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I have a fireplace bumpout into my garage. It sits 5-6 inches above the floor. Mice have chewed a hole through the foamboard at the foundation & gotten inside my walls (& wherever they want!). I want to HUMANELY evict them before I figure out how to seal it, but it's extremely difficult & awkward to reach! I don't know what I'd attach a live trap or one way door to under there. ANY IDEAS? bumpout closeup of hole in foamboard wide view under bumpout

janeway
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    Removing them humanly will be difficult and you do not want them in your walls, they do like to chew on electric cables and most other stuff that make up walls. There are some high pitch sound devices that some people think work, but my opinion is that most, not all, are snake oil. It is not nice, but you might be forced to use poison. – crip659 Apr 23 '23 at 22:36
  • Had one mouse that kept coming out at night - we would find the evidence in the morning. Had the regular pest control put out various not-quite-so-obviously-lethal things, but the mouse was too smart for that. The mouse also didn't seem to mind the high-pitch sound devices (got a new set figuring the old ones from many years ago, which helped at the time, were worn out). So on the latest quarterly pest control they put out traps. Two days later, one dead mouse...and no more droppings or other evidence. My wife wasn't happy, but she wasn't happy having to keep cleaning up every place the mouse – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact Apr 24 '23 at 00:49
  • had been, worrying about leaving fruit out, etc. No easy fix, and with a bunch of mice (we were, and still are, pretty sure it was just one) it is that much harder to resolve. – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact Apr 24 '23 at 00:50

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If you're going to try to attach a one-way door (which had better lead into a live trap for multiple mice, or they are just going to find another way back in) you'll need to block off the whole of the outside perimeter of the "fireplace bump-out" in a mouse-proof manner, so the one way door out is the only option for leaving.

You'll also need to provide bait (food) and water in the trap, or they'll die in there. Then you have the likely problem that in most places it's illegal to just take them someplace else and let them go, whether viewed as wildlife (improperly relocated by persons not licensed to do that) or vermin (making your mouse problem someone else's mouse problem.) I guess you could have pet mice until they die of old age, if you can keep them from breeding.

Ecnerwal
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  • You can probably release them on your own property. Which suggests you want to mouseproof the house _first_. Personally my only rule is no bait outside; too much risk to predators. – keshlam Apr 24 '23 at 02:33