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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To bleach everything, burn the house down and then move?

128 replies

TwoDrifters · 10/06/2017 04:52

Currently awake, terrified, as there's a mouse in my bedroom. I've never seen a mouse in this house in 16 years of living here.

WIBU to bleach everything then torch the place?

Been lying awake shaking for the last hour, now sat on sofa with blanket wrapped tightly around me. Arrrggh.

OP posts:
VerityHabitat · 10/06/2017 04:57

Don't bleach. Just run.

Mouse is better than a snake!

Still - aaaaaaagggghhhhh!

AngelaTwerkel · 10/06/2017 04:58

Do you have a phobia? Or is that a stupid question?!

Original poster
TwoDrifters · 10/06/2017 05:03

Angela I'm pretty scared to the point I was sick. I don't know if it's a proper phobia per se but I don't react rationally, I do know that!

OP posts:
AngelaTwerkel · 10/06/2017 05:15

I'm sorry that sounds awful. Can you seal your room from the outside with a towel against the bottom of the door and go aND sleep elsewhere? At least it'll be contained and you can deal tomorrow.

SabineUndine · 10/06/2017 05:27

Borrow a cat. Seriously. My neighbour upstairs has a mouse problem. As a cat servant, I don't.

Original poster
TwoDrifters · 10/06/2017 05:52

Angela My husband's in there with IT. He has put two traps down and I have decamped to the living room.

Verity Snakes don't bear thinking about.

Sabine I may well be imminently knocking on my neighbour's door to loan their feline…

OP posts:
NorksAreMessy · 10/06/2017 06:21

OK, this is quite an extreme reaction.
Talk to us about what exactly you are scared about? Rationally this is s a tiny creature who can do you no harm at all, so there is something else going on in your brain.
Practically, some deep breathing and the good old British cup of tea will help.
Dogs are nearly as good as cats for repelling mice. A terrier if you can borrow one.

Original poster
TwoDrifters · 10/06/2017 06:28

Norks I can't bear the scratching and scurrying.

I also think they are germ-ridden vermin and my toddler is always putting things like toys on the floor and then picking them up and sucking on them so now I'm paranoid about that.

But to be fair, I've been scared of them a long time, long before my DS was born. Possibly because as a child, my mum would always shriek if she saw a mouse so I just assumed they were something terrifying? And now it's embedded.

I am mostly joking about torching the place…

OP posts:
AprilLudgateDwyer · 10/06/2017 06:35

We had a mouse in our room one night. I just let the cat in and went back to sleep. She's got it by morning. They can be useful at times!

Pansiesandredrosesandmarigolds · 10/06/2017 06:39

www.rspca.org.uk/findapet/rehomeapet/process/rehomeacat

GypsyQueen · 10/06/2017 06:39

Please don't kill the little creature, it may be a harvest mouse that's got in. Why not set a humane trap with some food in it and get someone to take it out into the countryside. Honestly they have as much right to exist as us. I know its not nice to have one in the home but it will be very frightened if you put a cat or terrier in. I set a trap without thinking years ago when i saw a little mouse in the bathroom thinking it would be a quick death but only the tip of his snout was caught so next morning when i found him i could see that he had died a long painful death. It has upset me to think about it for years. I know most people will think i am being silly but my views on which animals have the right to live changed after seeing that.

redcaryellowcar · 10/06/2017 07:04

I share your concerns, we had a mouse in the house last year. I called local authority pest control, the man who came was lovely, but said most mice indoors is a case of 'mis-adventure' e.g. They didn't come in on purpose, they were just pottering about. He also said that looking at it positively, if you have nice you won't have rats, as they don't live in the same space? I agree with pp get a couple of humane traps and pop it back outside.

londonrach · 10/06/2017 07:05

Its a mouse. Ive had two once in a property in london. Strangely one fell into a paperback which i carried outside. Not scary. He went on his business and i went on mine. Choc (rolo) works well if you want to catch the mouse.

dentydown · 10/06/2017 07:05

Get anti back wipes for your toddlers toys. Get a plastic storage box with a lid (wilkinsons do cheap ones) for they toy box. That should stop the mouse germs from going onto your toddlers toys. Wash soft toys using zoflora/sanitiser and keep them in a plastic box with a lid. That will keep your little ones toys safe.
You don't need to bleach everything in site. You may need to wash up things before you use them though. (we had to do this at a friends house, she wouldn't get rid of them, and I had one drop on my head when I opened the cupboard)
We have them in the shed, my partner kept his beer there. He laughed at me washing up his beer cans, but it's the thought of the little incontinent buggers leaving a trail of pee over his beer cans made me feel ill!

londonrach · 10/06/2017 07:05

Paper bag 😜

Original poster
TwoDrifters · 10/06/2017 07:07

Gypsy and redcar I think they are humane traps that are in there. I don't know as won't go back in!

I won't borrow the neighbour's cat, tempting though that is…

OP posts:
WhooooAmI24601 · 10/06/2017 07:07

We have 5 cats and between them they often deliver little hairy parcels to us, but one of them often appears upstairs on the bedside table with the undead offering in it's mouth. I've had to lock the cat flap at night to stop this.

I'm not a fan of mice in the house but cats really are a deterrent (if you don't concern yourself with the fact that the cats put them there in the first place). Hope your DH gets it sorted OP, fears like that are often learned at a very young age and are so difficult to overcome.

Original poster
TwoDrifters · 10/06/2017 07:10

denty Thankfully all the toys are in the toy box, it's more the thought of him taking them in there at some point today but I'll just have to keep him out until we've disinfected the floor.

I had a load of my pregnancy clothes on the floor awaiting being taken up to the loft. I suppose I'll have to wash them all Angry

OP posts:
picklemepopcorn · 10/06/2017 07:24

I think you may be overestimating the amount of pee a tiny mouse can produce.

The hygiene issues really come with long term mouse visits. One little mouse, one night, will have produced barely any.

I've kept pet mice. When you play with them, you don't end up with wet hands!

I think your clothes and carpet are fine.

Original poster
TwoDrifters · 10/06/2017 07:26

pickleme Thank you - that does actually make me feel a little less sick!

OP posts:
curlii103 · 10/06/2017 07:27

You need a man. If it got in so could other's so you need a proper man to come and check for you. Not an overreaction at all. I heard scurrying in our roof and was the same and if be thinking of torching the house of there was a spider on the loose. Good luck but call a man don't try and do a half job yoursekf get your exits sealed!

munchkinmaster · 10/06/2017 07:29

Right here goes.....

You don't have a mouse, you have mice.

There is never a single mouse.

Bluetrews25 · 10/06/2017 07:32

You won't need to wash all your clothes unless you were going to lick them!. Just wash / wipe the toys. You won't catch the plague.
Get some plug in ultrasonic rodent repellers from DIY store, and some enclosed traps. Seal up any holes in the walls - use aluminium foil as they hate it.
Not nice having rodents in the house, I sympathise, just check food packets not been nibbled.

Lucked · 10/06/2017 07:38

*Right here goes.....

You don't have a mouse, you have mice.

There is never a single mouse.*

Not true, we have had a mouse a couple of times since moving in and have left traps down for weeks and only caught the one. We do live next to a field and our neighbours have stables so I think they have just been exploring.

Judashascomeintosomemoney · 10/06/2017 07:42

Not sure I can agree on the cat front. Last time we had a mouse I picked up one of my cats and took her to show her it. She looked at it, looked at me and I swear she shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'yeah, and? What do you expect me to do about it?' before walking off. Pretty sure she was the little madam that brought it in in the first place.