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Original poster

The mice are winning. Any advice?

148 replies

User534 · 01/04/2023 09:54

We have a mouse infestation. There are droppings. I put a humane mouse trap near the droppings and caught about 10 mice and released them a long way away. Fine. Then the mice learned how to get out of the humane mouse trap. I don't know whether they chatted with each other about how to do this. I caught one of them in the trap, repeatedly hurling itself at the entrance side until it almost managed to get it to open enough for the mouse to slip through. I got that mouse, but others have taken the bait and forced their way out of the trap. So I got two of the killing traps and put them down. This morning the bait had gone from both traps. One trap was open and the other had sprung, but the mouse got away.
Should I move on to poison now? Won't that lead to horrible scenes of dead and dying and decomposing mice all over the house, including under the floorboards and in the ceilings?

OP posts:
MeinKraft · 01/04/2023 12:48

Actually maybe I don't want to know that.

Howtolikeit · 01/04/2023 12:54

Did someone else say this already? Sorry if they did, I haven’t read the full thread. The ABSOLUTE ONLY WAY (believe me I tried for years) is to block all the holes into your house.

There are companies that come and do it and have a year guarantee. They’re expensive, but it works.

We did all the hole-blocking ourselves instead of paying. We also put down poison (and felt very guilty) for any that might be trapped in - it looked like nuts and seeds. It was cruel, but really the hole-blocking was the main way we got rid of them.

It holds them off as long as the blocks last (iyswim). For us, we had to reblock about once a year - we were using wire wool and expanding foam.

Good luck!

RudsyFarmer · 01/04/2023 13:05

What traps are you using?

my advice is to use the Big Cheese ultra power ones. Mars bars in the food well. Multiple places around the house or area. Keep trapping them and disposing of them.

if they are under the floorboards and you know where they’re coming up you can get poison blocks, stick the blocks down there.

FarmGirl78 · 01/04/2023 14:03

Traps aren't any good if you've got that big an investigation you're catching 10 in one night. You need poison. Modern poisons work by making the animal thirsty as well as poisoning them. So they eat the poisoned bait, go out of your house in search of water, and die elsewhere so there's no smell and minimal bodies on your premises. You'll need to rebait every 4 weeks minimum, likely much more often if they're eating it all or you've got as many as you appear to have.

I use Roshield pink pasta pouches and not had any mice for 2 years now. I also had the worlds biggest rat that kept getting trapped in my kitchen ceiling and sound like an elephant battling to get out. That occasion I used the packets of granules and not heard a peep since. No smells, nothing.

FarmGirl78 · 01/04/2023 14:04

Ha ha ha.....that big an infestation!

Original poster
User534 · 01/04/2023 14:04

This is all very depressing. Okay, I'll try the traps with peanut butter and if that doesn't work then bacon. And I'll probably try poison too, in a room the cat doesn't get into. Though if unlucky the cat could still catch a mouse that's had poison. She does seem to specialise in outdoor mice though, and isn't as young as she used to be so doesn't catch too many now. There are masses of gaps in this house - we get plenty of slugs too.

OP posts:
Original poster
User534 · 01/04/2023 14:05

The traps are the plastic type which snap very hard.

OP posts:
FarmGirl78 · 01/04/2023 14:07

I also get slugs too. I've given up trying to block holes....this house is is from 19th century so holes a plenty!!

Greengagesnfennel · 01/04/2023 14:29

Poison is a slow painful death. Use the old fashioned mouse traps with peanut butter they are instantaneous more humane and surprisingly effective. (Peanut butter means they can't run away with the bait)

Best tip - when we lived in old fashioned flats with mouse issues - is to track their poos and work out where they are getting in. They have favourite routes. Sealing it off completely got rid of the problem for us. I guess they just went to other flats.

Greengagesnfennel · 01/04/2023 14:31

It was an old property with lots of holes too op. But we just had to seal off their 'favourite' one to get rid of them

JackiePlace · 01/04/2023 14:33

Cat.
Make sure it is a proven mouser, though. And don't feed it.

Fenella123 · 01/04/2023 14:51

Pest control to advise on where they're getting in, and how to block effectively.

Things like climbing plants on outside walls, tiny gaps in walls / doors, drain damage...

Otherwise not a lot of point in worrying about traps /poison whatever!

Make sure all food shut securely away in sturdy containers - ideally ones you can't chew through. And no water left out, dripping taps etc.

I'd rather have the smell of victory deceased rodents than the sound of them inside my house TBH. The smell goes eventually...

Howtolikeit · 01/04/2023 15:42

User534 · 01/04/2023 14:04

This is all very depressing. Okay, I'll try the traps with peanut butter and if that doesn't work then bacon. And I'll probably try poison too, in a room the cat doesn't get into. Though if unlucky the cat could still catch a mouse that's had poison. She does seem to specialise in outdoor mice though, and isn't as young as she used to be so doesn't catch too many now. There are masses of gaps in this house - we get plenty of slugs too.

Really, OP, if you get someone in to fill the gaps you won’t have to keep killing mice. They won’t be able to find a way in. If you don’t, you kill one infestation and another will find a way in at some point.

I battled mice for ages - honestly, fill the gaps. It’s the only way.

Like I said, you can pay a company to come in and do this for you and they come with a guarantee.

MeinKraft · 01/04/2023 15:42

User534 · 01/04/2023 14:04

This is all very depressing. Okay, I'll try the traps with peanut butter and if that doesn't work then bacon. And I'll probably try poison too, in a room the cat doesn't get into. Though if unlucky the cat could still catch a mouse that's had poison. She does seem to specialise in outdoor mice though, and isn't as young as she used to be so doesn't catch too many now. There are masses of gaps in this house - we get plenty of slugs too.

They do tend to bugger off in spring and summer so they'll hopefully go away soon and you'll have time to find the entry points and seal them off

Ariela · 01/04/2023 16:13

You could try an electronic trap. Instantly zaps them, you spot the light flashing, empty it out in a suitable visible location for the owl/birds to eat as part of the food chain, and repeat.

LakieLady · 01/04/2023 16:30

Plug in ultrasonic mouse repellers worked for me.

Cel77 · 01/04/2023 16:41

User534 · 01/04/2023 09:54

We have a mouse infestation. There are droppings. I put a humane mouse trap near the droppings and caught about 10 mice and released them a long way away. Fine. Then the mice learned how to get out of the humane mouse trap. I don't know whether they chatted with each other about how to do this. I caught one of them in the trap, repeatedly hurling itself at the entrance side until it almost managed to get it to open enough for the mouse to slip through. I got that mouse, but others have taken the bait and forced their way out of the trap. So I got two of the killing traps and put them down. This morning the bait had gone from both traps. One trap was open and the other had sprung, but the mouse got away.
Should I move on to poison now? Won't that lead to horrible scenes of dead and dying and decomposing mice all over the house, including under the floorboards and in the ceilings?

We had a trap which electrocuted them. Very easy to dispose of (by my husband obviously, I'm way too squeamish for mice, dead or alive !). I like to think it was painless too, and it wasn't messy.
It did the job, and we put these plug ins which emit ultrasounds mice don't like. And of course, we filled in the hole in the garage's wall where we thought they had find their way in.
Good luck.

Lavendersquare · 01/04/2023 18:54

@WobblyLondoner I hate to break it to you but you absolutely never get just one mouse, keep putting the traps out and block up any way into the house.

Ablababla · 01/04/2023 19:31

we found mice when we moved into our new house. Was given very specific advice re a cat. 1-2 year old black and white moggy girl.

she is certainly effective. The only move we get now are the ones she occasionally brings us as presents.

WobblyLondoner · 01/04/2023 21:04

Lavendersquare · 01/04/2023 18:54

@WobblyLondoner I hate to break it to you but you absolutely never get just one mouse, keep putting the traps out and block up any way into the house.

Oh indeed I know - been in this house (Victorian, terraced, cellar etc) 20 plus years and it's an ongoing sport. Rather mice than rats though - from bitter experience that's really grim, as others have already said.

Original poster
User534 · 01/04/2023 21:09

We had a rat nesting in the garden shed, and I'm afraid I let it get on with it.

OP posts:
Original poster
User534 · 01/04/2023 21:15

Anyway, I'm totally freaked out now. I'm squeamish, which is part of the reason I went for the live mouse trap initially. I re-set the two killer traps a few hours ago, and when I went to check them one had caught a mouse. I picked the trap up and the mouse started wriggling. It was looking up at me with its head caught in the trap. I can't understand how the trap didn't kill it. I took trap with mouse to the park, opened the trap and it ran off.

OP posts:
YukoandHiro · 01/04/2023 21:17

We had to pay for pest control to get rid of them. They were on every floor of the house (it had been empty before we moved in)

Aria999 · 01/04/2023 23:05

We are paying for pest control (an up front fee plus a monthly fee) - they have blocked up lots of entrances and put poison around the house but it's not obviously making any difference whatever.

I'm going to try those sonic things a couple of people suggested.

Aria999 · 01/04/2023 23:08

I am squeamish too, I have to use the live traps even though I completely understand I am not really doing the mouse any favors, because I am phobic about dead animals.

I have released the last 6 mice in the same park location so maybe they can gang up on the park mice and carve out some territory for themselves who am I kidding really

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