mouse control for dog owner

I'm having a terrible time with mice. I've tried snap traps (3 different kinds) with peanut butter, a sticky trap (not as humane, but I'm getting desparate), an electronic zapper, and ultrasonic repellers. Nothing's working. The snap traps & sticky traps have caught nothing. The zapper catches one mouse at a time every couple of days. The ultrasonic repellers that plug into the wall seem to have little effect.

I've enclosed all my food (even thought they're not in the kitchen) and I've put the dog food (their food of choice) in a large plastic cooler. I also don't leave any food out for my dogs when it's not meal time. I did all this about 6 weeks ago-and the mouse population seems to be increasing.

I loathe mice. They are disgusting and dirty. I've seen a couple (2 crawling up the back of my sofa, a coupel scurrying across my utility room floor) and a ton of mouse poop. I even put the traps along the wall where there was a bunch of mouse poo. The traps didn't catch anything. What am I doing wrong? How can I get rid of these vile things?

I've used poison (only inside-never outside for fear of other animal getting into it) in the past when I didn't have dogs and it was highly effective. I have two dogs: a toothless blind poodle and an American cocker. I'm not worried about the poodle, but I fear that the cocker might eat a dead or dying mouse. I read in a newsletter from the cooperative extension agency that anti-coagulant fatal poisoning by dogs eating a contaminated mouse is possible, but not likely. Could I put bait in my crawlspaces/basement without placing my dog at risk? The dog never goes into the basement. Even if he did, he couldn't get into the crawlspaces.

Please help me get rid of the mice.

Katie,

First off you've done well by trying to cut off any food source the mice might have. Next, have you located areas where the mice are coming into your house? You need to find those spots and fill those holes to have a more permanent solution.

If you think your dogs will eat dead or dying mice I wouldn't use poison.

Do the snap traps not spring? or don't the mice even touch the peanut butter? If they are eating the peanut butter and not springing the trap you need to make the trap more sensitive, beware, it could be a trial and error process and you might not have enough fingers. My husband is a pro with the spring traps. I'd use the sticky traps and check them every day or even a couple times a day. If there is a mouse on the trap I'd dispatch it to mouse heaven instantly. A hammer, small baseball bat, or a bucket of water comes to mind.

We live in the country surrounded by farm fields in a house that was built in the 1850s and every fall you can count on one or two mice finding their way into the house. My husband sets the traps and puts them behind things like the freezer, etc., and that usually takes care of it. Last fall, after the third mouse he lined up our three very fat and lazy cats and gave them all a good talking to. We haven't had anymore mice, but I don't think it was due to the kitties being on patrol. They are only interested in mice that are outside. *sigh*

If you cannot get the mouse problem under control, you might need to get an exterminator in to do the job. Good luck.

Diann

Katie, keep the dogs well fed and put some D-con in those areas where the mice socialize. Here, we have Rats, and they even went in the storage area and got into the poison. lol
Sometimes it's hard to seal an old house from them, mice can get thru tiny cracks. I used hardware cloth and the expandible foam. You can carve excess hard foam with a serrated knife. Good luck.
Sidney