u/Tandyman

Just some random insight from a pest control guy who takes care of some movie theaters. They are very hard to keep mouse-free. Every theater has to have an exit door to outside, and unless the door sweeps are perfect and replaced regularly, mice can usually squeeze through. And then there's so much crumbs that they don't want to leave or go to traps. And the movie theaters typically have enough food waste outside that attracts them to the area in the first place. It's a very annoying cycle.

I mean, yeah people pay more for a camping spot around here than some hotel rooms

^{Rolled: Without: Sleeping Indoors}

In the last picture, the grey metal part of the fence frame. Those are your hollow and I kill nests in them every year.

Since there aren't any serious answers, I'll try. Could be the larvae moving if the nest is still active, though doubtful since I don't see any wasps guarding it. When I remove old ones, I notice that spiders and earwigs like to take up residence in some of the combs. Also there are dermestids like carpet beetles that will feed on the nest.

Genuine question, is the annual production so low because we lack the capability to efficiently produce it, or is demand just really low?

Well this looks like it's maybe a covered porch? So it could just be shelter from the wind. They may or may not have a food source nearby, but this is exactly what they do on the cabinets surrounding someone's sink when they're breeding in or near there.

The body shape and color to me look more like dark-eyed fruit flies but I can't say for sure

Ah, well I mean I'm going to assume there is some form of void above your ceiling. If you can't check it directly, you might go all around the exterior looking for any signs (high or low) that rodents are entering. Though that's easier said than done, if you don't know exactly what you're looking for. This one might call for getting a pest service to come take a look.

For me, I guess what I wish my scheduling took into account is rivers and bridges. There's a lot of days where, if you look at the map, my stops all look pretty close together, but there is a river between them and you have to drive 20 minutes south to cross a bridge to then drive 20 more minutes north to access the other half of them. Doesn't sound that bad I guess but it gets old fast. Especially when there are plenty of other stops due in the month on either side and the day could easily have been all on one side or the other.

Hm, you know, I bought that when it first entered early access, had some fun, but put it down. I should look into what it's current state is like. I appreciate you reminding me of it.

NEO Scavenger, haven't found anything else like it, to me it is perfect. Turn-based survival game, quite difficult. Wish it was longer and/or had more content, but everything I've ever played that's supposed to be "similar" has fallen short to me.

What kind of mouse? Deer mice I like contrac all weather, house mice lately I've been loving terad3 for

Man, that was all super depressing to read. Makes some things make more sense though. And I guess I'm glad I know all that now. But man. Fuck.

That's a tough one! Great pictures, and great description, I wish I had something more to contribute, but I just wanted to say that, yes, I think that the method you're describing (often called trench-and-screen) could work. Would be tedious, and would require a lot of bends and angles. You'd wanna bring it about 2" up over the siding and screwed in, crimped to the wall, screwed into the foundation with concrete screws, crimped back outwards, brought about 6" under the soil, and then out another foot or more.

Though, unless things have been trying to get under the slab, you may not need to trench it at all and just bring the screen a couple inches over the siding and then a couple inches down the concrete. I'll be interested to see what other suggestions people might come up with though.

Do you have a crawlspace?

Happy I could help! Yeah no, rodents are everywhere and we just like to try to not think about that. But just about every account that starts up for ants or spiders,, after inspecting, I'm like, "I'll take care of your mice/rats too" and they're always like "we have rats?!" But like, yeah, if you haven't been making sure that you have zero holes around the perimeter, it's nearly an inevitability.

Pic one looks like plant debris. 2-5 does appear to be droppings but if that's all you can find, it could literally just be a new problem that they were unaware of. Not quite "find a different rental" territory if you ask me. But I'm an exterminator and I can find at least a little bit of rodent activity at nearly every home I check out

Depending on your area, often soft-bodied ticks exclusively live in rodent burrows; you might wanna check your attic

Got any can lights?

On second thought, maybe a grasshopper mouse would be a closer guess? I see deer mice a lot but there's just something off about its eyes.

Deer mouse or similar I believe. And I think it's less that they can't get out and more that it's safe and they can survive on such a small amount of crumbs that it probably didn't want to get out (or it did get out occasionally but came back)

You would think that they could still get you, but I specifically remember watching Billy the Exterminator and he would just open hand smack and kill paper wasps. Idk, maybe they did still sting him sometimes and he was just used to it? Not sure but it always made me nervous watching him do that as a kid lol

Picture 7 does appear to be a chipmunk hole

Whoever you go with, tell them you just need "general pest control" and ask your tech to see if they can figure out how the rats are getting in. And then hire a cleaning company to do the cleaning. "Exclusion" will run you $1000+ but if you're willing to seal the entry points once they've been identified that will save you a lot of money. And they charge a ton for "clean-outs". I'm an exterminator living in South Salem. You're welcome to message me with questions.

They're so dang tiny, I kinda think no wrong answers. They'll be able to get where they need to. But I'd put it closest to the heaviest activity, so probably pantry yeah