Mouse in the kitchen PLEASE help

[Pizzaaddict]

A few weeks ago I was sitting watching tv and suddenly spotted a mouse dashing past the living room door from the kitchen, heading god knows where. I jumped up and it darted like a bat out of hell back to wherever it came from, which (by listening) I realised was in a corner of the kitchen. Lots of rustling noises and then nothing. I found a hole in the corner and filled it with foil that same evening. The foil remained intact but the next night the mouse appeared again like clockwork (assuming it was the same one).

I bought traps (horrible and I don’t like the idea of killing but I can’t handle catching and releasing - I don’t drive and I know they need to be released a good distance). Anyway the traps remained empty for a good two weeks and I thought it must have been just one rogue mouse and it must have found it’s way out and gone. But no. Yesterday it appeared again, much later, obviously it had been lying low until it thought I had forgotten.

I rechecked all the traps which are underneath the cupboards.. lo and behold half of them have had the bait removed but there is not one dead mouse.

I feel absolutely sick to think they are wandering round my house when I sleep. I have young children and a new baby due soon and I can’t cope like this. I also haven’t the money to pay someone to come and deal with them. What do I do???

For what it’s worth my house is clean, there are no food sources easily accessible and I hoover crumbs etc every day. I have a feeling it’s something to do with the neighbours who left a few days before the first sighting, they must have lost their food source and are seeking out a new one.

HELP! I don’t want to resort to glue traps, I really don’t. Or poison as the thought of a decaying mouse carcass stinking the place out is terrible.

Get some cheap poison pellets from your local shop, put them down any holes you find & block the holes with very cheap brillo pads, you need to have a look outside where they are getting in your house, look for any pointing missing,holes where TV aerial or sky cables have been, get all holes filled with cement. If you have any long Grass on your property, get it cut. Mice hate their habitat being rearranged, move furniture around to disturb them.

I had mice 18 months ago and after a few weeks of trapping them myself (Nutella as bait ) I had to give in and get the professionals in. I put it off because of the cost but couldn’t cope anymore. I didn’t go with the main chain, I went with a local pest control company which wasn’t very expensive at all.
Definitely money well spent.
Also when you say you use foil, try steel wool instead as they can knaw through foil

We're fairly rural and right next to a field so mice appear every autumn. Cats were the best thing to help and the pest control man got rid of the ones in the loft.

My mice never touched chocolate or peanut butter. Snap traps useless. Only glue worked but grim as hell.

I'd get someone in too. We had the council round - £90 for 3 visits which I thought was well worth it.

Most important thing is to find and seal the entrance point.

Have a look around every drain pipe, radiator pipe, air brick and vent. They only need a tiny gap. Use a tube of expanding foam.

Please please people don't use pellets. You never know what other wildlife will be affected. Owls, birds etc. Also to poison a living animal to death is horrendous. Use humane traps or the ones that snap their backs.

I have a chronic mouse problem and they seem to be too clever for the humane traps. I wake up every morning to a dismembered mouse by the back door. The cat has killed so many and still they come...

Please don’t use glue boards, they are horrific. The animals will literally chew off their own limbs to get away. And they scream. Hearing a rat scream when stuck on a board is not a nice experience. Get some snappy traps and peanut butter for bait.

I’ve found Maltesers to be the most effective bait!

The only mice I have a problem with are the ones the cats bring in to play with.... There's currently one hiding in my bedroom somewhere, I'm sure they'll get it when it emerges. If I see it I'll pop a bowl over it and take it back outside, but it depends who finds it first!

Cats are not a miracle cure for mice.
Some cats like mine bring mice in and then let them go.

@ThreeLeggedCat

I had not heard of glue boards. How horrifically cruel. I don't know how anyone could use them.

@ThingsImighthavedone I didn’t really realise why they were so bad until I went out with the rat man on a visit at work. The only circumstance where they are okay to use is where you can dispatch (kill) the animal pretty much the moment it steps onto the board. Our Ratman did this exceptionally quickly and effectively. But leaving glueboards out is a complete no no. Also you sometimes get some complete muppet (me) who steps on a glue board. Believe me they are bugger to get off the bottom of your shoe!

Cats are not a miracle cure for mice. Some cats like mine bring mice in and then let them go.

But the mice won't stay. They're not dumb.

I only needed a kitten for my mice to miraculously disappear.

I don't give mice a chance to make themselves at home. The traps come straight out.

I live in a wheat-growing area, in an old house. I have poison permanently out and snap traps permanently set.
I’ve got a phobia but even I wouldn’t use a glue trap. Imagine when you close it to stamp on it to kill them, but you’re squeamish so don’t do it quite hard enough and it’s not actually dead but squealing. I would have nightmares.
Everyone always says don’t poison as you’ll get them dying in the walls; I’ve been poisoning them for nearly 20 years and it’s never happened here. Of course it could happen but not very common I don’t think. I wouldn’t want to take that chance on a rat, probably, but a dead mouse will dry up pretty quickly and have no smell.

They really don’t dry up quickly and have no smell. They smell terrible for at least two or three weeks, although if it is warm and they are somewhere accessible to flies they will get eaten by maggots v swiftly, so less smell, just a houseful of flies 🤢 We have also had this, it was v grim.
The people bordering wheat fields, or with mice only coming in when it gets cold, probably have field mice rather than House Mice. Easier to deal with as they can be released without guilt !
I get bank voles coming in when it is v cold. I rather like them and leave them alone, they don’t stay.
The deaths in walls/under floors here are due to fibreglass under the floorboards put there by a previous owner. They sometimes nest in it, and I think ingest some and die. 😢

They definitely do dry up quickly where I live but that’s in a hot, dry country and it didn’t occur to me that it would be different, but that makes sense.
Mine are house mice, not field mice though.
Better to rely on others’ advice on this, OP.

In a hot, dry place they would desiccate much faster, yes. I am in Wales, not known for being hot, or dry.... .

Humane traps work, use peanut butter or jam rather than cheese. You then need to work out how they are getting in, with us it was that the home for the tumble dryer vent was too big and they were getting in through the gap

Borrow a cat or ring the council and pay for them to deal with the problem. But a cat is your best option. One of mine is a ruthless hunter who very rarely lets his prey go live in the house and when he does, you know about it because he knows where they are hiding and will not leave the spot all day. Fortunately most things he brings in are dead - an 8 inch (body) long rat today.

But failing a cat, I would pay for proper pest control. I can understand your reluctance to sleep at night with this going on.

We have 2 cats . And get mice .I think they come from house next door under the floorboards .

I hate them .I use humane traps but am lucky because have son who releases them .Have also succesfully used cardboard shoe box ( lid on ,small hole cut in side )to catch mouse .

I think the poision used by professionals somehow dessicates the mouse ?So no smell ?

No no no no to glue traps .

Do you rent OP? If so I would check your tenancy agreement re:whether you are responsible to resolve this or any damage they may cause (and they can cause a lot).

Personally I'd call a professional for a quote, spending money on bits and Bob's all adds up anyway. If you really can't, peanut butter seems very popular to attract them to snap traps. Glue traps are vile.

Just lay poison if you are desperate, they will multiply very quickly now the temp is dropping and they'll be nesting. The smell won't last forever. Mice decompose fairly fast due to their size.

I am in Wales, not known for being hot, or dry.... grin
I'm in sort-of-outback Australia - not known for being damp

Outback Australia ? Amazing. I imagine anything dead there desiccates or gets eaten pretty swiftly !