How do I get animals off my property while killing the smallest number of them possible?

June 13, 2012 5:42 PM

How do I kill the smallest number of animals? If I could get them all away from my house without hurting any of them, I would, but I don't think it's possible. Our yard is full of them, and they sometimes get in the house. There are at least three types of mice, moles, rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks. I love them and don't want to hurt them, but having them inside is generally agreed to be bad.

I don't know why they're all over the place. We're in the suburbs near town, we have a big dog, we haven't had birdseed out in weeks, we keep the yard clean, and we don't eat outside or keep our garbage cans in the yard. We don't leave the doors open. Our neighbors have a kennel that is cleaner than before, but they still have it. There's also a small space between our fences that we are going to see about getting rid of or otherwise cleaning up if it's on our property. But the sheer number and variety of animals in our small yard is still surprising.

I assume we will have to call an exterminator, which I really, really, don't want to do, but how do we keep more animals from coming back again? If I could just keep them out of the house and in the yard, I would be okay. I like seeing them, I just don't want them in my house. It's going to be hard enough making myself psychologically okay with killing all these animals, I never want to have to do it again.

posted by WhathaveIdonenow? to home & garden (20 answers total)

Have you considered getting a cat?
posted by b1tr0t at 6:00 PM on June 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

Or if you don't want to get a cat, borrow one. Borrow someone's cat for a bit, with unscented litter. Then scatter tiny bits of the unscented litter in your yard. It won't be enough to bother you, but it will be enough for small critters to smell "Predator, Stay Away!"
posted by corb at 6:02 PM on June 13, 2012

I would hire an exterminator to determine how the animals are getting in the house, and then close off the entry points. They don't actually have to kill anything. If there are already animals in your house, you can use a humane no-kill trap to get them out once you have blocked their access.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:04 PM on June 13, 2012 [10 favorites]

Big dogs aren't really good for getting small animals. Thus we bred small dogs. Rat (see) terriers, Jack russells, all kind of choices for dogs bred and you can even get trained to go after small rodents. One breeder I know of still breeds for hunting abilities, Snow Crest, in Flagstaff. I have one of their special need dogs (had some recissive genes, deaf in one ear) and she is completely untrained in hunting and absolute death on any small animals (especially birds) that cross her path. I think they are even better than cats at getting rid of small mammals. However this is going to result in the death of lots of the animals and the rest will leave. It is the circle of life.
posted by bartonlong at 6:12 PM on June 13, 2012

Are they getting in through your doors and windows, or is it possible some are living in your attic/walls?

Have you talked to your neighbors to see if they have the same problem? That many animals means a food source...either it's someone's garbage or there is something growing close to/on your property that they can eat (maybe lots of oaks with acorns?) or someone else who does set out birdseed. Are you close to a creek/river where they could be coming up from other places into your yard? Are there lots of birds too? Is your lot heavily wooded or next to a wooded area? Are you close to farmland where grain might be?

If you don't mind them being in your yard and you know they're not in your walls/attic, you might have some success with scented deterrants...not just the cat litter mentioned above, I have heard about getting sprays that smell like cougar piss or whatever to discourage wildlife.
posted by emjaybee at 6:32 PM on June 13, 2012

Seal up the house. Find out where the animals are getting in and seal the holes. As a bonus, you'll make your house much more energy efficient for heating and air conditioning.
posted by ssg at 6:33 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Agreeing with Rock Steady. If you don't figure out how they are getting in and cut off access as well as take steps to make your home a less "inviting" place to live, you can kill as many as you want and more are just going to move in. In many locations the wildlife department or SPCA will have a division to help you deal with nuisance wildlings in a smart and humane way. They should not only be able to help you troubleshoot securing entries, but they can also give species specific advice for adding deterrents. Some will even let you borrow humane traps for those who have already set up shop and need to rediscover the great outdoors.
posted by troublewithwolves at 6:37 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

We don't know how they're getting in--no known holes, and the windows and doors are never open. We're nowhere near farmland, creeks or the woods. There aren't any more birds here than anywhere else I've ever lived.

I think I will ask the neighbors, though.
posted by WhathaveIdonenow? at 6:39 PM on June 13, 2012

"Known holes" may encompass spaces that you think of as "big enough for an animal to get in", but rodents can make it through much smaller spaces than you think. My parents, years ago, had some professional come to inspect their old house and they sprayed foam into several dozen different places, and after that I don't think we got any more random mice and squirrels inside.
posted by gracedissolved at 6:49 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

You do have to be careful with sealing off the holes, because the critters who knew that hole as their home will try like hell to get back in. Those particular individuals may have to be professionally dispatched to rodent heaven.
posted by gjc at 7:07 PM on June 13, 2012

This has gotten good reviews, over all.

It apparently supplies a pulse in the house wiring which rodents do not like.

YMMV. I have no direct experience,
posted by Danf at 7:13 PM on June 13, 2012

Agreed: you need to search harder for their means of ingress. Open up all your closets and cupboards and search the back walls; move the furniture, stove, and fridge away from the walls; thoroughly search the perimeter of your attic and basement, if you have them.
posted by Orinda at 7:18 PM on June 13, 2012

Spray foam and steel wool are your friends. Block every single hole you can think of, all most rodents need to be able to do is get there skull through the hole and the rest of them can follow, they need a much smaller space than you think. Make sure there are no gaps around any pipes or wires going into or out of the house. Mice can feel like a bit of a never ending for a while as they are surprisingly smart at finding alternate routes, just keep blocking any holes they make. Check behind your kitchen cupboards, behind fridges or any built ins, gaps under doors, small gaps between the skirting boards and carpet. I would check your roof and seal up any holes that aren't proper vents, and check all your vet covers if you are getting squirrels in the house.

If you have to kill anything use traps for the mice at least that way it's a quick kill and the animals don't suffer like with sticky paper and poison, also if you have a dog it is a lot less dangerous for him.

Good luck, we recently survived what felt like a mouse invasion we did it by fanatically blocking every hole, though in the end we had to use traps but managed to get away with only having to kill 3.
posted by wwax at 7:47 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Places critters entered my condo included (I think):

- a gap between walls and floor in a corner -- the carpet hid it. The gap was maybe 1/2" high;

- holes under the sink where the plumbing entered;

- holes behind the stove where electrical cables entered.

...and so forth. Great Stuff (insulating foam in a can) is great stuff for this.

Check around the edges and backs of all your cabinets. Check the hole where your hot water heater's overflow valve empties. Check behind all your baseboard molding.

A cold day can help, because you might feel cold air. However, some holes will go into the walls (e.g. the electrical conduit hole behind my stove) some distance from any exterior ingresses, so the cold air test isn't foolproof.

Good luck!
posted by amtho at 8:02 PM on June 13, 2012

Are they getting in through your doors and windows, or is it possible some are living in your attic/walls?

This. The issue is not the number of creatures in your yard, but the fact that they are moving from the yard to the house. You need to call an exterminator or inspector, not to kill them but to track down and seal their entry points. If you literally have moles, rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks in your house, then there are very significant breeches somewhere.
posted by DarlingBri at 9:59 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Nthing calling a pest control service to come and look for the entry points. You would be amazed at the tiny holes that rodents can squeeze through. You would also be amazed how good pest control people are at spotting said holes. We had a problem with rats in our attic, and it took a few months to find every single entry point in the eaves, most of which I couldn't see without climbing a ladder and peering round at weird angles. Pest control people can also use UV light to see where the critters are entering, because they leave behind oily marks on the roof/wall/eaves/foundation.
posted by Joh at 11:04 PM on June 13, 2012

> - a gap between walls and floor in a corner -- the carpet hid it. The gap was maybe 1/2" high; - holes under the sink where the plumbing entered; - holes behind the stove where electrical cables entered

Seconding this. I've watched a mouse that appeared to have a midsection at least three inches in circumference dive very easily through a 1/2 inch gap between pipes and floor/wall.
posted by desuetude at 11:13 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Not to be unnecessarily alarmist, but there is a case suspected to be bubonic plague in Oregon. The carrier was either a cat or a mouse. Wild animals can also have fleas which you really do not want in your house. Hire a pro if you have to in order to secure your home.
posted by Cranberry at 11:47 PM on June 13, 2012

A cat is not going to solve your problems. My mother has an indoor/outdoor cat who hunts but still had mice & bats in the house, snakes in the garden and squirrels in her engine ($6k damage). The neighbors across the street lost their Jeep a couple of years ago - the squirrels chewed the wiring to a point that when they tried to start the Jeep, it caught on fire.

If you use steel wool to stop squirrels, use the coarsest variety you can find and you can try dusting it with a combo of cayenne pepper/Old Bay after you've got it in place. You can also try mixing the pepper/Old Bay in a little Murphy's Oil Soap and painting it on the wool after you've got it in place. (the mix is . . .well, nasty. Take precautions when handling/applying. Only mix what you need, don't store it, use at your own risk) If you feel at risk to the point where you contemplate soaking the wool in the mix -- don't do it. No really. Resist that impulse entirely. It will not go well for you or anyone else involved.
posted by jaimystery at 4:15 AM on June 14, 2012

Even after you close all the holes, etc. they are still going to try to get back in because they can smell where they came in before. To keep the squirrels at bay I have found that spraying full strength ammonia where ever they may try to enter has helped keep them away.
posted by govtdrone at 6:28 AM on June 14, 2012