Mice were everywhere. We had a pigeon coop, and they ran freely in it, and there wasn’t much we could do to stop them. Too much grain spilled by the pigeons.

But they were in the house also. Everywhere. Oh… I already said that.

We didn’t just have mice, we had mice with attitudes. They’d sashay through the living room in broad daylight, and wave as they went by. They stole the bait from the traps and never even lost a whisker. They walked around the flat traps and left evidence of their passing. Eyooo.

Upstairs, downstairs, in every room. We were so sick of mice and felt helpless to stop them.

We could put a flat trap down where a mouse was running frequently, and usually catch one. But that’s all. The rest kept on breeding and multiplying.

Flat traps… Catchmaster paper glue traps. I know, they don’t work, right? Wrong. You just have to use them right. Lay them flat. Don’t box them up. Bugs like the boxes, mice avoid them. But they’ll run right across a flat trap and stop stuck in the middle. Those did actually work if you could get them put down somewhere that the mouse would actually run. They do  avoid them also though.

Then the dog died. My mother’s dog died. We were living with her at the time.

Within a month the mice disappeared. Gone. That fast, they moved out.

Now we had mice in the Pigeon Coop, and still did. But that isn’t what brought them into the house. It was the dog.

Dogfood or catfood will do it every time. If there’s an open pet dish with food in it, mice have their own private buffet, and they love that stuff. Just the right size to haul off to their nests to feed the babies. Just like the Coop. There is free food, so they multiply right there.

You never SEE them at the dish. But they feed there. Put a flat trap beside it (where the dog or cat won’t step on it) and see if you catch a mouse. Bet you do.

If you leave food out to feed the mice, you’ll never win the battle. And they’ll be arrogant, and they get clever about the traps. You just can’t beat them.

Lock up the dogfood. Make sure that you only have it out during mealtimes for the animal, OR get a dish that is mouseproof that the animal can use to get at when they are hungry. Don’t get a stupid one, get a smart one.

My mother got another dog, and the mice just came romping back. It wasn’t something I could do anything about. This one died also (post-vaccination diabetes, actually), and the mice disappeared again. No replacement this time, and I’ve never had a mouse problem in my house like that again.

Just that ONE thing…