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Original poster

Mice getting me down. How long will it take for the little fuckers to die?

27 replies

Idontdocold · 31/10/2019 11:32

We had mice last year and stupidly didn’t do anything. We saw some droppings, put some humane traps down and then we didn’t see anymore droppings... until a couple of months ago.

I tried the humane traps again and they didn’t pick anything up so now I’ve put some poison in a bait box in a cupboard where I think they are coming from. I hadn’t seen any new droppings until this morning when they were in DDs pushchair envy < not envy!

I’ve ordered more bait boxes and some big cheese snap traps which will arrive tomorrow.

How long for the little fuckers to die? I feel so dirty and like I’m gonna make DD sick having them around.

OP posts:
BillHadersNewWife · 31/10/2019 11:35

We had to find their entry points and fill them up with spray stuff. That did the trick. Put all your open food in tins and tupperware and clean out each cupboard too.

Original poster
Idontdocold · 31/10/2019 11:37

That’s the thing, I can’t actually see where they are coming from

OP posts:
WaningGibbous · 31/10/2019 11:38

Just remember they rot when they die Hmm

Original poster
Idontdocold · 31/10/2019 11:44

Ah I forgot about the rotting. Agh this is so bad. Assuming that they actually decide to eat the poison...

OP posts:
Fsid00 · 31/10/2019 11:47

Traps with Nutella on them worked for us. Not humane unfortunately but I couldn't bare the noise of them scratching under the floorboards every evening.

Caught 6 in a week, and that was that.

Haven't had them since. We live in a Victorian terrace so next door had them too. They used the same plastic traps from Wilkos. They were coming up through the gap between the skirting boards and the floorboards.

MaxNormal · 31/10/2019 11:53

The poison for mice and rats is horribly cruel. How long to die? About five days in agony as they haemorrhage internally. If any owl takes one in this time period they'll die horribly as well, or any cats.

I really wish people would just use the breakback traps, they kill them instantly and are the most humane option.

Strawberrycreamsundae · 31/10/2019 11:53

I used snap traps baited with melted chocolate or peanut butter and caught 8 in three days.
Put the traps behind things, not in open spaces?

helpfulperson · 31/10/2019 11:53

If you use some like the rentokill bait boxes they don't rot. They mummify. You have to be very careful with pets and children because it is quick acting and they don't always make it back to the walls. You may find little mummified mice in the room but it is at least satisfying to know that they are dead!

Wexone · 31/10/2019 12:06

Dunno if you have tried but Cats are great for keeping mice away, Have a Tom cat and femae cat and no mice for years, even the neighbours notice. Do expect some to be dropped at your door step as presnets though :(

bilbodog · 31/10/2019 12:09

Weve just hopefully got rid of mice using the snap traps with peanut butter - they had been under the bath and Were chewing through a pipe connection - only realised when water started dripping through the ceiling! So you do need to geton top of them. They will chew electric wires as well.

Nat6999 · 31/10/2019 12:19

I put really cheap pellets down every hole I found & then blocked the holes with cheap wire wool pan scrubbers, I went all round the outside of my property to find all the gaps where they could get in, I got the council to put cement in all the gaps, 48 hours later, we were mouse free.

OverthinkingThis · 31/10/2019 12:19

Raisins are also good for baiting snap traps

Original poster
Idontdocold · 31/10/2019 12:21

I didn’t realise that @MaxNormal Sad I just got frustrated because the humane traps weren’t getting them and I had enough of them being in the house, especially now DD is crawling.

I’ve also bought two of the snap traps so I’ll use them first.

@Wexone - I would love a cat! We have a dog though and our house isn’t suitable so not an option at the moment Sad wouldn’t need one if the dog actually did it’s job.

OP posts:
Wexone · 31/10/2019 14:03

@idontdocold have a dog too, he no good, just looks at them and walk away :) he gets on very well with both cats too, they dont bother each other now

timshelthechoice · 31/10/2019 14:22

Borrow a cat or get one. It's the only thing that worked for us. Poison is awful and a cat also scents everything and puts off the mice coming in.

billandbenflowerpotmen1 · 31/10/2019 14:31

In a previous house it took me three days to know the mice were dead or gone. I used traps

Patroclus · 31/10/2019 14:54

I asked pet control man and he said you dont really have to worry about them stinking when they rot. Once I could smell death and I found one the cat had left under the bed, but thats how close it has to be to be noticable. They will uually go into the walls to die.

Patroclus · 31/10/2019 14:55

I also find the more primitive, no nonsense cheapest mouse traps work best with nutella bait, or a nutella poison bait combo.

Ohnotheinlaws · 31/10/2019 15:01

We had one scratching in the loft this time. Last year. I used snap traps and Nutella. Oh the excitement climbing up there after hearing it snap that very evening... Quick painless death. I now have a moth problem and those little fuckers are much harder to get rid of...

SD1978 · 31/10/2019 15:37

You need to put the traps/ baits down where you see the droppings as that will be their path can you afford to get out an exterminator, and have them look for or work out the likely points of entry?

Original poster
Idontdocold · 31/10/2019 15:56

I could borrow a cat or a Yorkshire terrier I guess.

I’m going to go all nuclear on the mice when the boxes and traps arrive tomorrow.

I’ve put them where I’ve found the droppings recently but I’ll put them where I’ve found the droppings previously as well.

DH is worried though because of the dog but I’m thinking as long as I keep the dog in with us at night then I know she won’t get to the traps and I can move them during the day?

OP posts:
DarnTooting · 31/10/2019 16:32

We had them earlier in the year just as the neighbours cleared their garden and knocked down the kitchen extension (coincidence? I think not). I only noticed when I went to make cous cous for the children's dinner and the packet had been nibbled open Envy

All food is now in Tupperware boxes in the cupboard and that helped a lot. We got about 8 in the snap traps with peanut butter over the course of a couple of weeks. Thought that was the end of things until DD went to put her welly on a few weeks later only to find a decomposing mouse in one boot. Clearly our neighbours used poison!

StartsAtTheMeadow · 31/10/2019 16:32

Not long with snap traps! Use peanut butter as bait.

Original poster
Idontdocold · 04/11/2019 13:04

So I’ve still yet to catch anything but one thing I have noticed is some red mice droppings in addition to brown/black ones.

Does this mean that one of them may have eaten the poison that I had originally put down? (Although I am snap traps now rather than poison)

OP posts:
Molteni · 04/11/2019 14:28

If you use some like the rentokill bait boxes they don't rot. They mummify.

Yes interferes with the coagulation, results in internal bleeding (for a couple of days) and then they dry out rather quickly. If you use a poison like Tomorin (chloralose based- used to be a sedative for humans), it’s fast acting – they go into a coma and then they die. Oh and it has quite a fast half-life; plus the lethal dose is very high for dogs (75 g for a 5kg dog).
Poison is the easiest way if you have a big infestation.