Tell me how to get rid of mice! Desperate!

[FlatsInDagenham]

We've had mice in our Victorian terrace for too long. Many months. We've used a humane trap and we did catch 2 mice ages ago using that, but this latest batch don't go near it.

Every morning I come downstairs to find mouse poo behind my sofas and all over my DD's highchair . They are also slowly killing my piano from the inside by leaving poo / wee / dog biscuits inside it.

Last week we put poison down, but so far there is absolutely no change and the bait trays don't look as if they've been disturbed.

What should I try next? An old fashioned spring trap?

By the way, I don't really want to kill them but the poo on the highchair really gives me The Rage and the humane trap isn't working.

[elcranko]

Have you tried one of those plug in things that make buzzing noises that mice apparently hate?

Get a cat.

Call rentokil.

[FlatsInDagenham]

Has anyone tried peppermint oil?

I can't afford the plug in thingy or rentokil.

[Ezza1]

Can you phone your Council environment dept for advice? Our Council comes out for a small fee for pests (used to be free!) Works out cheaper than Rentokil.

I do feel for you - we once had a rat problem thanks to a house 3 doors down - affected the whole terrace. Council came out and put bait down over a 3 week period amd didn't have a problem after - this was a while ago when it was free though.

[catpark]

House insurance companies often cover 2 visits from a pest controller as part of the policy. I'd check with them.

Mice have inherited memory so if a mother mouse knows something is poisonous she passes it to her babies. That is why at first bait seems to work.

Personally i'd bypass traps/bait and go straight to fumigation. You have to be out the house a few days and afterwards you get a smell and flies from the rotting corpses but it does kill them off.

[hellsbellsmelons]

Council for sure.
Mine get rid of rats and mice for free still. (I think!!??)

[cantspel]

Get in pest control. Poison traps need to be put along the areas where they travel and use a poison they will take back to the nest with them.

Check for holes where they are getting in and your compost heap if you have one.

[christine44]

Get a cat and your problem will br solved without any poison. Worked for us and kids adore them

[Patchouli]

Our council do rats for free, but charge for mice.

The old fashioned 'little nippers' spring traps aren't pleasant, but work.
TBH the humane traps weren't that humane - as catches waned, we forgot to check one and later found a little starved mouse, also they panic so much.

Chocolate is the best bait.

We have to be meticulous about clearing up food crumbs, not leaving washing up til the next day etc

[iloveny001]

I have mice in my bedsit and its hell as I'm allergic to them. I got some basic scoring traps but the bugger is eating the bait without setting them off. There is a type called Big Cheese I think, they are a better design and are ready baited. Am off to get some this afternoon. Mice also love peanut butter, try that as bait?

[capticorn1]

Try chocolate in the traps, mice like chocolate. Or push poison bait into chocolate

[Misspixietrix]

are you renting OP? If you are Call your Maintenance or Repairs line to get put through to their Pest Control. I feel for you I had them once and they literally drove me up the wall . I think you might have to resort the spring traps. We put everything down and our upstairs neighbour had one of those electric things put in that he Got from homebase. Tip. Dont put cheese in the traps neither. Chocolate always Made our little bleeders pests come Running.

[pinkfelttippen]

They take longer than that to go for the bait. Put the bait down, perhaps behind the sofa or in the piano, and leave it. They won't touch it until they're absolutely sure it's 'safe' - they're quite clever you see. That might take a couple of weeks.

And yes, plug up all potential entry holes with wire wool - apparently it's the only thing they can't chew through.

We had a rat. My own fault because I left a bag of birdseed on the dining room floor for a few weeks, then one day I came down and found a hole chewed in it and a few bits of birdseed sprinkled about. So I put the birdseed in the shed in a metal bin, and then nothing happened for about two weeks. Then one night I came down around 3 a.m. to go to the loo and thought I saw something shoot past the bottom of the stairs. Then nothing for another two weeks, when a cereal packet had been knocked off the kitchen counter and a piece of cake left out on the chopping board had been dragged across the kitchen floor. That was my clue that it was a rat, because mice don't generally drag largish things around. Only rats.

Cue the big guns. I plugged up all the potential entry holes, and put traps and poison down. Nothing for ages, then one morning, something had been trying to chew through the bottom of the back door - presumably because it couldn't get in through it's normal route!! So I put poison down in the shed outside, where I figured it must have been living, and it didn't touch it for a couple of weeks, when suddenly, one day, it had all gone.

Haven't had a problem since.

[lollylaughs]

I feel for you op, these little so and so's are terrible to get rid of. We have had mice and rats on various occasions, we tried humane traps and those plug in things (don't waste your money) but our mice and rats seem too smart for those gadgets . Without fail, whenever a mouse or rat gets into our house, they ALWAYS end up underneath our bed. I have no idea why, but it freaks me out. We see tell tale poos lying around I brace myself. At this point, trusty Labrador enters the scene. He is overweight and the most lazy dog, until he gets the scent of the rodent..... Quick at lightning he usually catches them. One of the little devils even jumped on his back one night............ of course I wasn't able to assist, rather shouting '"its on his back, its on his back" standing a good distance away on my stool wielding the broom .

But on the odd occasion trusty Lab isn't up to the job, I admit to using poison. I tried peppermint oil, and all the other natural type repellents, but they haven't worked for us.

I should add that the mega rat who visited us for a good length of time would polish off an entire banana or pear each night. I found pear pips and banana skins behind the couch along with his poo's. I really thought the dc's were doing well eating their 5 fruits and veg per day..... hmmmmm
(I even found quality street wrappers behind there.....)

Humour aside op, they are awful things to get rid off, but you do need to wait a bit for the poison to take action. You have to make sure they cant get into any other food as they wont eat the bait otherwise. Then it will take about 4 days for them to die.

[PseudoBadger]

Professional pest control (council or private) - they will kill them then tell you where to proof so they don't come back. Anything else is false economy.

[80sMum]

Call out pest control. Sounds like you will need repeat treatments over several weeks. They will advise as to how and where the mice are getting in. Block up all possible entrance holes. Once the problem is under control, get a couple of cats.

[Damnautocorrect]

Check for broken air bricks, any damage outside and block the holes.

[secretscwirrels]

If you are seeing so many obvious signs there will be a lot of mice. Plug ins don't work and traps will only get the odd one.

You need pest control. Ring your council.

[JuliaScurr]

Moth balls with naptha
we had loads of mice with cat, no mice with mothballs. put in a perforated container where they come in. they hate the smell

[HumphreyCobbler]

you need to sort this out properly and stop trying to be humane. Get the council in. Mice wee constantly, there will be mice piss all over your house.

We suffer from them here and use poison to get rid. One year they climbed up my christmas tree and ate the middle out of my stylish dried orange slices.

[vixsatis]

If you go for a cat, make sure that you verify mouse catching skills first. Ours are useless and I had to take to a rat with an umbrella.

[roses2]

My local poundshop sell wax traps, worked a treat for me but you'll need to kill them when you find them stuck.

[hellymelly]

Some types of humane traps only catch heavier mice, (the black plastic tip type) so the secret is to add a small coin to add to the weight so that even tiddlers get caught, we had all ours that way. Peanut butter is the best bait. We have the metal humane traps now and do catch mice or voles whenever we get them coming in. Please check humane traps several times a day though, and release any mice in an area where they can find shelter quickly and leave a small pile of peanuts so that they have food on hand. The kill traps do work, but are pretty horrible, as you can imagine. Avoid at all costs the sticky traps, i think they are completely inhumane.

[SecondStarToTheRight]

Mice love snickers bars,.....

[Hippymama]

I live in the countryside and many of my neighbours have mice. We've got a cat and have never had a mouse in the house.