Desperate situation with mice, what do I do now?!

[micemicemovs]

We had mice in the attic. Called someone out, he confirmed mice, a week later they seemed to have gone.

however, now we are hearing them in the ceiling above the living room and kitchen?! So they don’t seem to be in the attic anymore but have got themselves in the middle of the house. How can we get rid of them from there? It doesn’t seem possible to access it?!

Would you not just lift up the floorboards from above??

@PeekabooAtTheZoo good point! We signed up to a yearly thing so will ask them to come out again. What a faff!!

@PeekabooAtTheZoo why wouldn’t they also be back in the attic though?

Gah it sounds horrendous. Hope they can sort it.

Put peppermint oil on cotton buds and cotton pads/balls and put them in every nook and cranny.

No idea. I would have thought the people taking care of the problem would have hit everywhere at the same time, like when they fumigate places for bugs, but I'm no expert.

Yes, traps under the floorboards and I also second the peppermint oil on cottons wool balls. The plug-in sonic repeller helped get rid of ours too.

Lurking as I have them too. The cotton ball is a useful tip

We had a man out today.

1. OK, any vermin exterminator worth their salt will have spent at least an hour on your property finding and blocking up routes and laying boxes of poison. And they should have arranged a date a few weeks after their first visit, following up. So if they didn’t do this, I would call on someone else for a start.
2. What is their food source because you need to cut it off? Are they eating stuff in your attic? Or in your kitchen? Do you have a teen eating things like biscuits in your bedrooms or are you leaving dog food out? As important as removing their food sources is removing water sources. So make sure you wipe down all water drops left on sinks at night, place dog water bowls in a place inaccessible to mice, cure dripping taps, loo seats down etc.
3. If you cut off all food and water sources and block up routes (an experienced pest controller will be able to track them) and put down poison, you should be able to get on top of it. But do it promptly and properly bc they breed at a phenomenal rate.
4. Get a recommendation for a good pest control person and be prepared to pay them a fair price. It’s worth it as mice can cause untold expensive damage if you allow them to proliferate.
5. Make sure that your fire alarms are functioning/serviced in case they have eaten through any wires (mice ate through wires in our boiler once which was costly to put right, not to mention dangerous).

Good luck!

Seasoned mouse murderer here…

the pest control person needs to put trays of poison pellets in all possible locations in your roof space and any other potential points of entry. Over a period the mice will likely eat the pellets and die. This has to be done ruthlessly regularly - max every 6 weeks because the buggers reproduce practically from birth so you need to try to stop the lifecycle continuing.

It will take a while to get on top of and you may never eradicate them entirely

Prevention is better than cure with mice. Block every nook and cranny with polyfilla, wire wool and cement for larger gaps, seal gaps around skirtings and any floorboards with wider holes. Mice can squeeze through five pee size holes, sometimes smaller. Obv with an older house and them in the attic this might be difficult but once I'd sealed up my 1910 terrace the problem went away. I thought cats had been bringing them in for years but nope not necessarily, they just find their way in to warm places, frequently. 'm a bit confused - you say the specialists identified mice but what did they actually do? If you've got a year deal defo get them back in. Much sympathy it's maddening to know they're inside and not be able to locate them!

Thanks so much! The thing is we blocked off everywhere we could see.. the guy did this from rentokill. He did put poison in the attic snd by the third visit, nothing was eaten. He is coming back tomorrow!

I have the repellent things you plug into walls but are they safe with a baby?

I have this problem at the minute. Pest controller, has put down bait, Identified possible areas of entry. Now closed off. Areas of entry included outside, following pipes into and around the house. Look at cracked concrete also. Pipes behind all sinks and toilets, boiler, and the like.

I have them between my ground floor and upstairs ie under my upstairs bathroom. Missed one last night, he ate chocolate on one trap which didnt spring and the other tripped before it could get him. I have caught 2 elsewhere in the house. Pest controller coming back this Friday I will be accessing between my walls to catch the hopefully last few, when he comes. I still have traps out elsewhere in the house but no sightings or catches elsewhere for about 3 days now. Use peanut butter, or Mars bar as bait in traps.

Was watching a you tube video last night, usa farmer, recommendation is a mixture of oats, sodium bicarb, sugar. When they eat the sodium bicarb (?) and it hits the moisture in their gut it blows up in their gut and they die, they can't burp or fart the gas out. Nasty end, but for less accessible places and in extremis it might be worth it. It is also less toxic to other animals (except rats, same result as mice) if used outside, or inside, for domestic pets. By all accounts this is very effective. Good luck.