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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To burn the house down

110 replies

JupiterWeb · 03/10/2021 10:00

So got up this morning, went into the utility to put a wash on as you do. I saw something out the corner of my eye and glanced over and saw a tail... backed out of the room and ran back in to take this photo. What the hell is this? A mouse a baby rat?!?!?! How do I get rid of It Sad

To burn the house down
OP posts:
Mseddy · 03/10/2021 12:55

That's a mouse. Saying that as someone who has sometimes up to 4 mice a day brought home by my darling cat. We've had rats too. Much much bigger!! And the ears aren't as cute and round x

LakieLady · 03/10/2021 13:13

@JupiterWeb

I have 2 dogs, I keep sending the yorkie in there to scare it out lol
I was going to suggest getting someone round with a couple of terriers!

I used to have lakeland terriers, and when we had a rat problem, they showed us exactly where they were getting in. They sniffed and sniffed and wouldn't come away from the spot.

Traps, poison (but safely where the dogs can't get to it) to get rid, and identify where they are getting in and block it up. Both times we had rats, they were getting in through a tiny hole in the brickwork where some mortar had dropped out.

Horst · 03/10/2021 13:29

Get some spring traps. A fast death and no more mouse/rat. Gross little things. I don’t mind them outside as such but come in my house and then it’s war.

Or as you said just burn the house fuck it 😅

Original poster
JupiterWeb · 03/10/2021 13:35

Okay I've cleaned away it's nest and bleached the area to within an inch of its life. Although I think it's more of a horror that it is living in my fridge....

OP posts:
Feelslikealot · 03/10/2021 13:37

Don't put down poison. It could get behind a wall and rot.

Member984815 · 03/10/2021 14:06

Get a trap and bait with chocolate

Original poster
JupiterWeb · 03/10/2021 16:00

Trap is down with Nutella on it... I do have some chocolate but it's from hotel chocolat and a birthday present so I'm loathe to use it on my furry guest

OP posts:
kennelmaid · 03/10/2021 16:09

Please try a humane trap first.

CarrotSticks23 · 03/10/2021 16:21

It looks like a mouse to me, it's got round ears and a furry tail. He's quite cute

Boredhimtodeath · 03/10/2021 18:46

Can you leave the dogs in the room overnight too? If the trap doesn’t get it then they might!

isadoradancing123 · 03/10/2021 19:18

Def no humane traps for rats

gingerscot · 03/10/2021 19:57

Pest man said nuts and chocolate are their 2 fave things and Nutella works a treat cos it’s a combo and sticky. I caught 8 of the little gits with Mars bar before I ended up with poison.

Once it’s dark and quiet it shouldn’t take long to catch them - 20mins it took me to get the first one. Good luck. It makes your skin crawl thinking about it, eh?

SandraOhh · 03/10/2021 20:02

I'd cry and have a meltdown too.

secular39 · 03/10/2021 20:08

A Warning in the thread title would have been nice. I hate rats!

gogohm · 03/10/2021 20:08

Buy traps, I used humane ones, and look for holes. we discovered a big one behind kitchen units when we renovated - they were simply walking into the house! Oh and dogs are good at finding where they are hiding without hurting the rodents

iloverunningslow · 03/10/2021 20:51

Please be careful with traps and poison. We have had several experiences with snap traps where the rat wasn't killed, so only set them if you can check them every few hours and will be capable of humanely killing anything caught. We had one poor rat caught by its leg and another trapped by the waist which was still alive and both were squealing in pain.
Poison may be dangerous if you or your neighbours have children or pets. It works because rats carry it from the bait box (which is secure) to the nest and feed it to the other rats. We had a horrendous experience where the rat dropped the poison somewhere one of our pets picked it up.
They need food, shelter and water. Anything you can do to disrupt their access to these things will help to send them elsewhere. We got rid of our rat problem by securing food away from their reach. They can't gnaw through metal so blocking up small gaps with wire wool can help a lot.

pinkstripeycat · 03/10/2021 22:04

I keep rats as pets. You can tell that’s a field mouse by its tiny ears and round body. Rats are bigger. Even a baby rat doesn’t have ears that small. A rat body shape is long

Original poster
JupiterWeb · 03/10/2021 22:04

I'm almost sure it's a field mouse, I do have some traps down so we will see how it goes tonight.. I hope people don't think I'm over the top but I actually ripped plaster and render off the walls to get to it.. Grin thank goodness we are doing a renovation!

OP posts:
pinkstripeycat · 03/10/2021 22:05

Also rats have very thick, obviously scaly tails. Field mice have very long skinny tails like your pic

Aurorie11 · 03/10/2021 22:08

Snap traps with peanut butter

AramintaLee · 03/10/2021 22:35

Awww don't kill the little field mouse!

My cat regularly brings live mice in and I've become quite handy at catching them in a jam jar and releasing them in the park opposite my house. They're actually really cute up close with their whiskers and twitchy little noses.

Rainbowsew · 03/10/2021 22:38

Chocolate spread is excellent bait

MereDintofPandiculation · 03/10/2021 22:43

If it's small enough to be a mouse, and its head is in proportion to its body, then it's a mouse. A baby rat the size of a mouse would have a large head in proportion to its body.

Mice have long tails too. It's voles that don't.

userxx · 03/10/2021 22:59

We used to have field mice come into the utility room and nibble on potatoes. You'd find them asleep in shoes. Don't kill it!

gingerscot · 03/10/2021 23:32

Yeah mice aren’t cute. They reproduce every 21 days with 8-12pups at a time. That’s a lot of mice and they chew a lot and can cause crazy damage. Get rid of them quickly.

And again, if you “humanely” catch and release you’re separating them from their family group and they’ll die a painful death of starvation or being picked up by a predator.

As for the poison, while you don’t want pets to eat it, it would take a small cat to eat 10 of the mice who had ingested it to ever have a slight problem. Just keep pets away from the bait. And the traps. Good luck!