I went to sleep about 4 hours ago. Content in the quite of the night.
Just woke up to incessant scratching RIGHT ABOVE MY HEAD! This little critter is going to keep digging until he falls out the ceiling or he gets enough room to do whatever the heck he is doing. Who am I kidding it's got to be a female.
I've already disrupted the family by banging on the ceiling with a broom handle. That actually works. It stops for seconds at a time then right back to scratching. :'(
Now I have to put out traps and poison and if it's anything like the last one it will eat the poison, die in the wall (ceiling) and I will have to smell it rot for the next little while. As bad as it stinks those little last slow scratches it will make are oh so comforting. I HATE MICE IN MY CEILING!
Best part is I have two cats one of which is one heck of a hunter. She kills everything. EXCEPT THIS MOUSE IN MY CEILING!
I am tired with nowhere to sleep.
I know angel has rats as pets but this is no pet this is a little devil trying it's best to dig a hole through my drywall.
What really ticks me off is my wife is sleeping right through it! Well except for when I was beating the crap out of the ceiling. But she is right back to sleep within seconds.
One of the best mouse catchers is a deep sided plastic bucket with a couple of double handfuls of kernel corn thrown in the bottom.
Make it very easy for a mouse to jump into the bucket by placing something it can climb up to the rim and the mouse can not resist the fragrance of the corn.
After a feast on the corn they can not jump out of the bucket.
Have caught entire families of mice this way.
B-)
Google search (images) "bucket mouse trap"
Last time I had to deal with mice I used the peel-off glue traps, and I really like them. The worked very well, and you can just throw the whole thing out, mice and all.
I'll have to try that.
My friend who home brews had been trying to catch a mouse in his garage for weeks, one day he left a bucket in the garage that had so home brewing residue in the bottom, and next morning, to his surprise, he had caught the mouse.
The last one I poisoned I never saw. It sounded big while it was digging up the wall and it ate out a hole in the drywall behind the fridge about 14" high and chewed through my water supply to my icemaker. That was a mess to clean up water everywhere. I'm pretty sure I didn't want to meet this thing face to face. I'm sure it was a rat. Not a nice pet rat but an evil rat.
The only worse sound to have coming from the ceiling is that made by the snake(s) slithering around in search of a mousey meal.
Pet Rats...
> I'm sure it was a rat. Not a nice pet rat but an evil rat.
Here's a nice pet rat. 😀 
Pet Rats...
Aw, that is cute. They can be snuggly.
Pet Rats...
But of course... 😀
Here's his brothers Chuck & Chop Chop. My boys are sweeties! :love:
thanks for the idea/method. is a std five gal tall enough? my idea is a 5 gl w/ cord/rope going up the side w/ a fishing hook through the cord/rope attached to the lip of the bucket for attachment purposes.
the little boogers will climb up the rope and flop into 0.04 us survey feet of safflower seed since that's my bird feed is and i've seen plenty of mouse poop in it. i can dispose of them as seems fit.
catchy idea!
i'm not sure of a method to compare my results w/ that of the feral cats in the area but if i catch any i'll be that much ahead.
Mentioned this thread to Mrs. Cow and my comment about the snake in the ceiling. She sort of shivered all over remembering the old days in my old house. She was taking a shower and heard a snake slithering on the other side of the ceiling tile about a foot directly above her naked head. Quickest shower she ever took.
If you can hear them, its rats not mice 🙁
Or a raccoon. Or an opossum. Or a squirrel. I grew up in a farm house that was well over a hundred years old when we bought it. The exterminator went I to the attic and left 'to get something'. Never heard from him again. We ended up cleaning it out ourselves...
You can also put a cardboard tube on a string over a half full 5 gallon bucket of water. Put a little peanut butter on the tube and a ramp up to the rim. When the rat tries to get the peanut butter the tube spins and she falls in.
Tried bucket traps, but around here they just jump right out of the bucket. They're olympians when it comes to jumping. Spent part of my weekend cleaning up grass seed in my shed that was 5' off the ground, and they got to it. They must've used some kind of a trapeze system to get to it. :-/
put about 6" of water in the bucket. There will be no jumping, only drowning.
Freeze. They're at their worst in winter
