We have a mouse..... yikes

[Spaghettio]

We think we have a mouse in the area under one of the kitchen cupboards. It's the cupboard under the sink so there are holes for the pipes to go through, these are also the cupboards where we keep the food bin and the recycling bin, so probably the best place for spilt food scraps (our kids are not great at aiming the food into the bins... 🙄).

We've discovered some plastic bags that have been munched on, but no mouse droppings yet.

Can anyone recommend a humane mouse trap? I am definitely not up for poison or a trap that will injure the mouse. Thanks 🐁

[Pipandmum]

You don't have a mouse. You have mice. Just look on Amazon for reviewed traps. But put a few out.

[Spaghettio]

Really? Plural? Never had any before and not sure how they got in.

But this will only strengthen my argument for a cat. 😂

[bravotango]

Yep, where there's one there will be more! Get a cat, but in the meantime do as suggested and get some well reviewed traps. Not poison!

[Zixxy]

The critters are getting in from outside because it is Autumn/ Winter. Check if there are any entrance holes and block them up lol.

Other than that, get a cat. Or the good old fashioned mousetraps, with chocolate as a bait. The so called humane traps don't work well in my experience. There is a park at the back of my house, and I have many long tailed mousey visitors. They don't bother me much, but I don't want 100 mouse babies either.

[Spaghettio]

The cupboard they appear to be in backs on to internal walls - one that goes into the garage/utility room. I'm in there all the time and have never seen any evidence of furry friends (it's not really a garage - it's carpeted and has a table tennis table as well as our laundry area...). This worries me!

I've bought a couple of humane traps from Amazon and tied the door handles shut (more for my peace of mind than being able to stop him 😁).

[3catsandcounting]

We have several cats, all of whom bring their latest catch indoors, and none of whom can get through the cat flap and keep the bloody mouse in its mouth.

I bought this mousetrap from Amazon the other day; it trapped a little visitor within 10 minutes! I put a tiny amount of peanut butter inside and he insisted on finishing the lot before he left.
Get one of these, best we've ever had.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0891VB7ML/ref=cmswwrothhapifabt11_zWzSFbPBBCWMH

[Spaghettio]

That looks similar to the ones I've bought. Let's hope they're as successful as you found them @3catsandcounting (Ps I wish I had three cats right now.... most of the time I'd be happy with one cat!)

Can anyone recommend a cat for an allergy sufferer? 🐱

[LindaEllen]

Our row of terraces is prone to mice, and if one of our houses has them, we all do. So every few years we get an infestation. This most recent one we caught 5, to the left of us got 4 and to the right got 2. I think a couple of houses further down had them as well, but we don't really speak to them.

We tried a humane trap at first, but honestly they just weren't interested. I'd see them sniffing round the entrance to the trap (they got way too comfortable being near us in the house, and used to sit in the middle of the room nibbling on crumbs that SS had dropped, while we were sat right there.

In the end we bought a load of normal snap traps plus poison. Even with those it took weeks for us to get rid of them all - and we are confident we have, as none of us have seen or heard any since the last one was caught.

I grew quite fond of them in the end, but quite obviously couldn't keep them!

[JimmyTheBrave]

Don't want to scare you but we thought we had mice when we found similar evidence (chewed cardboard boxes).

Got a pest guy in who said we had rats. Apparently mice will pretty much always leave droppings and we had none.

We think they were coming in the same way as you describe, hole next to kitchen pipes. We put traps down, caught 4 (definitely rats). Then put expanding foam down the hole and nothing since, touch wood. Although I do think they can chew through foam if they want to, but we're in the process of changing our kitchen layout so this will soon be rectified.

The first thing I'd do is block off the hole. Also put traps down to be sure.

Good luck.

[JimmyTheBrave]

Oh an apparently rats also like peanut butter on traps!

[AngelasLastEgg]

We were terrorised by a mouse this summer, during the heatwave. I’m not just being dramatic! He was honestly a complete bastard.

Started off in spare room as I keep birdseed in there (for the feeder attached to the window) and he had a huge feast. I happened to be sleeping there as it was so hot and woke up to him chomping away, I shut him in and went to the sofa. He tried to gnaw his way out of that room. There was sawdust under the door. Next night he tried to gnaw his way back in, obviously having gone back to his hideout during the day. Then he decided to come and terrorise us in the main bedroom, to get at a cereal bar I’d stupidly left in my backpack on the floor. We heard him scrambling about and moved the bag up high, next thing we know he’s trying to climb the curtains. Honestly he was so bold and did not give a fuck! We had five traps down with a selection of snacks to tempt him but he ignored all of them. Eventually he decided to end his reign of terror but I won’t be surprised to see the little knob again.

We smeared Vaseline On the bottom of the doors, stopped him gnawing to get in.

[Spaghettio]

@JimmyTheBrave that has not made me feel better! I don't think I could bear rats - mice are fine. But not rats!

[Spaghettio]

@AngelasLastEgg I thought by shutting the doors I'd be safe. I didn't imagine they'd chew through the doors. (I'm not originally from the uk, so I think maybe the rodents from my country are a bit .... less aggressive.)

[minipie]

We had a mouse in our bedroom the other night.

The cat had brought it in.

Just saying....

[AngelasLastEgg]

Well he wouldn’t have actually managed to get through. He just had a good chomp and it made a racket all night. Try the Vaseline trick if you’re worried!

[Voice0fReason]

I caught several mice using humane traps and peanut butter.
It has worked every time without fail.
Just make sure it's positioned somewhere tucked away, not in the middle of a room.

www.amazon.co.uk/Pest-Stop-PSTT-Trip-Trap-Single/dp/B00133QS3G/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=humane%20mouse-trap&qid=1605480775&sr=8-9&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

[cloverbug]

Glad to hear you're not going to use an inhuman trap or poison! 💕

[Merename]

We had mice recently, and have in the past in another house. Used traps similar to the one linked above, and caught two, and haven’t seen any poos or evidence since so think we are clear. Moving house in 2 weeks so hoping poor buyers don’t get surprised with more anytime soon! Put the trap along a wall, close to hole you suspect they are in.

[katy1213]

Mice are never solitary orphans. Forget being kind-hearted, you need lethal and effective extermination. Professional strength poison - the stuff in the shops is rubbish - and/or glue. Think of them merrily pissing all over your house and declare war.

[AngelasLastEgg]

Not glue. That’s horrific, they try and gnaw their own limbs off to escape.

[Bumble84]

Are you sure you have mice? A degraded shopping bag could just be the way it is naturally breaking down, if it’s went all shredded I’d say that’s natural but if it’s chewed then yeah probably mice. You will likely be able to smell the urine, it’s quite distinctive. Break back traps aren’t that inhumane but stay away from sticky boards!

[Bumble84]

Oh and also, if you decide to use the humane traps release them far away from your home or they’ll just come straight back in. A mouse can get through a hole the size of a biro pen lid.

[redkenso]

Place marking. We have a mouse/mice. We have tried humane traps with peanut butter, with chocolate and cheese and no luck. We have tried them in several places along where we have seen a mouse, we've had somebody out to advise where to put them but nothing, we've tried conventional traps out of desperation and still nothing so what can we do apart from poison which we are dead set against ?

[cloverbug]

@katy1213 That is awful. There are much better ways to handle the situation then torturing the poor things. As for poison, it not only poisons the mouse but any other poor animal that eats it. Pets, birds ect.

[breatheinskipthegym]

Catch and release doesn’t avoid harm either. Mice are territorial, and a mouse released into another’s territory will be (literally) torn apart by those it happens upon.