To be really really happy at what I finally just caught...

[Maddiemademe]

No not and STD that I am aware of!

We have been living in our large renovation project since last July. Since then I suspected we may have mice setting up residence with us but since Christmas I have been in no doubt at all.

The buggers have gotten so cocky that come 9pm they quite happily stroll past us without a hint of fear. They constantly steal food, the most recent being my DP finding one little blighter happily dragging a whole bag of crisps with him.

They have chewed through the back of kitchen cupboards and eaten a whole bag of porridge at the back. They are also partial to Jammy Dodgers.

We purchased the trap back in January with no luck at all. In fact they would eat the food at the front of the trap that was designed to entice them but would leave the bits where they would set the trap off.

Last night we were discussing what to do about the situation, looking at possibly hiring a company to come help. This morning when I came into the kitchen I noticed our dog acting very strange and scared of one particular corner of the kitchen. I was and am so pleased when I found this little bastard in there!

Anyone have any tips on how else to catch them? I am guessing we have a fair size infestation by now. I have been reluctant to use poisons but I suffer with a number of health conditions and am worried about the disease they may be carrying/could possibly cause.

Any help at all would be most helpful (dog is absolutely terrified of them as well).

What food are you using in the traps? Chocolate worked for us when we had a problem.

You do need to get rid of them ASAP. There is a risk they will chew up your electric wiring and it’s v difficult to know where it’s happened so can cost a huge amount for electrician to find and repair.

If you don’t want to murder the little buggers then take a long way off as advised up thread. Late MIL used to find 3 mice in the under stairs cupboard daily. She took them round to the field at the bottom of the garden to release them. She insisted it wasn’t the same ones the next day 🤦‍♀️

Put all food in glass jars if possible, and see your GP about feeling unwell, tell them about the squatters.

They reach sexul maturity at 6 weeks and gestation is 20 days so they have up to 10 litters of 6-14 young a year. You will have an infestation. You need to either:
Set snap traps - lots of them - and check regularly or
Call in the professionals

Poison is always at risk of entering the food chain and humane traps are inhumane. Mice live in family groups in nests, you dump this one miles away and it freezes/starves or is picked off my a predator. Mice are a pest species and best case scenario is that this mouse finds its way into someone elses house/barn and is a pest to them.

I would strongly recommend professional pest control who know what they are doing.

Yes, I agree with MaxNormal. Get breakback traps; it really is the most humane way. I've found that the most effective bait is bits of broken-up Rollo chocolates (chocolate with caramel centres). They are extremely attracted to it, and because it's sticky, they have to work hard to get it off the trap, and that means that the trap is always triggered. I'd also second the idea of stuffing wire wool in all holes and gaps - it really works. Don't neglect even very tiny gaps - mice can get through incredibly tiny holes. Also, if you have plastic water pipes inside the house, protect those you can get to with wire mesh. We have had a bad leak caused by mice eating the plastic pipes, and so have our neighbours.

My parents had a live trap. A mouse was often found in it - they began to wonder if it was the same mouse - so they cut off a bit of its fur before releasing it.

The same mouse, with the same piece of short fur, continued to be caught, have its breakfast and be released, every day for about 3 months.

Old fashioned spring loaded traps baited with Nutella. They LOVE chocolate. Kindest thing is to give them a swift dispatch.

Victor electric traps are expensive but do work

Feck me that is a seriously cute dog!

Cute meece too. I never kill them. (My bloomin' cats kill the occasion one though!)

I love humane mouse traps. I had one in the 1980s! Yep they have been around THAT long!

Also hate the sticky pads that trap them by their feet. Barbaric. Like fly paper. I hate that too. Trapping the flies and letting them take a few days to die, whilst stuck to it. Who the hell invents this shit?

We had field mice in the loft, we tried poison ourselves but then we had one that died somewhere in the wall and it made a dreadful smell! At that point we got a pest control company in, they said that poison is a bad idea because they crawl off, die and rot. A snap trap is better as then you can remove the body. The main thing though is to block their way in, and for that I would suggest a local pest control company. Having them in your kitchen, chewing on your cupboards and weeing/dropping around your foodstuff is not a good idea, so I'd resolve yourself to the fact that you need to kill them. Catching 1 mouse in a few months in a humane trap isn't going to solve the issue.

Firstly, your dog is adorable (and I speak as a cat person), sadly he doesn't look like a terrier of any sort so is unlikely to assist you with your vermin problem.

Moving on to the vermin......that is a well fed mouse and there's NEVER just one. The rate you are catching them, based on that being the only catch in 4 months, won't keep up with their breeding rate so I'm afraid you'll need to toughen up and invest in some break-back traps and a jar of peanut butter. Place the traps round the edge of the room or along any known routes they take.

Honestly, it's a swifter & more humane death than being chased/mauled/eaten by a cat or terrier or being poisoned or the sticky glue pads. Consider the pee trails that male mice leave too, really you need to be more aggressive with ridding your house of this potential health hazard.

Rentokil do a battery one that zaps them, so no poison.

I couldn't bring myself to use a snap trap.

zappy trap

What a darling little thing! Drive it off far away. Please don't use poison especially if you have other pets and or children.

Weve had mice. Generally they gain entry from outside through a hole as small as the width of a marker. So get some hefty filler (wire strengthened filler on Amazon) and do a finger tip external inspection. Consider meshing over your airbricks too. Again, they can squeeze through the tiny holes and enter under the floor boards. Next thing, pull up a number of floor boards and get a licensed pest controller into the house and get some good poison down - allow 2 weeks. Job should be done. Next and final job install plug socket pest repellers. That's it op. Outside check holes in the eves and any trees or shrubs which might give entry. Mice are good climbers.

@MaxNormal Thank you for speaking out against the glue traps. There is petition going round atm to go to Parliament to ban them .

I had a mouse/mice problem in an old house and we found the humane traps quite effective ( using my son's kebab meat ) we caught two in one night . We did not bother taking them miles away , only to the back yard but instead plugged in two of those sonic devices available on Amazon. Never saw one from that day onwards.
Careful with the "pet setting" on the devices so they don't bother the dog.
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/233106

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/233106

In terms if how they are getting in - if you can fit a biro thru the hole, a mouse can fit.

Agree Nutella or peanut butter. Sometimes they can get the lumps of choclate bar off without the trap activating, sticky nutella and PB doesn't do this. You need a lot of traps and you need to keep setting them for a long time. If you don't want to do it get the pest company in, they'll come back at least 3 times to remove traps, set new ones etc.

Some companies have a smoke machine they use and someone else stands outside so they can tell where holes are and how the mice are getting in. In my house it was along the water and gas pipe. They can get in anywhere you can stick a thin pencil or pen, so even air bricks can be an entry point. As someone upthread said they hate wire wool but recently I've seen it listed as a fire risk near pipes. The pest control guys should know the best material to use . Good luck x

Poison is only the way to go if you don’t give a shit about accidentally murdering your neighbours’ pets.

Agree with steel wool. Also try to be meticulous about food crumbs, and storing food in jars etc so they can’t chew through packets.

My first thought when I saw your photo was how gorgeous your dog is, only then did I notice the mouse .
But back to the mice problem, I also agree break-back traps and peanut butter or chocolate/nutella is a much better option than poison.

Agree with all food stuffs being inaccessible to them in the meantime, the flour, the pasta

Well if they are eating through porridge packets and biscuits then you aren’t doing the most basic thing - cutting off their food source. Put biscuits, cereals, anything in thin packets into glass sealable jars or Tupperware. They can get through any hole the size of a pencil. Or is it pen nib? Anyway, it’s really tiny!

Wire wool also very good but you need to be thorough.

I thought it looked like a young rat too steppemum it's very big and greasy looking.

Wire wool, snap traps, and expanding foam worked for us, and those ultrasonic things.

We live in quite a rural area. Was casually watching tv one evening when a little squeaker came and sat on the shelf under the tv, then we used a plug in(high pitched) to stop them coming in, worked for 3 years then we didn't need it anymore coz we adopted 2 cats.