Fourteen cats live in and out of this house (it’s a big house) and I found mouse “tracks” in my cupboard! I have spent my entire Saturday emptying all the kitchen cupboards, cleaning inside, cleaning the dishes, pots, pan, plastic containers, towels and a multitude of miscellaneous stuff and then putting it all away again. Ugh!
The bones of this house are very old – probably the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. The cupboards we believe were built in the 30’s from floor to ceiling so there are lots of cracks and opportunities for a mouse to get in. But what’s everybody doing about it? Obviously nothing! Grrrrr……!
I will be posting pictures of the twined rugs very soon as well as all the details of the “rug-along” —-again. If you missed some of the details, you can find them in previous posts this fall.
Remember, Mice like Cat food too! 🙂
Sharon – yes, that was evident as well as dog treats!!
You better let them know you’re not happy! Let them sniff the cupboards. We get stragglers inside when it first gets cold in the fall, and during late winter when there’s a lot of logging in the area and everything is shaken up. I hope they are banished ASAP!
Oh yuk. Today was the first chance I have had to sew…and what did I smell in the sewing room? A dead mouse..I think in the walls..no signs of a mouse in the room.
I love old houses. They have so much character. Your cupboards are beautiful.
This made me laugh out loud. Mice knew the minute our sons’ hunting dogs scared all the barn cats away! The are such skilled opportunists, one even started a nest between the storm door and the house door this week. Everyone now has strict instructions to close the storm door completely,
Have you tried the sticky mouse traps? They come in various sizes. There is just really sticky stuff and no poison, etc. You could put them under the stove, etc where the cats wouldn’t get into them. You could put them in the wall cabinets, too, just in case. You would know if the problem is or isn’t solved… They do work quite well. The wall cupboards would be a hard place for the cats to get, but the mice must be running around on the floor, too. I really sympathize you having to clean all the cupboards. I just never feel like they are really clean. Oh, for outdoors, you could drop a few mothballs in the crooks and crannies outside. You wouldn’t have to worry about the cats getting into them. We had a good friend who was a pilot and he always put mothballs in his plane over the winter to keep the mice out. They did the job.
No fun……occasionally a cat would bring in a mouse to “show off” and it would get away. I had a small blue belly lizard arrive in a big roll of quilt batt……probably from the warehouse. Yuck is right.
Was the lizard dead or alive?
Congratulations… You got your spring cupboard cleaning done early. Think of the extra time you’ll have next April!
How did it get to be fall so quickly? Seems like you were just scraping the snow away from your sidewalk. I guess the mice realize they have to find a nice warm place to hide out for a few months.
We just had a mouse chew a hole in our living room ceiling! Al put poison in between the second floor and the ceiling and so far no more scritching and gnawing. Our cats only catch moles and bring them to us, six cats and not one has ever caught a mouse that I am aware of.
Oh Mary!! They are shirking their duties. My Nana always said the mice sent a scout. If it returned, they all moved in! Funny story. One day my husband came clicking into the kitchen. He had a mouse trap he was filling with peanut butter. We had 2 cats at the time. At 4 AM, I heard a clicking coming down the hall. My “baby girl, Pyramus,” brought the mouse trap with the dead mouse in it to her blankie on the bed! No more mice:). She was in the Goat Gazette:).
Diane – I think I remember this from years ago!!
It’s frustrating about the mice. There seems to be an overabundance of critters this year (I saw lots of garter snakes this year while mowing and now mice). I have some lazy furry dudes too! My cats think I’m here to serve them!
Love your cupboards. I had the privilege of seeing your lovely home in 2013 (I think) when you had the open house during The Big Event. I remember how short they are, though. I would have a back ache all the time if I had them in my house – ha! (I’m 6’2″!!).
Enjoy your week.
I put steel wool around the pipes to the kitchen sink because that is were there were getting in at. No more mice. They can live all they want outside but not in my house. Nancy P.
My dad always said don’t over feed cats. Just enough so they have to hunt for the rest of their food!
We have a 110 year old log house on the ranch and the mice get in sometimes. We put small jars of cotton balls with oil of peppermint near the holes under the sinks and where the propane comes in and this helps with the mouse problem. They are a problem and very opportunistic. We don’t have a barn can now but do have a fox family living in the ranch yard and they do a pretty good job of controlling mice.
Obviously, you left out specifics in the Cat Contract….or they were busy with outdoor mousing! I do believe it would be beneathe Miss Kitty’s dignity to chase a rodent, she doesn’t even play with cat toys!
One time I had those nasty big black ants in my kitchen and I freaked out! Threw out just about everything and did take out dining for about two weeks. Gained weight, and hired an exterminator!
I just love your home. Sorry about the mice. It’s very difficult to incentivize cats😊 They are too independent.
Time to put the cats on restrictive diets, to make them want to catch those pesky mouses!!