Can one coexist with mice?

[AveAtqueVale]

Recently moved into new house, cat has been at times suspiciously interested in the skirting boards. Today chap went into the eaves space to check insulation and reported there are mouse droppings. Have not noticed any sign of them in the living spaces or the kitchen. The house is very old. Basically, do we have to do anything about this, or can I just let them continue to live their mousey lives behind the walls and in the eaves, and only swing into action if they start encroaching on our living space/ helping themselves to the Frosties? The thought of poisoning them all or evicting them just before winter does not appeal.

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And no, you cannot live with mice, they are incredibly destructive, messy and their need stinks to high heaven. They will wreck your house left unchecked.

Mess, not need

We had mice, they have on two occasions chewed through our plastic water pipes causing extensive flood damage.

I don't eat meat and can't cope with killing animals, so we lived with our mice for a while. Huge mistake, they crap and piss everywhere, it's the pee that's awful, it stinks, dries sticky and obviously soaks into and wrecks anything that isn't washable. They chew everything, it wasn't food stuffs that were our issue, but they got into the wardrobes and wrecked clothes and shoes.
They breed like hell and stink when they die.
We eventually settled on humane traps, it's not ideal as supposedly they die when they are out of their territory, but if you release them too close, then they return. We caught 19 of them, I released them in waves, 5miles away, with nuts and dried fruit. We had two types of traps, one type that were 'big cheese' ones from B&Q, they were useless and some eBay ones that were very cheap and effective (I'll find a link). I baited them with peanut butter and chocolate.
I'm still cleaning up the mess, and keeping the traps down, as we can't keep them out due to living in a terrace which is open under the floors to our neighbours houses.

These were the effective traps, though I bought mine on eBay, but can't link those.

www.sealantsandtoolsdirect.co.uk/manufacturers/fixman_uk/fixman_bird_pest_and_security_protection/fixman_humane_tilt_mouse_trap_674723_P29513.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjw6eTtBRDdARIsANZWjYb6AALvk7PZr-nARs62tbEDFBtpI8qo4xYDd9Au1lDQ48MpZnzDhDkaAtf9EALw_wcB

Oh and...( Wish there was an edit) we tried the electronic repellent plugs, they were very expensive and useless.

Mice chewed through the phone lines in our house. Cost us a fortune.

Sort of depends on what sort of mouse. House mice make everything smell. Wood mice that come in for Winter shelter don’t have the same smell. Some houses will always have mice, we get voles and woodmice coming in when the weather gets colder, but we don’t have them all year.

Kill them. They cause disease and death. Not a subject to be namby pamby about.

no. Buy some snap traps and check regularly. Peanut butter is the way to go with bait.

'humane' traps stress the mouse out and waste fuel, glue traps are revoltingly cruel and poison will mean rotting dead bodies hidden away (and is also cruel). And many mice are now resistant to the standard poisons.

leave it and you get filth and damage. Peak housebreaking season is now so get on with it.

Your household insurance is quite likely to exclude damage caused by vermin. Which as examples upthread make clear, may be far from trivial.

The fire risk worries me too much to leave them unchecked. We had no (visible) signs of mice until I moved an armchair to hoover underneath it and a bugger ran out. We put lethal traps down and caught one. I am still worried as was always told where there was one there was ten so keeping the traps down but no more signs yet.

We lived in a house where mice would come in. We used to have one that ran along the top of the fireplace almost every night!

We had 5 cats at the time and not one of them ever caught one to my knowledge.

Me and DH don't believe in killing any creature so we left them. They just seemed to go of their own accord. Our house certainly did not smell of pee and neither did the house catch fire!

If we had had to get rid of them we would have got humane traps and released them a distance away

Get plug in electronic rodent repeller. They emit a high pitched signal that mice cannot stand. The mice will move out.

More likely they will have a good laugh at you wasting your money.

We have tried three of increasing (claimed) sophistication and cost. I have seen mice mooching around in front of them, apparently unconcerned. They simply do not work.

Either that or our mice are deaf.

They are incontinent , so yes they just pee constantly .
You will also find their droppings in places you'd assume they can't get to.
My friend had hooks on her wall, she found droppings in the mugs on the hooks .

God no. If I found evidence of mice in my house, I'd be straight on the phone to Rentokil.