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Original poster

ONG scurrying noise tonight

148 replies

StormCattitude · 05/12/2021 00:15

Tonight I'm upstairs crafting, so sat still for ages. My children downstairs directly below me watching TV, also unlikely to have moved for ages.
I heard a weird noise around 11pm, couldn't place it as I had music on low. Wondered possibly if it came from the chimney breast but unsure.
Next thing my DC shout that they're coming up to bed, they'd heard a scurrying noise in the living room. They couldn't place it either, but said the cat looked alerted (she's old so this just means raising her head in the direction of suspicious noise these days).
I went to the living room & we quietly stood for a moment. The noise started again, but moving location. Basically it sounded like something moving around in void between the downstairs ceiling & upstairs floor.

It's got to be a mouse, or mice, hasn't it?

What do I do? What can I do? Actually have rodent poison as we're not far from a park, but I've never used it as it was more bought with the garden in mind. Wasn't expecting this. And if I used poison inside and a mouse died in the void it'd stink wouldn't it? I'm post covid with no smell so might not even notice!

Just me & my DC. No experience with this & no one to help me / us. Don't think I'll sleep tonight anyway, plus DD is in my bed & has said she wants music on all night as mice don't like noise.

Thinking back, the other day I saw the cat sniffing at a new doorway to the extension which hasn't been fully plastered yet so possibly open to the void. I thought she was just being weird. And I remember waking about 2-3am a couple of months ago & hearing something which sounded like something was moving possibly in the loft (I never go in there) but I was half asleep & after I'd got up to try to place it, it stopped, didn't hear it again so I'd forgotten about it.

OP posts:
Original poster
StormCattitude · 05/12/2021 01:59

almost have you had people out to deal with your mice or done it yourself?

OP posts:
sillysmiles · 05/12/2021 03:56

We routinely have mice in the house. Chill, it'll be fine.
Set some traps. Buy gloves for emptying them-as that's the worst bit imo. Nutella or butter works on traps too.

Fridaysgirl17 · 05/12/2021 04:41

I just had this problem could hear it scurrying in my room from downstairs set a trap with a piece of toast,they like that apparently,& I got a spray from Amazon that seems to have worked,mouse in trap and no more scurrying

PissedOffNeighbour22 · 05/12/2021 05:06

Yes the council bloke had a look round the outside of the house when he first arrived and was adamant a small hole near where we were doing some work on the house was where they'd got in.
Yes they can get through tiny holes apparently. We thought we'd blocked off everything when we fitted the new kitchen but must have missed a hole.

It's an old house with stone walls so there's lots of little holes that we're going to have to find and deal with.

miltonj · 05/12/2021 05:24

Most councils will come round for free or small cost and lay down poison. Much much more successful than messing about with your own stuff.

miltonj · 05/12/2021 05:27

Council are more efficient than private companies too. They don't want to have to come back so they do the job properly!

LoveFall · 05/12/2021 05:40

Be very careful if you decide to use poison. We had mice we could not get rid of and got exterminators. They put poison in places they said pets couldn't reach. Yet DS's young beagle found one bait and ate it.

We felt awful. Several thousand dollars in vet bills later the pup was ok, but it was very upsetting to everyone.

Nat6999 · 05/12/2021 05:40

Find out where they are getting in your house first & block it up, they got through the hole for my Sky cables at mine. Buy a couple of drums of cheap rat & mouse pellets, I got mine from the local minimart & some cheap wire wool scourers. Find every hole in your house they have got through, I found they had eaten the floorboards where central heating pipes went through, the box over the stairs & under the bath, put pellets down every hole & block with the wire wool scourers. I got rid of them in 48 hours, I had tried bait boxes, snap traps with Mars bars on them & they didn't work.

MiloAndEddie · 05/12/2021 07:16

Completely disagree with someone who said they’d do no harm. They will wee and poo everywhere, eat anything they can find and shred paper/fabric etc. You need Snap traps definitely. I’d suggest putting them in the back of a couple of base units in the kitchen, maybe ones that have perishable things in (definitely remove the food though).

Belledan1 · 05/12/2021 07:33

If you are going to use posion get a bait box, you put the posion in there and they collect it. Stops other animals getting in to it. The poison from screwfix worked when we had rats in garden. It's called pest stop super rat and mouse killer. It's only 5.99. If you put it somewhere enclosed where you know no other animals will get to it you can but it in direct. It's like sachets.

Belledan1 · 05/12/2021 07:35

Just reading the post about the dog eating poison perhaps keep it in the box.

Sleepthief · 05/12/2021 08:06

'Harmless' mice chewed through the pipes under our shower/bath... £££ on pest control, replacing the pipes, sockets and repairing the water damage 🤷‍♀️

Original poster
StormCattitude · 05/12/2021 08:10

sleepthief did home insurance cover the damage?

OP posts:
ShinyMe · 05/12/2021 08:18

Urgh. I had this once and it was horrible. I had maybe 2 nights of an odd NOISE somewhere, and my cat being totally unable to sleep, he spent every minute pacing and sniffing walls and being hyper alert. Nothing was quite loud enough or long enough to be able to locate it.

Then one night I woke up to SCREAMING downstairs. Came rushing down to find the cat in the middle of the living room, having pinned down a giant rat with both front paws. The rat was wriggling and screaming and biting the cat's paws, the cat was clinging on for dear life but screaming at the rat and not knowing how to kill it. I stood there in my pyjamas going OH SHIT SHIT. I think I eventually just opened the front door, the cat let go and the rat ran for it. The cat followed it out and then came in again, and came up to bed and slept solidly for about 36 hours. The rat was dead in the garden when I got up the next day. Urgh, I'll never forget the look on the cat's face when he looked at me like "WTF is this THING and why is it BITING my paws? What do I DO WITH IT??"

Brackenandbramble · 05/12/2021 08:22

The mice we had liked choc and we used a coco pop on the trap, worked everytime (poor things)
Check round your pipes under the sinks as they can squeeze into the tiniest hole. I read that if you can fit a pencil through a hole, a mouse can also fit through. Not sure of that's 100% true but I use it as my guide!
Mice can eventually chew through expanding foam, wire wool or a brillo pad is good to block any holes with.
Place poison blocks in the roofspace as it's away from your cat but if the mice are in the cavities they'll get up to the roofspace and get the poison.
You will also be able to see if anything has been nibbling at it

Brackenandbramble · 05/12/2021 08:26

@ShinyMe oh my goodness, I'd have died!
We had rats in our cavities and roofspace last year, disgusting! And the noise, gives me the willies just thinking about it.
I don't mind the odd mouse in comparison but all vermin really don't belong in our homes

Belledan1 · 05/12/2021 08:31

Omg shineyme. Thank god my cat never brought the ones in from our garden shed she is scared of things but the neighbour's cat took loads in. He said they were vicious. Our cat actually came home with a big scratch on her eye and fur out we think now it night have been one of the rats.

Roselilly36 · 05/12/2021 08:34

Definitely call in the council, there staff are properly trained and will sort of the problem. They will be but more reasonable in terms of cost than a private contractor and they will be able to tell, if it’s mice, rats or squirrels. It’s getting cold outside and unfortunately these vermin will try to get in loft space. Good luck.

ShinyMe · 05/12/2021 08:35

That cat was usually a hunter, regularly brought me little mice, but omg his face at this huge rat which was at least 10 times bigger than the little shrews he usually caught outside! I never did find out where the rat came from or how it got in - I've never seen any others here and there has never been any other sign of them.

ohtobezen · 05/12/2021 08:44

Agree with all the advice above re getting in the council ASAP, don’t wait. We had rats over the summer- drove me crazy! Definitely check outside for any holes eg in the brickwork and fill everything. You can get fine mesh off Amazon to screw over air bricks- mice can get through the holes which means they’d have access to the cavity and ceiling. You can drop down light fittings, or unscrew floorboards eg if you have spot lights, and put poison where they are running about. You can also get these plug in things which emit a signal they are meant to hate so they go elsewhere. Some say it’s rubbish, but I was desperate. No idea of it works, but I’m keeping them on. But it’s the entry point you need to find. Ours were getting through a tiny crack in the drain, chicken wire filled with concrete fixed it with a non return rat flap fixed it! Mice will hopefully be easier to sort

Raaarrrrrrrr · 05/12/2021 08:48

We had a problem recently. Our cat always did a great job, but he now keeps away from the dog and lives upstairs so the mice have been allowed to run wild and free.

We had so much poo in the kitchen cupboard, crockery cupboard, lounge and utility. They'd even climbed up the shelving and into the kids' crisp/biscuit box and nibbled through.

We tried humane traps. Caught one but the poo continued.

They got wise to the peanut butter humane traps, must of worked as a team because every morning the treat was gone and the trap pushed over.

We resorted to snap traps. Sad but necessary. We put one in each of the places we found poo (they only need a teeny tiny space to sneak through). We caught 5 over 5 days and have left the traps set. Nothing for about 2 weeks now. They were having a party at ours. The crisp/biscuit eating one in the utility got caught during the day, when the husband and dog were at home. This is the room that the cat is fed in/has the catflap. Brazen or what?!

Iwant2move · 05/12/2021 08:52

Get snap traps and load them with chocolate. You can buy snap traps from Tool Station where you don't have to touch the mouse.
I have cats (Maine Coons), they were happily co-existing with a mouse, letting it share their water and food. I set a trap and it was dealt with over night.
Don't feel guilty. They can cause thousands of pounds of damage.

Beachgirl33 · 05/12/2021 08:52

I feel your pain. I had mice in a flat years ago. Council pest control out regularly but I couldn’t get rid of them. He reckoned it was from the flat through the wall as they left a lot of food uncovered. Who knows. It was definitely a factor in deciding to move! Grin

Few years later I got them again in my house. Removed kickboards in kitchen and could see a lot of droppings Shock so used wire wool to fill holes. Also went round outside of house and filled any tiny hole we found. Used snap traps with chocolate. We caught loads of them. It was grim as I am so frightened of them. I know it’s an irrational fear but I just am. After a few weeks we seemed to get rid of them but for a good while after we still left a couple snap traps and poison down behind the kick boards. It gave me some comfort that they remained untouched. Good luck x

Gargellen · 05/12/2021 08:56

Mice are not harmless. They chew stuff to ribbons to make nests.

I would use poison. They might die in situ but they are so small they dessicate after a few days so they don't smell. If you leave the problem and there are lots of bodies they will smell though so bait is the only way to go.