Help do I have mouse infestation?

[GummyPanda]

Not sure which thread to put this on. My dc puts toys behind the couch and TV stand. Found one that's probably been there for a few days. It's been ripped open in many different places with the inside fluff spilling out. Is it mice or rats or something else?

One or the other, I suspect. Any poo?

Last Xmas we sat and watched a mouse trying to drag a twix finger into the skirting board!! Saw it a few times last summer in the other end of the house (old and big house!). Ds took a video of it running across the carpet!
Set a humane trap (wilko £4)but never seen it since. We have 2 dcats so maybe the smell chased the off!!
Hopefully to ndn!!

I see some black specks the size of a grain of rice and smaller where I found the teddy

Definitely.

Size of droppings suggests mice.

Size of droppings suggests mice. And the fact that they're near the "food". Apparently mice are incontinent but rats leave their droppings in clumps away from what they've chewing. This is the result of googling when we had a similar problem. Ours turned out to be a lovely little field vole - we released him in the garden.

Yes, mice. Probably making a nest for babies. Better take care of it quick mice breed very quickly and one mouse can become fifty in three months.

Thanks for replies. Quite grossed out my the thought of mice in my house. What's the best thing to do? Get a mouse trap? Try to figure out where they coming in or get a professional in?

I’d get an exterminator. Had mice once in a small flat and traps did nothing to deal with it.

We've just discovered we've got mice and got an exterminator in. Shop around tho, I called Rentokil first and they quoted £420!! I've found a local guy (recommended by a friend) for £50 and he seems to be doing a good job so far.

If you get traps, load them with chocolate or peanut butter. We've had a few mice in the kitchen (brought in by our cat, who just treats them as a living toy, not prey!) and put traps under the units loaded with both.

If you're going to try traps, put them around the edge of the room - they like to run along the walls out of preference. And they can get through a hole the diameter of a biro, so don't underestimate any little holes you find in the floor/wall/skirting as being 'too small' as an escape route!

Thanks for replies. The only other droppings I found were in the downstairs toilet. There is quite a few holes in there as we had work done to move the washing machine in there and move the radiator. So I set two traps and it caught a mouse. It looked like a field mouse. Next day I set traps in there and caught nothing. Then last night I set traps in same place and around the living room and downstairs hallway. I caught another mouse in the downstairs toilet in the same place as other one. Quite sure it might be coming from behind washing machine. I used chocolate as a bait. Don't think I can find any other droppings around the house. Should I keep setting traps in there and when I don't catch any for 2 weeks will that mean the mice are gone. Or do I still need to get council pest control round and a builder (the sink needs to be removed to get the washing machine out).

You need to close off their entry point otherwise you will just keep setting traps for ever.

Keep setting traps they work quite well. We now have two teenage girl cats no mice whatsoever

Field mice don’t usually live in your house, they just come in looking for food etc. You just need to block the holes where they come in.