You find mice droppings in your cabinet.

1. Would you freak out?
2. Would you call your spouse/child/friend/parent to come deal with it, or would you deal with it on your own?
3. Would you call a professional?

1. No.
2. Depends. On past occasions I have called a sibling.
3. Probably not.

Mice don't bother me (used to have them as pets), and I don't see how freaking out in that scenario would be remotely productive. It's certainly a pain to shlep down to the store and buy a few humane mouse traps, but otherwise, what's the big deal?

Is freaking out ever productive?

I'd give K-Reb a call, assuming he'd be glad to dispose of the culprit.

Indeed. In fact all I have to do is say the word "mouse" and my shiksa goes into elimination mode. She caught 3 mice by herself...

But very often the problem resolves itself such as in this case:


But sometimes more invasive measures need to be taken...


Then there are rats which can be quite an annoyance

I kill mice for a living, with my bare hands.

i'd call a professional. if there's one there are probably more.

What can a professional do that you can't?

find and plug the holes (in and around the house), empty out the full traps, etc.

not that i can't, i just don't want to.

http://www.geocities.com/itzik18/RYP.html

This is a picture of a holy tzaddik, Rabbi Yeshayah, the Karestier Rebbe, ztk"l, zy"a. This picture is a famous segulah, and it is thus worthy to have a copy of it somewhere in your house or place of business. According to some, the Rebbe promised that any house or building where his picture was would not be plagued with mice. (Because of this many food stores in Israel have this picture hanging somewhere.) Even according to those opinions who don't accept this (the present Karestier Rebbe, shlit"a says that he does not know the source of this segulah), it is always worthwhile to have pictures of holy people around you for a source of inspiration. Thus it is surely worthwhile to print this picture and even to make copies for your family and friends.

( picture attatched )

if that doesn't work just use a glue trap

i don't understand how freaking out and calling someone could help here - it's just droppings! the mouse/mice are back in their holes already! i've thrown out those sticky traps with small mice on them, just cause there wasn't anyone around to do it (would gladly delegate it to someone else)

if it's in my apartment, clean it and try to find the holes and put the steel wool in them. worse comes to worst, call the super to help. the exterminator doesn't do anything major anyway - i can get the same traps and those green "candies" myself in the store.