MOUSE IN THE HOUSE!!!

[tigerbear]

Okay, I have suspected for a while that we may have mice, but DH didn't believe me. Haven't seen any droppings, but just had the feeling they were there- slight rustling and noises, etc.

Anyway, one ran into the lounge this evening and we thought it had disappeared into a hole in the wall, but it just ran back in!!!!

I need your top tips for getting rid of them (am sqeamish about traps). To be fair, we are more or less inviting them in, as we have a pretty big gap under out front door (which opens into a shared hallway with other flats) and there are numerous small holes around the flat (quite difficult to cover up, as they are around radiator pipes, bathroom pipes, etc.)

DH reckons they will get in no matter what, as we live in an old building in central London, surrounded by restaurants and food places, where the little beggars like to hang out!

Any suggestions?

[HolyGuacamole]

Humane mouse traps baited with chocolate. We have one as I couldn't bear to have dead mice lying around. I think we have had about 5 mice this year so far. Someone said "there is never just one mouse" and they are right!

DH takes them away in the trap and drops them off a couple of miles up the road. Put steel wool over any holes and check all your cupboards to see if they are accessing them, look for crumbs, little bits of chewed packaging from food packets etc (one even got into our cleaning cupboard and chewed a sponge!). Sometimes it is a matter of blocking somewhere off after you have discovered that they are getting in as it's amazing how small a space they can fit thru! I don't know if you will get rid of them completely, but at least you can stop them getting anywhere near your food, crockery etc. Make sure your floors are free from crumbs too.

I think they are kind of cute....but I'm still scared of them

[1dilemma]

You have to get rid of all food left lying around crumbs, baby bits dropped on floor etc etc.
We've had several it certainly helped when we tightened up on the food front.

I want to move

[Shells]

Horrible isn't it. We have them too. I second the wire/steel wool - its good for round pipes and little holes.
We have done traps too - but DH has to do it as I'm too pathetic.

Do the best you can with the holes and try and keep your crumbs etc. under control. Are your food cupboards high up? If not then box up all food they might eat - flour, sugar etc.

[SolidGoldBrass]

There, there. I have had problems with the little furry bastards too (but oddly enough, despite the fact that I am a housework refusenik, far less tham some much more domestic-goddess types have had. So it's not got that much to do with your housewifery).
I favour metal snap-traps baited with Bounty bars: to remove trap and deceased pest, put a plastic bag over your whole hand, pick the thing up, turn the bag inside out, tie it off and drop the whole lot in the dustbin.
Can you get a cat? Or if you already have one, feed it less?

[Sibble]

The old fashioned wooden/plastic snap traps are the only thing that works imo. We live in the country and are plagued with them when it rains. We use peanut butter as bait, have been known to catch 3 in one hour. Once I've heard it snap I just don't look for a few minutes until I'm sure it's dead. Sorry also agree that it's unlikely there's only 1.

[HolyGuacamole]

Oh, you're all so......cruel....



I too am pathetic

[tigerbear]

at the thought of more than one scuttling about, but you're all right - there are so many holes for them to get in, and so many restaurants next to our house, that it would prob be weirder if we DIDN'T have them!

Off to buy some wire wool, traps, and boxes to store cereal / food in!

The thought of them being in my bedroom freaks me out the most - can they climb up into beds????
Someone once told me that mice can't climb vertically, only rats can - if so, then how do they get into first floor flats?

[VinegarTits]

Oh i have mice, in the past i have tired all kinds of things to get rid,
moved all food to a high cupboard so they cant get to it, put peppermint oil (apprently they are allergic) everywhere

I used to have humane traps and set then every night, then i i caught one i would take it to work with me and then let it go (if you let them go near your house, they will find their way back)

Nowadays if i see one i set my own trap, i put buscuit crumbs in the bottom of a long empty bin, lay it on its side, sit and wait, when mousey crawls in, tip it up, mice cant jump very high, so it will remain at the bottom of the bin, carry bin outside and let it go.

Expert mouse catcher me

[tigerbear]

Has visions of VT carrying mice to work in her bag!

[VinegarTits]

Lol, i put the trap on the front seat with mouse inside, i'm not scared of mice, i remember ds1 was on his way out one day and i said 'here take this with you' handed him a mouse in a trap and told him to let it go when he reached work

They probably enjoyed the journey

[Bakersman]

Why not use poison? You can get it from any DIY store. Just make sure it's well out of the way of dcs.
Also put a draught excluder (the brush type ones) along your front door as it deters them from crawling under.

[tigerbear]

No DC's, so no worries about putting poison down.

Lol at VT with mice on her car journey!

[Sibble]

We found ours were immune to the poison, it was disappearing but they were still rife . Everybody we knew were using the same type. That's when we swapped to the old traps.

[tigerbear]

VT - Have just splashed a full bottle of peppermint oil all over my flat - smells nice!