There's a mouse sitting under my fireplace and I may never sleep again. Help!

[Ella15]

Found it hiding behind a dehumidifier in corner of my livingroom earlier. After much screaming (a bit upset my neighbours didn't knock to check on me tbh) I fashioned a runway from where it was hiding to an opened back door then tried to scare it with a hoover so it would make its way out. Naturally, it ran in a different direction and has been sitting under my fireplace grate for last few hours. What the hell do I do? I've put some bait down but it's just going to wait it out till it gets dark isn't it?! I'm in a ground floor flat so how do I just go to bed in the next room tonight knowing it's wandering around? What can I do to get rid in the last remaining daylight hour today?? Whaaaaaaaa!! :(

What do you think it's going to do?!

It’s the mouse’s flat now op.

They're not dangerous or anything.

Can you get the grate off? If it eats the bait and crawls off to die somewhere you can’t reach it will stink.

Do you know anyone with a cat you can borrow?

@Donotgogentle haha it really is! I've started to pack my bags. Seriously though, have just called pest control who are sending someone out to catch it this eve. Expensive but I was never going to be able to sleep knowing it was sitting there. It wasn't a tiny thing either, a very large mouse! How do they catch it? Where it's sitting under the fireplace grate they're going to need some big hoover thingy.

A big mouse or a rat?

@MrsBrandonspiano googling suggests it's a mouse but it could easily be a small brown rat. Arghhh! Burning the place down and just walking away after this 😭

What the hell do I do?
Make your guest welcome! What’s his name? Fashion him a small nest. Offer him some Christmas chocolate. Give him your bed.

Consider that it’s never just one mouse: find the others, put the Christmas tunes on, get the cheese balls out.

The mouse owns you now. He owns you.

mice love chocolate.

fashion some chocolate in a glass
bottle and then when it’s in it (the bottle) take the bottle far away and let it loose again

Wasn’t there a thread where a crazy woman had a mouse in her under stairs cupboard and she fed it and gave it a home? I wonder what happened.

Do what most people do and invest in some traps. Mice run around the edges of rooms so put at least one trap on a known route. Bait it with peanut butter, not cheese. Be aware that mice are incontinent so there'll be mouse wee wherever it's been. Plus there's never just one mouse.

Its only a mouse. They are really very cute.
When my cats bring them in I pick them up and put them outside. No problem.

Get a humane trap then you can release it into the wild.

I had one for 2 weeks, he defied all traps filled with chocolate and peanut butter. He got so brazen he used to sit in the middle of my sitting room when I was in there. He eventually ran up a curtain, fell off and landed in a waste paper bin, so I put him out in the garden. My grandchildren thought I should have trapped him and had him as a pet

My cat was forever bringing mice into the house & letting them go. I just used to get a largish glass vessel and catch it over them as you would a spider. Before sliding a card underneath to turn the vessel over & deposit the mouse back outside. We used to take photos and had a mouse hall of fame..

Make absolutely certain that it gets NO access to any food at all. Even to emptying your toaster crumb tray after every use (don't ask).

All food in gnaw-proof containers (cereal, biscuits, bread etc in tins). Pet food likewise.

If it has no food source it won't stick around.

A Little Nipper trap is your friend. This is the time of year that they come into buildings for warmth. He is probably the tip of a mouse iceberg.

A miceberg, so to speak…

OP you need to make your flat as uninviting as possible so clear up any clutter and as a Pp says make sure there is no access to food anywhere. If you have a Hoover with a nozzle that might scare it out from the grate. I’ve had one go in there and prodded it out with a broom handle (the cat then dispatched it which was unpleasant but sort of in his job description)

Cats are useless. You need to borrow a jack russell who has a strong sense of the duty of his forefathers.

This wouldn't bother me, I'd find it cute. I'd probably feed it and make it a bed 😂

Upgrade idea:

Tempt the mouse into the bottle. Add some festive holly, fake snow, sparkles etc. Put a cork in the end. Sell it on Facebook Marketplace as an unusual Christmas centrepiece.

Update: pest control guy caught the mouse with glue traps (I hid in another room rocking and silently screaming while he did his work). As he opened the door to the hallway to dispose of fireplace rodent he saw another one just blatantly standing in middle of the hall. So he dispatched of that too then stood and calmly watched the penalties on TV from the Spain game and wished me luck. Said where there's one there's always more (he was spot on in this case). I have two options; propose marriage to him, via his employer, so I can continue to live here or look to leave. Going for second option first, luckily renting so have arranged a viewing of another property tomorrow. That's how much I hate rodents! 😱

He does sound like good husband material tbf OP. I speak as someone who recently spent two nights on the sofa when DCat brought a mouse to my bedroom. Traps and peanut butter failed but a Controlled Cat Experiment (DCat catches mouse, cleaner and I catch DCat). Mouse released in garden.

Contrary to other posters, I think there is only one mouse in my garden. DCat now brings him to my bedroom every couple of weeks. I remove him (with oven gloves and large spider catcher). And repeat.