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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:
Mummapenguin20 · 03/10/2021 23:57

Id move out

BookShark · 04/10/2021 00:01

Cats. Not very PC but we saw a rat run under the cooker a few years ago. Spent the evening debating pest control options. Woke up in the night due to some squealing to find a dead rat on the doormat.

New cats are fairly rubbish mousers, but have still paid their dues. Generally bring them in alive and trap them in a corner so we can catch them and let them go in the local park.

StaplesCorner · 04/10/2021 00:06

Why can't you just call pest control in the morning? Just get a company in to sort it out safely. Cheaper than burning the house.

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 04/10/2021 00:09

Get a humane trap and fill it with bird food and cheese (peanut butter too messy) and leave it overnight. You will soon catch it and then release it back into the wild.
My cat brings in mice and rats all the time and invites them to live in the house with us. I have traps everywhere.

Geppili · 04/10/2021 00:50

Whatever it is, the dog food bowls could be attracting it.

DdraigGoch · 04/10/2021 00:59

I get mice most winters. Snappy traps are very effective, baited with peanut butter. You have to make sure that it is set up very delicately so that the slightest touch of the trigger springs it. They used to come out around 11pm, I'd hear either a clatter (escaped) or just a snap (gotcha).

TheClaaaaaaaaw · 04/10/2021 01:26

Rat. Get a pest person in. They treated ours but actually it was our dog who caught most of them Envy. He is 15 and hasn't even been arsed to walk anywhere for years but he's a jack Russel x corgi and I guess instinct took over as he was so quick! The born and bred ratter we have for this job on our farm was like nah it's inside I'm off duty! Hmm he did kill them extremely quickly though no playing about just a very hard shake, we had trap cameras so we knew when they'd gone off and they were slower than our dog so that made me feel a bit better.

They're really common, but the bigger traps can only be bought if you're a pest controller, the little ones from b&q and such like are too small for a big rat, they can just shake them off, it's the babies that get caught in traps as 'they're thick' but the adults are too clever as rats are phobic of new things and won't go anywhere near them, so it's poison sadly.

However I will say that he told me it was extremely quick but I think our dog killed most of them before the poison did it's job, I really didn't want to use it but when you buy a house next door to someone who is useless at keeping his house clean and they've been living in his basement as 'pets' for 25 years what chance have you got?

We've reported him to environmental health now because we've put over 100 in the black bin over the last year and it cost us a fortune initially. Now it's mainly ones in the garden but I'm loathe to get rid of the camera in the basement just in case!

Redsquirrel5 · 04/10/2021 01:34

🤢

Amazon has traps. Black box ones. Look at the poo. Long shaped ones are rat. I hate them we’ve had a problem recently. Next to farm land and neighbours feeding birds a lot. There does seem to be a lot about at the moment.

snowdaysalldays · 04/10/2021 04:06

pretty sure it’s a rat

itsgettingwierd · 04/10/2021 04:34

We use to get field mice when I lived abroad.

We'd put a marshmallow in the bottom of a large fizzy drinks bottle (empty!) and have the neck raised slightly.

Once it's combed in it can't get out and we'd take it to a field, cut off the top and return him/her home!

Original poster
JupiterWeb · 04/10/2021 10:11

So I need new ideas of the 4 traps I have down one with peanut butter the other with Nutella. They have both had the bait eaten off but it has not triggered. Need to sort this problem Sad

OP posts:
gingerscot · 04/10/2021 15:05

Make sure the platform thing is set as high as it goes, I was setting them too quickly at one point and not taking enough care.

I caught 8 of them with Mars bar. I kinda squished it a bit so it was melty/sticky and not easy to nick and run away. Also set the traps perpendicular to the skirting board so they run over them.

toconclude · 04/10/2021 15:10

Put out baited traps. If you have a willing corpse disposer, use them.

LadyofMisrule · 04/10/2021 15:19

Get a cat? I've had more rats in the house since I got ours than before I had them.

HasaDigaEebowai · 04/10/2021 15:38

A field mouse is about the size of an egg. Our cats bring loads in. We have also had them deliver squirrels rabbits voles shrews and a weasel. All live and brought in for our pleasure and delight Hmm. DONT get a cat.

HasaDigaEebowai · 04/10/2021 15:38

Oh and grass snakes and slow worms. They try to catch the lizards but they’re not fast enough

HunterAngel · 04/10/2021 15:46

I used traps baited with peanut butter. Find where they’re getting in and block it up with wire wool.

ineedaholidayandwine · 04/10/2021 15:49

These are the traps we had in our old loft and they worked well, nothing ever took the bait without getting caught.
I felt bloody awful doing it but i knew poison would be transferred to the local owls if they caught them and they were chewing the pipe insulation and had chewed a bunch of my daughters baby clothes that were stored up there :-( it wasn't as simple as block entry holes for us as we had no bloody idea where they were and the loft was so big with parts inaccessible. Good luck OP
amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07Y9KFHLS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1]]

ineedaholidayandwine · 04/10/2021 15:51

We baited with peanut butter

Lougle · 04/10/2021 15:52

We had chickens until recently and last year we had rats. They were huge and were brazen enough that they would come down from the end of the garden (where the chickens were) and peer into the dining room window.

We dealt with it by moving the chicken feed from hanging feeders to a grandfather feeder (chickens had to stand on a plate for the feed door to open) and we put bait boxes down.

The advice we were given was to smear mud all over the bait box to get rid of some of the plasticky smell, then leave them a minimum of 10 days before we checked them. Rats are very suspicious, so they need to become accustomed to the box being there. Within a few weeks there were no more rats.

The other thing we were told is that if you see mice/rats in the day time, you have lots. They are nocturnal, so normally it's only when they've bread lots that they wake in the day time to try and get food for the young ones.

Finally, be aware that if they nest in your electrical appliances and damage them, the insurance (if you have it) doesn't cover it Sad

NeverDropYourMooncup · 04/10/2021 15:52

holds back on the Slow Worms are Lizards twattery Grin

How about a dustbin with some grain at the bottom? They'll get in but not be able to get out again theoretically

Then you'll be able to see if they're Woodmice (not Field Mice, they're the endangered ones with long golden tails like paintbrushes and make nests in the shape of little balls) or rats.

It's definitely Woodmouse breeding season here. Or as I tend to call it with the daft cat finally titheing his way for the rest of year's food, catnip and soft beds, Mouseaggeddon.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 04/10/2021 15:54

Sorry - my mistake. Field Mice are the same as Wood Mice.

I was talking about Harvest Mice being endangered.

QOD · 04/10/2021 16:08

it's not your house any more op.

move out

Frostine · 04/10/2021 16:13

They also like peanut butter.

StrychnineInTheSandwiches · 04/10/2021 16:15

A snap trap that kills it instantly. None of this 'humane' nonsense that just means it takes longer to die once it's been released into an unfamiliar area.

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