INDEPENDENCE, Mo.-- Lisa says a mouse infestation at her apartment has been going on for months and wants her complex to do something about it.
She took us to the stove, where mouse poop now covers the bottom of the oven and even inside her baking dishes.
"I don't use those two [burners] because usually in the morning when I wake up there's mouse poop covering the entire thing," Lisa said, who did not want to give her last name.
Lisa, her husband and their three small kids have lived at Hudson Apartments since December. They noticed the mice when the weather started getting warmer.
"Our drywall didn't have holes before, but they're actually chewing it," Lisa said, showing us a hole by the front door.
She said the mice find their way in through holes around the apartment. She's tried caulking the holes but they eat through it.
The mice like to live in the stove, she says, and they tear out the insulation from the walls to make a home.
Our cameras caught a glimpse of a mouse peeking his head out of a hole she tried to cover in the kids' bedroom.
41 Action News cameras spotted a mouse peeking out of a hole in a child's bedroom.
"I'm just really frustrated because if I was a landlord, I wouldn't want somebody living like that. It can make your kids sick," Lisa said.
Lisa said she and her husband have contacted the apartment office nearly a dozen times. So far, they say management has put poison traps in the unit, which Lisa isn't comfortable with either out of the safety of her kids.
Before our interview, Lisa said her daughter brought her a dead mouse that had eaten the poison.
"I think that was the third time she's brought me a mouse, so it's kind of, I know she's trying to help, but it shouldn't have to happen," said Lisa.
We tried to talk with management at Hudson, but an employee said the property manager wasn't there and would call us. We never got a call back.
Lisa said as soon as our crew left, management came to her door and promised to fix the issues this week.
The City of Independence said when tenants have these issues with their apartment complex, they need to fill out a complaint form.
"If we can find evidence it's spread to multiple units throughout the building, then the landlord does become responsible for the issue," said Charlie Dissell with the city.
Dissell said they've received 50 tenant/landlord complaint forms so far this year.
The majority of the time the landlord takes care of the issue, but in a rare case the city could take the landlord to court and issue fines.
Without filling out the form, the city can't legally enter the apartment to do an inspection.
