Do I still have a mouse problem?

Question

Last saturday I was prepping some food when I see this little creature dash across the floor past me carrying a tiny piece of cardboard, on further inspection around the house I found a couple of very old mice droppings in the living room and a couple under the sink, here was my action plan:

• bought a Victor Electric trap with peanut butter placed adjacent to the fridge.
• Bought an ultrasonic sound repeller for the bedroom
• 4 sticky traps around the stove back and access to the counter top.
• called exterminator and checked the poison traps (the one under the sink had been recently gnawed significantly.
• Turned the bedroom, kitchen, living room and spare room top to bottom (no evidence or droppings found)
• Dog food bag has been on the floor since forever, and no evidence of gnawing or other signs.

I am checking the kitchen twice a day, but no luck with the traps and no droppings since and no gnawing. Should I assume the issue has resolved it self with the lack of evidence and gnawing to the poison? or remain vigilant with my numerous traps.

Please help!

Answer 1

You've taken some good precautionary steps to eradicate the vermin from your house. But I'd like to suggest and comment on some of the tasks. The first job you should accomplish is to stop the rodent's point of entry. This can be done by walking the exterior perimeter of your house. Points of entry include: conduit penetrating the wall, air vents with holes in the grate, door bottoms with no weather striping, appliance exhaust vents (dryers, water heaters, furnaces, etc.), siding that has pulled away from the wall framing, eave openings with no screening, soffit boards that have warped or rotted. Remember a rodent can flatten its body to the point it can squeeze through an opening a third of it's size! And once it establishes itself inside it will continually gnaw at the opening to enlarge it. If you find an entry point you can plug it with steel wool, compacting it tightly into the gap. Vermin won't gnaw into the steel fibers. Once you have stopped their access you should next work on dispatching the furry pest. And the best and only way is to trap; be it glue ,snap, cage or electric is up to you. Sticky traps work most of the time. If you position them along the baseboards were the possible route of the vermin is increases a successful catch. It would be wise and helpful not to use poisoned bait of any kind due to the chance of poisoning a non-target animal or the chance of a pet getting into and ingesting the bait. Trapping assures you have a 'confirmed kill'. It also means not having to trace a rotting carcass some were in the wall. Lastly the audible repellents, from my experience, are a gimmick that can not be substantiated with any scientific proof other than what the manufacturer claims. Good luck and good hunting.