You can rent what seems to be a lovely house. It’s loveliness only goes so far when you find out other living creatures think living there is lovely too.
When we first moved here we rented a house in Ballston Spa. It was a house, not an apartment or townhouse. The house was very large with 2,000 square feet. The bedrooms were huge, the layout of the house was spacious. It was painted beautifully with warm colors and beautiful moldings. It seemed like a wonderful place to rent and maybe an option to buy it.
Saratoga Excelsior Group made the process so easy since most of us were still living in the Rochester area, we did all the paperwork electronically.
All seemed to be going well until the problems started. Now, it’s REALLY hard to go from home owning to renting. Owning, you fix things as they break. You hire people or you fix it yourself. The lease stated no fixing things ourselves, so we waited.
I think ants were first. They were all over the kitchen. Or maybe it was the dishwasher wouldn’t close and slid around in it’s hole because it was not attached to the counter. Or maybe it was the microwave handle was glued on, so after a few pulls, it fell off. We had termites later on, that was fascinating. A cupboard full of mouse poop only took a few days to discover.
Going to the cupboard over the microwave to get a beggin’ strip for the puppy. I just bought them a few days ago and put them in our dedicated pet food cupboard, quite convenient. 
I lift the beggin’ strips and it weighs nothing. It’s EMPTY! It’s still sealed at the top but it’s EMPTY!
That’s strange. I look at the bag and find a hole in the bottom corner. All the bacon-y treats are gone and all that’s left in the bag is mouse poop.
Oh. My. God.
I grab a chair from the dining room and drag it to the stove. I hop up and peek into the cupboard. EEEEEEWWWWWW!
It’s covered with mouse poop. It’s everywhere. There’s some insulation hanging down where the exhaust pipe goes up, there is mouse poop in the insulation. Mouse poop all over the tops of the cans of cat and dog food.
This is going to need gloves and some strong, bleachy chemicals. As I climb down from the chair, I notice mouse poop on the stove top. GAG!
I start thinking. How many cans of cat and dog food have I grabbed from the cupboard? How many things have I cooked on the stove? How much mouse poop fell onto the stove when I was… no. I’m not going to even think about it.
I emptied the sink then put all the poopy stuff in the sink. Hot water and bathroom cleaner with bleach should do the trick. Gloves, a zillion paper towels and bathroom cleaner with bleach…to the cupboard.
But wait. A little voice in the back of my head says, ‘if you disturb their eating place they may not come back here and find a new place to hang out.’
“Good,” I tell the stupid voice who obviously is not in the part of my head that is gagging.
“If you want to kill them, you should make them want to come back to where you know they are.”
I hate it when the voice is right.
With the bleachy gloves and a paper towel, I push all the mouse poop away from the front of the cupboard. No poop to fall in our food (Gaggy-gag).
I go to the Dollar Store in Saratoga, the same plaza as Price Chopper, on Ballston Ave, and buy those good old wooden, spring-loaded mouse traps. After googling what to do, I put some peanut butter on it, set two traps and put them in the gross-tastic cupboard.
The next morning, I climb on the chair and look in the cupboard expecting to find two corpses. NONE.
You have got to be kidding me.
Well, I’m not messing around. I go to ACE Hardware store in Ballston Spa, the Hannaford plaza. I look at the choices. I buy a two-pack of Ortho Home Defense Max (pic coming soon).
Instead of peanut butter, I put what these mice love to snack, BEGGIN’ STRIPS! I imagine two mice sitting on a pile of Beggin’ Strips, gorging themselves, with big tummies and big smiles. Like what Tom & Jerry looked when they ate too much.
Bait and place two. That cupboard is nasty.
It was hard to wait. The next morning, two traps, FULL!! Two nasty critters dead!
Back to ACE for another two-pack. Repeated the procedure and 1 more caught! Thank you ORTHO mouse trap killing experts. Because of you we are mouse free.
Now to clean out that cupboard. Gloves and bleachy bathroom cleaner…
Have you had experiences with mice or other critters in your house? How did you handle it? What did you use? Let us know in the comments.
Thanks for reading! I hope it helps! :o)