Help - I have mice. I'm in an apartment and don't have control over

[applegrove]

the other floors. What is the best way to get the mice. Are humane traps good? Anyone with any experience? I can't use poison as I have a cat..he seems into chasing them when they are out of the crawl space..help!!!

[skygazer]

1. A few ideas

Don't leave any food, even crumbs, out. Put open packages in plastic storage bags to discourage rodents. Don't leave the cat food out, if you can help it.

I like the live Havahart traps - they work well and you don't have to deal with little mouse corpses. :( Bait them with peanut butter. Mice love peanut butter.

And tell your landlord - it's really his/her problem.

[applegrove]

7. Thanks. I will tell my landlord. n/t

[mike_c]

2. humane traps work well-- bait with peanut butter...

...and release the mice outside, well away from buildings.

[democracyindanger]

3. Get the cat an Acme catalog.

[achtung_circus]

4. Human traps are probably illegal, and not what you want to catch (I'm guessing)

IIRC you're in Ontario. If that's correct let me know and I'll give you a number to call.

In brief, though, poison can work. If it is placed where the cat cannot access it, in proper bait stations, it works. I do understand your hesitations, however, and they are valid.

Humane traps do pose problems. What to do with the mice? If you dump them outside they will die.

Your standard mousetrap, baited with bacon, is, overall, as humane as anything else.

[idgiehkt]

11. those little f*ckers aren't going to die outside

they are indestructible. Nine times out of ten they will come back unless you take them a mile or five away from where you found them. I am having problems and I am probably going to have to resort to poison. I've been using humane traps for a while and they are coming in faster than I can get rid of them, plus they come back even with six cats in the yard.

[applegrove]

12. There is what looks to be an old landfill near my home. If I drop them off there

they may find "mice condos"? Am I dreaming? While the mice are chewing away at the walls - I'm staring at my cat..he seems not to care. He only is interested when he can hear them making scurrying or squeaking noises. I hope he tastes blood soon. Then maybe we will get somewhere.

[SeattleGirl]

5. I had a problem with cockroaches in a house I lived in.

House was divided into apartments. We kept everything spotless, but the damned cockroaches wouldn't go away. The person living in the upper apartment didn't interact with those of us in the other three apartments, so we all got together and called the landlord. Told him if HE didn't call an exterminator, WE would, and deduct it from our rent (it was legal to do so). That got him on it right away.

Turns out the woman who lived upstairs had an old steamer trunk stuffed with newspapers, and that was the "nest" for the roaches. GAD!

But that was the end of the cockroaches.

[flvegan]

6. Your biggest pending issue is if the landlord uses poison.

Again, you have a cat. You should be kept abreast of any eradication methods for just that reason. Considering that a poisoned mouse may still run/wander into an area patrolled by your cat, your cat is still in danger if he chooses to take said mouse as prey.

Just an fyi...

[applegrove]

9. Yes..I cannot do the poison thing with my cat waiting for slow mice to

show up. I can actually hear the little bugger mouse trying to chew through the wall in my bedroom as I write. I will have to let the cat into that particular crawlspace just to establish some guidelines in this war. Hopefully the mice all talk to each other and will decide to avoid Monster the Cat.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

8. Maybe get another cat....

One who is a better "Mouser" Than the one you have?
Duckie

[applegrove]

10. He doesn't have access to the crawlspace they have spent most of their

time in. He does shoot off when he hears them in another room. I'm sure he is a good mouser. I'm in an attic apartment so I have two crawlspaces and two apartments below me. Cat doesn't have access to that.