Mice!

Get or borrow a cat.

there is a battery powered mouse trap that kills them instantly that my tenants swear by. available at pintchick. Glue traps are really horrible and should be banned.

What tsarina said. They are Victor brand mouse zappers and they work, well and quickly. Bait it with peanut butter or tomato juice (I've actually smeared bloody mary mix on it and caught several).

Glue traps are cruel and leave you with a living, injured mouse to dispose of. Poison can leave you with dead mice in places you can't get to (and the stink of rotting flesh). The zapper kills it, and you just open the lid and dump the body in the trash.

Besides that, if you can find holes, put lots of steel wool in them. If you find enough holes, just order a roll of steel wool to save money and hassle.

Ah Mice.

It's a problem I know well. Aren't you glad it wasn't a giant roach? Anyway, back to the problem at hand.

If you see one, there are in fact many more. They don't travel in "ones" and they sure like to procreate.

First plan of action has to be to stop them from entering your apartment. This is where you can dance a jig if you live in newer construction. Yes, you may be able to hear your neighbor's conversation in the bathroom, but there are going to be less holes. If you live in an older bathroom, gets lots and lots of steel wool. Look especially under the sink where the pipes go into the wall and also around whatever heating source. (I believe my heating grate system is like I91 through my building)

Then you must deal with the mouse trapping. I am unfamiliar with these zappers, and I want to know more (are they single use? How much do they cost? Are they safe around dogs and babies?) I'm going to receive a lot of crap from this from animal rights activists, but I have used sticky traps. To me they are the most affordable option.

Then I arrange a lovely mouse buffet. I put out cheese, a piece of dog food, a bit of cracker, a dab of peanut butter. I then surround this by the plastic sticky traps (the paper ones don't work). If you know the only place the mice are coming out from, like, say, from under the stove, line the front of the oven with big sticky traps.

When you catch one or more mice I believe it is your responsibility to put said mouse out of it's suffering as soon as possible. The methods of this can make your stomach turn, but what did you think you were doing in the first place? So, as I said, going to get crap for this but the methods are varied (and will make you feel awful. You can drown it in the toilet, smash it (AW's old method), put it in a garbage bag and attach that to the exhaust of a car and gas them. (I used to live in Prospect Heights where the rat problem was awful. My neighbor got creative, this is not my idea.)

I think simply ignoring their squeaks and tossing them down the chute is inhumane. But I also think people who do humane catch and release for mice and rats in NYC are being naive.

Anyway, then put everything in your apt that is in a cardboard box (cereal, couscous, dog food) into heavy plastic or glass containers.

Or borrow a cat. But while you're just borrowing one you might as well do something good, so look into fostering a cat. Then you'll be giving a home to a needy animal AND spreading the scent of a cat around that should last a few months.

(As a side note, I am not a dirty person. I lived above a bar/restaurant for years, and so on. I sometimes see a mouse running out to check for food, but everything is put away.)

Ah Mice.

It's a problem I know well. Aren't you glad it wasn't a giant roach? Anyway, back to the problem at hand.

If you see one, there are in fact many more. They don't travel in "ones" and they sure like to procreate.

First plan of action has to be to stop them from entering your apartment. This is where you can dance a jig if you live in newer construction. Yes, you may be able to hear your neighbor's conversation in the bathroom, but there are going to be less holes. If you live in an older bathroom, gets lots and lots of steel wool. Look especially under the sink where the pipes go into the wall and also around whatever heating source. (I believe my heating grate system is like I91 through my building)

Then you must deal with the mouse trapping. I am unfamiliar with these zappers, and I want to know more (are they single use? How much do they cost? Are they safe around dogs and babies?) I'm going to receive a lot of crap from this from animal rights activists, but I have used sticky traps. To me they are the most affordable option.

Then I arrange a lovely mouse buffet. I put out cheese, a piece of dog food, a bit of cracker, a dab of peanut butter. I then surround this by the plastic sticky traps (the paper ones don't work). If you know the only place the mice are coming out from, like, say, from under the stove, line the front of the oven with big sticky traps.

When you catch one or more mice I believe it is your responsibility to put said mouse out of it's suffering as soon as possible. The methods of this can make your stomach turn, but what did you think you were doing in the first place? So, as I said, going to get crap for this but the methods are varied (and will make you feel awful. You can drown it in the toilet, smash it (AW's old method), put it in a garbage bag and attach that to the exhaust of a car and gas them. (I used to live in Prospect Heights where the rat problem was awful. My neighbor got creative, this is not my idea.)

I think simply ignoring their squeaks and tossing them down the chute is inhumane. But I also think people who do humane catch and release for mice and rats in NYC are being naive.

Anyway, then put everything in your apt that is in a cardboard box (cereal, couscous, dog food) into heavy plastic or glass containers.

Or borrow a cat. But while you're just borrowing one you might as well do something good, so look into fostering a cat. Then you'll be giving a home to a needy animal AND spreading the scent of a cat around that should last a few months.

(As a side note, I am not a dirty person. I lived above a bar/restaurant for years, and so on. I sometimes see a mouse running out to check for food, but everything is put away.)

I hate glue traps, tenant in the past had use em, I would just kill them after I remove the traps.

mice and rats come into new places mostly due to construction etc...

dang do you have a infestation? that would suck.

if you don't get pets or kids, put down poison, seal all holes. put out traps too. they should be gone within few days. and alert your neighbours this way they can also put out traps etc...

When those mice, that you humanely trapped and let loose in the park, find their way back into my apartment, I will be quite upset. If you're doing that you should at least have to tag them so people can know when they're re-catching mice. Do you also believe rats should be humanely trapped and released in happy, local parks or is it only the smaller rodents that get such leeway?

It is possible to live in NYC without mice, it just takes a lot of work to maintain and is difficult to do when you have neighbors who may or may not be releasing breeding mice a couple blocks away from them, onto your front stoop.

In a really old apartment, where it is impossible to stop them from coming in, what do you suggest the average NY-er do if not kill them as humanely as possible?

OpossumQueen,

Where can these things be purchased? I like your method of luring them into thinking it's an open buffet for a few days. Did you stick it on the counter or in dark shadowy places?

I don't use snap traps because I think those tend to be pretty inhumane too since they can snap off a leg or so. You also often have to deal with splattered mouse guts in the clean up and that is super gross. They could also cause damage to dogs/kids if they were to set them off. If a dog/kid gets stuck to a sticky trap you can remove it with only vegetable oil.

Tate, I've gotten them at hardware stores like Pintchik, Tarzain, Leopoldi's (or however you spell all of those). You could probably call and see who has one in stock. They are with the other mouse traps and such.

It's Victor brand.

i just remembered. a few years ago we heard mice rustling in the wall. we bought a plug-in device that supposedly generates a noise that drives mice away, but does not bother people and pets. it worked to drive the mice out, and we kept it plugged in for a year or so and became mice free. we bought it at a hardware store. this may help you until you get the steel wool installed.

I just turn it off or clean it while changing batteries. I spray a little cleaner (fantastic type stuff) in, and wipe it out with a paper towel.

When we were in mouse central it was crazy. They were so bold and would run around like they were playing. We killed many with the zapper. They never got in our well-sealed food but the pest guy who got to go into other apartments told me where they were definitely eating (above us) and that with some really nasty (life-long) tenants, there would always be mice. It was crazy and part of the reason we eventually moved (but there were plenty of others). Our next place only had the occasional mouse, which the dog usually dispatched before the zapper.