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!

Have you tried Nutella? In my (unfortunately extensive) experience it is head and shoulders over any other type of bait.

Also try and get the old fashioned basic wood snap traps. They work far better than the fancy new styles. They seem to be more hair trigger and with a sticky bait I have a high kill rate.

The only real cure though is to find the entry points. I'm doomed as I have an old stone house with no foundations and they climb up inside the walls and get into the space between the floors. There is no way to stop this so I have to rely on traps whenever we have an unwanted tenant move in.

Thanks so much for the comments guys. I’m so fucking sick of this that I actually don’t have the energy to reply anymore. The stress is consuming me!

Your pest control people sound awful - get a proper commercial one that includes a guarantee (usually 3-4 month).

They don't put down traps, they put down bait boxes. Then they eat the bait and go away and die elsewhere

You need a camera. We tried every trap going and the only way we managed to trap them was to see exactly how they moved across the room/corridor so we could set the traps accordingly. They aren't stupid either and will avoid the traps. Glue traps work best unfortunately but you have to put them in a place they will accidentally run on to them. So for example if you know where they come in, right in the spot they have to step to get in or on the other side of a door if you know they are running under the door.

Use Rentokil professional grade rat killer. Stop biggering about and call in the professionals

I've heard Cedar Oil is a good repellent. Rub it on the skirting boards and entry points.

If they are managing to get around the traps, I'm more inclined to think it may be a Rat instead of a mouse. I hear they are intelligent and very hard to get rid of

Cat.

Try and post enquiries locally to see if anyone has one which is a good mouser.

This south London estate...Is it based in Wandsworth by any chance?

I'm asking as my SIL was living in a council estate near Battersea and the whole block and estate had a rat and mouse problem. Whenever she contacted the council, they did the same and stated it would be too expensive deal with the issue so all they did was place basic mouse traps and poison on tenants homes, but the entry points were left open and the vermin continued to come back.

I will say that mice doesn't always equate to crumbs...My parents had mice at one point in their home and my mother is very house proud and religiously cleans her floor (on her hands and knee's) twice a day and sometimes more if she feels it needs to be done. The mice just found ways of getting into the cupboards and was nibbling food. She then began to store food in containers in the cupboards, the mice still stuck around and even began chewing non food items.

We had them for about the same amount of time. Did same as you, every possible trap/poison used, little shits must have danced around the traps. Until… we got a sticky trap. Caught the fucker. Knocked him on head. Dead. Thankfully.

I wouldn't get a cat! All of the mice we found appearing in the house were due to the cat bringing them in and they were rarely dead!

Mice apparently hate the smell of peppermint.

I was going to suggest peppermint. You can buy capsules of peppermint oil from Holland and Barratt. Squirt some around where you think they might be getting in, and dab some/put cottonwool balls soaked in it in the corners of every room. Repeat every so often.

Hi OP, I had the same thing with mice and multiple pest control companies wanting to charge me essentially for poison. I then heard this guy (link below) on the radio and booked him at the end of my tether. No mice since. Chap came down from Glasgow, found every entry point and filled them. Not cheap think it was £350 ish but I'd already paid around that on several occasions for other companies not to fix the problem.
https://humanewildlifesolutions.co.uk/

Good luck, I know how awful and demoralising it is when you feel stuck with mice.

Have a look at the pipes coming into your kitchen and bathroom from downstairs and upstairs. Block those with wirewool. If you have an immersion heater check those pipes as well. I had mine in a third floor flat and they were running up the pipe ways.

Don't bother with peppermint and stuff. London mice don't give a shit and still invade.

Read the OP she HAS called in the professionals

I think you need poison, and loads of it. Traps alone won’t get them all. Try a different pest company. I had mice for a few months and tried all sorts, in the end called a company who set up cardboard bait boxes all over the house, under kitchen cupboards & under furniture next to walls, and within a week or two all the mice were dead.

Borrow a mouser. I did. Rural house in norfolk - little buggers found a way in and found them in the walls and poop in my cupboards. Locked all food in Tupperware and watched everything like a hawk - they could get in my kitchen drawer etc
borrowered a friends mouser for 4 weeks - fed her salmon and looked after her - 16 mice the first day and then they steadily went down (the kill rate) after 2 weeks we were clear and kept her for another week or so, when her owners went away she would come for a holiday - never saw them again

This 100%

London mice don't give a shit about peppermint oil. I've tried this at my parents home and often found the peppermint balls shoo'd to the side or simply shredded up. But the mice continued to reap havoc

@SoSickAndTiredOfTheCuntingMice problem is you're in a flat. You put poison down so they take it back the nest but you've probably got them running around the building so you need to block entry points. Find every single pipe coming in and out and block- washing machine, boiler, immersion heater, check under the bath and sink. Check all the skirting boards and under kitchen counters.

I will say that my SIL who had the same issue, ended up having to move as the mice were around the estate so most - if not all the homes had a mouse problem.

Even if you deal with the in your house, the block will still have access and entry points for them to come back in and like you said, there's only so much you can do. If the landlord or council wont deal with the issue properly, your fighting a loosing battle unfortunately.

My SIL used all the traps you could find, blocked all the holes she could find, covered all food and entry points she could find and still would find mice daily as the whole block was infested.

Yep you need a mouser. I live in flat connected through pipes and other stuff in a tenement.
mice ate carpets and and wires

got a cat. No more problem even though he brings them in they always die in the end.

my sis had mice under her floors. They caused electric failure eating the wires

I'm betting the block is managed owned by the local authority. A flat I unfortunately owned had them come in through the brick airvents and were destroying everything

My daughter had mice for at least 3 months in her kitchen of her tiny rented thatched cottage. She saw them everyday. They would just sit up on the work surface and look at her. The landlord employed a pest controller who put poison down and kept coming back to put more each week. This went on probably nearly 6 weeks and she could just hear them eating all the poison behind the microwave. She suggested to the chap they may be resistant to the poison. He argued that they couldn't be. My daughter researched online the different poisons and discovered there had been research and found in some areas resistance to this specific poison had been found. She found they were doing this research at Reading Uni and caught 2 mice in traps and sent off their tales to be analysed. They came back resistant to that poison. Her landlord employed another pest controller and they explained about the poison they were resistant too and a different poison was used which finally eradicated them .
I think anyone can set themselves up as a pest controller but not necessarily keep up to date with the current most effective poisons. She had too many mice for traps . She was catching them everyday in her two traps but there must have been hundreds of the blighters and she could hear them in the walls all the time.
They do tend to come in homes more in the cold weather so it should be better now