair in love and mice mayhem! Gosh, I can't stand them. When I say fits I mean fits, screaming, climbing on furniture, throwing the babies in their path . And they said I was child centric!

 

Good God !
Where do you all located in Broadlands? I'm totally with you,pdonnadurk when it comes to uninvited guests in the house !!!!!
Thank goodness I haven't seen any of them in my house, but thanks for the tips,,, ewwwwwwwwwwww,,, just a thought of them give me creeps,,, yuck !

 

Kassiabi,
We are in the Courtyards section. But from what I gather, any area where there is construction there is mice. The construction drives them from their homes and into ours.

 

Oh, got you,,
that's probably the reason, why I haven't seen any of them in our area. Our house was the LAST house to be settled, so our whole neighborhood was completly finished by the time we moved in, and hasn't been any other contructions since we moved in 13 months ago...

 

For the past 2 springs I've had some pretty significant ant problems. This year I've sprayed around the foundation, and also spread some insecticide pellets in the yard...hopefully they don't come back. (they probably live up on my roof or something with my luck).

Anyways, I've had good success with Ant Terro in killing the ones that got in in previous years. I guess they like to drink the stuff, then bring it back "home" to the nest where it poisons them at the source.

 

We had bad ant problems last year, but we back onto wetlands, and they were getting drowned out. I could actually follow the ant trail from the swamp, er, wetlands, the entire depth of my property to where they were nesting behind that lovely brick thing that sits in front of my house pretending it's actually attached.

 

For ants, about all you can do is remove food sources that attract them, seal around the doors better, and spray.

For mice, I've found glue traps work very well.

Many years ago I read an article about a mice/rat poison that is safe for children and household pets. You may already have some in your house and have probably consumed it. This "poison" is ordinary carbonated soft drinks. Evidently the rats/mice are attracted to its sweet taste, but because they can't burp (unlike kids, cats, and dogs), they tend to "pop" on the inside. I've never tested this information to see if it works, I'm interested to see what results you may get.

The article suggested putting out small, flat dishes of soft drinks (the cheap stuff is supposedly better than the name-brand) near the baseboards and areas of infestation.

Enjoy!

--- John B.

 

That's an interesting idea, but I think that unless the mice drink the liquid shortly after you put it out, all of the carbonation will have diffused out of it, rendering it nothing more than a sweet-tasting mouse attractant!

 

Plus what happens when a rat pops and dies inside your walls? Not a pleasant thought.

 

I'll be sticking with my nice neat traps thank you. Just the sight of the traps freaks me out let only super carbonated mice running around waiting to pop or worse yet wiggling glue traps as they try to drag themselves away. Gross! [:0]

 

I agree. [xx(]

That's why I like the idea of the poison traps that dehydrate the mice and force them to leave in search of a natural water supply. They then expire harmlessly off of my property!!!

 

Here's what happens. After about a month after we put out D-con bait we smelled this unpleasent odor[xx(] After tracking it to our under stair storage we find this half decomposed mouse[:0] Lucky for us, it was in an accessible area

 

I used to have a whole family of mice running rampant throughout my house until I bought a 12 gauge shotgun and blew all the little peckerheads to smithereens. Now I need a drywall repair man, an electrician, plumber, painter, trim carpenter, carpet and hardwood man and concrete guy to repair the flatwork. Anybody know of a good handyman who can do it all? (Posted 4/1)