I called an exterminator in tears.
He said it would cost $375 for the initial visit.
Then $285 per month to keep them from coming back.
Minimum 6-month contract.
That's $2,085 just to get started.
I couldn't afford that.
But I also couldn't live like this.
I felt trapped in my own home.
I started keeping Emma out of the kitchen.
Then I stopped cooking altogether.
I bought everything sealed, everything pre-packaged.
Still, the scratching in the wall came every night.
I was exhausted, embarrassed, and terrified to open a cabinet.
I even heard one inside the wall of Emma's room.
That was my breaking point.
I felt like I was failing as a mother.
Here's the thing no one tells you:
You can't trap your way out of a mouse problem.
Mice nest inside your walls, under your floorboards, inside your insulation.
Traps only catch the ones that step on them.
Not the dozens hiding nearby.
Not the colony that's already breeding behind the drywall.
🐭 Why Traps Will Never End It
- A single female mouse produces 5–10 litters per year, each with 6–12 pups
- Pups reach breeding age in just 6 weeks
- One mouse in September becomes 60+ by January
- Mice can enter through a gap the width of a pencil
- While you're cleaning one room, they're breeding in another
- That's why exterminators charge so much, they know the mice will come back
Because you can't trap your way out of an infestation.
You have to make your home unlivable for them.
One night, after lying awake listening to that scratching for the fourth hour straight, I sat on my kitchen floor.
I just wanted it to stop.
That's when my neighbor Lisa knocked on the door.
She'd seen my light on at 2 AM for the third night in a row.
When I told her what was happening, she said:
"I had the same nightmare last winter. Until I found something that actually worked."
She disappeared for a moment.
Then came back holding a small white pouch that smelled like peppermint and cedar.
"It's called PestLab," she said. "Tear it open. Put it where you've seen them. Give it a week. You'll see."
I didn't believe her.
But I was desperate.
So I tried it.