How To Get Rid Of Mice?

How can I get rid of these mice?

• My house has mice in it and I can't take it anymore. I have only lived in this house for about a year and a half but my boyfriend's family (owners of this house) have lived here about 6 or 7 years and claim they have had mice for the past 5 years. So pretty much 5 years of mice running around. Anyway the only type of "killer" they said to have tried is some bad chemical thing that you put under the house (they eat it and then die). Unfortunately, they are kind of procrastinators and don't do much about even the most important things. So they haven't got any more of this chemical in at least a year and a half (I would remember them getting it). I know there must be a bunch of these mice in the walls and such. You know the saying, "you see one or two but there is probably thousands in the house". In fact I have cleaned out drawers and closets that were pretty much unused and found piles and piles of mouse poop. So I know that there are plenty. Anyway, in the past month, I have been seeing them a whole lot more. The last time I even saw one (before this past month) was about 8 or 9 months ago, and it was only one mouse then and no more after. Now I see about 2 to 4 mice (could be the same one but I doubt it) each day. I look over randomly and one will just be sitting there by a door or right in the middle of the floor! Sometimes I see them running, but usually they are just pausing for a minute and the only reason I see them is because it flickers by my eyes. I see them in my room often as well as my boyfriend's room and the living room. I have seen one go in the bathroom (after it finally climbed out of a bin) and one in the kitchen. Our wiener dog is always sniffing and digging in weird places for the past month or two and whining (he wants to catch them) so I know its not just me. I don't know how to get rid of them because I am only 17 (18 in two days) and it is not my house or my money. The only reason it bugs me more than them I guess is because this is the first house I ever lived in that had mice and also I am to the point where I am wearing shoes 24/7 so I don't run into one over my foot. How can I get rid of them though? Nothing too expensive or anything that will hurt our dog (obviously). Please suggest anything you have tried or would try or at least give me some tips. This is crazy!!

• Answer:

  Your monolithic block of text is very hard to read. Tidbits about your dog or your age aren't pertinent, leave them out. Moving on! Procrastinators are the mouse's friend. Leave the little critters alone to eat and breed, and eat and breed they will most certainly do. In a protected environment like inside a house and with nothing to control them, their numbers can become very large very quickly. DO NOT USE POISON. I emphasize that point because poison, if it works, kills the mouse almost anywhere and the little corpse makes a surprisingly large smell for a couple of weeks - probably somewhere you can't find it to eradicate it. And mice are breeding resistance to poisons. Don't help them by exposing them to more poison. Besides, it's a cruel, slow way to die. Also cruel and slow are the sticky traps. Don't use them either. Plain old snap traps are cheap, effective and reusable. I bait mine with peanut butter, which attracts the mice very effectively. Mice like to hug the wall to feel they're protected, so the bait end of the trap goes against the wall. Under an overhang is even better, leave enough room for the trap's bail to swing over. Smear the peanut butter on the underside of the bait pedal so the mouse has to stretch and wiggle the pedal to get to the *BANG* and it's all over. Quick, very effective, and humane. The mouse doesn't suffer, he's quite surprised in the discovery of what he thinks is the best snack he's ever seen. Check your trap every day, clear it and rebait if necessary, and put it back in place. In one wild week I caught over thirty mice at work on an array of six traps. Traps are only $2.00 for a pack of two, and you can use them over and over. Get started now and radically reduce your mouse population. Then, once you're sure you've got most/all of them, go through everywhere and find every opening you can, and seal them up. Mice can fit through anywhere they can get their heads in, and they can fit their heads through a hole the size of a dime. So don't skip anything that looks "too small." Good luck with it.