Scared to go in my basement

**monkeywrangler71** · 07-28-2009, 03:33 PM

Yesterday I found mouse droppings in my basement. I didn't see any in the laundry room, which is where I keep the food, but I'm scared to look too closely in case I find an actual mouse. Terrified to check my fabric.

I just cleaned out my kitchen cupboards, thankfully no evidence there. Washed them down with bleach anyway, just because I'm so horrified. They seem to be just in the furnace room right now. I bought some traps, which my husband will have to set and empty. I can't even go down there.

I locked the door so the kids can't go down. But I have an electrian coming in the morning, I'll have to take him down there. I'll be mortified to have him see a dead mouse in a trap, even more to see a live one!

I hate, loathe, detest basements so much. We are planning on building when we move home, it's the only way to get a house with no basement. OMG. Did I mention that I hate basements? Stupid dark, damp, smelly, bug ridden, vermin infested hole under my house.

I feel sick.

**Karen1** · 07-28-2009, 04:06 PM

being a farmer I have no fear of critters at all or nasty creepy places like my hay lofts and such...LOL

sorry for your troubles but a mouse in the house truly isn't bad.

just eliminate him and it is easy to do with "no-see um" glue traps and all.

Being in the south, every late fall a mouse comes into the house. I get him fast....LOL---one time I had a monster field rat in the house---well that kinda freaked me out til I got rid of him and I slept better than..HA HA

basements are what you make them....many people convert their basements to livable rooms. But some are scarier than others

**cab54** · 07-28-2009, 04:07 PM

Monkeywrangler71---

We spend the summers (like right now) in a cabin in the woods. We know mice. We have battled mice. We have nearly won the war. Nearly-- because you may never really 'win' the war. But you can battle.

Get some D-Con in the little boxes it comes in, open the tops and put it behind your washer dryer and anywhere else you've seen droppings. It is little green pellets that the mice eat, then it dehydrates them and they run outside to get to water. (make sure no water is standing anywhere in your basement so that they have a REASON to run outside.) They get in through holes as big around as a pencil.

SOMETIMES they die right in your home/basement, but better than alive and getting into stuff/pooping.

Just take their little carcasses outside and throw them in the woods/trash.

AND--you can set the traps, too. It is not a shame to have mice, it is just normal (they live outside and they're gonna try to get inside

), and fixable to some extent. It skeeved me out at first too. Try to fill-in holes that you think they are getting iin through. With plaster/putty/grout/whatever.

PLEASE:

YOU PUT D-CON OR TRAPS (BUT ESPECIALLY D-CON) IN YOUR BASEMENT------KEEP LITTLE ONES AND PETS OUT OF THERE. ITIS POISON!!!

AND WHEN YOU LET THE LITTLE ONES INTO THE BASEMENT AGAIN (OR IF THE MICE ARE GONE FOR A LONG TIME) MAKE SURE YOU'VE PICKED UP EVERY LITTLE GRANULE OF THE D-CON!!!!

**monkeywrangler71** · 07-28-2009, 04:33 PM

It is a finished basement, so I can't see if there are holes to the outside - but since we had flooding down there in the spring, all the walls have to be ripped down and replaced anyway. We'll be checking for holes and cracks then.

The only thing that worries me about poison is that they'll die in the wall and I won't be able to get them out. The only thing that smells worse than a live mouse is a dead mouse.

This is supposed to be a livable space, we even get to pay extra on our taxes and insurance because of it. We spend as little time in it as possible, neither of us can stand being down there (we didn't use the dry, mouse-free basement at our old house either).

**Karen1** · 07-28-2009, 04:48 PM

sounds like you just don't like being in basements, finished or not--LOL

a dead mouse only smells so long then he mummifies. but yes I don't like the idea of dead things in walls either.

happy mouse hunting....I am sure you will get it all taken care of soon!!!

**Sassyclass** · 07-28-2009, 04:55 PM

You could borrow a cat from a nice neighbor, or a snake. Sorry that probably didn't help did it?

I hope you get him or her quick, let your hubby do the dirty work.

Cat

**LuvMyHubby** · 07-28-2009, 06:19 PM

LOL, I feel your dislike for basements and disdain for mice. I however, have to keep it together when I visit DD......she has rats as pets.

**Michelle68** · 07-28-2009, 06:24 PM

For goodness sake--DON'T GO INTO THE BASEMENT!!

Oh, wait...I just flashbacked to the last horror movie I saw.

**Pemberleyan** · 07-28-2009, 06:27 PM

Any mouse you might see would be far more afraid of you than you are of it. Let's see. It would be about a 1/100th of your size, at least.

**bumplett** · 07-28-2009, 06:36 PM

Adopt a cat or TWO.

LuvMyHubby,
also, just a side note, domesticated rats make REALLY good pets. NOT the same as wild rats & they are very smart & social! (just thought I'd throw that in there)

**madhen** · 07-28-2009, 06:42 PM

Mice are a part of life out here. And ground squirrels. LOTS of ground squirrels....

I would love to have a basement. I hear "basement" and I think "root cellar." A cool place to store canned goods and produce that keeps well. I even thought about having a root cellar dug for me a while back, but I figured the cost of digging one deep enough to stay cool in this climate, through solid rock, would be prohibitive.

**frugalwarrior** · 07-28-2009, 07:06 PM

I am w/ you on the mouse thing. They are viral carrying germ bombs. When we clean the garage I hate to find mice droppings. They love to get in cloth and shred it. One year they got our indian corn and another we forgot about the grass seed. Didn't see any evidence this year but we let the cats go in the garage periodically to get their scent. YUCK,YUCK, did i say yuck. Drop em in a bucket o water.