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Mouse droppings!! Please help

16 replies

PrincessConsuelaBannanaHammock · 15/12/2018 10:25

Found some mouse droppings this morning. I am totally freaked out and i know people are going to say that lots of houses have them but I feel disgusting. So other than burning my house down what suggestions do you have for getting rid of the house invaders?
I've had dp block up the tiniest of holes we can see (there was one quite big next to the boiler that I think may be the culprit)
I'm going to buy one of those plug in things too.
We don't leave out any food or anything.
Please give me ideas before I drive myself insane and hurry to the cat and dog rehoming centre for a cat!! 😂😭

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CalamityJane10 · 15/12/2018 10:28

We started off with plug in - didn’t work

Humane traps - mice were dying of fright when we took them to set them free.

Only thing that worked was poison and wire wool in every crevice.

PrincessConsuelaBannanaHammock · 15/12/2018 10:30

Thanks CalamityJane10 , I have a toddler so a bit scared to pop poison down, do you think i would be best ringing pest control or something to see what they would suggest?

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ErictheGuineaPig · 15/12/2018 10:35

Don't get a cat! Ours keeps bringing live ones in, the stupid bugger.

We have humane traps which work reasonably well. Pop a bit of peanut butter in as bait. I think we ordered ours from amazon or somewhere? They're pretty cheap.

Missingstreetlife · 15/12/2018 10:36

Glue traps work but it is a bit gruesome, use chocolate for bait. Keep putting traps down several days after you think they've gone. Poison is better if you get one that pest control use now, they become immune to those that have been around a while. Alert your neighbours.
Clean all surfaces with disinfectant and spray with peppermint oil (few drops in a pint of water) they hate the smell.

CalamityJane10 · 15/12/2018 11:56

The poison we had came in small tamper proof boxes, so should be ok for toddler. I would give pest control a call.

CalamityJane10 · 15/12/2018 11:56

Goodluck Flowers

misscockerspaniel · 15/12/2018 12:49

Sadly, humane traps don't seem to work. B&Q sell traps that (unfortunately) do kill but death is instantaneous. Can't remember the brand, it might be something like the Big Cheese. They work and have excellent reviews on the website.

Frenchfancy · 15/12/2018 12:52

We'e had pretty good results from humain traps, but you definitely need to bait with chocolate (or nutella).

Poison can go down underneath kickboards, the mice will go elsewhere to die, there is no danger for your toddler.

GaryBaldbiscuit · 15/12/2018 12:53

i would put poison down, have you looked in your attic?

Fromage · 15/12/2018 13:01

The main thing is to make sure there is no access to food. Keep everything in high cupboards/tins/plastic boxes. No fruit out, hoover/sweep/mop all areas where food is eaten daily. Any food you might leave out - even bread in a bread bin - they will smell and come for a look. Where there is no food source, there will be no mice - they don't travel far from home for food.

Block holes with wire wool and polyfilla/specialist rodent hole blocking compound. Don't bother with expanding foam - it's porous, they smell food through it and they can chew through it too.

Mice can squeeze through the tiniest of holes - don't assume a gap is too narrow. If you can poke a pencil through it, a mouse can get through.

Spray disinfectant and peppermint oil can act as a deterent, but the plug in mouse repellers are only of use if the mouse is within ear shot of the thing - the noise the repellers make doesn't travel through walls or furniture.

Snap traps are the most humane way to deal with mice - humane traps are all well and good but where are you going to release the mouse? If it's in a field, it will die a gruesome outdoor death and if it's near someone's house you're giving them the problem. Poison will kill a mouse slowly and painfully, and other animals will eat it and get a dose of the poison themselves. And while that might sound like a 'two birds one stone' solution, what if the dead, poisoned mouse is nibbled by a pet cat or dog? Also, a dead, rotting mouse in the walls will stink your house out till it's totally decomposed. And glue traps are just cruel.

If chocolate and peanut butter don't work in a snap or other type of trap, try dry cereal or butter. Not all mice go for the same snacks, picky buggers.

PrincessConsuelaBannanaHammock · 15/12/2018 14:32

Thanks everyone. Am home armed with big cheese traps & plug ins and peppermint oil. Completely bleaching & disinfecting the place now. It's just not ideal timing because we only bought the house a couple of months ago and I'm struggling to settle here anyway and this has just made me feel worse Sad
Will see what we can do ourself and if that doesn't work I'll ring pest control. Strangely enough we do have a terrier type dog who seemed to sleep on the sofa the full night and hasn't even noticed Confused
I also read they don't like light so will try leaving the lamp on downstairs at night too. Might be total rubbish but I'm willing to try anything!!

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TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 15/12/2018 14:37

Totally agree with Fromage. Snap traps and blocking holes.

DaisyDreaming · 15/12/2018 14:40

Humane traps if you will check them daily, the snap ones if you don’t so the poor thing doesn’t suffer. You need to find the entry point. I’m sorry to say we thought we had a mouse in the loft and that it had been visiting just the room below. It turns out the mouse had been using the whole house, I even found a food item from the upstairs room downstairs in a pile in a sofa bed. It caused so much cleaning and hard work. You need to pull everything out and examin every item, it’s a nightmare. Once caught (we finally managed to catch and release) it took so much steam cleaning and every item looking at. Our Christmas presents had been nibbled, it had nests everywhere and it’s main home seemed to be 5 inches from my mums pillow. Honestly when we saw where it had been we thought we were dealing with loads, but turned out to be one mouse

Nat6999 · 15/12/2018 14:55

I had a mouse problem at my old house, we had only just moved in & the garden was like a wasteland, grass waist high in the middle of winter. I rang the council pest control service & he couldn't get out to me for a week, I wanted rid of them asap, I got some cheap poison pellets from the local shop & put them down every hole I could find & then blocked them up with cheap brillo pads, I found they had got in through a hole from an old tv aerial wire, I blocked it up with expanding builders foam. Within 48 hours the scratching stopped & we never saw another one, we never smelt anything from dead mice. If you have any long grass outside, get it cut back & cleared as it is a perfect habitat for them. I've been told they don't like change, so move furniture & keep on disturbing them as well.

PrincessConsuelaBannanaHammock · 15/12/2018 14:57

Thanks. Oh no DaisyDreaming that has totally given me the fear!! No grass outside garden is completely monoblocked so they can't be hiding in there at least!

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PrincessConsuelaBannanaHammock · 15/12/2018 15:00

We have found 2 possible entry points downstairs that have been blocked up. Will get dp to check the attic!

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