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Local resident repels invaders after damage discovered

Mouse damage, including this hole in a pastry cloth and scattered poops, were discovered by a local homeowner.

A chewed-on chocolate bar, a pastry cloth with a hole in it, and a scattering of mouse feces in the cupboard tipped off a local homeowner to an invasion of mice in her kitchen.

“I won’t say I didn’t scream when I found tiny nibble marks in my Endangered Species Supreme Dark Chocolate bar,” says Jane Nesmith, 52, of Cedar Rapids.

A chocolate bar (left) and bag of licorice (right) show signs of the mouse invasion.

While searching for an early-afternoon pick-me-up yesterday afternoon, Nesmith discovered the mouse-eaten chocolate bar in the top drawer of the cupboard underneath her stove. After some searching, she discovered more damage caused by small rodents. Besides the ruined pastry cloth and scattered feces, a bag of black licorice had been chewed through by tiny teeth.

Nesmith had to halt research on a profile article she was working on to address the issue. All the drawers had to be emptied and pulled out of the cupboard. “We’ve had pet rats, so I’m not a rodentaphobe,” said Nesmith. “Still, once I found that chewed up pastry cloth, I knew that this meant war.”

The contents of Nesmith's cupboards--and the drawers themselves--had to be removed for cleaning and mouse-proofing. "Did our house get broken into again?" asked Nesmith's son, Eli, 16, when he arrived home from school.  The home invaders were very tiny this time, but they did not steal any electronics.

Internet research suggests that mice often enter homes when the weather is bitterly cold, and they find their way in through small holes in walls—around electrical conduits and plumbing. Nesmith discovered such openings around the electrical conduit under the sink and the gas pipes behind the cabinets, and went to work at once plugging them up.

“The internet article suggested stuffing holes with steel wool,” said Nesmith. “But I didn’t have any, so I used bunched-up aluminum foil instead. And I secured it with duct tape.”

Nesmith filled mouse-sized holes in the cabinets with crumpled aluminum foil.
She secured the foil with the Handyman's Secret Weapon.

A visit to the hardware store allowed Nesmith to pick up mouse traps (“the kind where you don’t have to see the dead mouse,” Nesmith said) and ultrasonic mouse repellers. Nesmith also placed cotton balls dipped in peppermint oil throughout the cupboards, following the internet information that mice hate the smell.

"No View, No Touch" traps are now underneath the Nesmith sink. 
No mice have been caught, but Nesmith hopes they have been repelled or blocked out instead.

 

Early morning visits to the traps showed that no mice had been killed. “I am hoping they just were no longer able or willing to enter my cupboards,” says Nesmith, whose cat, Mitzi, 13, was not up to the task of mouse extermination.

Mitzi Mittens Nesmith, 13, had no comment.