Invasion of my home and property! HELP!

There was been an invasion of my home. And it isn’t the first time either. MICE. There are freakin MICE in my home! A few weeks ago I was in the barn getting the horses their supper when I saw a little mouse zip across the barn isle and I about lost it. Then last week I was pulling down horse blankets looking for a specific one and I found a little stash of cat food that had been placed in one of my blankets. Great. Mice in the barn, which is to be expected in the country. But in my freakin house!

Hubby called me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I put a fake mouse on the living room rug. Hilarious, but no I didn’t do it this time. Sure enough a mouse went to the middle of our living room rug to die. I thought that maybe the dogs brought it in and were leaving it there for a snack later. But he said that the mouse was clean and not slobbery.

Last night when I was going to get the dogs their supper I looked down and noticed the bag had been chewd and some of the food was spilled out on the floor. If my dogs wanted into the bag of food, they would tip the whole thing over not chew a hole in the bag. Yes I know, I know. Storing the dog food in the bag and not a container is partially my fault for the mice but still. YUCK. And the worst part…it’s out on the porch/laundry/storage room. It was at one time a porch but it had walls added and then it had pipes added for the laundry and then tons of cabinets and a closet. So naturally I started putting all the boxes I had yet to go through in there until I was ready to find homes for all of my treasures. Okay so it kinda looks like a hoarders room right now but I’m GETTING TO IT! Now I’m absolutely terrified to open any boxes for fear that a mouse has made it his home for his little family. YUCK. I jokingly told my friend I was going to buy some snakes and set them free in my house. I’m scared of mice AND snakes but the snakes are less creepy. YUCK, YUCK, YUCK!
I don’t know if I mentioned before, but we had a friend bring some cats to our place. I saw the first one for about .5 seconds. My hubby let her out of the cage and she took off. I don’t know where she went as the barn was closed. We figure she was hiding somewhere and we’d find her later. Nope. The second cat, I never saw. Our friend dropped her off when we were in town at a wedding. He said he dropped her off and she tried to take off down the road back to his place. He caught her and put her back in the barn. Never to be seen again. I had made a really nice warm shelter for the cats in one of those “dogloo” houses that I filled with hay and straw. I also put out fresh food and water but apparently they wanted nothing to do with it. I think the problem is that they were older and feral and wanted to get back to their home. They did not like people. At all. Which I guess is okay, in a barn cat. But I kinda like friendly barn cats.
I’ve been searching on Craigslist for another cat or two. I’d love to get one that is already spayed/neutered and up to date on its shots. There are plenty of those out there, but they are declawed. That won’t really work for an outdoor cat. The fact that there are mice in my house, I will let the cat come into the house if he/she desires. I grew up with house cats, and I actually kind like having them around. Of course I don’t like the hair they leave on EVERYTHING, or the fact that I need to clean a litter box, but they are nice to have around.
A friend suggested I go to the local humane society and get some cats. I would, but years ago they shot me down from adopting a barn cat. I went in to inquire about getting another cat for the barn I was managing at the time. I walked into the room and saw all the cats, and then they asked why I was looking to adopt a cat. You’d think I told them I was going to use the cat for a sacrifice or some sort of morbid ritual. They promptly said “these are indoor only cats. I’m sorry”. I told them that the barn was nicer than most people’s homes (it was, that place was rediculious) , was heated, it would recive proper vet care and the cat would have fresh food and water daily. But they kept shutting me down, they didn’t even want to listen. So later that week I was at a horse show when I saw some girl had a bunch of kittens that she was trying to find homes for. I took one home and I have to admit that cat got better care than probably most of those cats that did eventually find homes. The cats at the barn had their own room, they received science diet cat food (canned food in the am, dry food in the pm), had vet checks with the horses, and one day the owners of the barn thought the cats needed some toys so they went to petco and brought those little monsters a cat tower, a new bed, and a whole bag of toys. I spent most of the day with the cats (they would ride in my hood when I was doing chores). They were loved and treated very well. PLUS they loved catching things and leaving them by my barn boots. Please tell me why that life was worse than living inside a house? Whatever I guess. I think I’m just going to have to pick up a few kittens from someone giving them away instead of trying to do something nice and adopt one.
Anyways, I am going to the store after work to stock up on TONS of mouse poison, maybe pick up a few snakes from the petstore, I will look into adopting a mountain lion or bobcat to live in the barn, and inquire about falconry. I think having a trained falcon would help with the mouse problem. If you have any advice on getting rid of those awful mice creatures. PLEASE let me know. I’m growing sick of them!