What would be your preferred method of dealing with a mouse problem?

[BlueBar]

A friend recommended baited (poisoned) traps as a straightforward way to get rid of the mouse (mice?) in my garage.

My dad says old fashioned spring traps are preferable because no matter how careful you are with the poisoned ones, they have to be disposed of and you don't know what might be affected by them afterwards I.e. what else might be affected by the poison.

I don't love the idea of squashed mice, but they do need to go and none of the solutions are particularly palatable

After my old cat died last year, we had a mouse problem. I tried every type of trap apart from glue traps, including electrocution ones, snap, buckets etc, and baited traps with peanut butter and chocolate. I used ultrasonic repellents. Nothing worked. I didn't catch a single mouse and they were scampering around day and night. We got a new eight week old kitten at the end of January. By the start of March he had caught six mice and I've not seen any sign of one since.

I'm just glad I'm not the only one with a mouse problem! I was making the baby a bottle last year at 3am and one raced across the kitchen counter snap traps were swiftly purchased and we caught one a night for about a week then eventually stopped catching any. It's been months since we had one but I'm not sure if that's just because it hadn't been cold or because a colony of feral cats has started visiting. (I spent a week trapping the feral cats and getting them neutered which reminded me a quite a lot of catching the mice!)

Some sort of terrier should do the job very efficiently.

there was a bit about pest control on Jeremy Vine on R2 today, think it was the 2nd section so about 1230. Very interesting and possibly some options for you on there.

I had a cat and still got a mouse problem, I only realised as she alerted me! Got a man in to use poison as I can't deal with the traps. In fact several men before the problem was solved by concreting everywhere under the kitchen units !

Finding out where they are getting in, why they want to be there, and sealing it up or getting rid of the food. Otherwise the problem just continues. Employ a professional if necessary.
We solved our 'rats coming into garden for chicken feed' problem so a garage would be possible I'm sure.

Snap traps but the cat takes care of any that venture out from underneath the floorboards for me.

The terriers keep the rats out of the garden.

Humane traps and then release them miles and miles away on your way to work or something.

Again, releasing them miles and miles away is not humane.

The mice will be dead by morning but because you personally didn't see it, you can pretend it didn't happen and feel warm and fluffy about your mouse release.

Even animal welfare organizations report that killing is more humane than release into an unfamiliar area.

Snap traps with a bit of chocolate. I had to throw the whole thing away as I couldn’t bear to remove the mice . Block any points of entry ,round pipes etc , with wire wool .

Humane catch and release a long way away.

They are just little mice. I couldn’t kill them.
Poison can kill other animals too such as cats and owls and spring loaded traps can break their legs and cause huge suffering.

Get a cat.

Many years ago my mum found what she thought was a toy farm animal, until it moved.

A mouse had actually made a nest inside the sofa.

We very quickly got a cat after that.

I absolutely won't use lethal methods.
First I make sure food sources are in mouse proof containers.
Then I use regularly checked humane traps and take the prisoners for a long walk.
Then I try to discover where they might be getting in and deal with it.

Get a young male cat.

I now feel terrible.
I shall, in future, release close to home and put more effort to not making it easy/ desirable to come in in the first place.
Sorry little mice, I didn't intend harm 😭

I concur with PPs. Cats can be a brilliant defence, however our current cat whilst he does kill a lot of mice, he also brings them in very much alive and unharmed and lets them go in the house for shits and giggles.

How are all your cats getting in with rodents in tow? Do they have their own keys?!

Some people are recommending glue traps - they are truly horrific; involve in describable stress and suffering and are due to be banned in England, in line with other countries.

Poison is also horrific from a welfare point of view and will result in rotting corpses about the place.

Try to locate their source of food and contain it and block off entry points into your garage.

Yes some do. Its called a microchipped cat flap 😉

Open windows, cat flaps or even meowing at a door to be let in and scooting past before you realise. Cats are very sneaky creatures when they want to bring in their own "pets".

We gave up on all traps - none of them worked. Got a cat and they disappeared overnight.

I have a battery powered mouse trap which electrocutes them and is very effective. I use a bit of fat square bird food stuff as bait. You just switch it off, open the lid and tip them out. Was about £25 I think

Agree with everyone saying not poison, our cat died from eating rat poison (not ours, I don't know where she found it). She was terrified, having seizures, diarrhoea and couldn't breathe when we found her and rushed her to the vet. It must be a million times worse for wild animals.

Our current cat is great at hunting cheese, crisps and any other food that wasn't put away quickly enough, mice not so much.

Snap traps are not nice but prob the best option, at least they die quickly.

Get a professional in.
We had a mouse man come and lay poison (not humane,I know- but they are vermin and I requested extermination,)he showed us all the places they could potentially get in. We had to leave it for a week (I moved to a hotel,) and then fill in the holes with expanding foam. Apparently, they eat the poison and then get a terrible thirst, so leave to get water- and then die. (If you gill the holes in too soon they can be trapped and die in your house.) We did exactly what he said and have had no problem since.
Other advice he gave us was that the plug ins are a waste of money and don't work. And to get the scent of a cat around the place.

Little Nipper traps. Your father is right. You don't know where a poisoned mouse is going to end up.