Mouse in the house

[Gwenhwyfar]

I hear noises in the kitchen, went to see and a mouse ran past. It went back to behind the boiler. I suppose that could be the entry point. If so, there's no way I'd be able to seal it as I can't get there.
What should I do? I'm quite scared at the prospect of mouse traps, but I find poison to be too inhumane. I rent, but I suppose I should try to fix the problem myself before calling the landlord?
Or should I call the landlord on the basis that it may be affecting other flats in the building with the same landlord.

Humane traps work well. If you have a tumble dryer, check they haven't chewed through the vent hose, that's what happened to us. The dog sniffed out their access point!

If you do use snap traps, seal the corpse in a plastic bag before you put it in the bin. Dog poo bags would probably work well.

Otherwise you will stink your bin out and run the risk of a plague of bluebottles. In fact, I'd stick them in a dog waste bin if you haven't got an outside bin of your own.

We have mice and can catch four a day.

We have had a mouse problem this week and have so far caught 7 (4 in the kitchen and 3 in the loft). Used the plastic big cheese traps off amazon with some peanut butter on, not the humane version. Mice are sweet but I don’t want them in the house.

You can put down humane traps but it depends on the extent of the problem. Try it first but you may need to report to landlord re pest control.

Seen it again. Definitely a mouse, not a rat. Maybe even a baby one, which I suppose means there's a whole family. It was around the same place again and ran away when I came in.

Get or borrow a cat. They're not all good mousers but the cat smell will deter mice. Also, this is teaching Grandma to suck eggs territory, but make sure that there's no crumbs or food scraps lying around as mice don't need much to feed well.

When your landlord is responsible
^Your landlord is responsible for dealing with pest problems if:
repairs are needed to stop pests getting in
an infestation makes your home unsafe to live in
Repairs
Rats, mice and other pests can get into your home because of repair problems.
Your landlord should repair things like holes in external walls, broken vents or air bricks, damaged doors or windows and other cracks and gaps that pests can get in through. ^

@Bluerussian

Call your landlord OP. I've had this in a few rentals.

screwfix mouse trap baited with peanut butter. Takes under 5 seconds for a clean bloodless kill. Collect the trap (you don't have to touch the mouse), take to a hedge in a park or similar if you don't have a garden and drop the mouse at the bottom of the hedge. The local foxes/badgers will do the rest.

not a landlord job. Common problem at this time of year.

not humane traps, very stressful. Not poison, rotting dead mice in the walls. And absolutely not sticky traps, very cruel.

and not a cat, are you going to keep it under the floorboards or in a cupboard?

I've got pest control coming out today. I live in a 1880s large detached house on edge of town. I can hear them in our (empty and not boarded) loft and I've seen one in the kitchen and living room. Our dog killed one. I've put out snap traps but they managed to lick the bait up (peanut butter) without it snapping. The exterminator will put done an anticoagulant. It will kill them but painlessly (they get weaker and weaker). She said the mice tend to be outside during the day and come in at night, so hopefully they'll die outside. It would be almost impossible to seal up all the entry ways as there are small gaps around pipes and that's a good entryway.
As for cats - they always bring in live mice, have a play then let them go - more mice!

"this is teaching Grandma to suck eggs territory, but make sure that there's no crumbs or food scraps lying around as mice don't need much to feed well."

I've just had a clean now. Will need to clean floor more thoroughly soon. I know they don't need much, because I found out about them as they were chewing kitchen foil.

"Call your landlord OP. I've had this in a few rentals."

I will contact the landlord on Monday just to let them know even if I manage to get the situation under control myself with traps over the weekend. I suspect the mice are at the neighbours' as well and I don't have the authority to move things like the cardboard that goes around the boiler.

Cat is out of the question anyway as I'm allergic.

Borrow a terrier or a cat, if you can. For a week if possible.

I might still be fatal for (at least some of) your rodent visitors, but it'll also be a good deterrent. Even if they cannot reach every cranny.

You do need to warn your neighbours, so you can all take action together. No point in clearing your flat if they camp next door. For they'll be back

Sorry x-post (slow typing on my part)

I'm allergic to dogs as well as cats. No way can I borrow a dog as I work.

I've put down a small snaptrap bought at a really cheap shop with some peanut butter and cotton wool, which they apparently love. Nothing yet, will see tomorrow morning.

I realised last night that the mouse was in my bin bag. Before anyone says anything, I live in a flat and am obliged to have three bins inside - it would be illegal for me to take them down to the street before bin day.
So I put the snap trap in the bin. This morning I can hear that she's still there so obviously not interested in the cotton wool and peanut butter I put as bait, even though it seems it was trying to get at my cotton wool yesterday (I saw on youtube that they love it for nesting).
So, what to do now?

Did you ever want to own a cat? I haven't had mice soince I have a cat. He doesn't catch them but they tend to stay away from houses with cats.

Make sure the mouse hasn't eaten through the packaging of any food in your cupboards. Friend of mine heard noises in her kitchen, opened a cupboard door and saw a mouse munching away on food they had gotten to through eating their way through the packaging.

Please remove the snaptrap immediately (if that involves injury and death), that's awful.

Buy a humane one, it's what we use. When you have trapped them, take them over a mile away and release them.

This is what we did, successfully, and are now mouse free.

Devereux - I'm not going to walk a mile away to release a mouse that will then just go into someone else's home.
I really don't want to cause unnecessary suffering, which is why I won't use a glue trap or poison, but I don't think releasing a mouse in a city is a good idea as I would just be making it someone else's problem.

"Make sure the mouse hasn't eaten through the packaging of any food in your cupboards. "

It's in the bin bag at the moment, but I will keep checking the cupboards. There's not that much food that can be chewed on in there, mainly cans.
I don't understand why the mouse won't go into my trap though. I might need to try chocolate instead of peanut butter, but I'm afraid to put my hand in the bin bag again now.
I think I need to buy more traps, but there are no DIY shops in the city centre, they're all far away. I got the one yesterday from a bargain shop down the road.

If you see a mouse, you don't have a mouse.

You have mice!

There are almost certainly more. Get pest control in ASAP.

Once again - I'm allergic to cats and dogs. Mice are probably healthier for me than cats!