Think we have a mouse.

[badg3r]

Last week our downstairs neighbour jovially told us she had seen a mouse in her kitchen, before leaving for three weeks to America. Today i found about 8 mouse droppings in the corner of the lounge, on the baby's play mat (boak). We live in a big old house converted into flats. Is there any possibility it was a one of?! What do I do? Traps and poison with a baby who eats everything sounds like a recipe for disaster...

[MarkRuffaloCrumble]

Apparently they like peanut butter. Could you get a humane trap an put some of that in it? Unlikely it's gone for good if it's found somewhere nice to hang out! Check your food cupboards for signs in there too.

If a neighbour has a cat you can borrow that's probably the quickest way to dispatch it though, if you're not too squeamish. I tried traps for a couple of days until I saw the little bugger staring at me from behind a box of biscuits, it scuttled off so I introduced my cat and let them sort it out between themselves. Cat thought it was his birthday!

[scrivette]

I had/have mice at the moment and as I didn't fancy the idea of cleaning the traps (and have a dopey dog and inquisitive four year old) I called the Council.

The man came and had a look around and said where he thought they were coming in and laid traps with poison in.

The poison is in a little box so that the dog and child can not get to it and the man will come again in a couple of weeks to remove/replace boxes as need be.

All the information was on my local councils website and cost £74.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Whatever you use please dont use glue traps, they are horribly cruel. I'd get a professional in and get it done properly.

Would your council come out?

[LucozadeBreath]

We have a cat who likes to bring mice in while they are still alive. She lets them live in the house in an undisclosed location until she is ready to finish them off. Usually DH and I locate the house guest in plenty of time, before the house is full of little poos, but the cat likes to put them in little gaps I.e. Behind the washing machine/fridge, so we use a blob of peanut butter to entice it out and have the cat on standby to kill it....which she does with impressive force agree with pp further up the thread - glue traps are cruel....borrow someone's cat if you can. If my cat is anything to go by, he/she will kill the mouse very quickly

[wonkylegs]

We found the quickest most effective things to properly get rid of mice are old fashioned snap traps with a bit of peanut butter on them. Put them out at night when the baby has gone to bed and move them in the morning. We get mice off the fields and this is the best way to get rid of them and keep them gone.
If you are squeamish throw the whole trap away with the mouse rather than removing it.

[dementedma]

I have a mouse just now. Found the hole in the skirting board in Ds room where he gets in and out (the mouse, not Ds). Have had live traps down for a week with peanut butter in and no success in catching it, despite it poking its head out of the hole and watching Ds playing xbox for a while and sniffing the peanut butter scented air. It is outwitting us. If I block up the hole will it just gnaw another one somewhere else?

[WanderingTrolley1]

I'd get the professionals in.

[badg3r]

Thanks for the advice! Will call the council on monday then. Where is good to buy snap traps? No poo this morning, living in hope ignorance that this was maybe just neighbour's mouse on a jolly.

[badg3r]

Oh and good luck demented, seriously hope our furry friend isn't as clever as yours!

[Nonnainglese]

Peanut butter or melted chocolate on a snap trap bought from a hardware store?
You'll need to keep resetting it as you catch them as it's rarely just the one, and they breed like rabbits..... I thought we only had 1, but caught 7 over a weekend!

[Catzpyjamas]

Please don't use snap traps Humane traps from B&Q work well baited with peanut butter. You need to check them at least every 8 hours. Also find where the mice are getting in and block up any holes or you will just get more.

[HellKitty]

If the mouse is alive then you have to dump it at least 2 miles away or it'll come back - apparently!
My DM went off in her car one day with a load of mice she'd caught. It was like a day trip.

[badg3r]

We're central London with no car. Think it'd be ok to take them all to Wimbledon on the tube? where they are getting in is anyone's guess... we are first floor but have a balcony. How small a hole can they squeeze through?

[marmaladegranny]

Sure residents of SW19 will be delighted!!! How far away is that from you?
They can squeeze through a hole the size of a pencil….

[wonkylegs]

Humane traps really don't seem work, the number of people I know who use them and have a reoccurring problem because the mice just come back.
Snap traps might seem harsh to some but they are a finite solution.
You can buy traps in diy/hardware stores

[NorksAreMessy]

I live on a farm and we are fairly blasé about mice (also have two killer cats and four terriers, so they don't seem to come in too much)
Sorry to say, I would recommend snap traps, peanut butter and binning the whole things.

BUT, the idea of you buying teeny tiny tickets for mice to go on the tube has tickled me :)

[Catzpyjamas]

Yes, you do have to take the mice a distance away (more a flitting than a day trip ) but humane traps do work if baited and set properly. They also need to be checked regularly or the mouse will chew its way out after too long.
The mice aren't deciding to come back because they know they won't be killed. Even with death traps, you will keep getting mice if you don't find and block up their entry route.

[OverAndAbove]

We sometimes get them in off the fields too; I'm expecting to hear scuttling around about now...

I've never had any success with humane traps - they are wily little critters. Likewise poison. The snap traps usually work and it's a quick death (albeit loud, as it usually happens in the dead of night) We buy them from the local hardware store and chuck the whole thing with the mouse in it.

[westcoastnortherneragain]

Get some wire wool and block up
Any holes or openings you might have, they can't chew through it.

Yes to peanut butter on a trap, esp at night, perhaps remove in the morning if baby in the same room?

[Gobbolinothewitchscat]

Call the council and/or get some snap traps.

Mice are incontinent and piss everywhere. Plus they can destroy electrics. Not something you want running around the house

They are not an endangered species and snap traps work quickly. The humane traps are crap

[badg3r]

Ok snap traps it is. Council is £104 per hour. There were only 8 poos on Saturday and nothing since. That's over a tenner a poo. It's going to be Ok, right?!

[MarkRuffaloCrumble]

My DP caught some mice with humane traps, he put them in his car boot to take them on a one way journey, but then forgot they were in there and one of them ate the other one So much for humane!

Good luck OP. I remember feeling really bad about killing them the first time we had them - they look so cute! But then when you see they've nibbled into all your food and weed/pooed all over your kitchen you don't feel so bad!

[echt]

Hilarious thread, especially the mouse-on-mouse violence.

Back the OP; you never have a mouse, only mice. Same for rats.

Cats are usually good, except for our cat. When presented with an, I shit you not, eyeless, white mouse (think three blind mice from "Shrek", minus the canes and dark glasses) did nothing.

Our dog, bred to the point of incapacity, could not kill it (retriever), so picked it up and dropped it until it pegged out. Probably due to saliva overdose and maximum droppage.

[HellKitty]

My very fat old ginger Tom had a specific way of dealing with mice. He'd put them under the rug and sit on them. He'd then take the flattened dead mouse (like it had been cartoon steam rollered) and dump it in the dogs water bowl. He hated that dog.