The Lantern

Issue date: 3/3/08 Section: Campus

When students make the decision to live off-campus, they often find themselves living with some extra roommates they might not have bargained for.

The large number of old houses in the campus, area combined with the questionable hygiene and house cleaning practices of some students, can often leave students fighting a dreaded mouse infestation.

Lindsey Bradley, a junior in medical dietetics, has been battling mice in her house since December.

"There's no place in our house that isn't covered in poop," Bradley said. "It's everywhere. In all of our cupboards, on our desks. It's even in our silverware drawer and the drawer we keep all our kitchen utensils in ... it's disgusting and as far as a health hazard, well, it's a problem."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site, mice not only carry diseases, they also damage and destroy property and eat and contaminate food.

The presence of mice can also be traumatizing.

One night Bradley said she saw a mouse crawl into a wicker basket in her room.

"I opened the lid of the basket and it jumped at me," she said, adding it jumped a foot and almost landed on her. "I couldn't believe they jumped that far. ... Plus I didn't want it to land on me."

Annabelle Fago, a senior in health science and French, who has also been battling mice for more than two years has also been traumatized by unwelcome house guests.

One day she was cleaning the crumbs out of her toaster. She had shaken all the crumbs out over the sink and was given a shock when she put it back on the counter.

"When I put it back on the counter, that's when the mouse jumped at me," she said. "That's what makes me terrified of mice ... they are really little and they get into everything."

Mice have also invaded Bradley's sleep.

"While I was in bed one night, I heard one crawl right past my head," Bradley said, adding she could not sleep because she was so scared.

There are many strategies for mouse extermination, some of which work better than others. Fago and Bradley discussed their experiences with various methods.

Spring Traps
"They work well when there are few rats and mice," according to the CDC Web site. "The best place to set traps is close to walls in areas where rodents run... Fruit, peanut butter and nuts all make good baits."

"I'm excited when I see a dead mouse in the trap," Bradley said, adding she caught three mice with the method.

Disposal is a downside.

"Regardless of what kind of trap you have, you have to dispose of them which is always really disgusting," Fago said.

A final piece of advice: "Make sure you check the traps," Bradley said.

Adhesive Pads
"The pads are awesome. They work great because the mouse doesn't see it coming," Bradley said, adding this was her preferred method.

Fago is not such a fan.

"These are terrible because the mouse starts squeaking," she said. "At night it disturbs your sleep."

Despite its effectiveness, Bradley is also disturbed by the live mice caught in the adhesive traps.

"It's going to be scared and flipping around," she said. She said she uses a stick to take it out to the dumpster.

Poison
"One effective way of destroying rats and mice, and the most recommended, is the use of rodenticides," according to the CDC Web site. "Most are anticoagulants, which cause death by internal bleeding because they prevent blood clotting."

Bradley used poison and she said she thinks it has been working well.

"We've seen the sick ones that have kind of just given up," she said. "We've had to pick them up and put them in the Dumpster."

The concern with poison is the mice will die in the walls of the house.

"Rotting in the walls is a legitimate concern, but we haven't had that problem yet," Bradley said.

Fago also used poison, which she said has been effective.

"With the poison you have to be careful because you don't want it in your food," she said.

Ultrasonic Pest Repeller
Bradley said this is a device that plugs in the wall and emits a high frequency sound to repel mice.

"It worked horribly," she said. "It doesn't do anything."

Removal of food
"When you find big bite marks out of your loaf of bread and you have to throw it out, it gets really expensive," Bradley said.

According to the CDC, the best way to eliminate the food supply of mice is to store it in glass or metal containers, and to put garbage in tightly covered trash cans.

"I put all my food in plastic bins and I put it up high so they couldn't get to it," Bradley said. She said she thought removing the food source helped.

Hire an exterminator
"The best thing is to get an exterminator, because they put out the mouse poison and they put it all over your house," Fago said. "They figure out where to put the traps and the poison."

Bradley has not used an exterminator, but offered her own advice.

"Don't ever let it become a problem," she said. "We were told by an exterminator that when you see droppings, that's just the beginning. When you visibly start seeing mice in your house, that's when the infestation is well advanced."

Briony Clare can be reached at clare.6@osu.edu.

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