Oh bugger. Saw a mouse in my kitchen

[broccolibush]

I have to burn the flat down now don’t I?

I saw something small and dark scurry along the kickboard in the kitchen and then turn and flee at my sharp intake of breath. I’ve pulled the kickboards off and looked underneath but couldn’t see much aside from dust and random screws. Lots of holes along the bottom of the walls though where there’s no skirting board.

We’re on the top floor so I assume if we have mice then downstairs neighbours will have them too and we’ll have to treat collectively. Can’t imagine that’ll go down too well when we tell them all.

Surely the easiest answer is fire?

Mouse traps loaded with peanut butter. Or I got a plugin device that claims to emit a sound that mice hear and we don't, that puts them off. We never saw any again after getting the device.

Welcome to my world! 😁 This was me earlier this week but I'm a bit relieved its mice and not the return of next door's rats.

I ordered traps from Amazon which I've put down. The sonic device doesn't really do anything. Before the traps arrived, I put tubs of neat bleach under the kitchen cupboards because apparently rodents don't like the smell. My house smells like a swimming pool now 🤢

Don't panic OP. You'll soon be rid!

This was us last Xmas, we got traps and put sticky mars bar on them so they have to work to get it off, we trapped 4 altogether including a pg female.
You need to try and find out where they are getting in though and block it. We had replaced a drain from the kitchen sink and there was a tiny bit of mortar missing about the size of a penny. It can be tiny

Good tip about the bleach - I have that on hand and don’t mind the place smelling a bit swimming pool like.

I keep telling myself that if we have mice we can’t have rats. It’s scant comfort tbh but is something. I’m just boggled that they’ve finally made it up here. Never seen one before in 20 years - assumed that as we’re at the top they’d never get here. How naive.

Saw a pest control van in the car park a few weeks ago so assume they’ve just been moved on to our block.

We've had one in the house and tried the trap/peanut butter thing with no luck. It shot down a vent that led to the garden so we were convinced we were rid of it but it shuffled out from under the kitchen island yesterday looking distinctly unwell. It disappeared back down the vent but we think it has finally gone now. DH found a tiny hole by the vent and has carried out major repairs so hopefully there will be no more. Good luck OP 🐁

Stuff any gaps they might be getting through with steel wool (for example, where radiator pipes come up through floorboards).

Dispose of caught mice quickly as mice soon get wise to the traps.

Remove any food sources from view i.e. fruit bowl.

Good luck!

Had a little search this morning and found droppings in the airing cupboard - which we just moved our washing machine into so there are clearly holes around the pipe that we had installed. We have wire wool and are popping to the local store for snap traps. This is horrid but peculiarly fascinating. It’s like a treasure hunt with a really rubbish prize.

I live in rural France.
The mice were playing in the loft at 3am.
We also had 1 in the kitchen but since I put the humane trap down they've not been back.
They will though.
If you have any gaps where they're getting in push wire wool in, they can't chew through it.
They don't like deep heat either, especially if it touches their paws.

We live in a Victorian house in the country - I've come to the conclusion that we have little visitors whether we like it or not.
Snap traps for the mice
Humane traps for the voles
Not because I'm being kind but because the mice never get caught in the humane traps but the voles do and vice versa for the snap traps.
Stuff every hole we come across no matter how small and accept that they run inside the walls no matter what we do.
Keep food away in sealed containers.
We generally don't have them in the habitable space anymore but they are under the floor, inside the walls and in the loft.