Had a mouse problem for nearly a year. HELP

[SoSickAndTiredOfTheCuntingMice]

Posting here for traffic.

The first time I ever spotted a mouse was last year August. I cannot tell you the amount of times I’ve posted on here trying to get advice on how to kill the bloody things.

I’ve tried poison (that they barely touch), snap traps with peanut butter, bacon and God knows what else. I’ve used electronic traps. I have sonar mouse repellent plugged into my kitchen walls. Heck, I’ve even used glue traps. And guess what? I haven’t caught not one mouse.

I hear them in the walls, I see the droppings too. I went in the kitchen to get DC a bottle of milk and to my surprise (NOT), a trap had gone off but no mouse? I’ve had pest control come out around 6 times and they do fuck all.

Yes I’ve filled all holes that I can find with wire wool and expanding foam. Truth is, the kids and I are in a rented property and we can’t exactly rip out the cupboards to see what holes may be behind the units. Does anyone and I truly mean anyone, have some words of wisdom for me? Maybe something else that I haven’t tried?

I’m just so sick of these mice. I hate going into my kitchen because I’m scared I’ll see one again!

I don’t see droppings every morning. I rarely see droppings tbh which makes me think that maybe they reside elsewhere and pop their head through my flat.

I’ve seen mice on about 4 different occasions since last year. The reason why I believe that we still may have mice is because I saw the trap had gone off. There’s certainly entry points that I haven’t found but as I’ve said, I can’t rip out the units and see what’s going on behind it. All I can do is lift up the kickboards and work with what I can see. I’ve probably blocked up about 20 holes in the kitchen.

I have no food available on the floor at all but it may be that I need to sweep the floor twice a day to make sure there definitely is no crumbs!

The only thing that works IMO is to make sure that there is never any food left lying around. Not even the tiniest crumb. Don't leave the washing up in the sink. Keep all store cupboard food such as flour in sealed boxes. The mice won't come in if there's nothing to come in for.

Have you got a filthy neighbour above or below your flat?

A Pest Control company just quoted me £690 + VAT. LOL omg the mice have won haven’t they?! Just kill me now

I had this once in a rental property. After a year of having pest control and traps laid nothing changed. I kept all food items in containers and cleaned all floors on a daily basis. I had a niggle they were coming from behind the kitchen unit which houses the oven as it was adjacent to the garage wall. The landlord finally agree to pull out the unit and it turns out there was a huge hole in the wall between the garage and kitchen 😱. Mice and Rats apparently look for warm shelter in the winter months whereever they can get it, even if there is no food source.

That seems a lot of money OP.
I think we paid £100 +VAT for the initial visit and a review visit; which sorted it out. Thank god

This is exactly the sort of price that I had in mind. If you’re in London, could you comment (or PM me) the company that you used please?

I think this pest control company is charging to look at the whole flat. I’ve responded to them asking for a quote to only look at the kitchen so hopefully they get back to me with something reasonable!

Not in London, 200miles North.

We pay £250 a year for an ongoing service contract as we have a constant battle with mice. We get visits every 2 months (more frequently if there is an active infestation) and they provide traps, poison and remove any dead mice.

We are pretty sure they are getting in behind the kitchen units (and indeed have trapped a number there) but can't fill the holes until we replace the kitchen. And given all our air bricks are covered in mesh we think they are getting in via our neighbours air bricks (terraced houses).

But we manage to keep on top of the problem fairly successfully. All our food is stored in sealed containers and we've not seen any evidence of them having found a good source. The challenge is that without a food source they stray further in the hunt for it - we have seen the odd mouse in the bathroom for example.

We are South London and had rats - thankfully not inside our flat but they'd go into the flat above ours but it was still gross and as the only owner occupier, it ended up falling to me to sort. It took months (about 8) and involved having the 'rat flaps' installed and surveys of drains combined with traps and poison until my partner eventually worked out how they were coming in and we had an old Victorian pipe removed from the building. It was full on and the needed the assistance of neighbours to fix.

I'm not sure mice will come in via the sewers but if there is any chance of that, get a drainage survey. Some pest control companies will do searches for possible entry points but in our case, they were pretty rubbish and it was us that worked it out.

I know the stress this causes so I really hope something works for you.

Dammit!! Thank you anyway:)

OP - we used Pest Gone Environmental .

This sounds exactly like my situation. The air bricks have now been covered with mesh (one of the only useful things that pest control have done) so I really don’t understand! They come in from somewhere and just pop there head round and come into my flat.

I also think the same. They must be coming in behind the units in the kitchen which I can’t get too. What’s the name of the company that you use if you don’t mind sharing pls!

We had someone come out and they put down this flourescent powder stuff to track where the mouse was coming from. Did they try that?

We had this issue in a house once, except it was a single rat- only got rid by cameras down drains and it was using a disused drain and coming up via gap next to heating pipe- they blocked off the disused drain- next night we heard scrabbling in wall and then nothing - unfortunately though we did then 2 days later have huge blue flies throughout the kitchen- took 3 days to stop

I paid someone privately to block all the holes. They used a special light to see the entry point and trails (apparently mice permanently pee so they leave a trail. He removed all the kick boards in the kitchen and blocked all the holes. Mainly around the pipes. He gave me a one year guarantee. Some nine years later they haven’t come back. Money well spent.

I think tbh it doesn’t sound like you really have much of a problem that you can address? If you aren’t seeing droppings then they are feeding elsewhere and if you share a wall then what can you do?? They poo all the time so you would definitely notice droppings if they were in your flat.

3 cats all ignored a mouse as it shimmied across the skirting board, they couldn't be arsed. And one of them tends to bring live ones in and let it go so they can all have fun torturing it. Cats are not always the answer

We now have a dog and I feel quite confident he would sort any future mouse problem out. I realise this isn't feasible for you OP.
One tip, cover over your unplugged toaster every night with a tea towel.
I really sympathise, rats and mice are my only phobia

Mice apparently hate the smell of peppermint. There is a spray you can buy on Amazon. Might be worth taking the kickboards off and spraying it generously under the cupboards.

Humane traps? We’ve used them with success.

The private pest controller who sorted the issue out for us, took all the kick boards off in the kitchen, the side of the bath and put strategic bags of poison down which looked like grains/ seeds. He also surveyed the outside of the house and told us what to seal up. He used that fluorescent pen too re the mice urine. It sorted the issue out anyway, none of the DIY stuff-traps, bait, peppermint did anything (we back on to woods).
So I'm told by husband, because I was living with my sister at this point, as my nerves were shot and I couldn't sleep. Ridiculous I know, but that's how phobias work.

Block up all holes was the only thing that worked for us. Our mice lived in the back of the cooker

OP, the truth is if you’re not able (or allowed) to move the kitchen units and seal every possible entry point, you will never be rid of them.

Most pest control are useless, only interested in trapping/poisoning. You need to get to the route of the problem. I had a handyman, with one of those enormous industrial sized torches, come and seal around pipes and every crack in the wall. This was after £100s wasted on pest control.

Good luck!

Are you allowed to get a cat? If so they will kill all the mice for you.