Tom & Jerry (Not S & G)
January 28, 2011 3:43 AM
Should we do something about mice living in our walls?
We live in a forty year-old complex of buildings with unresponsive management. We must pick our battles carefully and are already fighting on one front. We're also surrounded by woods, which we love, and we accept that some level of interaction with wildlife is inevitable. Our cat has returned to his nocturnal roots and spends all night staring at the walls and ceiling fascinated with micey activities we can clearly hear. We told management about this over a year ago and they are unconcerned. Should we be? Can the bacteria from their droppings (that disease from infected deer ticks I can't recall just now) seep through the drywall? Could they be affecting the insulation significantly? We're happy to host them if MeFi doesn't think ill of it.
We live in a forty year-old complex of buildings with unresponsive management. We must pick our battles carefully and are already fighting on one front. We're also surrounded by woods, which we love, and we accept that some level of interaction with wildlife is inevitable. Our cat has returned to his nocturnal roots and spends all night staring at the walls and ceiling fascinated with micey activities we can clearly hear. We told management about this over a year ago and they are unconcerned. Should we be? Can the bacteria from their droppings (that disease from infected deer ticks I can't recall just now) seep through the drywall? Could they be affecting the insulation significantly? We're happy to host them if MeFi doesn't think ill of it.
I have mice. I haven't started killing them yet. I no longer leave food out - I bought a bread bin, and a self-closing steel kitchen waste bin. I moved some books and paper off the floor. I clean counters before and after using them.
They don't bother me as much as the slugs. But then I normally use the 10 second rule for food on the floor (although not in my house).
posted by plonkee at 4:18 AM on January 28, 2011
They don't bother me as much as the slugs. But then I normally use the 10 second rule for food on the floor (although not in my house).
posted by plonkee at 4:18 AM on January 28, 2011
When I lived in Somerville, I was renting from an unresponsive landlord. I had identified a few code violations and a pest problem. To put a fire under my landlord after it wasn't being handled in both an appropriate manner and time frame, I contacted the building inspector. With a letter from them, as well as the original letters to the landlord, we started an Escro account for our rent. Our apartment was sprayed (we had bedbugs); the electrical was fixed, as well as the back stairs repaired - within two weeks of the building inspector filing their report.
Side note:
If you are inclined to do so, kill them with traps (and check them daily). Otherwise use a humane trap and remove them from the house. DO NOT poison them. Poison, while effective, will have them die in your wall. A few days/weeks later, they will stink in your wall. Pulling out drywall to find a few dead mouse carcasses because you have to remove them is about as fun as it sounds.
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:34 AM on January 28, 2011
Side note:
If you are inclined to do so, kill them with traps (and check them daily). Otherwise use a humane trap and remove them from the house. DO NOT poison them. Poison, while effective, will have them die in your wall. A few days/weeks later, they will stink in your wall. Pulling out drywall to find a few dead mouse carcasses because you have to remove them is about as fun as it sounds.
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:34 AM on January 28, 2011
I forgot to be clear that we have no mice INSIDE, just on the other side of the walls. Neither we, nor our cat, would invite them into the apartment.
posted by Mertonian at 4:35 AM on January 28, 2011
posted by Mertonian at 4:35 AM on January 28, 2011
Mice can get in through smaller holes than you think. And I've seen them eat through drywall. Assume that they will find a way of getting in.
posted by plonkee at 4:47 AM on January 28, 2011
posted by plonkee at 4:47 AM on January 28, 2011
If there's electrical wiring in your walls, you could just wait it out, as the problem may sort itself out soon enough--though, of course, if you are opposed to the idea of your house spontaneously bursting into flames while you sleep, this course of action might not be right for you.
Can the bacteria from their droppings (that disease from infected deer ticks I can't recall just now) seep through the drywall?
Lyme disease. Through the drywall? No. Under the baseboards? Yep.
Also, the hanta virus is contracted by inhaling vaporized mouse poop. Fun!
posted by Sys Rq at 4:54 AM on January 28, 2011
Can the bacteria from their droppings (that disease from infected deer ticks I can't recall just now) seep through the drywall?
Lyme disease. Through the drywall? No. Under the baseboards? Yep.
Also, the hanta virus is contracted by inhaling vaporized mouse poop. Fun!
posted by Sys Rq at 4:54 AM on January 28, 2011
I have heard that all apartment buildings have some degree of mouse problem in the walls of the building. Ours always have (in six different buildings in three different countries.) As long as there is no sign of them in the actual apartment, I wouldn't worry.
posted by lollusc at 4:57 AM on January 28, 2011
posted by lollusc at 4:57 AM on January 28, 2011
We have the same problem. No visible mice. No signs of any mice. No way to access any mice. But there are clearly sounds coming from inside the wall, chewing sounds. It's not in the attic. It's not in the closet. It's inside the perfectly intact and undamaged walls. Maybe mice, maybe rats, maybe a little of baby possums. Should we break open the drywall to put traps inside the walls? And if so, how do we even decide where to inflict the drywall damage? It's hard to follow the sound from room to room. It seems clear in this case that sound sometimes travels oddly through solid materials.
(It's a stand-alone house, built in 1948, and we own it. There was an occasion when a possum or a squirrel died in the wall, something bigger and longer-lasting than a rat, anyway. We sacrificed the drywall in that case, just so we could bear to eat our meals.)
posted by Ery at 5:11 AM on January 28, 2011
(It's a stand-alone house, built in 1948, and we own it. There was an occasion when a possum or a squirrel died in the wall, something bigger and longer-lasting than a rat, anyway. We sacrificed the drywall in that case, just so we could bear to eat our meals.)
posted by Ery at 5:11 AM on January 28, 2011
Oh, and the cats seem to think that any chewing sounds coming from inside the wall are not real, or at any rate not their problem. They turn away, clearly bored. Nothing like their reaction to the squirrels they see through the window.
posted by Ery at 5:13 AM on January 28, 2011
posted by Ery at 5:13 AM on January 28, 2011
I've never lived in a place that didn't have mice in the walls, basement, attic, or some other place. Hell, my current place has a full-blown ecosystem going down in the cellar; 'spider crickets', mice, terrifyingly large wolf spiders, and a large resident snake who was only recently ousted by my cat from the apex predator position. I'm one film crew away from a Discovery Channel special down there.
I have some traps and have considered using them, but haven't yet—mostly because I am concerned about having a cat decide that the trap is a toy and ending up breaking a paw.
If the mice were in the actual living spaces of the house or certainly if they were in the kitchen and there was any risk of contamination in food, I'd be a lot more aggressive. But the cat seems to deter them from showing themselves.
But mice in the spaces in the walls, or attic? Meh. Those places are pretty disgusting anyway. I wouldn't open up a wall or go stirring up dust in the attic without a respirator anyway, just due to the dust and the insulation and old pesticide and god knows what else.
Mice seem to be one of those things that have an outsized reaction in some people. I just can't get that worked up over them. (Centipedes, though? Kill them with fire.) Maybe it's just because I've listened to them in the walls my entire life and haven't come down with Hanta virus or any of the other rodent-related horrors yet, but they are not at the top of my priority list.
posted by Kadin2048 at 5:25 AM on January 28, 2011
I have some traps and have considered using them, but haven't yet—mostly because I am concerned about having a cat decide that the trap is a toy and ending up breaking a paw.
If the mice were in the actual living spaces of the house or certainly if they were in the kitchen and there was any risk of contamination in food, I'd be a lot more aggressive. But the cat seems to deter them from showing themselves.
But mice in the spaces in the walls, or attic? Meh. Those places are pretty disgusting anyway. I wouldn't open up a wall or go stirring up dust in the attic without a respirator anyway, just due to the dust and the insulation and old pesticide and god knows what else.
Mice seem to be one of those things that have an outsized reaction in some people. I just can't get that worked up over them. (Centipedes, though? Kill them with fire.) Maybe it's just because I've listened to them in the walls my entire life and haven't come down with Hanta virus or any of the other rodent-related horrors yet, but they are not at the top of my priority list.
posted by Kadin2048 at 5:25 AM on January 28, 2011
I forgot to be clear that we have no mice INSIDE
Sure you do.
Find any hole or gap the size of a dime or larger and that's a portal.
When weather gets cold, they come inside. Set traps and check regularly. This past year, I put out four traps at key locations in my basement and took out 4 in 24 hours. Set another 4 traps and took out another 4 in two days. Set another 4 traps and took out another 4 in a week. Repeated until it became 0. I still check the traps regularly.
posted by plinth at 5:55 AM on January 28, 2011
Sure you do.
Find any hole or gap the size of a dime or larger and that's a portal.
When weather gets cold, they come inside. Set traps and check regularly. This past year, I put out four traps at key locations in my basement and took out 4 in 24 hours. Set another 4 traps and took out another 4 in two days. Set another 4 traps and took out another 4 in a week. Repeated until it became 0. I still check the traps regularly.
posted by plinth at 5:55 AM on January 28, 2011
Mice look for food and tiny warm spots. They don't let very many things stop them from getting those things. Speaking as someone who trapped and released over a dozen mice from a house near open fields a few years ago, and who knows just a little too much about exactly what happens to a mouse when it discovers a hidden bag of chocolate Riesen and has no competition... I'd be calling an inspector.
By the way, mice totally get diarrhea. In case you wanted to know.
posted by SMPA at 6:00 AM on January 28, 2011
By the way, mice totally get diarrhea. In case you wanted to know.
posted by SMPA at 6:00 AM on January 28, 2011
Surrounded by woods, eh? Likely those mice aren't interested in much of your food anyway. Not like downtown Amsterdam where the critters entered your shopping bags while you were having a cup of coffee a meter away.
The ones my parents have in their vast attic only eat hazelnuts...they store them in the rubber boots, nice surprise come gardening time.
If you've got cats you'll likely be fine anyway - and there won't be much you can do apart from entirely gassing down the place.
[disclaimer: about various non-urbanhousemouse species and virus spreadage, what Sys Rq points out. No idea how big a risk that actually is...but anyway YMMMV, yourmousemistrustmayvary]
posted by Namlit at 6:06 AM on January 28, 2011
The ones my parents have in their vast attic only eat hazelnuts...they store them in the rubber boots, nice surprise come gardening time.
If you've got cats you'll likely be fine anyway - and there won't be much you can do apart from entirely gassing down the place.
[disclaimer: about various non-urbanhousemouse species and virus spreadage, what Sys Rq points out. No idea how big a risk that actually is...but anyway YMMMV, yourmousemistrustmayvary]
posted by Namlit at 6:06 AM on January 28, 2011
I live in a part of the country where, whether you know it or not, your house has mice. They don't bug me, I don't bug them. If they were in the walls it might bug me just from the noise, but if I don't see evidence of droppings or mice in my actual living space, I'd probably try to ignore it.
Someone told me they creep in along the outsides of the pipes -- both the in pipes and out pipes -- and lick the condensation off them and scavenge for food, and often have an indoor/outdoor life along that pipe through the yard. That's cool, little mouse, I just don't want to ever see you. Or your poop.
If they get into the house, is your cat smart enough to take care of it? That's usually the easiest solution.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:19 AM on January 28, 2011
Someone told me they creep in along the outsides of the pipes -- both the in pipes and out pipes -- and lick the condensation off them and scavenge for food, and often have an indoor/outdoor life along that pipe through the yard. That's cool, little mouse, I just don't want to ever see you. Or your poop.
If they get into the house, is your cat smart enough to take care of it? That's usually the easiest solution.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:19 AM on January 28, 2011
Are you sure it isn't squirrels? I'd be surprised if mice alone could make very much noise inside the walls.
posted by gjc at 8:34 AM on January 28, 2011
posted by gjc at 8:34 AM on January 28, 2011
A few years ago my husband and I were lying in bed asleep when we suddenly got a face-full of plaster and drywall bits showering down from the ceiling. When we opened our eyes, we were greeted by a rather alarmed squirrel looking down from the hole it had just finished making in our ceiling.
It wasn't necessarily the most pleasant night I've spent, and it's easier to catch critters than to catch critters plus repair a ceiling, so if it were me I'd probably press the issue.
posted by polymath at 8:34 AM on January 29, 2011
It wasn't necessarily the most pleasant night I've spent, and it's easier to catch critters than to catch critters plus repair a ceiling, so if it were me I'd probably press the issue.
posted by polymath at 8:34 AM on January 29, 2011
Oh, also, one more thing to think about: If, in addition to the mice, your house is crawling with bedbugs or fleas or whatever, they'll be gorging themselves on mouse blood and laying a kajillion eggs apiece inside your walls.
The tricky bit: If you get rid of the mice, the bugs will have to find a new host. That's you!
posted by Sys Rq at 6:24 PM on January 29, 2011
The tricky bit: If you get rid of the mice, the bugs will have to find a new host. That's you!
posted by Sys Rq at 6:24 PM on January 29, 2011
« Older What's the required cash and carry of losing the... | Should I partition really big PostgreSQL tables? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
tl;dr Do something about the mice they may be causing more damage then you realize.
posted by Bango Skank at 4:14 AM on January 28, 2011