Rodents: What are we not doing?!

[Anonymous]

Moved into an old house. Saw a mouse (where the is one there is more). Had an inspection done, did everything they recommended. Store all food in containers and leave nothing out on counters. It’s been 6 months since we plugged up all the holes and cracks and whatever else they wanted to do —and we are still catching mice and today a rat. We called and told them they must come out and do another inspection. This is Terminix so assume they know what they are doing.

Is there anything else we should be demanding of them, things they should check that they might not unless we bring it up and so forth?


I just don’t know what to do (and we can’t have a cat, we are allergic). We leave out no food. Paid for everything the company said would fix the problem. I don’t want to keep finding these dead things in sticky traps, it’s disgusting and I feel bad for them at the same time, it’s a horrible death.

Can someone give advice please

[Anonymous]

Please use snap traps not sticky traps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please use snap traps not sticky traps.

Snap traps don't work as well but are a tiny bit more humane than sticky traps. They're both messed up.

Clearly there are still holes that need to be plugged OP. Try another pest company.

[Anonymous]

Second snap traps.

What kind of mice do you have? Did they tell you?

I would have someone else look at the house. My husband did a better job than a pest control company getting rid of mice. Foamed all the entrances (as small as a dime for mice, quarter for rats) and made sure all vent flaps properly sealed when not in use. You have to go over your foundation with a fine tooth comb.

[Anonymous]

OP I don't want to freak you out but they must have a nest in the walls or attic that Terminx has not found or sealed.

Call Terminix back ask for escallation tell them you want them weekly til this is fixed.

[Anonymous]

Make sure your garage fully closes or there is no way to get into the main house from the garage and don’t keep open food in the garage

[Anonymous]

I am so sorry. We went through the same thing, and we had a dog and that didn't even deter them. The only thing that ended it was we finally gutted the ground level (to the studs) and renovated. We haven't seen anything since and it's been three years. I'm so sorry!

[Anonymous]

My relative had a terrible time with Terminix and mice, they were placing bait in the house which is bad. She was happy with Critter Control instead. In particular she swears by those TomCat bait boxes placed outside the house.

The Critter Control guy told her mice are everywhere, the trick is to make your place less inviting than your neighbor. Consider your trash cans, bird feeders, soft goods in the basement, etc.

[Anonymous]

You need to bring in someone else, who will completely seal your home and probably your basement/crawlspace as well. The people we hired were basically contractors -- they went through the entire house to seal all holes and cracks, including in our crawlspace. The problem completely went away.

not leaving food out/laying traps will just never solve the problem. there are nests somewhere, and there are holes where the rodents are getting in. Until you seal the holes, you will never be rid of them.

[Anonymous]

BTDT
We had two guys go around the perimeter, one in basement, one outside. Outside guy shines strong light at the seam where the first floor meets the foundation. This helps to find the weak spots.

[Anonymous]

Comtact biotech pest. They’re grewt

[Anonymous]

Where are you catching them? All in the basement? All in attic?

Btw. The sticky pads were the only traps that caught rodents at our house. We had snap traps everywhere and never caught anything with them.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think terminix will do it. You need a better company. We used trappro but that was 15 years ago.

We had a year-long battle with rats.we pulled out kitchen, pulled up floor boards, cut through drywall etc to try to find where they were coming from.

In the end, we pulled up the upstairs bath. The bathroom had been remodeled and they had capped an old pipe. The rats had chewed through the pipe and were getting in that way, and then had the run of the house.

Once we capped the pipe we solved the problem. But it was extremely expensive and exhausting, and living with the rats was hellish. There was a New York-style pizza that we would order that would drive them crazy. They would start clawing at the floor boards as soon as they smelled it…

Good luck! If you are persistent enough you can block their means of ingress.

[Anonymous]

We use the rat zapper (electric box) and that kills plenty of them.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the advice so far, appreciate it.

They have snap traps too but they have never caught any. Found dead ones on sticky traps in basement and first floor. Most in basement and it is a full basement. I have been very worried about a nest being somewhere, yes.

OP