Please help! How to get rid of mice?!

[MiceMiceBabyy]

We discovered last week that mice had been getting in our kitchen, in the pantry and under the kitchen sink.

We managed to find how they were getting in the pantry and have blocked it off. So far they haven't gotten back in.

We put out some trap boxes with poison in under the sink but we don't know how we can block the space off?! They've gone through all the poison but we've not found any of the little bellends. Apparently the poison works in a few feeds. I'm just worried that we will just get more coming back even if the poison does work, and what if they chew through our pipes?!

I've posted a picture of under our sink so you can see that there is a huge gap at the back that we have pipes going over.

We've had the kitchen in for a year with no issues, I genuinely don't know where they are coming from. We don't have a cat that brings them in but the downstairs neighbour does have 2 cats, although they have lived below us very happily for a few years with no mice issues.

Any suggestions?!

Expanding foam, metal or wooden plate to cover the hole, filler…etc.

Multiple options to block an entrance, pick whichever is most suitable

Why not use traps instead of poison? There’s no need to kill the poor things.

A cat will work, but only if it is a hunter. Not all of them are.

Otherwise, lots of spring traps. Not just one or two.

Stuff pipes/gaps with wire wool, then cover with fine 'chicken' wire.

I used cardboard, blutack and sellotape to block up the holes. I bleached everything for days on end and made sure there was absolutely no good left out, even in packets because they chewed through plastic containers of rice and pasta. Whatever method you use, just keep doing it.

Get a cat.

Are you sure it's mice and not rats?

This. They will chew through most anything else.

Best thing that helped me was just ensuring everything edible was put away in mouse proof containers.

Get a cat or invite the neighbouring ones for a sleepover.

They will chew through most anything else.
They will eat their way through plastic pipes, usually after being poisoned.
They will chew into plastic jars like peanut butter..

Get a cat! When we moved into our house a couple of years ago, I hadn’t actually realized yet that we had mice, as I hadn’t been there long enough to see any evidence. When my cat arrived (she’d been staying with a relative while we moved so that she wasn’t in the way and couldn’t get lost, and then she joined us a little later) it took her all of about 10 minutes to find one of the filthy little animals. Fast forward a few months and we did not have mice. But she loves to hunt. We’ve had some cats in the past who wouldn’t have been as useful as her.

Add the plug in sonic repellers to the mix. I had a mouse or a rat a couple of weeks back - a noisy little fucker - and remembered I had some of these. Plugged one in near the scene of the crime and I've heard nothing since.

Unfortunately we cannot get a cat as DH is allergic (and also really really not a cat person!)

To be fair we don't actually know if it's rats or mice to be fair. I've not found any droppings, but found lots of things chewed up.

@PinkArt do the plug in repellers work? MIL has used them but said she still gets mice (she does have a mouse hunting devil cat though)

Get a dog then. A Yorkshire Terrier or a JRT. Or a ferret.

Unfortunately all you can do is snap traps with a sticky bait like peanut butter. It is not pleasant but at least it is quick. The worst experience was when we tried a ‘humane’ trap and the poor little thing was so distressed by the time we’d got it and moved it that I’m fairly sure it will have died anyway.

I had a problem with mice last winter, I bought some instant kill mouse traps, used peanut butter as bait and they were gone within 2 days. I had a tiny gap around the back door so got that fixed to.

we put some wire wool in the hole before sealing it - they
cant eat that.

humane traps and released them 4 miles away. was not fun pulling into a lay by next to a field and letting them out with cars going by!

I would have said no because there is a reason I'd unplugged them in the first place. But I figured it couldn't hurt and the lack of scuffling noises seemed to vanish all immediately.

Wire wool in the space then fill in with expanding foam it looks ugly but you can trim it off with a breadknife and paint it white and then it’s pretty unnoticeable.

You need snap traps to get the buggers already in your house. Bait with chocolate. That way you can dispose of the bodies rather than leaving them to die somewhere in the innards of your house <the smell...>

I can't see the photo but you need to block off every single gap you can. Wire wool, teeny chicken wire, whatever they can't eat through.

DON'T GET A CAT - both our cats bring mice IN and release them indoors. Bastards.

Rentokill

This.

traps, lots of them. You will catch a few and then it’ll stop. Happens every year. Don’t obsess over plugging holes, you’ll never win.

Not sure the picture won't add, it's just spinning when I try to add it. Basically the back of the cupboard doesn't sit flush to the wall, there is a gap to allow pipes to go from the sink to the wall but it's a fairly sizeable gap that something could definitely crawl through. I think we would need a lot of wire wool to block it.

I was really hoping snap traps wouldn't be the best solution, I hate the idea of finding dead mice under my sink 🤢 if we catch some what are the chances more will come?

Can't believe I pay so much for mortgage and council tax and these little buggers are living here rent-free 😤

Snap traps are quick (usually) rather than a prolonged painful death by poisoning. A moment of unpleasantness Vs days of the smell of decaying vermin is far preferable.

You really need to get the gaps filled op. Killing some mice won't stop more coming in, but it will mean those ones aren't breeding in your floor/wall spaces.

My house was renovated before I bought it and we moved in and a mouse appeared in the bathroom. I was told wire wall over any floor/pipe gaps it seemed to work.