Mice defying eradication on Leeward Coast
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Those mice in Makakilo just keep on coming.
• Get rid of their food sources around the house and yard. • Reduce clutter so they don't have hiding places. • Eliminate sources of fresh water. • Set out traps. Some advice • Snap traps work better outside because dust sometimes gets into glue traps. • Be cautious about using poison around children or animals. Source: State Health Dept.
That's the word from residents and state Health Department officials, who keep catching large numbers of mice every time they set traps.
How to keep mice away
Health Department entomologist George Kitaguchi confirmed that the mice continue to be a problem in Makakilo as well as in Wai'anae and Makaha, even though the department has increased the number of traps set each week.
"The mice are all over," Kitaguchi said. "The whole Leeward Coast is having problems with mice."
Makakilo resident Mike Bambadji said he's continuing to get a delivery of four to eight dead mice from his dozen cats.
Shad Kane, who's on the Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board, said, "Last week, we caught three mice in our house, which we've never had before. That was unusual."
Kitaguchi said his staff is considering setting out poison but worries about other creatures that might be inadvertently affected: birds, dogs and cats, and even children.
He suspects that the wet winter brought in a bumper crop of grass, which provided more food to grow more mice. Now that the hot weather is drying up the food supply, the mice are starting to look nearby for other food.
Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.
