Handy Household Tips

Locating household pests.

Crawly graphic House graphic Beetle graphic If you suspect that your kitchen is being visited by something during the night such as mice or roaches and you cannot locate their hiding place or method of entry, try sprinkling flour all around the edges of floor mounted cupboards and walls. A light dusting of about six inches in width is about right. Also cover entrance and exit door floor areas as well. If you suspect that they are coming in by a window dust the windowsill too.
In the morning examine the floor area carefully. You should find that small footprints have appeared in the flour and even small trails leading across the floor or windowsills. By tracing these tracks you should be able to locate the entry point or hiding place. You may find that a magnifying glass will help tracing any fine powder trails across the floor.
Once you have found the entry point or hiding place you can treat the area with a suitable compound or simply block it up. No more night time visitors.

Most small household pests can be trapped by putting down lengths of double-sided sticking tape such as carpet tape or parcel tape. You can stick it directly to the floor or you may find it easier for removal to apply the tape to some cardboard, making a kind of pad. Just place the tape or pads in an area that you think they will have to cross.
Alternatively make up a large square of sticky tape either on the floor or on a large piece of cardboard and place that on the floor. The tape does not have to cover the whole of the square as long as the outer edges are all covered that should be sufficient. You can then bait the centre with some foodstuff that they may be attracted to.
Virtually all, small household pests such as roaches ect, find it impossible to escape once in contact with adhesive of the tape.
You should find most of them securely stuck to the tape. Even if initially they where trapped just by one leg or foot, in their struggle to free themselves they usually end up in an even worse situation.
Dispose of the tape or pads as you see fit.

See also - Cats & Dogs, Mice, Mites, Slugs, Wasps, Flies, and Woodlice from - The page menu.
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Mice.

Mouse graphicA more effective bait for the conventional mousetrap is fruit and nut chocolate. In certain areas some mice may prefer other things for example, Tuna fish can sometimes be quite effective. It is true that mice like cheese but they do like other foods and are better attracted to them. It is worth experimenting with.
When using conventional traps consideration of the location of them can be of great importance to increase the capture effectiveness. In a typical room or kitchen for example mice will run around the edges near to the skirting board and walls because they feel safer there so this is where you should locate them placing the active part of the trap nearest to the wall.

Another way of catching mice without harming them is by using a milk bottle, preferably one with very curved sides. Place the bottle parallel to the wall at a 45 degree angle using a cardboard box or similar for support and construct a ramp leading up to the neck of the bottle, this may be made of cardboard, wood or whatever you have to hand. Bait the bottle with bits of crumbled up chocolate biscuit. Leave overnight.
It works quite simply by the mouse detecting the food in the bottle but to get there it has to go up the ramp and down into the bottle.
Once in the bottle the steep sides prevent it from getting out so when you come along you have a live mouse inside to do with as you wish.

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