The Historic District

Late summer, when the rodents are starting to think about finding a winter apartment, we often find mice stuck in our woodstove. I'm not 100% sure how they get in there, they could get in from the house through the vents, but I am starting to think that they are coming in from outside and going down the chimney. Anybody else have this issue? It is more annoying and distressing (starving trapped mice) than anything else, but one time the critter shredded the door gasket in what I assume was an attempt to escape. I have taken to leaving the stove door ajar when it is "the season"

Our stove has a glass door, so often the first awareness i have of the mouse in there is the cats watching "kittie TV"

lol, I can picture them watching their favourite program. If you have a masonry chimney I am sure they can climb it. We once found a big mouse in a frozen pose at the top of our bathroom subway tiles, just clinging to the wall and pretending to be invisible. I have two cats who feel they're off the clock indoors, and a third that hunts 24hours a day. They only start getting mice inside in the late summer. Mine come in through a dozen places: we get voles, cute house mice and tiny shrews. We know when we hear the midnight thumping that there will be one laid out on the floor in the morning. Then my weenie hubby calls me to dispose of it. --Mal

That's quite the tail, erm I mean tale hehe!

For us, the "cat tv" moment is our cats will watch the pocket doors. Rodents sometimes will try to nest in the pocket door cavities. I usually throw some pepper in there it discourages nesting and they (hopefully) leave.

Kitty TV sounds fun , I could see that never getting boring to watch I guess lighting the stove might get them out but you knew that. Careful with the material used for the seal, unless it is some new material it is probably asbestos. I like the pepper Idea I used that one with the sand under my porch where all the neighborhood kittys thought it was a good sandbox, a few packets of Cayenne and no more poo

Mick, ya we get squirrels in the chimneys and the mice do some how get into the heating ducts. Like you we have no idea how they get into the vents but they do. The squirrels eventually do move out I believe they are nesting and birthing in there, and the mice only arrive in the fall. Every few months a bat finds it way in from the attic jeeeezzzzz there' a bugger to get rid of. I believe the occasional one goes between our walls and finds it way in through the sash pulleys holes.

No knowledge of mice in a woodstove, but we did find a nest of possums in our dryer not long after moving in. I'd hear some scratching sounds every time I turned it on, and the first couple times chocked it up to shreds of paper that must have gone through the washer and were now exiting the vent. It took me a few times to realize it shouldn't be happening every time. My husband put up a barrier so that whatever was in there would have to run out the mudroom door when he opened up the dryer. He about had a heart attack when he saw many beady little eyes staring back at him. He felt better once he realized they were possums. He thought they were rats. He really, really hates rats.

So let me tell you about the Florida mouse
an endangered species that invaded a house

A mobile home I purchased in Florida north
I paid very little, for what it is worth

The Florida Mouse with its big brown eyes
and long hind legs was fast and wise

resembling Speedy Gonzales, without the hat,
but with the speed, I'll tell you that.

It has a unique odor, you can call it a stink
Whenever I smelled it, I would stop and think...

..there is a mouse in the room, I detect its smell
And now I would have to search real well.

These mice would somehow open cabinet doors,
and build their nests, but pee on the floors.

One time I smelled something that died
traced to a CD player that open I pryed..

..there I found a mouse, and babies in bed
got in but not out, and now they are dead

One night, I tossed and turned, I could not sleep
because of a sound, that was more than a peep.

In the AC duct, a quick "tink tink tink tink"
A mouse scratching its fleas, and of course the stink

But here is the clincher that made me buy
a case of Great Foam, I'll tell you why

When I went to the home and found a nest
with two dead babies, but no sign of a pest

four hours later, I find, and this is no fake
..a bulge in the middle of a three foot long snake

The snake in the bathroom! But I was not too scared
Now I know how mama mouse had fared

So Great Foam it is! Over and under and within the house
in every opening I foamed to keep out the mouse

And every other critter found in this state
No sign of any, to this date

I hope you enjoyed my poem of the mouse
and what you can get when you buy a cheap house.

Great poem; very clever! We have a barn cat who seems to always be "off the clock". I don't see mice everywhere but when I picked up a salt block holder the other day a tiny mouse took off from under it. Note to cat, "Get Busy & earn your Kitty Kibble."

It's harvest time again, out on the fruited plain
So now all the mice want indoors.....
So it's off for some traps and mouse-killing chaps
Who've poison that we can't buy in stores.....
A chunk of steel wool, to stuff down their hole
A repeller that plugs into the wall
With all that I've spent, It's a clear sentiment -
I don't care for the b-----ds at all!

Nicholas wrote:So let me tell you about the Florida mouse
an endangered species that invaded a house

A mobile home I purchased in Florida north
I paid very little, for what it is worth

The Florida Mouse with its big brown eyes
and long hind legs was fast and wise

resembling Speedy Gonzales, without the hat,
but with the speed, I'll tell you that.

It has a unique odor, you can call it a stink
Whenever I smelled it, I would stop and think...

..there is a mouse in the room, I detect its smell
And now I would have to search real well.

These mice would somehow open cabinet doors,
and build their nests, but pee on the floors.

One time I smelled something that died
traced to a CD player that open I pryed..

..there I found a mouse, and babies in bed
got in but not out, and now they are dead

One night, I tossed and turned, I could not sleep
because of a sound, that was more than a peep.

In the AC duct, a quick "tink tink tink tink"
A mouse scratching its fleas, and of course the stink

But here is the clincher that made me buy
a case of Great Foam, I'll tell you why

When I went to the home and found a nest
with two dead babies, but no sign of a pest

four hours later, I find, and this is no fake
..a bulge in the middle of a three foot long snake

The snake in the bathroom! But I was not too scared
Now I know how mama mouse had fared

So Great Foam it is! Over and under and within the house
in every opening I foamed to keep out the mouse

And every other critter found in this state
No sign of any, to this date

I hope you enjoyed my poem of the mouse
and what you can get when you buy a cheap house.

Neighmond wrote:It's harvest time again, out on the fruited plain
So now all the mice want indoors.....
So it's off for some traps and mouse-killing chaps
Who've poison that we can't buy in stores.....
A chunk of steel wool, to stuff down their hole
A repeller that plugs into the wall
With all that I've spent, It's a clear sentiment -
I don't care for the b-----ds at all!

So, a house with no mice,
that is always nice

but now there is a new pest
that puts patience to test

A huge wild black pig
Look, there's another dig

looking for grubs,
tearing up shrubs

I do have a gun
Lets make the next visit fun

What's worse? The decision not hard
a mouse in the house
...or a pig in the yard

I'll take the pig, give me a fork
I'd rather have a supply of fresh pork.