Mousey Out To Play

[GoAwayMickey]

Posting for traffic as I am fucking terrified. I know I'm an adult with a 5 mo baby and need to grow up but still can't shake it. Before Christmas, my neighbour tells me she has mice (whilst accusing us of being the cause). We have had nothing but I'd heard a bit of scratching for a while beforehand and assumed she had a cat or something until about a month ago when she had works done to her property and the scratching was predictable during certain times after she'd go to sleep or leave the room.

Anyway, on new years day we saw our first dropping, it is the teeny, tiniest thing but there. We have had 8 in total now that I've spotted (in different rooms), 2 were under a sofa cushion which I imagine was caused by DH dropping cereal on it and not hoovering it out like I asked but I will be chucking that sofa to be sure possibly DH with it ...gives me a good excuse. Is that a bad sign that we've had 8 across multiple areas?

Can anyone tell me where mice might nest? I have a divan with bedding in and I'm terrified they could be in there. I've been hearing movement in our bedroom and I'm paranoid. How do I get rid of these things?? I've got traps out in areas where they have been but I want them gone as soon as possible. I'm petrified of the thought of my baby ever having one in her cot. Please tell me whatever useful information you know about mice which might help!

Call pest control!

Yep, don't mess around, just get in an expert. We used to get them in my old houseshare (big Victorian terrace near a tube line and the Thames; we had no chance of getting rid of them permanently!) and you wouldn't believe the tiny cracks they can get through or the places they can nest. So don't worry about it, just get an expert to find them and deal with them.

Urgh to you. I don't want mice in my house but they don't bother me. But if I replace "mice" in your post with "spiders", it makes me want to burn my phone and run away screaming so I do sympathise!!!

(Sorry, urgh FOR you, or urgh to the 🐭, is what I meant!)

They will have came out of hiding when your neighbour had her work done, depending on how long they were there before hand will depend on how many there are.

They nest in dark places and will shred things up to make their bedding.

If I were you I'd speak to your neighbour and see if you can club together to get somebody in to get rid of them. If they're in both or your houses then there's likely to be lots of them and they'll keep coming back until they're all gone from both houses.

Clean up any mess, crumbs, make sure you have bins with lids on and food in airtight containers to avoid attracting them.

Good luck OP!

I hate mice too. I’m pretty sure we have them from time to time, but I’ve only ever seen three (in 6 years) and only ever found ten or so poos. So I suspect theyre visiting nice, rather than having a nest at our house (we live in a Victorian terrace).

Most of the poos we’re behind the fridge, so we cleaned it thoroughly and check it regularly (no more poo). We’ve also placed hardcore mouse poison under the oven and behind the fridge (before DD was born I’d only have used humane traps, but I can’t bear the thought of a mouse crawling on her in her sleep).

We also have one of those plug-in sonic deterrents and have blocked the gaps that lead outside in the fireplace with wirewool (move hate that stuff).

We’ve been warned not to use peppermint oil to deter them a small it’s unsafe for babies.

I haven’t seen or heard a mouse for months. I haven’t found a new poo. So I’m fingers-crossed and hoping they’ve found somewhere else to play.

*were behind the fridge (typo)

First of all you need to try to calm down, they’re not the end of the world. Make sure any baby feed is kept away from them in a sealed tin or something and make sure your daughter doesn’t have food in her cot or her room (including bins) and don’t put her to bed in clothes with food stains on and they shouldn’t go near her. Now if you are in rented accommodation I would start by phoning the landlord, if not you need to call a reputable pest control firm. They will know where to look. Don’t let your neighbour intimidate you, mice are generally an act of god. Good Luck!

I had a mouse in the living room last night. Luckily my do caught it. I'm going to take down all the decs and give the place a good clean (and wash all the kids toys and teddy's that were stacked up in the room).
I've not seen any other evidence of mice and hoping it came through the front door and was a one off (we are v rural)

I would think the traps would be enough, wouldn't they? But sounds like the problem is from your neighbours.

According to the pest controller at work, they can fit through a gap the size of the end of a biro and they are incontinent so poos in different rooms means they are on the move, usually you will find them behind furniture. They are fast little bastards. Trays of poison and sticky boards is what worked in our house. We had an ongoing problem due to living next door to a field a colleague had them in her house, she set up an iPad to record in the problem areas and it caught where they were coming and going to and from so that might be worth a try

This was me just before Christmas, you have my every sympathy!

Only 8 droppings is odd - they poop around 80 times a night each although it may be that you've not found their "hotspots" yet. I'd pull out anything mice could hide behind/in especially in the corners of the room. If you can work out where they spend time, then it's easier to set the traps in better locations so they're more effective.

I'd suspect they've only started venturing in to your house now, but they will become more and more frequent.

I only saw signs of mice droppings on the same day I set traps, and in just over 24 hours I'd caught the full family of mice (7 - think the mum was pregnant again looking at her size vs the others so this could have easily doubled!).

The snap traps are simple but very effective so I'd stick with them. They can be quite hard to set but the little loop that sticks up can be bent slightly to make it easier, although you want it easy is to trigger. Peanut butter is the best bait - make sure no other food is accessible!

Good luck, let us know how it goes!

You need to seal any gaps round pipes or in floorboards with steel wool and expanding foam. A mouse can get through a hole the diameter of a biro, so you have to be thorough.

Use peanut butter or nutella in the traps and keep all food sealed and in cupboards.

The best solution is to borrow a cat for a couple of days.

We had rats in all of our back gardens in our street. Thankfully they never actually made it into any of the houses. But we called the council and they were really helpful. Sent someone round immediately to advise and look round. Eventually, it transpired they were coming from a local business with a huge compost heap and not very good waste disposal facilities. We are all privately owned houses as well, but the council were on it immediately.

Traps, poison, cat or call pest control.
Doubt they're in your divan, don't drive yourself mad worrying. No crumbs or open food.

Thanks for some of this info. None of the open cereal boxes or anything were touched, nor packets of noodles we had, it was extremely odd. Sounds hysterical but I'm concerned about breast milk attracting them as every time DD unlatches it goes everywhere.

Our flooring is concrete underneath but will definitely be doing a check of where they may get in. It's a converted victorian flat so no idea where to start with how they're getting from upstairs to down here off of the top of my head, although they could just walk in, front and back doors let in so much daylight.

Most of the droppings have looked like little grains of black rice or thin black seeds. I'm getting paranoid about every bit of black stuff I see, so hard to tell if it's that or sock fluff! Just thought something on my bed was black fluff, maybe a mm and it was soft and I've wiped it into the sheet. I'm bloody hoping it's not a dropping and it's mascara I've forgotten to take off! I'll have to strip the bed

I'm just finding it so hard to sleep. Neighbour has woken up much earlier than usual and it sounds like she's had a fight with a chimpanzee up there so I'm guessing she's found something.

We get visiting mice from time to time - totally normal in qa Victorian terrace as they can move freely between the houses. The trick is to have no access to any food so they don't hang around and just pass through.
The trouble with putting down poison is that they die in cavities or above ceiling, so you end up with a couple of weeks of stinkiness as they rot. One died above our bathroom ceiling and not only did it pong but the body fluids discoloured the ceiling paint as it seeped through......

We just ensure there is zero food - not the smallest crumb- that they are tempted to linger for. Dh was watching TV the other night and glanced down to see one staring up at him! I found some mouse poo in microwave yesterday, so that has been disinfected and the door will be closed henceforth.

BTW always empty the toaster crumb tray after every use - our old toaster was binned cos I found lots of poo but zero crumb in the trays......

I would agree that if she’s had building work done, then that’s most likely the cause. We had extensive work done years ago and had our worst infestation as a result. We’ve got baby mice at the mo and the buggers are too light to set the traps off, so it’s poison all the way.

Going to have to suck it up, we're semi rural and I'm lucky we're 2 years this year and no sign before. I've tried to contact a family friend who works in pest control so hopefully they will come out to help. I just hate the thought of putting DD on her play gym on the floor

We had mice when we lived in London. Snap traps didn't work, nor did filling gaps with foam. We killed a few with an electronic trap which electrocuted them. But in the end we put down poison and after a few weeks all the mice disappeared and never came back. We now live in the country and have a cat who is very good at catching mice. She occasionally kills one in the garden but there are never any daring to come inside the house!

My cat is the cause of us having mice in the house - I wouldn't mind dealing with his trophies but ffs kill the little bastards before bringing them in...!