Mice! in the house!

[nubsnubsnubs]

I have a 3 year old hand-me-down beardie named Nubs. Nubs is special because for the last year, he has decided to be a house-lizard and no longer lives in a cage. Sort of like a dog. He has a "station" under the TV stand with a heat mat, UV bulb, water bowl, and food bowl. His natural habitat is the downstairs of my large 3 bedroom home. Sure, he spends most of his time sleeping in his favorite spots, like behind the computer tower and bottom shelf of the bookshelf, but he can often be found running around full speed licking random objects or staring for hours into the fish tank. Nubs loves to be held and petted and will even greet his people when we come home from work and chooses to "hang out" with us when it seems like we're doing something cool. We let him make his own decisions when it comes to where he wants to be and what he wants to do. He's very sociable, interactive, and intelligent. Enough about how cool Nubs is. There's a problem with his free-spirit lifestyle.

MICE. They have made holes in the walls, and are so bold they come out every night in full view of us. Nubs just sits there and stares at them, annoyed, when they peak out under his basking rock and eat his pellet food.

I also have 3 parrots in an upstairs bedroom they have all to themselves. The mice have found them as well. Vacuuming is no help. The mice climb right into the cage and eat out of the parrots' food bowls as well.

I have tried mouse traps, but the mice take the food off the trap and it doesn't snap. I have tried the sticky traps, but the one time I saw one go on it, it escaped! I think it told its friends, now they won't go near the sticky traps. They won't go in the swing humane traps, either. Obviously, I don't want to try poison because Nubs will eat anything in front of his face.

Someone told me to get a rat snake or a corn snake and let it loose in the house. I'd be fine with that, but wouldn't it get big enough to eat Nubs? Is there anything else I can do to get rid of these mice?

 

[nubsnubsnubs]

Some pics of Nubs being himself:

https://www.facebook.com/felicia.mccaulley/media_set?set=a.10151531778307724.1073741831.505242723&type=3

 

[bunnyrut]

that's great that he can roam around like that.

unfortunately, the pellets and bird food are attracting the mice.
seal all the food up in plastic containers so they can't get to anything.

there is something you can plug into the wall to keep the mice away, it emits a high pitched sound. but i don't know how that would affect Nubs.

this site seems to offer poison alternatives http://www.squidoo.com/getting-rid-of-mice-naturally

Some More Ideas for Natural Control
Here are some recipes and recommendations we've read for deterring rodents naturally...
They say that mice hate the smell and taste of cayenne pepper, peppermint, citronella, and cloves...All you need to do is lightly soak a few cotton balls in one of these oils and leave the cotton balls in places where you've had problems...
Make a few cheesecloth sachets from the dry cayenne pepper, mint, and even whole cloves and leave them in places where the mice seem to be, like maybe under beds and along walls behind your furniture...
In a bucket or sprayer if you have one put 1 tablespoon of Tabasco sauce and about a 1/2 cup of soap detergent to 1 gallon of water...Spray this outside all around your home's foundation to help repel the little pests...
We've read that the sonic or electronic mouse repellants are not very effective, some say that they have limited or temporary use to them...Others point out that the sound waves do not really pass through solid objects so a sonic device in an open space isn't going to be helpful when their in cupboards, walls, or even the closets...
Owning a cat can help - or not...We had one cat that had absolutely no problem with them living in our house, he seemed to enjoy the company...We had another cat that was constantly catching these small rodents even though he didn't keep our house a hundred percent mouse free...Our first clue to a mouse invasion was when we would see our cat carrying a dead mouse in his mouth...If your cat is catching them for you be sure to have him wormed regularly since these have been known to carry parasites...Many people don't feed the barn cats thinking that they will make them more aggressive mousers but all evidence indicates that a healthy cat that is fed regularly is a more effective hunter than a weak one...

a cat may or may not help. i have had cats that hunted the mice, others just watched them scamper by, and some like to bring mice INTO our home.

 

[Brandonforty2]

The loose cornsnake wouldn't be a good idea because the mice might get the snake sick. Its like catching crickets outside. BTW a heat pad isn't a good idea. Instead, use a heat bulb.

 

[nubsnubsnubs]

Thanks! That's super helpful. Maybe I'll try making a spray of these natural oils and spraying it where they hang out (behind the furniture, along walls). I'd be afraid to leave cotton balls around. Nubs might try one. A friend was once eating whole almonds at my house, and one dropped to the floor. Nubs was over 10 feet away. I said, "you have to pick that up, we can't let Nubs ea...." Before I finished the sentence, he had raced over and slurped up that almond. I've seen him eat buttons off shirts, small rocks, you name it.

Any ideas to plug up mouse holes in walls? They destroyed my baseboards. I tried some pond waterfall foam, but they chewed right through it and made a huge mess. Now it is worse, I have mouse holes lined with black foam

 

[patron17]

I would just make sure u put a towel or something over the heat pad so it doesnt burn nubs belly

And maybe u can try and seal off all there holes and if they pop up try and catch them, eventually they wont be able to get in and there wont be as many

 

[patron17]

Whoops....

Maybe a sheet of ply wood if u have it or maybe a old year book taped to the wall