Argh I've got mice, help me!!!!!

[lowcrabdiet]

I've spent the last few days in a total Rona Slump, with zero motivation wondering what the point is this Christmas.

Well I found my bloody motivation today, it was under the kitchen sink, right next to all the friggin mouse shit that wasn't there 2 days ago.

Give me your best mouse eradication techniques! There are a million different traps and poisons online but I don't know what is best to deal with this as quickly and decisively as possible.

I'm headed out to buy a shit tonne of bleach, what else do I need?

P.s. I'm not a mouse hater per se, I've had quite a few pet mice over the years and I think they are adorable as invited guests who stay in their allotted spaces. Actually pretty perfect pets for kids. But I don't want wild ones running rampant pissing in my cabinets and eating all my Christmas treats

We had them a few months back and they became part of the bloody family they were that hard to get rid of. They'd just come and sit in the sodding living room with us while we were watching tele!

We started with humane traps with various treats to entice them in, but not one of them went in one. One of them sniffed round the entrance, but seemed to guess it wasn't a great idea to go in.

Then we tried snap traps and caught a couple, but we then also put poison round - we only managed to poison one, and if I'm honest I wouldn't want to do that again as I found it in the bedroom really unwell and it just looked miserable ... would have been better snapped.

It took us 4 months to get rid of them completely, but the answer for us was traps EVERYWHERE.

Get a professional in. They reproduce like buggery so you really need to kill the feckers off properly and quickly. They will also try to identify the point of entry. I know of which I speak - our pest control guy is practically a member of our family after 20 years of regular visits to our friends in the attic

We need a cat. The mice were kept under control, but since he (our cat) passed away they have been nibbling at my larder supplies. In refuse to lay down poison or to kill them, I just want them deterred and to move elsewhere.

I have found the only way to get rid of them is to get those blue pellets of poison and to put a pile in each corner of every room. If you put a sheet of kitchen roll down and make a neat pile, you can see which ones have been disturbed. I've never seen a mouse again after doing that.

We've had to have the mouse catcher in 3 times before all our visitors got the message
He swears by Snickers bars as bait, apparently works much better than anything else

The trouble with poison is that the mice eat it and die in the floorboards or in wall cavities. Then you have an awful mousy stench that can only be described as rancid cheesy chicken! Sorry but its dreadful. A cat is your best option if you dont want traps. My sister got a mouser cat especially and no sign of the mice at all.

We had the Same! A family moved in and used to chill in the livingroom! I caught loads, but they just kept coming! So we went round and sealed any potential holes they could get in from the outside, caught the last few and haven't had an issue since. :) must have filled their entrance :)

Any holes you can't seal, stuff with wire wool & sprinkle peppermint oil or Olbas oil in your cupboards. Set quick snap traps with peanut butter or nutella.

Snap traps. Instant death. Poison is a horrible way to die, and the smell is horrendous if they die somewhere inaccessible. The sticky tape type stuff should be banned.

I was too lenient when we had them in the garage, then then got into the house, shat in the cutlery drawer and started a luckily small electrical fire. I then resorted to traps.

I've got an excellent mousing cat, but we still got mice ( a couple I'm sure were ones he'd taken a liking to and decided to live with).

Anyway, I bought these: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07HDZT74Z/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8, laced with peanut butter, and that did the job. Caught one the first night, and a second about 3 nights later. We were also having building work, which may have disturbed them.

At least it wasn’t a rat. Me and DH listened to one making its way across our ceiling (under the floor boards in the attic Ie. DS’ bedroom) yesterday evening Problem is we live in a terrace of wooden framed cottages, they aren’t in any one person’s house.

The mouse (probably family of mice) that lives under our bath is just a fact of life now tbh.

Thanks everyone. I will add wire wool (will Brillo pads work?) and olbas oil to the list.

I had worried about how I would find and dispose of any poisoned ones, so you have set me straight on that one. I will definitely get snap traps.

I think they might be in the chimney. A few times over the last few days I've heard noises which I put down to crows dropping things down the chimney pots, or a bit of soot displacing, but it's clearly the little squeaky feckers isnt it!

Right I'm off to screw fix for the traps and will report back!

We’ve had them recently and pest control laid loads of bait boxes everywhere.
We’ve sealed where we can but it’s a Victorian house with air bricks to the cellar which we need for ventilation so can’t seal everything. Only thing for it is to keep the poison topped up. We haven’t smelled anything so far and tbh I’d rather that than be dealing with dead bodies in traps.

We had them in our kitchen in January.

I noticed droppings for a couple of days suddenly, not loads but I think I caught it early. I only actually saw one as I put the light on and it shot between the cupboard and washing machine. We tried humane traps but they wouldn't go near them, so ended up just getting snap traps because I didn't want to poison them. Caught three in a week but never saw anymore. We used the Big Cheese ready baited ones.
Then we were having our kitchen redone anyway so sealed up any possible entry points with wire wool and haven't had anymore and no evidence of any either.

Has anyone used the traps that give an electric shock

Maybe the recommendations of peppermint oil and olbas oil aren't to deter mice, just to disguise the smell of decomposing mouse corpse.

We called on the professionals, they came twice. Poisoned the bastards. Haven't seen them since (either mice or professionals).

We never actually had mouse families, but often the carpet brings them in and gets bored and they move in under the kick boards, and nap behind the fridge.

I used to spend hours moving everything, catching them in my hands and releasing them.

Then one died somewhere in my range cooker and made the most awful smell, followed by cremation when I tried to put the extra oven on one Xmas. Since then, and a subsequent one who bit hard, I have put traps down and they always catch the mouselings.

They are long grey tubes, with snap traps at the end. I recommend Nutella, they love it. Just a note though. Don't forget you have put them down, check regularly for dead mice. This summer one hot day, couldn't understand why my kitchen was suddenly full of flies. What I found under the utility room sink was like hell.... Bleuch......

The carpet !!!!! The cat of course 😂

Snap traps everywhere, baited with chocolate.

Next door had an infestation earlier in the year. I used glue and snap traps. The glue traps were the most effective.

Please don't use glue traps,they're really cruel.

They're less cruel than poisoning. They get stuck, you finish the job with a brick/ your boot, job done.

As others have said, the ONLY thing that works is blocking every single hole so they can’t get in. It truly works though. Traps and poison don’t, might kill some but others will keep coming back.

Wire wool and expanding foam will do the trick.

Good luck!!

I've been to screw fix and got 8 snap traps. Then to home bargains for a tonne of bleach and marigolds and Tupperware to store bread/cereal bars etc in. I forgot the olbas oil but I think we have some in the medicine cupboard.

I also bought snickers to lure them into the traps.

This is not the last minute festive shopping I thought I might be doing this week

What is best for sealing up holes? I have found some crumbled up mortar on the floor beside the under sink cupboard, so I'm suspecting that's where they got in. I've bought wire wool. But can I use the stuff you fill holes in plaster if there are gaps in the bricks, or do I need proper mortar/cement? Will they just chew through silicone or foam sealant?

Mice & spiders don't like the smell of peppermint. Mice love silicon. Try expanding foam