Is it true that you never have just one 🐭?

[Caggers]

Heard scratching today and discovered some mouse droppings in a utility room cupboard that had a tiny hole in it.

We’ve never had mice before.

Purchased traps and the mouse was dispatched.

I’ve heard that you never have just one mouse.
Is this true?

Yes- sorry

We once had a mouse in a student house I was in for a few months, it was a field mouse and had a big run all round the kitchen and two of the bedrooms. I caught it once in a diy trap bated with bakewell tart. I took him up to a the park at the far end of the street and let him go in some long grasses and we never had anymore mouse activity after that, so in that case only one mouse.

We only caught one under our stairs cupboard. It was eating anything it could. We put down a trap and only ever caught the one. No issues since.

There is normally a whole family though!

We had one last year, it definitely was only one. I only have a small house and check religiously for droppings. Have left traps out ever since and no sign of anything.

Update- mouse no. 2 has just gone to the big cheesewheel in the sky 😩

Block the hole? If they can't get in you won't have to kill them.

Yes but you might not have like 5 million. We usually catch about 6 or so over winter. We live in a massive old house and try to fill holes when they appear but the buggers still get in somehow. It's pretty obvious when you've got one - they're very loud and any food that's been set down goes missing!

I also only had one, it’s definitely possible.

We used to catch 7-10 every winter. Never just the one. Never found the hole. One year in desperation temporarily blocked up our air bricks. Mice problem disappeared.

Obviously you can't block your air bricks and we had to come up with a solution that allowed air flow but stopped mice. But worth considering as you try to find where the buggers are getting in

Yes, when you're at the stage of mouse droppings and hearing them then unfortunately there's probably loads there. If you'd just seen one in the kitchen after leaving the back door open for too long then there would be some hope.

We have an old house and this problem crops up every couple years. We just try to be very vigilant with setting traps every day and keeping all food hidden away in airtight storage containers. Try to keep dog food out of reach too, we had a big 15kg bag of dog food behind the kitchen door, went to move it one day and realised that they'd chewed a huge hole at the bottom and they were eating their way through it from the bottom up. As long as they have a reliable food source it's very hard to get rid of them.

No it's not true. You can catch one who is exploring and looking for a place to start a new nest.

But they are very sneaky so they usually manage to get established without you noticing and then when you see her she's got a whole family tucked away somewhere.

It’s kind of hard to describe but the cupboard houses the screen and hard drive for our CCTV and the hole is where the wires from the outside cameras come in to the hard drive.

The cupboard is built in but I think that the mice are able to get in between the tiny space between the wall and the cupboard so blocking the hole completely means they’ll be stuck there until they die and will then smell.

We’ve blocked the hole from outside so no more can get in, but need to deal with the ones already inside.

The two cats have had a stern talking-to.

We get one or two about this time each year, I think when it gets cold and they come in looking for shelter. But all our traps come out and that seems to scare them off for another year.

We had just one but I do suspect it was something to do with next doors cat!! Years ago now and no more have appeared.

We get solo mice when the cats bring them in (and release them at random then look innocent when asked to recapture them for eviction). If they come in by their own volition then I fear you’ll have more than one.

No idea how mine got in (I don’t have a cat), but it lived in the cupboard under my sink for a good couple of weeks. Suspect it was male as it was definitely solo! Once it was caught I put wire wool in the air brick just in case. No more since.

Omg this reminds me of when I popped a tray of Kale seedlings by the patio doors, waiting to be taken outside and came down the next morning to find the leaves all nibbled...
Off I went to Homebase for some humane traps. (Twelve bloody quid!) and two sleepless, paranoid days of living upstairs (I know they can most likely get upstairs but I pretended they couldn't) Only to notice 2 eyes glistening under the table....it was the bloody fat hamster Dougal!!!!
He had escaped & made his way downstairs!!! He was old & the nocturnal type who only appeared in the daytime occasionally. So I'd been feeding & changing water quietly, thinking he's asleep, not noticing why he wasn't eating and the whole bloody time he was playing Stealth Ninja Hamster 🥷🐹 behind the fridge.... Thankful he was a chunky monkey or he'd have been in the trap which then would've been left open outside, with me quickly running away before looking and seeing it was a hamster not a mouse 🤦🏼‍♀️ Kids!

@Caggers You can get plastic hole 'narrowers?' for holes that have wires coming through which you want to block off. They allow easy access if needed. I'll try look them up for you

They're called desk grommets

Thanks @PabloandGustheGreySquirrels , sound like just the thing. We’ve also used wire wool.

Update: 4 mice down.
First three were caught within about 12 hours of each other, and then it was over 24 hours for the 4th so I’m hoping that’s a sign that their population has been well depleted.

If you've removed any food sources they've maybe got the hint and buggered off to annoy someone else.

Keep the traps out all winter though because you'll probably get the odd one coming in to see what they can nibble on and you don't want to wait until they're established before dealing with them.