Is there ever just one mouse??

[paulhollywoodshairgel]

Just had the shock of my life! A mouse just ran across my living room and disappeared down a tiny hole in the floorboard where the radiator pipe goes down. Is there ever just one??? I'm off work at the moment and I'm in this room all day every day so surely I would have notice if we were infested?? We have a cat so I'm praying he brought it in. No droppings anywhere and nothing chewed. What do we think??

Well, if the cat had bought it in, it would be missing a head?

How awful though, if it's moved in.

There is never just one mouse. Ever.

Not likely because it went under your floor. Mice are also social creatures and usually the start of an infestation will be 3-4 mice and then within three months there will be babies…

He's got form for bringing them in alive and just dropping them so I'm hoping that's what's happened!!

Rarely is there ever just one. You should get pest control in asap because if there is more than one, they're prolific breeders.

Surely I would have noticed?? I'm literally in this room all day. Often in the night as well. I'm just going to call a mouse guy!

We wound up with two generations. Despatched parents and offspring started turning up. Eight in the end all in the biscuit, crisps, kids treats cupboard.

Ive just looked in all the cupboards and nothing chewed. So fingers crossed it's not been here long!

Oh no!

I'd say it's a real bonus that you have a cat, the cat smell alone will deter the mice from your immediate vicinity.

It's usual that seeing one mouse means there are more around that you can't see but it's not necessarily an indication of an infestation.

Your cat will hopefully catch any that wander around. Do you live in a detached house?

Yes can be, I have had one mouse in one home, I had one rat in another home and another home with a lot of mice and rats and another flat with just rats. It can vary.

It's a terrace that backs onto a field. I've put a humane trap down. Think I'll leave the cat in here tomorrow and hope he reclaims his prize!!

Normally by the time we notice, there is more than one mouse because they are shy and avoid us.

Field mice do try and move in during winter. Especially if your cat has gotten a bit elderly & slow or was never taught to mouse.

I had just one mouse.

Rats from next door however, there were lots of those!

Yes! We had a single mouse. She was very busy and moved from room to room but it was definitely just the one. She would be up all night scrabbling and scratching (and leaving droppings evwyqjwew) and seems to get into most rooms at some point. We tried humane traps for days but she nearly avoided all of them. By pure luck she got herself into a waste paper bin and we were able to quickly cover the bin and fake her outside. No mouSe trouble after that.

It was during the summer and she got in by strolling though the wide open bifold doors one evening and decided she liked it.

Worth noting that for all her patrolling and posturing, DDog was worse than useless.

We thought we had one and then within 3 weeks we had caught 17. I couldn’t believe it but they’d had babies.

If he (could be a she) is under the floor boards your wiring will be getting gnawed to bits which is a huge fire risk. I would get pest control in ASAP.

Our cat will often bring one in every few months or so (particularly if we have been on holiday!). I’m always afraid that there is more than one and they will start breeding but that has never happened so far so it is possible to just have one, particularly if the cat is the source of it being there in the first place!

We had mice at one point. After a lot of trying with different methods, we eventually caught two (DH caught one of them by whacking it ). There were no more.

My cat brings them in and loses them, always my just the one, but it can take a few days before we notice. The smell of piss in the kitchen usually alerts us 🤮. We have traps hidden everywhere just in case...

We had a single field mouse move in one winter. He/she took up residence in the garage, I saw it a few times but it never came into the house, and then it moved out again when the cold snap ended. When I had a clearout of the garage in the spring, I found a box where it had made its bed. It had found a box of chocolates and there were lots of torn up shiny wrappers. It must have had a lovely Christmas, holed up all cosy stuffing its face with my Quality Street 😂

For years we would always get just one around winter. Never more than one.

Then one year (think it was last August which was very early) there was maybe seven or eight of them. Just when another one bit the dust and we thought that was it, another would appear, and we'd have to reset the trap. We can hear them running across the floorboards so know exactly when they are about to appear.

We live next to a field and almost every year get a mouse try to move in when the weather gets cold. Since getting the cat it's only ever been 1 mouse at a time.

DCat sees them off pretty efficiently. She rarely kills them but will "play" with them until I intervene and release the mouse back into the wild but further from the house.

I do think that when the mice realise there is a cat in the house they move on. The clever ones do anyway.

Yes, there can be just one, but it's unlikely if you've seen it go into a hole in the floor.
One got trapped in our house on the summer - took us a few days of it ignoring the traps till it finally caught itself in the bathtub! DH then drove it 30miles away (I kid you not!) He thought that was the minimum distance so they don't return!
Funnily enough, it hasn't. & not seen any more or evidence of anymore since.