Eeek! Mouse in kitchen!

[Hohumbugho]

Just walked into the kitchen, switched the light on and spotted a mouse scurry across the kitchen floor and disappear under the cabinets!

DH casually wants to wait until tomorrow to set traps even though we have some somewhere (we have some - humane ones- from when we saw mouse signs a few years ago). I’m totally freaked out and googling ‘Will a mouse come upstairs?’! Bye bye decent night’s sleep.

AIBU to be this bothered?! 😱

Lol. No, I think by the time I’d processed what I was seeing the chair standing on time had passed. Decided post mouse-spotting chair-standing would look a bit silly 🤣

🐭 the little fella is very unlikely to come upstairs. They stay where the food is. One way to discourage them from setting up home in your kitchen is to rodent-proof the larder - put all carbs, nuts, seeds and tasty food in glass jars or Tupperware.

They won't come upstairs unless you've got chocolate lying around?

Best catch them and release them somewhere sheltered and far away, then make sure you close up the gaps where they've been coming in, meaning you'll need to get under the cabinets.

We get them every year here, it's almost like a ritual now 😅 they're probably just cold!

Top tip, they love peanut butter

@Squiblet Thanks my logic brain is saying the kitchen is where it’s at for mouse kind! My paranoia has shut the kitchen door and plugged up the gap at the bottom with a blanket. DH helpfully pointed out the mouse could chew through the blanket so think he’s missed the point of blanket-barrier as being mainly a psychological one for me to get some sleep!!

@TheBeesKnee We had a little field mouse get in a few years back (found a chewed yoga mat which alerted us to its presence, then eventually caught and released the little furry in the woods) and that was around winter too I think so you’re probably right about timing.

You can borrow my cat Marley he likes to chat to the little sods

@SpanishGirly not helping!!! 😱

Am shutting my bedroom door, that’s it! Sorry DD - you’ll have to bang hard if you need me in the night!! It’s a survival situation, right?!

Update: After some nagging, DH has found one of the traps and set it up with peanut butter deliciousness near Mousey’s last known location 🤞

Did it have clogs on?

Gorgeous ❤️

I love that your thread title is “eeek”. You’ve even got the mouse lingo sorted.

They'll stay where food is.

Peanuts in a humane trap - you'll catch it within hours. Then you'll need to repeat that because where you find one mouse, you tend to find a dozen.

We had seven mice and I got rid of them in 24hrs with peanuts and a trap.

I had a mouse in December. It was caught in a trap. I'm still so scared I still have traps set up!

I'm used to seeing the odd mouse. I live in the city, in a Georgian flat, near a river!
My cat kept them largely at bay, but he was put down a few weeks ago and I started hearing scurrying again
People told me that they would not work, but I bought sonic plug-in mouse deterrents anyway. They've been working like a dream and I haven't seen or heard any mice in two weeks. Touch wood!

<puts fingers in ears at the thought of a dozen furries> La la la la la…

I was amazed to see that a mouse had eaten its way through the chocolate on digestive biscuits - they left the thin layers of biscuit but eaten all the chocolate!. The clue was all the droppings they had left behind - oh - and the trails of sticky dried urine

Nope.

And he wasn’t there on the stairs either.

At least I bloody hope not, as that means he’s made it through the blanket barricade…

I was strumming my guitar and one appeared from nowhere, sort of stopped in front of my chair and listened. They dont seem to be afraid of humans any more.

Lol I did know they love chocolate! We once came back from a weekend away to find a mouse had eaten most of the ear off a Lindt bunny. Left the cheap crappy chocolate next to it, so they’re discerning!

Just remembering that was in a third floor flat too so they can def get upstairs…

I get these little creatures visiting every year. There is a big park at the back of the house and I reckon they are field mice coming in for a feed and a heat, tiny little things. I'm used to them now. I've plugged every bloody possible entry site I can find but they can squeeze through the eye of a needle it seems!

They go away eventually if there is nothing edible for them - in my experience anyway. So nothing is available for them here! The last sighting was November last year, the little thing popped up at the wall at the back of the kitchen table while I was away with the fairies on my laptop. I said hello, stamped my foot and s/he scurried off. But that little tosser was brave. Found refuge under the fridge/freezer and popped out every so often to see if I had any grub going. Nope not for you sunshine.

So I went away for two weeks mid November, came back expecting a million of them sitting in the kitchen paws out waiting for me to open something, but reader.... they were gone, and touch wood have not returned. YET!

They will not go upstairs, but even though I know that I firmly close all doors downstairs at night after having stamped my feet heavily to give them a fright.

I live alone too so have to do the mouse hunting on my own. I don't mind them at all. Rats on the other hand...... exterminate, exterminate!

Get a cat.

Nice dislike mint so put mint oil around entry points to deter them. It’s rare to have a mouse, it’s mice by the time you see one.

I live in the countryside and we get them most years. This stuff is permanently out in our eaves, I can recommend it. If mice die in cavity walls they don't smell. Rats do.