# mice problems vs pet rats



## Ellavedder (Feb 19, 2013)

So im living in the family home. its not in the best shape and because my mum is sick she isnt the cleanest. we are having mice problems atm and i dont want to kill them, i just want them to kindly leave. the problem is all the other alternatives could effect my pet rats. one person suggested peppermint oil but will that smell hurt my rat girls? same with that ultra sound unit thing... i dont know how i can get rid of these mice humanely without hurting my rats. i just spent the last hour watching a mouse try to get out of my room. this is the third time i have gotten up during the night to let a mouse out hahaha. its like they are the household pets. 

what are my options? poison is horrible and the traps dont always kill them which is very very sad. 
any ideas?


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## ahrat (Aug 12, 2013)

People talk a lot about a certain humane trap on here. I just can't remember the name of it right now. You just have to make sure you release them a good amount away, or they'll just come back. My family and I used to just trap them in buckets in our barn, mark them with nail polish (so you can tell if the same ones come back, if they do, you're not taking them far enough away), and then we walked about a mile into our wooded property, and let them go.


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## CleverRat (Mar 9, 2014)

I think the trap your talking about is a haveaheart trap. They have a lot of other ones though, where you put some sorta treat in it, and when the mouse goes into get it, it closes behind them. You have to make sure you don't leave them in there very long, because they tend to pee a ton and they end up getting drenched in the pee. I also recommend putting something absorbent on the bottom so you don't have to clean it as much.


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## brundlefly (Mar 27, 2014)

Ditto on the havahart trap. Or any humane trap, really. I've captured about 8 mice since the beginning of the month in our crawlspace using the humane traps.  There's even a guy on youtube who exclusively reviews humane mousetraps, check it out


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Here's an odd tip. Have your rats free ranged around your room? Usually, rat scent markings would ward mice off - especially if you don't have any yummies to offer.


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## LeStan82 (Dec 31, 2013)

Sadly you will probably keep getting them until the area they are getting in at is fixed. You would have to find the area they are gettin in at , fix it then you can use the humane traps to catch and then release far away. Thats probably the only way your going to get rid of them for good.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

There are several humane mouse traps, one of my favorites is or was made by have a heart, but I've used others, they work on a teeter totter principle where the trap tips shut when the mouse walks in. The fancier ones with moving ramps aren't as good. My rats steal them and carry them off, likely because they have food inside.

My part wild rat killed mice on sight and she was very good at it... our current shoulder rat Max will chase mice but isn't fast enough to catch them, and if she ever did, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't know what to do with them... Still when she was younger it was fun to see her race madly after something moving in the shadows... 

My wife is rat and mouse phobic, knowing that Max chases mice, she's pretty much decided it's OK for Max to free range the house at night to keep the mice at bay... She's gotten pretty used to Max and just stays in her chair, lifts her legs off the floor and shrieks for help. Oddly you would think that a screaming and flailing human might frighten Max... But no, she'll just stand there on the floor in apparent amusement keeping my wife pinned on the chair until someone comes to rescue her. Rats can be cruel...

Best luck.


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## Ellavedder (Feb 19, 2013)

you let your rat free range all night?? how is this so?! id love to let one of my girls free range all the time because she is always desperate to get out even after a free range session. does your rat not destroy your furniture etc? 

when it comes to this live trap im curious if they are just doomed if i release them outside? and what if i catch a baby one? id hate to just dump it out in the wild. wish i could build a mini house for them to live. is it very wrong of me to release them next to another persons house? lol.


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## brundlefly (Mar 27, 2014)

Ellavedder said:


> you let your rat free range all night?? how is this so?! id love to let one of my girls free range all the time because she is always desperate to get out even after a free range session. does your rat not destroy your furniture etc?
> 
> when it comes to this live trap im curious if they are just doomed if i release them outside? and what if i catch a baby one? id hate to just dump it out in the wild. wish i could build a mini house for them to live. is it very wrong of me to release them next to another persons house? lol.



As much as I hate to say it, you need to look at it from a different perspective. I myself am a huge animal lover, and I think mice are adorable. However, they are pests. They're livin rent free!! They'll be fine if you release them in the wild. And good golly you live in Australia? I'd be more concerned with huntsman spiders than any old mouse!


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Some rats are very destructive when you let them out overnight.... some are less so... Max steals and shreds paper, mostly paper towels and she builds secret nests which she uses the paper to line. I watched her steal a pencil today and carry it off, she also trash dives in the kitchen garbage, but she poops and pees in her cage and doesn't chew wires or do any serious damage. No rat is perfect. She's been free ranging overnight since she was a pup and so far I haven't found any real damage... Other rats I've had were more destructive...

Max learned early on as a pup to hide before bed time... so I'd give up and just leave her out... there was no damage... After a while, I stopped trying to catch her... still no damage to the house... She's over 10 months old now and before going to bed we open the door of her cage if she's in it to keep her from the rat phobic wife...

It's really strange, it's like she knows she's not supposed to destroy stuff and that her freedom depends on it... 

As to the mice, yes they can survive outdoors, just relocate them somewhere they might find food. And yes if you relocate mom without her pups, they will likely die... Mice do eat roaches and bugs, which is nice, but a few friendly mice will turn into a real infestation fast.


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## Ellavedder (Feb 19, 2013)

yeah i know. itss getting out of hand. spiders? lol. only now and then i see a biggish spider. just catch it and put it outside. harmless. mice however are chewing all our stuff and its starting to smell here and there. okay, live trap it is.


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## brundlefly (Mar 27, 2014)

Ellavedder said:


> yeah i know. itss getting out of hand. spiders? lol. only now and then i see a biggish spider. just catch it and put it outside. harmless. mice however are chewing all our stuff and its starting to smell here and there. okay, live trap it is.


Absolutely, there are tons out there. There are even quite a few DIY ones you can make that'll work. The secret is using very potent bait. Peanut butter and canned tuna were always huge successes


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## Hembury65 (Feb 27, 2014)

If you freeroome your rats the mice will be scared and won't come back


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## deedeeiam (Apr 8, 2014)

I would not have my pet rats in a home that had that level of wild mice problems. Those mice could easily be caring parasites, especially fleas. Plus the food and smell of your pet rodents will be attractive to the mice. I'm all for being as humane as possible, but if you're actually have to let mice out of your room so you can go back to sleep, that house probably has more critters than you realize.


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