Mice!! In the walls

[Deminism]

I had mice in the bedroom which was so upsetting but I have identified the hole they were getting in through and blocked it up with wire wool and filler and now they aren’t coming into the room but I can hear them in the walls. Aaaargh. What do I do? Victorian terrace. I can’t have a cat

Do you have air bricks? If yes you need to cover them with a fine mesh.
Any holes in the walls need blocking up outside
It will be worse because it’s winter
Don’t feed the birds outside and make siren rubbisj and recycling is not providing a food source.

No air bricks. Should say that bedroom is top floor

Have you checked the loft/ put bait down? Also if you can hear them are you sure they aren’t rats?

I checked loft and seems ok. Bait is down. I have examined the droppings and internet suggests mice not rats (thank goodness)

Yes they will be in the loft. Put traps in there and block up any holes they can get in.

They will nest in the loft in the insulation probably. We had to use flea bombs in the loft after they left - poor ds was getting bitten whenever we opened the loft hatch (was in his room) so might be worth thinking about

Sorry to introduce more nasty thoughts!

We had loads of them in our walls (Victorian house) and tried traps, poison everything! Nothing worked until I bought plug in sonar things on Amazon. They came 4 in a pack and I spread them all around the house. Mice were all gone in 2 days. I’d highly recommend them.

• wire wool in every hole you can fit a biro pen in (I've unfortunately seen them emerge from the pipes by a radiator - room was carpeted - but the floorboard hole underneath was bigger than the pipes and they sort of pushed up the carpet).

• peppermint oil on cotton wool balls - allegedly a deterrent. The third time we had mice (we've lived in a lot of rodent hot spots) we had a crawling infant so non toxic methods had to be explored.

• call out a professional! Although one of our landords used Rentokill and the guy kept coming out mainly to chat me up (shudder) and wasn't hugely focussed on sorting the problem. We would have used the council services in the flat we bought (a lot of councils offer it) but our downstairs neighbour refused to believe there was a problem. Hard to fix it if not everyone is on board...in the end we moved - far, far away and to a semi.

• the sonar things are useless - I've seen mice dancing around underneath them. Maybe peppermint oil is equally useless but at least it smells nice and they did seem to attack more places without it.

• the live traps - sure, try them if the thought of the diseases they carry and the poop they leave everywhere doesn't make you queasy. We tried live traps in the early days - BUT you MUST release them at least 5 miles away - more ideally. Mice have an incredible homing instinct.

• the snappy traps - traditional is best in my extensive experience. Cheese doesn't do it for most mice. Peanut butter; chocolate or jam is more likely to make them come forth.

• box everything you can in your kitchen - mice can climb.

• if you have seen one mouse that means there are likely to be many more living around you unseen.

• be wary of removing all food sources without seeking professional help as a colleague of mine did this and the mice ended up chewing through her cashmere coat in the hall and then her electrical wiring. That was very expensive to fix. I didn't live with my colleague - she ushered me into her office when I mentioned 'mice' at work to tell me in hushed tones her experiences.

• Good luck - you have my sympathy - I hope your mouse problem is quickly solved....

oh and mastic up any external holes (that's what the Rentokill man ended up doing on his very last visit when I was unavailable...)

As it’s a terrace they may not be getting in via your property but through others.
So depending on your neighbours, you could ask if they’ve also had any issues? Call out a rodent expert and see if they can spot an entrance.

Put traps in the loft if you can. And I would poison - we’ve done that and yes it stunk when a mouse died but it was over after that.

Apologies just seen you've wire-woolled the hole in your bedroom. But wire wool every hole in your property. They don't look at houses like we do - there aren't really rooms to them as they can zoom about the floorboards/between the walls. So all holes in your property need blocking - including the loft. It really sounds like a professional job - I think last time I looked our local council was charging £75 for 2 visits... My parents (in the countryside) paid a private chap (not Rentokill, not a council employee - they wanted to ensure an unmarked van turned up!!) they paid about £150 i total and it took three visits...

Sadly @Iggly in my experience neighbours can very often be ostriches in the sand. Hopefully the OP's aren't though.

One of our neighbours point blank refused to believe there were mice. We were 'dirty' apparently. These mice obviously had a lift which went straight to the first floor... The neighbour the other side of us (we were in a very large house converted into flats) laughed and said 'oh Mr Jingles!!!' - they knew about it for months and hadn't said anything thereby allowing the problem to get worse.

So neighbours, in my experience, are (1) unlikely to be truthful and (2) unlikely to be helpful. If they can't SEE the problem they won't believe the problem. And sometimes despite seeing the problem they prefer not to be the first to talk about it for fear of being seen as the dirty ones...hence we now no longer live in a flat and also have a terrier.

We just had mice and managed to get them with mouse trap with mince pie in, got 5 in the one trap first night, another sugary cake will work. Cheese they were not that bothered about. Once one has gone in its easy to get rest, presumably trap smells of mouse then. Also clean everywhere so no food bits or animal food anywhere though be careful to use gloves etc for mouse droppings. Ours were after the chickens food and coming in for warmth. Good luck, maybe call professionals if dont go quickly as they breed very fast.

LAST thing - if you do poison (we did, before children) make sure it's the self-mummification stuff. Prevents a nasty whiff. Think it costs a bit more. But worth it.

This is so helpful thank you. What traps did you get that can get five at once @Silkieschickens? I am incredibly squeamish about having to deal with the bodies though.