Disgusting mice!

[AlrightOkNow]

Posting for traffic really, so I apologise.

About 4 months ago we caught 2 mice in traps in our bedroom (ground floor) in the space of a week and a half and another dead one under the fridge so called out pest control. They put down fast action 12 hour poison and said they'd be back in a couple of weeks. Due to issues with getting time off of work that turned into 6 weeks but they returned to find the poison at not been taken anywhere around the home and resolved we probably had two in our bedroom that were "just passing by" and the other one under the fridge may not have been at the same time because we had bait boxes down due to our location. This is the second time I've been told this by a second company, we've been told due to location it'll always happen.

Yesterday I saw a small brown blur and got a feeling of dread, I heard a bit of scratching but no droppings in any visible places (although wardrobes are too heavy to move out). However, there are tiny bits of ripped toilet paper on the floor and I can't figure out where it's from (I'm assuming a nest but can't find one). 3 weeks ago my gym leggings in my bottom drawer of my wardrobe had one leg shredded half way (as if I'd been ship wrecked in my gym gear at some point!) but it's been moth season locally and due to the weather and I'd put it down to that. Anyway, this morning I can hear the bugger knawing at something, not sure what as I can't hear it but perhaps trying to get into the wardrobe via the back and then when DH came in to lay more traps (out of DC's reach) the noise seemed to move under DC's bed. We don't eat in the bedroom at all so there's no food. At worst DC may have had a bottle in there at naptime.

I've now got 5 well hidden traps flush against skirting boards (2 x 2 together which I'm told is more effective and one on its own) but nothing is catching this particular fecker. The last ones were field mice which are different in colour.

Anyone have any experience of mice and can point me in the right direction of where I'm going wrong and where I can find a potential nest? I have a divan bed and I'm concerned about nesting in there or underneath my DD's quite low toddler bed. We've steered away from keeping bait down recently as DC is very active blue and picks things up and eats them still, I'd hate for a poison dropping to be eaten.

Glue traps are horrific , and cause prolonged suffering. I cant believe anyone still uses them and that they aren't illegal.

Ignore it all you like yomo. I have the stomach for dispatching larger and traditionally ‘cuter’ animals to end their pain when needed. I’ve used skilled marksmen, terriers, and cats to tackle vermin. Cats of the feral/ farm variety without kittens that kill, rather than play with prey. Traditional traps might be more practical for some. I hate poison but understand that in some situations its a nasty but last resort. But I stand by the fact glue is barbaric and should be illegal.

Agree that humane traps are not so humane due to the release issues. The best for both sides is quick snap and kill.

Just ignoring your unesscarily rude comments (the proper content is interesting) surely we can debate and disagree without resorting to insults.

I am wondering why poison is ok though and glue traps not, they both seem equally nasty and cause equally drawn out deaths.

The most popular type of rodenticide is called an anticoagulant. This prevents the mouse’s blood from clotting, causing internal bleeding that eventually kills the rodent. The death can take between 12 hours and 2 days, death from internal bleeding must be painful?

All ways of killing vermin are horrible but sometimes required.

I still don’t see why you can’t put bait sachets down in places your toddler couldn’t reach and sweep your floors to ensure there are no mouse droppings. Actually if your toddler can reach mouse droppings you have a bigger problem than the poison, which in that kind of quantity is unlikely to harm a human. We have regular mouse infestations here and poison is the only thing that sees them off.

I also think poison is cruel. Anything that causes an unnecessary long slow death for an animal is cruel.

I get mice now and again. I place spring loaded traps with peanut butter and chocolate on them behind the kick board at the base of the kitchen units. Mice will always gravitate towards the kitchen as that's where food is. I also place one underneath the veg rack.
It works every time if you place traps where they will naturally go to find food.

I don’t think poison is ok. But long before it starts causing suffering they slow down and it’s possible to catch and dispatch if it’s genuinely being used as a last resort and as humanely as possible and it’s constantly watched. Not ok as a leave it to die method.

If you’re going to check glue every few hours it’s still long enough for them to be terrified and chew their own limbs off. If you’re going to watch glue strips to avoid that you may as well police a feast of treats.

The plugin noise emitting sounds worked for me and after that, I kept them in for years because I couldn't bear the thought of them coming back!

Thanks for all of your replies. DH wasn't of much help bar a bit of hoovering to see if the tissue returns and leaves a trail. We're going to see if the rodent takes to a trap at all today or tomorrow as if not, will have to consider possibility of a rat. Although I didn't think rats were that quick.

I found last time the mice went for the traps immediately because our bedroom is the only room GF (the rest is downstairs) so they were hungry. I'm wondering if neighbour upstairs has them because there's been a lot of banging and hammering lately but no renovations or anything. Unfortunately, neighbour has a tendancy to lie and cannot be trusted to be honest with us about much.

My friend had mice and swore by the sticky pads. She used to load them with cooked chicken and literally in a space of like 3 days she caught 6.

I would use them too if I had a pinky problem.

Good luck op.

Snap traps aren't always good. We had a mouse caught by one leg. We let it go as neither of us could face killing it. Humane traps are not humane at all. We tried those and have released lots of very wet mice. We also got in pest control who hid dishes of poison so dogs couldn't get to them. Quite effective. Finally we found out about professional traps. Ours is in the loft so out of sight. You use poison then the mice die and dessicate inside the trap. It needs emptying but not often. We live rurally and they are field mice. We don't like killing them but they pee and poo everywhere and chew of course. If I go into a house that has mice I can smell them. When we moved here many years ago we had an infestation. It was horrible.

@samanthajayne4

Can I ask why the mice were wet when you used the humane traps ??

Not being a CF, I’m genuinely curious

@SamanthaJayne4 What do they smell like, if you had to describe it? I thought I knew what they smelt like last time we caught 2 in our bedroom, I was sure there was an animal smell. I'm allergic to rabbits, hamsters, etc and it reminded me of that kind of smell but I don't know if that's me being paranoid. Both me and DC have been sneezing this past week and I'm suspecting that's why.

Check your air bricks as well, we had a mouse getting in through a broken one.

@CTRL My friend had mice and swore by the sticky pads

This is just about THE most inhumane way to capture rodents. Some animals get their noses and mouths stuck in the glue and suffocate, which can take hours. Terrified rats and mice sometimes scream as they try to escape the glue and have been known to break limbs. I’m surprised they haven’t been banned.

I can’t believe people still kill mice and rats etc. There are far better ways of doing things. They’re just living their lives as you are OP, it isn’t their intention to get in your way. Please look into alternative and kinder methods.

OP lives in a Victorian Terrace. You can never block all the ways that the mice can get into these old buildings. We used to always get a fresh mice infestation when someone stared building work nearby.

The humane traps aren't effective. We had to use the spring traps. In the end, for me, as I hate the bloody things and irrationally scream my head off when I see one, I agreed to get a cat. Kids had been asking for years and I was resisting but DH sold it to me that I would never see a mouse again and I was gave in. He was right, I haven't seen a mouse since. And the kids are happy with their pet.

Sorry I don't know how to quote. I don't know whether the caught mice were wet from sweat (plastic humane traps) or what it was. They varied from slightly wet looking to soaking wet. I emptied the traps as I was a SAHM. When I can smell mice in someone's house it is a kind of musty smell. My sister had a pet mouse once and it smelt so bad she had to take it back! I had a hamster and we had guinea pigs and they weren't at all smelly.

when we moved into our private rented house 4 years ago there were mouse droppings in our hotpress which was in the main bedroom. there was a mouse gnawing at the carpet just before it stopped into the hotpress. got the snap and kill traps from amazon and killed a couple. (8 in on 3 hours) turned out they were getting in through a hole that hadnt been filled by the sky man when he drilled. they can get though a gap the width of a pencil.

then we had rats in our loft as we are joined houses and they were getting in through the empty house at the end of our row and travelling through the eaves. one even got into my water tank had to have it completely cleaned and my water system cleaned through.

a hole in the under part of the guttering roof area had birds nesting in our loft and the rats were coming and eating the birds and their chicks. one died after injesting our poison and died in my back garden and one above my electric shower in the space above it in the shower.

my dad came round and blocked every hole we could possibly find in the house which turned out there was many and we havent had mice or rats since.

my neighbour has 3 sheds filled with over 160 birds and their feed. he tried to tell me the birds and their feed dont attract rats.... bt!!

in your snap traps put the tiniest amount of peanut butter you possibly can right in the botom not the sides of the bait hole.

also try not to use sticky tape stuff. my neighbour did and the mouse chewed it foot off and ran through to my house and got snapped in the trap and bled on my floor minus its foot

Olbas oil! Throw it everywhere you think they're coming from and it will drive them out. I know this sounds like an old wives tale (and I thought the friend who told me was taking the piss) but it really works!

Your house will stink for a few days, but it is worth it!