more than one mouse, right?

[hushkh]

so yesterday I heard scuttllng and a squeak behind the fridge in the kitchen, cere in it was a mouse. Pulled fridge out and there was a hole in the linoleum. I put down some mouse bait (the poison) and pushed fridge back. Just now I'm sitting on the sofa watching Rivals on my day off and smell something disgusting behind me. Foul stench. Not overpowering, but there. I pull the sofa back and there's a dead mouse under
the sofa. I pick it up and it's still soft, so newly dead. Is it too much to hope mumsnet, that this is the corpse of fridge mouse? Or will
we have other mice wandering around the house waiting to freak me out an opportune moments? Help!

(i used a paper bag to pick it up)

We had a mouse in during the summer. Caught him and that was it. Just the one!
And 3 big lazy cats here!

In my experience mice don't travel in ones. The entire family, several distant relatives and a few friends come with them. And you need to deal with their access point(s) because getting shut of the first load doesn't mean there won't be more. Sorry.

no, say it ain't so 😩

Perhaps yours was an anti-social mouse? 😂

We had a recent mouse incursion into the kitchen. Caught 6 in all before it was done. They were most definitely a family group.

If it smelt then it had most likely been dead more than a day. I'd put traps down if I were you.

how did you catch them? i'm terrified of using snap traps, so we use the bait boxes with poison inside. I know it runs the risk of them rotting in the walls for weeks though!

Also the fact it was soft doesn't mean much - rigor mortis wears off after a while.

gulp

Snap traps, it's a necessary step imo. Nothing else works as well. We did actually catch one baby by shooing it into a box and the mum was not badly injured but caught in the trap. DH released them both miles from the house so they could take their chances.

really bad timing cos we've got a house guest coming on Monday for ten days. I'm thinking telling her might freak her out but what if one pops out under her bed?!

I've just ordered some snap traps

Unlikely they'll gravitate from the kitchen. Make sure no food or water source available - but if they're coming in from outside they are probably getting that elsewhere. See if you can ascertain how they are getting in.

We have the plug in deterrents but I have no idea if they actually work.

Concentrate on finding out how it got in and block it up or theyll keep coming.
I've had just 2 before. Other times 3 or 4. But put the traps down and they'll catch them
Don't tell the house guest. I'd rather not know.

we've got a dog and I often have the back door ajar so the dog can come in and out

I stand in solidarity with you @hushkh

I've got some snap traps, humane traps and an electric deterrent (which is obviously useless) but came across some good advice here with regard to the traps. www.lodi-uk.com/consumer-media-centre/how-to-guides/5-mouse-trap-mistakes-you-might-be-making

You also need to pack wire wool into any gaps they may be getting in from.

Will rebait my traps tonight as it/they are still not caught and it's causing my dog to bark in the night 😫

We had a mouse infestation after Dcat died (he used to bring them in and they bred). We used humane traps and caught over 20. We released them in the bushes from whence they came. Don't use poison- it's really cruel and they will die in agony hidden away.

We have had mice. The first time we thought it was one. Caught it, then found 5 of its brothers!
The second time we had a lone mouse come in during the pandemic. We caught it and there were no more.
So it could go either way.

Last cat and current one aren't mousers and we haven't had a problem since.

I had a 'one and done' mouse, despite mumsnet declaring it impossible on my thread at the time!

We humanely caught about 5 or 6 of the little buggers earlier this year (field mice not house mice) after seeing one run across the dining room floor. Either they’ve got wiley or that was the whole family, but we’ve not had any since, no sign of them and no indications from the friendly neighbourhood cat who wanders in (supervised) from time to time.

and I just went into kitchen and one raced across the floor and under the fridge 😱😱😱😱