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?

I honestly wouldn’t get snap traps because they can just lose a leg etc and then go and die somewhere. They can be very nasty. The only effective traps really are the electric ones or glue traps which are just fucking dreadfully cruel.

No substitute for snappy traps and peanut butter.

We usually catch the mice in a towel or using the waste paper bin. Encourage to run in then cover with a towel.

We often have mice as one of our cats likes to bring them in alive to play with. Sadly normally we just find them dead and half eaten, but I do try to rescue them when possible.

We have humane traps with mince pie or Christmas cake in and caught 6 in one night, they love cake. Cat just watches them.

Update - “Mousy” has been caught! Thankfully one of the traps worked and we released it earlier this morning. Happy kids for Christmas! Thanks for all the tips and glad we didn’t need to use one of the snap traps.

Snap traps loaded with pieces of Twix work every time!

Where did you release it? If it was in your garden, it'll be back in (because its mate is probably still in your house).

@VickyEadieofThigh

Where did you release it? If it was in your garden, it'll be back in (because its mate is probably still in your house).

Snap traps are horrible and upsetting, but likely less cruel than a "humane" trap that isn't checked every 15 mins.🤷‍♀️

Glad you got it, though, OP- hopefully it stays out now.

Sorry, didn't mean to quote you there, Vicky (though you're unfortunately right)

Whenever I've used humane traps they've never worked. We had a couple of mice visitors in different houses over the years. After the last one we adopted a kitten. She's 7 now and quite good at hunting them but has been known to bring them in to play with unfortunately. She does kill them though.

Future tip. Keep your traps either in the garden or somewhere like a shed so they smell outdoorsy.
Maltesers also make good bait. Put the trap somewhere dark and sheltered.
We have house mice living in a wall in our garden. They do well from the bird feeders and we have cats in the house. The mice never come indoors!

Our humane traps always work. Put them in the right place (along a skirting board for example) and cover them with something dark. We use cheese, chocolate, peanut butter.

We have a cat who brings them in alive and releases them and then sits in the cat basket and watches them scurry round the house.

Peppermint oil on cotton wool is excellent for scaring mice off and keeping them out. It can't be essence must be oil. Mice rarely come on their own so you need to look at something preventative.

Traps need to against a wall to work. Mice don’t like running out in the open and tend to stick to running along a wall.

Peanut butter on mouse traps. We had 2. Got them with that. I don't like it but it was the only way to get rid of them.

So happy that Mousie has been caught and released. Well done OP🤗
To those who are saying that she'll be straight back in again if released into the garden - no she won't. Please RTFT. This was obviously a field mouse, not a house mouse, and she found herself inside a house by accident. Could even have been a mummy mouse who has now scampered back to her babies.

Mice hate peppermint, cos it messes with the way they communicate - which is basically via the constant weeing they do.

So a few drops of peppermint/spearmint oil next to all their little spaces that you know they congregate in, or get access to your house.

That usually sorts out the little bastards.
I used to have a cat and just the smell of a cat is sometimes enough to keep them away.

Best of luck, OP. 🤞🏻

@Zxcvbnm123456

Peppermint oil on cotton wool is excellent for scaring mice off and keeping them out. It can't be essence must be oil. Mice rarely come on their own so you need to look at something preventative.

The trouble is that they eat the cotton wool - the little fuckers aren't fussy.