File :-(, x, )
KZN
Hello, /an/. I'd like to ask a question.

I live in a rather large house, (it's also very new, just built about a year ago,) and recently we've got ourselves a mouse problem.

Honestly, I like mice well enough and I do not wish to kill them, but they're shitting in our pantry and it's not healthy. We need to get rid of them, although I'm not willing to set traps that will kill the mice.

We've bought a stranger device (Black and Decker Electric Pest Repellent). It apparently sends out ultrasonic signals that ward off rodents. We have it set to quiet (as loud and medium are painful to my ears.)

My question is, /an/, do these work? What are your experiences with this sort of device? If this doesn't work, are there any traps that DO work that don't harm the mice?

Picture related; that's the device.

tl;dr: Do electronic pest repellent devices work?
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
No.

Buy a non-lethal trap. Hardware stores sell them. Picture not related.
>> Anonymous
well if you can live with the knowledge of having mice in your house, don't even care about medical issues.
My father is working in the bakery industry and one of his clients once told him about his rodents...
Even though illegal in germany they used glue to catch the mice. They caught 1.5 million in the first month...
So if u eat bread don't even bother thinking about the hygienics...
>> Anonymous
No, these don't work. Even if they did deter mice, it wouldn't be from the entire house and they would just stay comfortably out of hearing range (basement/attic/inside walls). And for every mouse you see, there's plenty more hiding from you, breeding and pooping in places you don't see. Wild mice are horribly filthy, they are not as likely to be rabid or diseased as the media portrays, but they are spreading their piss all over everything and chewing on your house (including electrical wires, which is dangerous).

I actually consider the traditional killing trap to be more humane than some of the "humane traps" out there. Most of the time it will kill the poor bugger instantly, and it creates a loud enough noise where you can check the trap to be sure it's done its job. Glue traps and box traps are not humane, they will starve the mice to death slowly if you don't check them constantly (and you will forget). Also, you can't set a mouse loose somewhere and expect it to stay in the wilderness like some innocent little creature from Bambi.
>> Anonymous
>>212201

Assuming than an average mouse weights 20g and that half of that is meat, that's 30 tons of mice and 15 tons of meat. Assuming that one cubic meter of mice weights 500kg, that's 60m^3 (or 2 million cubic feet for you Amerifags) of corpses.

Yeah, sure.
>> Anonymous
Nope, these things don't work very well at all.

I would echo what others have said and use traps to get rid of them. You said you don't want to hurt them--and I can understand that--but face it: Mice are a disease risk, and you don't want their urine and feces all over your house, especially not in your pantry. Mice are attracted to the smell of the urine of other mice. Once your problem starts it is only going to get worse.

Here are some thoughts:

1. Don't use poison in indoor areas. In addition to the risk of it getting mixed in your food, dead mice out-of-the-way places smell horrible and spread disease even more. Poison is very effective for outdoor applications though (barns, garages, etc.)

2. Live-catch traps can work. But, they are typically less reliable than killing traps and you must also relocate the mice FAR away from your house otherwise they'll come right back in again.
>> Anonymous
...continued...

...that's not to say that the humane traps don't work. They do. They are just more finicky than the more traditional traps.

3) The old-fashioned "snap traps" are good, though they can take a little effort to set correctly. 212210 already hit the key points.

4) While some people question how humane they are, I find the glue traps to be very effective in that they are much harder for the mice to steal bait from. I use them personally, but I also check them very frequently to prevent undue suffering on the part of the mouse.

...but most importantly, once you get rid of the mice, you need to fix the underlying problem, which is how did the mice get in, and why are they there in the first place.

You need to make sure that there are no gaps in the construction of the house which could be letting the mice in. Be very thourough in your search as mice can squeeze through very small openings.

Also, make sure that your food is stored in tightly sealed containers and there are not any food bits lying about. Keep the area fastidiously clean, and there will be nothing there to attract the mice. If they are getting into bags and boxes by gnawing, then put that food inside sturdy outer containers. Glass or ceramic jars (such mason jars) are mouse-proof. Plastic containers aren't as good, but they are better than nothing. Other foods can be kept in the fridge or freezer.
>> KZN
>>212228
Thanks for the advice. We're getting/making some traps soon and yeah, we're going to let the mice free about a mile or so from our house.

Tomorrow we're also going through the pantry, throwing things out+cleaning up, and securing the food.

I think I know where they got in from, but we'd have to talk to the builder of the house about sealing the hole(s), cause it's in a pretty unaccessible place.
>> Anonymous
a mile is insufficient, your only choice is to snuff them. details here: http://www.pestcontrolcanada.com/Rodents/mice.htm#Live_Trap
>> Anonymous
Using the no kill traps is like selling someone a car with bad breaks because you don't have the money to fix it...

You would spray ants, take a broom to spider webs, and stomp on roaches but a mouse gets special treatment because it has hair? It's a pest, a potentially dangerous pest, and all you do when you catch and release them is make it someone else's problem.
>> Anonymous
>>212657

Actually you make it your own problem, because they return usually within 24 hours form as far as 2 miles, (see link above) and best of all in the journey back they have a greater chance of picking up a disease if they didnt have one already.

enjoy your hantavirus
>> Anonymous
op did not need to mention his house was large or new, but did so to show how pretentious he is.
>> KZN
>>212657
I kill ants, etc. because they are incapable of showing affection and/or intelligent thought. I do not like them. I do like mice. What this says about my charisma is irrelevant to my questions and problem.
>>212676
And no. I mentioned the size to further inquire about the range of the machine we've bought, if indeed it does work.

I mentioned it's newness because I thought that might contribute to it being poorly built and letting mice in, etc.

To be honest, I hate this house. It's annoying as fuck to clean and it's inefficient.