r/Phillylist • u/MakeupD0ll2029 • 1d ago
Pest (Mice) Control Recommendations
Just moved into a new place that had people already living there. A Tree fell down on roof last month and it took until yesterday for the landlord to get a vendor out to began working on the damages. This was due to insurance. Well, I presume, due to the roofing issue, mice has now made our place their home. The construction crew found some in the downstairs bathroom this morning where they are working at. Plus, roomies already said they saw at least two mice. So, with that being said, we need some recommendations and advice. The roof is now seal as of today. So, that's out the way.
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u/TacoRocco 1d ago
Ive actually dealt with mice before and the solution is pretty straightforward but a lot of work. You’ll want to go around your place and find every possible place that they could be coming in from.
Look for holes in walls, especially behind appliances. The very first thing you should do is stop them from coming in. When you seal the holes, fill the hole with something they can’t chew through like steel wool and then spackle over it to make sure it’s firmly sealed. Any hole that is the size of a dime or larger should be filled because they can squeeze into tight spaces.
After sealing all the holes, you’ll want to set up traps in case any are hiding in your place. You can use humane traps or snap traps. Whatever your conscience prefers, just don’t use glue traps because they are cruel. If you go for humane traps, make sure to release them at least 2 miles from your home or they will find their way back in.
Last thing you might want to do after sealing and putting out traps is to clean your place up. Vacuum, seal up your food in containers that mice can’t get into.
For the next few weeks you’ll want to continue monitoring for signs of mice. Look for things that are chewed up, check to make sure your holes stayed sealed, and keep an eye out for mouse droppings. If you still see signs of mice, repeat back from the beginning until they’re gone.
Last thing I want to mention is beware of advice telling you to use “noise deterrants” or “spray peppermint oil”. These things do not work. The goal is to stop them from getting in and flush them out. Anything else is ineffective.
If you want any specific advice, feel free to message me directly here! I’m happy to help because I’ve been through this and mice suck
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u/sleepybitchdisorder 1d ago
this is what worked for me too!! steel wool and expanding foam! if you hire a fancy extermination service this is 90% of what they’ll do
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u/Couple-jersey 23h ago
Cat, my cat loves to catch mice. We had two and she had a marvelous time disemboweling them. After that the rest seem to get the idea that our place is not the house to stop at
Pic of our vicious little monster
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u/MakeupD0ll2029 1d ago
I swear I can't get no peace from mice. My God! My next move might be somewhere mice free in another state. Give me a few cockroaches, IDC. Heck, I will take a ghost. Anything but mice and rats.
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u/Whole-Scheme4523 1d ago
traps and sealing access points thats basically it unless you want to poison things
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u/MakeupD0ll2029 1d ago
I think the culprit is the roof and we got that fix. They are working on the walls n such.
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u/FlyByPC 1d ago
I have a cat and Owltra electric mousetraps. They catch more than the cat does -- I bait them with peanut butter powder. They're still on their first set of (lithium) batteries after a year or so.
Other than that, try to keep any potential food sources contained. They were eating the cat food until I raised the feeder.
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u/pickleback11 1d ago
Reluctantly I eventually made my way to the owltra, holy heck did it work. I tried the little green plastic traps on Amazon first, then the steel kind that shut behind the mouse. Plastic ones never did a thing. Steel trap eventually got one after like 2 weeks. Also tried the bucket lid trap - nothing. The owltra got 4 in the first 2 days. I have no idea why, but it worked better than I could have imagined. Still feel guilty tho
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u/FlyByPC 1d ago
Still feel guilty tho
Yeah, I hate having to do it, but I can't have the house overrun, either. You'd think they would smell the cat and GTFO, but no...
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u/pickleback11 20h ago
Haha seriously. I tried so hard to be patient and hope they went away. Nah, they just got more brazen :(
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u/maudeblick 1d ago
I used Evans Pest Control and they were great and pleasant.
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u/MakeupD0ll2029 1d ago
Thank you! Will check into this. We had Orkins come out and it doesn’t appear that the guy was thorough, smh.
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u/jeanetteck 1d ago
You can foster a cat
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u/MakeupD0ll2029 1d ago
I want to, but we can’t have pets. We’re looking into pleading with the landlord.
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u/BottleJust5072 1d ago
Place hot pepper seeds along the base boards and wherever you see their droppings. Having a cat also will help. Good luck
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u/tempmike 16h ago
I promise you the mice were living there before your roof issues. They've just been displaced to be noticed.
For a solution, look into diy 5 gallon bucket mouse traps. Generally its a spinning bit of pvc pipe, some peanut butter, and water (to drown the mice)
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u/PHL76Delco 1d ago
If you can get a cat. I live in an old place that no matter what I tried I always saw a few every year. This went on for about a decade. Got a cat and I haven’t seen a trace of them in years.