MetaChat - The mice vs the Swan

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16 September 2007

The mice vs the Swan So I have a mouse problem at Swan's End. To date I've trapped seventeen mice plus catching one alive (I set it free in the backyard). Yes, I am doing my best to secure my food and plug up holes and so forth, but this is a 95-year-old semi-detached house, so it'll probably never be mouseproof. I am hoping not to be forced to get a cat since I don't much like cats. I do love dogs. My question is, does anyone know if dogs are ever any good at mousing, or at least at scaring mice away?

post by: Orange Swan at: 19:11 | 24 comments

If you can tolerate one, a Terrier might do the job.

posted by arse_hat 16 September | 19:29

We had a mutt in the Philippines that could catch rats like no one's business. Dunno about mice.

posted by deadcowdan 16 September | 19:35

Terriers are very vocal, aren't they? I can't get a vocal dog.

And, incidentally, the Kerry Blue Terrier is the most absurd looking dog I've ever seen.

posted by Orange Swan 16 September | 19:47

As the owner of a Silky Terrier, I can tell you that they are quite keen on at least pursuing vermin of all sorts. She's never caught one, but that's only because we keep her on a short leash. I imagine that putting the fear of dog into the mice would be sufficient, unless you're really dead set on vengance.

Any Terrier would probably fit the bill; Silkies have the advantage of being really cute.

On preview: Terriers are no more vocal thatn any other breed. It's training that makes the difference.

posted by bmarkey 16 September | 19:49

Right after I read your question, I went to make a sandwich and found a hole in the bread bag and little mousy turds in the cabinet. I guess that we have a little problem too. We just moved into a 137 year old house last month and the previous owners were disgusting slobs so I'm just happy that our problem is with four-legged pests and not six-legged. Off to the Giant Eagle for some mouse traps.

posted by octothorpe 16 September | 19:51

I don't know about dogs, but do not assume a cat would solve your problem. I have had many cats at different times and more than half were indifferent to mice.

posted by LarryC 16 September | 19:53

Keep up with the trapping and the mice problem should eventually go away. Mice are slow learners, but they do get the message eventually, in my experience.

posted by dg 16 September | 20:03

Rat terrier. They love to catch vermin.

Or you might see if someone will let you borrow a cat for a couple days...just make sure it is a mouse catching cat.

Mice are particularly bad at this time of year (going into fall) and again when going into spring.

I live in a house that was built in the 1890s (probably before then but that's when it first shows up in the county paperwork) and we have a root cellar/basement thing with dirt floors so we always see a couple mice this time of year. Fortunately, there seems to be a pretty healthy neighborhood cat population right now - and one of the cats out there is a super good vermin catcher.

posted by fluffy battle kitten 16 September | 20:18

We had a Kerry Blue Terrier growing up. He got really pissy when he got older and had trouble seeing. He took it out by biting - he ended up biting everyone in our family and drawing blood.

posted by plinth 16 September | 20:49

The rat terriers belie their horrible name by being quite cute looking. I may go with that.

posted by Orange Swan 16 September | 22:13

I'll echo the training == quiet for dogs. My father followed the instructions of the breeder with his Chihuahua and the only time it barked was a single bark when someone came to the door/rang the bell. Even cats on the other side of the patio dog wasn't enough to get him to bark.

posted by Mitheral 16 September | 22:56

Make sure you check the local shelters, humane societies, etc. I see them for adoption on petfinder all the time.

posted by fluffy battle kitten 16 September | 23:20

Yrrr...I have a mouse problem too, and they've been ignoring the glue and spring traps.

posted by brujita 16 September | 23:23

I've never yet seen a mouse that can resist peanut butter.

posted by dg 16 September | 23:39

We were going to get a cat anyway. Our 16 year old kitty died in July just before we moved. I haven't lived without a cat in 19 years so it's very strange to have to deal with mouses on my own; that's the cat's job, not mine.

posted by octothorpe 17 September | 06:13

A friend of ours had a rat terrier and used to bring it out to the farm we were on. The dog would just go nuts at all the rat burrows near the outbuildings...dig, dig, dig forever. They must hear them or smell them, so from first hand account - she was a great mouser. They do have a lot of energy, so be prepared.

posted by mightshould 17 September | 07:13

Yes, brujita, a snap trap baited with peanut butter works quite well. Though my mice are adept at eating all the peanut butter without setting off the trap. I expect they'll soon be developing opposable thumbs and creating a city state.

The digging will be a drawback. I won't be able to turn the dog loose in the fenced backyard unsupervised as I'd hoped.

It's not so easy to get a suitable dog from the shelters as one would think, fluffy battle kitten. I've been down to the big Rivers Street shelter many times over the past few years and the dogs were always too young, too old, too big, too small, weren't kid safe, had aggression problems, had medical problems, were too vocal.... I'll start my search there, though. There isn't a rat terrier breeder in Ontario that I can find.

posted by Orange Swan 17 September | 08:09

My dogs have never evinced much interest in mice, alas. They're death on rats outside and squirrels in the park, but I never had a dog who did much more than freak out vocally about a mouse in the house. But then, my last cat was more interested in outside vermin than inside ones as well. I tell you what, as evil as it is, since you don't have pets or small children, I'd put down poison.

posted by mygothlaundry 17 September | 08:37

We had rodents too. Had no idea feeding birds was also attracting vermin to our place.

posted by Feisty 17 September | 08:59

Fortunately you are probably getting "country mice" that go for the first baited trap they see. "City mice" take some serious out-smarting to catch. Sometimes city mice can only be caught with a cat (borrowed) or you just have to wait for them to die. You'll know when a cluster of big black flies shows up out of nowhere for a few days. (Their offspring can usually be caught when they are little.) Country mice never stop arriving, though, if they can.

posted by StickyCarpet 17 September | 09:53

If they are too plentiful to trap, (and that one you turned loose probably beat you back indoors, it's lucky it did not know to lock you out) I might do a one-time hire of an exterminator to put out a couple bait stations. The down side, or course, that they die somewhere out of reach. The up side is that a mouse does not smell for THAT long.

One interesting sidelight is that, if you use a certain kind of bait, then their poop turns turquoise, and you know that they are getting it and not long for this world.

posted by danf 17 September | 09:55

Behind the refrigerator is Central Park West for mice, so put some poison under there. City mice won't eat poison, but their babies will when they are too dumb to know better. The adults will mark it with urine as a warning.

posted by StickyCarpet 17 September | 10:19

My mother used to use poison to kill mice. The mice die in the walls and you get the smell. And then you come across decayed corpses when you least expect it. No, if I am going to be killing mice, I want to have ready access to the dead ones so I can dispose of them.

I recently cleaned behind the fridge and didn't find any droppings there. The mice mostly seem to congregate in a pantry cupboard (actual type: panty closet) that is just off my kitchen in the back extension. I keep two shelves of non-perishable food there, as well as my tupperware and things like my punch bowl and Christmas decorations. I'm working on getting all the food into tupperware, tin or glass containers instead of leaving it in bags or pasteboard boxes. Surely if the mice can't get anything to eat they won't stick around and nest.

posted by Orange Swan 17 September | 10:35

All this smelling of dead mice you speak of, I guess that's a cost of using window screens. There haven't been many mosquitoes this year in NYC, or that last couple, ever since the big DDT war. The maggots turn them into a dry furry stain pretty quick, the flies either fly away or buzz around for a few days before dropping dead when they run out of mouse corpse.

posted by StickyCarpet 17 September | 13:36

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