Had a mouse problem for nearly a year. HELP

I wouldn't get a cat! All of the mice we found appearing in the house were due to the cat bringing them in and they were rarely dead!

We had them for about the same amount of time. Did same as you, every possible trap/poison used, little shits must have danced around the traps. Until… we got a sticky trap. Caught the fucker. Knocked him on head. Dead. Thankfully.

I will say that mice doesn't always equate to crumbs...My parents had mice at one point in their home and my mother is very house proud and religiously cleans her floor (on her hands and knee's) twice a day and sometimes more if she feels it needs to be done. The mice just found ways of getting into the cupboards and was nibbling food. She then began to store food in containers in the cupboards, the mice still stuck around and even began chewing non food items.

This south London estate...Is it based in Wandsworth by any chance?

I'm asking as my SIL was living in a council estate near Battersea and the whole block and estate had a rat and mouse problem. Whenever she contacted the council, they did the same and stated it would be too expensive deal with the issue so all they did was place basic mouse traps and poison on tenants homes, but the entry points were left open and the vermin continued to come back.

Cat.

Try and post enquiries locally to see if anyone has one which is a good mouser.

If they are managing to get around the traps, I'm more inclined to think it may be a Rat instead of a mouse. I hear they are intelligent and very hard to get rid of

I've heard Cedar Oil is a good repellent. Rub it on the skirting boards and entry points.

Use Rentokil professional grade rat killer. Stop biggering about and call in the professionals

You need a camera. We tried every trap going and the only way we managed to trap them was to see exactly how they moved across the room/corridor so we could set the traps accordingly. They aren't stupid either and will avoid the traps. Glue traps work best unfortunately but you have to put them in a place they will accidentally run on to them. So for example if you know where they come in, right in the spot they have to step to get in or on the other side of a door if you know they are running under the door.

Your pest control people sound awful - get a proper commercial one that includes a guarantee (usually 3-4 month).

They don't put down traps, they put down bait boxes. Then they eat the bait and go away and die elsewhere

Have you tried Nutella? In my (unfortunately extensive) experience it is head and shoulders over any other type of bait.

Also try and get the old fashioned basic wood snap traps. They work far better than the fancy new styles. They seem to be more hair trigger and with a sticky bait I have a high kill rate.

The only real cure though is to find the entry points. I'm doomed as I have an old stone house with no foundations and they climb up inside the walls and get into the space between the floors. There is no way to stop this so I have to rely on traps whenever we have an unwanted tenant move in.

Are you allowed to get a cat? If so they will kill all the mice for you.

OP, the truth is if you’re not able (or allowed) to move the kitchen units and seal every possible entry point, you will never be rid of them.

Most pest control are useless, only interested in trapping/poisoning. You need to get to the route of the problem. I had a handyman, with one of those enormous industrial sized torches, come and seal around pipes and every crack in the wall. This was after £100s wasted on pest control.

Good luck!

Block up all holes was the only thing that worked for us. Our mice lived in the back of the cooker

The private pest controller who sorted the issue out for us, took all the kick boards off in the kitchen, the side of the bath and put strategic bags of poison down which looked like grains/ seeds. He also surveyed the outside of the house and told us what to seal up. He used that fluorescent pen too re the mice urine. It sorted the issue out anyway, none of the DIY stuff-traps, bait, peppermint did anything (we back on to woods).
So I'm told by husband, because I was living with my sister at this point, as my nerves were shot and I couldn't sleep. Ridiculous I know, but that's how phobias work.

Humane traps? We’ve used them with success.

Mice apparently hate the smell of peppermint. There is a spray you can buy on Amazon. Might be worth taking the kickboards off and spraying it generously under the cupboards.

We now have a dog and I feel quite confident he would sort any future mouse problem out. I realise this isn't feasible for you OP.
One tip, cover over your unplugged toaster every night with a tea towel.
I really sympathise, rats and mice are my only phobia

3 cats all ignored a mouse as it shimmied across the skirting board, they couldn't be arsed. And one of them tends to bring live ones in and let it go so they can all have fun torturing it. Cats are not always the answer

I think tbh it doesn’t sound like you really have much of a problem that you can address? If you aren’t seeing droppings then they are feeding elsewhere and if you share a wall then what can you do?? They poo all the time so you would definitely notice droppings if they were in your flat.

I paid someone privately to block all the holes. They used a special light to see the entry point and trails (apparently mice permanently pee so they leave a trail. He removed all the kick boards in the kitchen and blocked all the holes. Mainly around the pipes. He gave me a one year guarantee. Some nine years later they haven’t come back. Money well spent.

We had this issue in a house once, except it was a single rat- only got rid by cameras down drains and it was using a disused drain and coming up via gap next to heating pipe- they blocked off the disused drain- next night we heard scrabbling in wall and then nothing - unfortunately though we did then 2 days later have huge blue flies throughout the kitchen- took 3 days to stop

We had someone come out and they put down this flourescent powder stuff to track where the mouse was coming from. Did they try that?