To ask for urgent help as to how to catch a mouse?!

[ChristmasMouseInHouse]

Help! I have a mouse in my living room and my kids (one is SEN is case people think they are overreacting) are freaking out!

We have put down some humane traps but is there anything else we can do?

If you are on the ground floor, open the door.

Borrow a cat?

Cat!

Lay down a boot for it as close to its hiding place as possible. Without fail they scurry into the toe. Block off opening with towel and take outside

What will you do with them then though? If you take far away from it's territory it'll die a horrible death.

Spring traps, a bit of chocolate or peanut butter around the parameter of the room. When I get one coming in from the cold, they normally live in the settee.

It depends on how humane you want to be. We have had an infestation of rats in the house and I know there is at least one still here. I have several traps which will hopefully get the bugger but won’t be a happy ending for the rodent. Shoot me but I’m past caring.

Also, you are very unlikely to have just one mouse!

i love wildlife, but if a mouse gets into my house or garage love is off. Personally i put down several non humane traps. you position these near walls with the jaws facing open towards the wall. Obviously in places they frequent - look for their poo. it sometimes takes a few days to get them. Personally i dont use poison as they slink off somewhere to die and they you cant find them and they stink.

If you can find it put a cup or glass put it over the top of the mouse and slide some cardboard (cut up cereal box) underneath and carry it outside

So I brought my sewing basket, which was in the garage, into the lounge and when I opened it it just jumped out. They can get under the garage door which is how it must have got in there, but our lounge is on the first floor of the house…

I have no idea where it is hiding. It at first went behind the sofa, which is where we have left the humane traps, but I’ve had a good search there and it’s nowhere to be seen

Depends on how nice you want to be.
If you're not feeling the love at all, just get yourself several proper traps and put some peanut butter inside - it's sticky so the mouse has to work to get it off.
Then just discard as usual, clean the floor and you're done.

Cat will just chase and torture it. But they are useful for telling you which bit of furniture they are hiding under.

Once you know that you can usually just pick them up in cupped hands or encourage them into something like a Tupperware, with the lid ready to stop them jumping out. Then get someone to open the door so you can take it outside.

We have had two mice infestations in recent years. There is rarely just one...

One option is loads of snap traps - TONS. Everywhere you see droppings. Use peanut butter and hope for the best. We started off using humane traps and they did nothing.

The last infestation we had we got a guy in who was very highly recommended via local FB groups. He blocked off anywhere they could get in and did two treatments of poison under the floorboards. It was a slow acting poison that makes them leave to find water (so they don't die in your house). It worked like a charm. Yes, it's unpleasant but so's having mice in your house.

We have put down some humane traps but is there anything else we can do?

Pointless! Mumsnet will tolerate nothing less than light artillery

Can you get to a hardware shop or B&Q? They sell pellets. If you put them in the corner of the room then you won't see the mouse again.

My mother used to beat them with the fire poker, Swift, effective but horrible.

@HollowTalk the mouse is in their 1st floor lounge.
I think they want the mouse removed, not rotting inside their sofa.

Humane traps haven't been successful here. An old fashioned death trap, soft cheese or peanut butter, works. You can normally get them in a few days. Getting rid of the body is horrible (I use a brush and shovel If I can't face it), but it's torture for someone phobic to have a mouse loose about the house, so it's the lesser of two evils. Like your poor kids, my DD with SEN is terrified of the little bastards.

Also, it goes without saying I'm sure, but be very stringent about vacuuming and disinfecting areas where they have been. Nasty things they carry, especially harmful to kids.

Do killing traps work better than the humane ones?

@BarbaraofSeville

Cat will just chase and torture it. But they are useful for telling you which bit of furniture they are hiding under.

Once you know that you can usually just pick them up in cupped hands or encourage them into something like a Tupperware, with the lid ready to stop them jumping out. Then get someone to open the door so you can take it outside.

Depends on the cats. Ours pretty much always kill them. The ones they don't kill are because we have managed to trick them away from them. I don't know about your mice but the ones here would never walk into cupped hands or Tupperware. Our trick is to trap with old muslin cloths - but that is dependent on knowing where they are in the first place.

@ChristmasMouseInHouse

Do killing traps work better than the humane ones?

We spent about £40 on four humane ones. No success.

Put down some of the horrible wooden ones, and caught both mice within 12 hours.

Ghastly business.

After a few past incidents I go scorched earth on pests in the house. Humane traps, death traps, I have a set of them in the loft. Plus if anything is getting under the floors, poison is the quickest easiest thing. Obviously not within reach of kids, but if it's coming in through a vent, unscrew it and put a packet of poison inside.

@alienbaby

Lay down a boot for it as close to its hiding place as possible. Without fail they scurry into the toe. Block off opening with towel and take outside

This is excellent advice. If you can see the mouse, lay the wellieboot alongside the wall where the mouse is and try and shoo it in that direction. 9 times out of 10 they will run straight into the boot, a safe, dark place. Then you can easily take it outside.

A snickers bar cut into small pieces makes good bait

Method 1: Get a large bowl and fill it with a bit cooking oil. Blob of peanut butter in the middle of the oil. A ramp or bridge for the mouse to climb over to get into the bowl. It will become oily and wont be able to climb out. Release oily mouse outside.

Method 2: Get a bucket and fill it about 1/4 full of water. Get a stick wider than the bucket and an empty toilet roll tube. Stick stick through tube and put a blob of peanut butter on toilet roll tube. Balance stick on bucket. Position bucket where mouse can climb in. When they stand on the tube it will roll round and the mouse will fall in the water and eventually drown.