Help me get rid of mice. Any ideas?

[moschops]

we've lived here two years and never had a pest problem. then the funeral directors behind us decided to sort out their neglected, ramshackle back yard and barns (actually i liked it, all rustic and overgrown) as a result all the wee beasties that lived there were turfed out and we have discovered we have mice.

i'm not a screaming, jump on a high chair type person when it comes to mice..........the only reason i want rid of them really is because they are so unhygienic.

we've tried some mouse bait but the problem is this stuff takes ages to work and the little devils are obviously breeding too fast for it to be effective. traps don't work, and i don't really want to use the in-humane old fashioned ones as i will cry every time i hear one snap.

have any mumsnetters encountered a mouse problem and anyone have any advice how i can deal with it?

[biglips]

ring your local council and they will come out and help you as they usually put poison on the floor and kill mice very quickly

[RTKangaMummy]

Borrow a cat from someone

[Caligula]

Turn into a Stepford wife and make sure you don't leave a single scrap of food for them - not one grain of rice. Make sure all food is packaged in a way that they can't get through - and that means in airtight containers for many things (I once had mice and the little buggers ate through the plastic of an unopened packet of rice.) You have to be really fanatical about vacuuming up any food though - really fanatical!

If you don't feed them, they'll move on.

[Stilltrue]

Pest control. Coucil or a commercial outfit like Rentokil who will come round, lay effective poison/traps, and then do a certain number of follow up trips to monitor the situation. (You decide how many).

[gingerbear]

council only come out for rats here. If you want mice dealing with they will charge £25!!

Pigeon fanciers have lots of problems with mice, but one I know swears by electromagnetic/ultrasonic plug in deterrent.

pestclear10+

[Azure]

We recently had a mouse or two and successfully used the bait that comes in a little black box. It does take a few days to work, but sounds like it hasn't for you. The other thing we did (ok, my dad did) was tape every possible gap in the wall, around a pipe, etc that a mouse could possibly gain access into the house from. Apparently if you can put a pencil in a hole, a mouse can get through it. DH also clobbered a mouse on its head with an umbrella when he saw it in the kitchen, but I don't like to think of that. I hope you find something that works.

[hamster]

Definitly borrow/get a cat. It worked on my Aunt's rat problem, they were all gone in a fortnight.

[maddiemo]

I posted about a mouse problem a while ago.

The best advice I got was to use peanut butter as bait in our humane trap.

[moonshine]

Ime (and I have 'lived' with mice for years and stopped counting after having killed 40+ mice in our flat!!) the only way to guarantee getting rid of them is to seal off all their potential points of entry. This is bloody hard because, as someone said, if you can push a pencil through a hole then the smaller ones can get through it. Use that foam sealer or wire wool and plug up everything, especially around pipes/wires etc etc. Do you have seals on outside drains and pipes coming in as well? Also, mice are very good climbers so don't forget to check upwards as well as downwards.

Having no food available or having a shiny clean house is no guarantee that they will not come in I'm afraid as no amount of disinfectant etc does not get rid of the urine 'trail' they leave and follow.

Have you tried traps with chocolate or peanut butter? Leave them in various places along skirting boards and turn them round occasionally (seems to fool them sometimes). I think poison is useless - our mice ate the industrial strength one from professionals like it was goiing out of fashion and we never knew if it was actually killing any off anyway unless you find the rotting corpses.

Sympathies - I still lie awake sometimes at night listening out for little rustling and nibbling noises.

[jammydodger]

I second the ultrasonic device thingy described below, it worked for our mouse problem, we never saw one again...get one! Best money we spent.

[jammydodger]

ours was a battery one, not a plug in, think it cost about £25

[Caligula]

I couldn't look at that website - do they really need the portraits of the rats? Stopped me examining the products, a bit counterproductive for me!

[moschops]

well definitely some things to try there. plugging up holes isn't an option at the moment due to building work we are doing.

i did hear rustling one morning and said to dp 'i think there's a mouse in the kitchen bin' he took it outside and took the bag out and there it was this cute little brown thing.......he took it to the field down the road and let it go.

the council are not worth bothering with. they want to charge for everything and have such a big rat problem in the town down the road they won't entertain domestic customers. (it's nearly holiday season why would they want to provide a service to the tax paying residents of the county?)

i think i'll have another go with the traps........

[Mothernature]

I would go to the funeral directors and request they sort it out as they have caused the problem in the first place...speak to your environmental-health department and see if they can help...

[gingerbear]

sorry Caligula!!!

[Stilltrue]

Hate to say this but if you are having building work done which may affect walls/foundations/drains you will have an uphill struggle laying enough traps in the right places. Their habitat having been disturbed, their movements will be more chaotic and unpredictable. Perhaps a borrowed cat would be a cheaper option than professional pest control, but I have to say it was the latter that worked for us (after building work had disturbed the little %&^%s). Good luck.

[throckenholt]

traps always work for us (we live in the country and get mice come in every autumn/winter after the harvest). The old fashion ones you don't like work best - sorry. You have to bait it with something like chocolate, or bread with butter on (they like fatty things - ours will even eat soap !).

You have to be hard hearted - they are really cute little blighters - but you can't let them breed - you have to get rid of them.

They can become immune to poison.

[Caligula]

Horrible sight on a monday morning GB! Like something out of 1984!

[Caligula]

Cute???? cute??? cute???



Shudder!

[strawberry]

Haven't read other posts but peanut butter in a live trap worked in under 2 hours! But then we didn't have loads of them to trap.

The council should be able to help.
Good luck

[throckenholt]

caligula - have you ever looked at one close up ? They really are cute - especially when they are babies (we caught about 6 littlies a few weeks ago in our workshop). It always makes me feel guilty for killing them

[moonshine]

We once had a cannibal gang of mice in - everytime we found one in the trap it's face/body had been eaten away. Cute eh .

[StealthMouse]

you'll never get rid of me

[HappyDaddy]

Cat is the best way in my experience. After a few days the mice smell the cat and will stay away. The cat may never catch any but their presence is enough. Worked for my mil and her neighbour is infested.

[moschops]

hmmmmmmm the reason i haven't got a cat is because i have a dog who thinks cats are great toys.

we have traced a few definite places they frequent so will have to place traps in the appropriate places and see if that works. the poison obviously isn't going to do the trick so it looks like a trip to the hardware store for some good old fashioned traps might be in order. i did mention to dp that they probably just find their way back in if we put them out.

we do live in the countryside and i think its just luck really that we haven't had them so far. mind you, you should see the size of some of the spiders we get in our house.........you can HEAR them walking across the wooden floor.

spiders................ shudder