To ask how the HELL do you get rid of a clever mouse?!

[Squeakingmad]

Not an AIBU but traffic etc.

We've got a wild mouse living under the floor in our house. Discovered about a month ago when the thing scurried across the floor.

We immediately put some traps down. No luck.

For three weeks we've had pest control in, putting poison down, laying traps. He is coming back today and I've just found fresh mouse droppings so the little fucker is still alive.

My kitchen is a mess because nothing can be in the cupboards. I'm knackered with constantly vacuuming and cleaning up. We know it's getting out and about and I'm actually full of RAGE about it this morning.

I've got two kids. I don't want a fucking mouse. If pest control can't get rid of it, what else can I do?! This is really affecting me now.

We’ve had success with snap traps loaded with Twix and a couple of sighthounds who move like missiles at the sight of a mouse.

To those posters taking about humane traps and taking the mice somewhere else, remember you need to take them excess of 30 miles distance from your home, elsewhere they will find their way back. Or so I have heard, anyway.

That sounds like the Incredible Journey, except with mice

Morning all,

Meet our mouse on his nightly visit to the only cupboard he can get to now. He sniffed all the traps and the poison and then went merrily on his way.

Whilst I did have several moments of "oh he is so bloody cute!", I do need him gone. So - you can all see my cupboard set up. I now need new, out there suggestions.

Please do not suggest:

• A cat or dog
• Sticky traps (not yet and the thread has already been clogged up with repetitive posts)
• various different foods (he is honestly too clever and the traps have had all sorts). After watching him, he seems to sense the danger of the traps. I might try positioning one right where the door is but after watching him, I think he will just avoid the cupboard then.
• Different poison (will try that in there tonight)
• wire wool (have already blocked up different areas and we know where he is frequenting etc anyway)
• Renting a ferret or pole cat (my favourite suggestion of the thread).

I need suggestions for some kind of wild mousetrap type thing now. A pulley system?! If I can trap him in the cupboard then I have a chance of opening the door and setting him free through our kitchen doors.

I would rather he didn't die - he's pretty cute.

Ugh as luck would have it after commenting on your thread I also discovered I have mice! I haven't seen them but found droppings in an airing cupboard & haven't slept properly for days now. I'm really freaked out but have pest control coming today so hoping they'll know what to do! How is getting into that cupboard? Can you set a trap at the entry point? Also for my own sanity - do they leave a trail of droppings wherever they go? I only found droppings in the cupboard but have been searching everywhere for more & nothing yet. I don't want to save mine I want them all to expire & leave me in peace.

I would try a few more nights. And with more traps.

we we’re (unfortunately) luckier with the snap traps. The one time the humane traps worked was when we (3 people) herded the mouse into it… 🙈

our mice (we found the nest) unfortunately seemed to loooove cat food. 😂 Getting a cat may not be particularly helpful (ime)

Mice are very sensitive to scent. They can smell you on the traps and in the poison bait. You need to wear rubber gloves when handling them.

Sorry I only read up to post 150 or so and I'm in a rush so I apologise if you have already had these suggestions.

Are you wearing gloves to set the traps? The mice can smell you so might avoid the traps. You can soak them in rain water to make them smell less like you.

Are the snap bits of the trap facing the walls of the cupboard? The mice tend to run along the edge in straight lines wherever possible.

You can tie the bait onto the trap with a bit of dental floss. If the mouse has to tug it is more likely to trigger the trap. If the bait simply rests on the trap the mice can be adept at removing the bait wihout setting off the trap.

Sometimes you need to wait a few nights for the mice to be comfortable with the new set up.

Are you using pasta bait poison sachets? The mice need to return to these multiple times before they take effect.

@Ohforfox I'm sorry you have mice. Bloody nightmare

Yeah - they leave trails off poo. You need to get all your furniture out and look round the edges of the rooms. Once you get your eye in, you realise those little bits of fluff are not fluff at all

As fully certified mouse hunters I can tell you that ours lives under the kitchen floorboards. He had chewed a convenient hole in our skirting under the stairs in the cupboard but we blocked that sharpish. No idea how he got into the actual house but we do have double doors that were open all summer and I think he moved in and it took us weeks to notice.

@PumpkinsAndCoconuts yeah, I'm going to leave that cupboard alone. Although this mouse has been living with poison under the kickboards for two weeks now that hasn't been moved so I don't think the poison will work. It's such a clever little thing, we did wear gloves for the traps but he just knows!

The tipping pipe sort of trap caught our very smart mouse when it avoided everything else. Like this one
https://www.diy.com/departments/humane-tilting-trap-to-catch-mice-rodents-pests-trap-easy-release-tilt-catch/5021196016700_BQ.prd

Also as others have said, it might be scent. Wear gloves and tip whatever bait straight from the packet, some bird seed or cereal rather than something you have to place?

Could you ask in a pet shop for some used rodenty cage shavings or something to scatter around the traps and confuse scents maybe?

Ferrero Rocher. Our mouse rejected soft cheese, hard cheese, chocolate of all descriptions, but loved Ferrero Rocher. We used wooden snap traps. You have to place them in the run (you will see the run from the trail of droppings).

I would also recommend a variety of different traps. Cheap plastic snap traps from amazon or ebay and lots of them. Deadfast quick kill ones are good and the mouse cant sneak the food off them without triggering them. Rentokil pre baited poison boxes come in a two pack and work very well.

Unfortunately you need to spend a bit to cover all bases.

Keep at it and don't get disheartened. It's a horrible feeling knowing they are there but it's important that you keep trying.

Are you in the countryside?

Perhaps you need to leave your new set up for bit OP till mouse has got familiar with it. Good Luck OP.

@Sherlocklovelyhomes Nope - in a bog standard town!

Mice love chewing on plastic bags. Put some poison in little food bags and leave in the cupboard. The mouse will chew on it. Doing that, and blocking every conceivable hole with wire wool, is what worked for us in the end. We also had a Supermouse.

Aww. I wouldn't be able to kill it after that. Get online and buy a mouse cage and keep it as a pet.

Night vision googles and a shotgun?

Look up a bucket mouse trap.

Aww he is adorable! Fingers crossed mousy eventually stumbles into one. Can you work out where it goes when it leaves the cupboard?

Oh he's cute OP, sorry no idea how you deal with a clever mouse, but those whiskers, and his little nose on the camera. Are you not moved to give him an amnesty?

Try malteasers in a snap trap. They like them.
don’t use sticky glue traps. They are hideously cruel. They chew their own legs off to try and escape. Or get a cat. Unless like mine, they bring them in and you have to chase them round like a crazy woman!

Final update:

The mouse is dead 💀

After days of using our ring doorbell to track its movements, it became apparent that either a whole new family had moved in or our little mouse was going a bit mad from hunger. I've been vacuuming like a mad woman.

The last couple of days it was been out a huge amount. To the point where today, DH worked from home and the mouse boldly appeared a few times. There were many attempts to get it out of the house/trap it etc but it was so quick.

And it STILL resisted all the traps and bait. We set up some new bucket traps, we made a maze of traps around its mouse hole but it then used another one that we didn't know about. We've got wire wool coming out of our ears.

So - sticky trap went down near our ring doorbell recording. Mouse got stuck, doorbell chimed and within 5minutes of it being stuck, DH took it outside and finished the job.

I have a 100% clear conscience. We have done everything and the glue trap was the very last resort. I completely agree that it should never be used if the poor thing will be left stuck for any length of time. But it wasn't. Our little mouse was exceptionally intelligent and cute but ultimately it couldn't stay with us.

I'm not going to update again. Feel free to have a bun fight over the use of the sticky trap but ultimately it shows that pest control really need to update their methods.

Good luck to all those still stuck with unwanted visitors!

I have a 100% clear conscience. We have done everything and the glue trap was the very last resort. I completely agree that it should never be used if the poor thing will be left stuck for any length of time. But it wasn't. Our little mouse was exceptionally intelligent and cute but ultimately it couldn't stay with us.

Your posts made it quite clear you were going to use a sticky trap in the end, OP.
Shame on you, quite frankly. The ridiculousness of the little speech about how cute and intelligent you thought 'your' mouse was after that. I won't say what I'd like about you as it would be against the guidelines...

You've already tried to tell people off for repeat mentions about the sticky traps. Bit off really, but it has helped those who had been unaware of how dreadful they are.