Mice again... This time it's silicone moulds!

[shunt2011]

I agree with the snap traps. Just kill the suckers. Peanut Butter and Cheese both work. Many years ago I had a mobile home and my daughter took out a section of the skirting to hide/protect some kittens. I ended up with mice...used the poison traps and then we started finding half dead mice and it was soo gross and inhumae to me so then we got snap traps and that took care of it. Fortunately have not lived there in 20+ years and have not had mice since.

 

[HayleyM]

I'm new to this forum. I've been making soap for 15 years, and had mice eat my soap that I had curing in the attic. They nibbled every single bar and pooped between them! Very upsetting! We have no mice since getting two cats, but in the past we caught them with snap traps bated with peanut butter (they can smell it a mile away) left inside paper bags. The paper bag is just so you don't have to touch the trap when you pick it up. Just pick up the bag and toss it. I hope you solve your mouse problem. They are just creatures like any other trying to survive but they become a huge problem inside a home. Good luck!

 

[innerdiva73]

The best line of defense would be a cat or 2 and or bait with some peanut butter or cheese? Cats work very well as a deterrent. I lived in New York for a couple of years and the building had a lot of mice. When I adopted 2 cats, the mice would not come inside my apartment. They can smell cats and will try to avoid them.

 

[mel z]

Ugh. I hate rodents now. Used to like them and think they were cute until I lived in a very bad apartment building.

Do not get glue traps. They just get stuck and scream and drag it around. Don't read up on it and drop snap traps in a bucket of water...the stench in unbearable and you will not want it near you, or ever use the bucket again either. Poison works, but they may die in the space and stink it up, or a pet may get the poison.

Cats are the most humane answer, if looking for humane. If you don't like cats and prefer dogs, rat terriers keep them away. Had a neighbor with 2 of those cute little dogs, when the dogs moved (the neighbor moved too, lol) the rats came back. Wish I was not allergic to pets now.

Wonder if you can store soap in an aluminum trash can? Wrap it up and put it in, put more wrap over the top then the lid? Hard to get out though I bet.

I too would be lured by Nutella, your mice are living good for those last few nibbles!

 

[thinkativeone]

Try peanut butter in the humane trap - mice LOVE peanut butter, more than people would think with foods. I also caught a mouse in a Have-a-Heart (sp could be Hart) trap years back using peanut butter and an apple. They love PB more than anything pretty much... Another humane solution is to get bobcat or other predator urine pellets that you can sprinkle around; it deters them... And, while not humane to the mouse, but still a part of the circle of life, a kitty that is a good mouser is an option. I love mice personally, having had the domesticated ones and raised a litter of wild ones DH found near rat poison at his employer's. Just my two cents; hope it helps.

 

[nframe]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I have now moved the soap and the silicone moulds away from temptation. The nutella and peanuts are still there, uneaten, so I hope it means that the mice have gone elsewhere. Time will tell...

 

[mel z]

Was just browsing around for some EO's. There is a peppermint on sale at newdirections, and someone in the reviews used it on cottonballs for mice, as was mentioned here earlier.

Nice price on sale:

http://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/peppermint-essential-oil-japanese-p-326.html

 

[QueenBeeSoap]

Since the last catastrophy involving mice eating my soap, I had moved all my soaps into the utility room and left all the soap-making equipment in the garage. I have too much stuff to bring it into the house! Anyway, I discovered today that the little buggers have eaten some of my silicone moulds! I am really upset because I never thought that mice would eat them. I have put down a humane trap in the garage with plenty of porridge oats in it and they have ignored it. I think it's time I find a not so humane solution now.

This is a warning to those of you who are thinking of keeping your moulds where mice can get to them...

This happened to me recently. I had some older soap stored in the basement, and I found that a mouse had gotten into the box and treated it like a buffet. The tastiest soap according to the amount eaten was oatmeal & honey, but there were even bites out of soaps with non-food scents and ones that were unscented. After I removed the "food source" (a.k.a. soap), a few days later I found a silicone spatula that had bites missing! :wtf:

 

[mel z]

This happened to me recently. I had some older soap stored in the basement, and I found that a mouse had gotten into the box and treated it like a buffet. The tastiest soap according to the amount eaten was oatmeal & honey, but there were even bites out of soaps with non-food scents and ones that were unscented. After I removed the "food source" (a.k.a. soap), a few days later I found a silicone spatula that had bites missing! :wtf:

Lol. It is the oils too, not just the oats, honey, or any milk used (if used). Oils are food and smell like it to the sensitive little rodent nose. Some of us that can smell too much (allergies = hypersensitive nose) can even smell the oils in year old bars of soap when we can't use FO's and EO's wear off, then the soap gets warm and wet and BAM, oils smells. The aromas stay on the utensils too, especially absorbent ones like silicone or wood. (Insert sniffy mouse emoticon here.)