How big of a problem are they? I saw one, so there are probably a dozen. Should I be freaking out, or just accept that there will sometimes be mice in a backyard?
I suppose you need to worry if they’re getting inside of your house (basement, cellar, foundation, attic).
We have them in our backyard & they drive the dogs nutso.
We happen to have a ground-level herb garden up against the house. The border of the garden was built with 2x4s. The installer left a gap along a good portion of it so that it’s not flush with the house foundation. One night as the dogs were doing their backyard surveillance of intruders I shone/shined my light in that gap and saw a bunch of pairs of beady little eyes looking back at me.
I have not seen any evidence of them entering the house. They leave their shit outside…usually on the cushion of our deck swing, so that’s been a little :yuck:.
get a cat imo
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Also I thought you had like a condo or something
or are you talking about your parent’s backyard cause you moved into their basement to play video games for 5 years
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The issue is if they get into the house. If you see them in the backyard, they’re living somewhere nearby, so I’d suggest looking around for any evidence.
I thought you in a condo. Need space for kids now?
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Yes please tell us more about how your condo just isn’t like there anymore
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people have mice as pets. they’re cute
We got a pile of firewood last year, they’re probably nesting in there, under the deck is also possible. Can they come in furnace / hot water heater gas vents? Those aren’t covered but I think are the only ways into the house proper. I’d really like to avoid dealing with them in the house…
Make sure firewood isn’t up against the house, but that’s a good bet for where they’re nesting. A mouse can fit through a dime-sized hole.
Outdoor nice are harmless. We always have outdoor mice. In the ~2 decades we’ve been here, that has only turned into indoor mice twice, briefly, both times handled with snap traps shortly after we noticed them.
- Get a cat. Preferably a cat that will mouse.
- Set traps. Preferably where kids won’t get to them, but … well, some people are OK with that. Best bait: peanut butter or Milk Duds. Something that a mouse cannot dislodge from the trap and scurry away with.
- Fire. It’s always an option.
Overrated 
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Yes…
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and this is why I live in a high rise
I literally watched a mouse nibble every last speck of peanut butter from a snap trap and scurry away unscathed. I had carefully smeared it into multiple nooks & crannies in the trap and the mouse just carefully ate it all without tripping the trap.
It was incredibly impressive and also incredibly frustrating. I tested the trap with a wooden spoon to ensure I’d set it properly and WHACK it was definitely set. Just a very very clever/careful mouse.
I got the mouse on roughly attempt #10. (ie 9 times he got the peanut butter and the 10th time the trap got him.) I figured by then he was fat from all the peanut butter, and slow.
We have mice in my shed. Every few years they hit the.attic in early.winter,.you can hear them in the walls as soon as it gets dark. A couple of traps, and the first night i can hear the traps going off. Problem solved.
Somebody told me that they get in the attic through the drain holes at the bottom of the brick. No idea if thats true, but i dont know how theyd get in otherwise.
[cliffclavin]It’s a little known fact that mice actually descend from a line of masons…[/cc]
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I just want to say colonelsmoothie is an absolute treasure. Don’t ever change.
I like to use a little piece of chocolate in a snap trap. They love chocolate. At least, they often nibble it when they get into the kitchen. (I’ve had mice at previous places, too.) And it’s rigid, so if they wiggle it just a little it will set of the trap.
But i wouldn’t bother trapping outdoors mice. You’ll just get more, and they aren’t damaging anything.