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I heard that sprinkling black pepper, either ground or corns keeps them away…trying it myself right now.

Might be they like soap because there’s fat in it?

At every change of season, winter to summer, summer to winter, I have a mouse problem. I live in a rural area that is heavily forested, and the mice come inside when the weather changes.

If I don’t have mice, then I have snakes. They get inside the walls, and then they get inside the house. They are harmles garter snakes. I don’t mind until I notice, while walking down the hallway to the back bedroom that there is a garter snake slithering down the hallway just ahead of me.

I found one curled up in the corner next to the patio door, hiding in a coil of coaxial cable. So I opened the patio door, and it decided to go outside. I have tried to explain the concepts of ‘inside’ and ‘outside,’ but I don’t think they get it.

Mice are pests. Treat them as such.

The species are in no danger. Humans will go extinct long before mice do.

We had a rat problem on our porch where there was a hole 3 inches by 2 inches (we discovered rats can climb bricks and metal pipe like they’re walking on grass).
Since it connects to the interior framing at the header plate there were evenings I could hear the little buggers scampering overhead between the floor joists.

The trail camera revealed the…little rat climbing up the wall and using the entry/exit, so I blocked the hole with that expanding insulating foam thinking that would do the trick.

He/she ate it. I can’t imagine what that did to it’s insides since it probably wasn’t fully set yet. Rat turd shaped styrofoam blocks?

Indoor/Outdoor caulk worked much better.

@ Durnedyankee

We stuff the hole with steel wool then use the foam. Works great on the palm tree rats here in Fl.

@thefritz
Ah! Genius. Thank you! Another anti-rat mechanism goes into the arsenal!
We blocked the weepholes with steel wool ages ago but never thought of using steel wool and foam together.

Two thumbs up for steel wool and foam, though I used one of those coarse knit steel scrubbing pads in bigger holes

I know everyone has a best way to catch mice, but I hope you’ll forgive me for sharing mine.

I slide the mouse trap inside a brown paper bag. The ones made for wine bottles are the best because they are so narrow. Bait the trap with raw bacon (or equivalent); it’s very smelly and rats/mice love raw fat. Slide the baited end of the trap to the end of the bag, and carefully place it along one of the mouse runs. The narrowness of the bag seems to lure the mice inside. Snap! Then you can roll up the bag, mouse and trap and toss it. This helps contain any mouse fluids that might be thrown around when the trap is sprung. You can also use a cereal box, set on the narrow side, or any size bag that you can adapt for the need.

My nephew says to never reuse a mouse trap—that the mice are wary of the dead mouse scent. I have reused a trap, but I think using the bag makes the difference. But I do love trashing the whole bag.