How to keep the rodents away

[spork]

Time to get a cat. LOL.

And then stock up on free cat food! that's the ticket!

[CouponSanta]

We live in apartment complex, and about a year back had a major rodent issue (we caught 6+) as they were coming up through the heater and through a flap in the heater.

We've had success with the sticky traps and the normal traps - and be sure that ALL of your dooors are shut and sealed - as in nothing could squeeze through them!

[434Teresa]

And then stock up on free cat food! that's the ticket!

no cat food needed when you have mice! not even free cat food.

I have a inside cat and she dont eat or kill them meaning to do so but she will play with them until they die or get away. The funny thing is she came from the pound and had been a barn cat for like 3 years before we got her, now she has the easy life I guess so no eating wild animals anymore. she is the queen around herethe kids see to it...

[abond0017]

Beware about putting down rat poison to control the problem. It is NOT pleasant when one or more of those critters eat it and then die somewhere in or near your house that you can't get to or find them to remove them. When I was younger this happened in our house. Stunk horribly for quite a while.

[buffalobarb]

It might help to keep fabric drier sheets on the shelf's with the food. Mice hate them and they don't smell up like moth balls. You still need to get some traps going.

[farmergirl]

Canning jars and used lids/rings. Seriously! They work AMAZINGLY well and are quite pretty!!!! I store all my dry herbs in old ones (the ones with the wire that holds down the lids). I store everything possible in them- Flour, sugar, oatmeal, etc. The really nice part is that even if you do get weevils or something in one, you don't lose your whole stockpile of something. Right now I have a couple cases worth of jars holding flour. The jars that are old and I'm afraid to can with due to rareness hold chocolate chips, candy, etc. I recycle used lids for the dried goods. Using new lids would be a huge waste of money.

I also love the large glass jars that pickles come in. These are great since you can get a measuring cup in them.

I used to use the buckets from Dunkin Donuts but mice have NO issues with chewing through them. They can also easily chew through rubbermaid totes.

For really large amounts of bulk I'd use galvanized trash cans if I had to, temporarily. They don't seal completely and it would be easy for bugs to get into them. Great for storing chicken feed but not so great for storing people feed.