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.

Seeing as nobody has offered a solution we haven't tried apart from the sticky traps, that's where I'm going next.

Everyone is telling you how cruel these traps are... just because you don't like it does not give you the right to torture a living creature who feels pain. It will literally chew off its own limbs.

Mice are annoying but ultimately harmless. I’d recommend being absolutely scrupulous about cleaning and trying a humane trap after it’s been hungry for a while, or getting a cat (the bonus with the latter is that you GET A CAT, everyone is a winner, and they can also take care of rats, who are infinitely more worrying and scary). If you want to go that route, get a tough moggy from a farm who probably won’t be a lap cat but will take all your vermin down with ruthless efficiency.

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/26/enacted#:~:text=1Offences%20relating%20to%20glue,glue%20trap%20commits%20an%20offence.

Wait til you’ve got puddles of mouse piss in your teaspoons - you’ll be excited about mouse piss then

From grim experience….snap trap with a bit of mars bar or peanut butter on the spike. Now put the trap in the freezer during day so the choc gets welded on (means mousey has to give it a real yank to try to get it- more likely to SNAP 🤣) When solid that night set trap and leave in pantry/cupboard. You may have to leave for a few days till the little twat gets curious enough to investigate.

PP mentioned throwing them away but just pull back the trap to release mouse into your outside bin and go again if necessary. We have a cat now so not an issue, but cat-less winters in a rural house sharpened my pest control skills….

Is your pest control person certain it’s a mouse - has he seen the videos of it?

Mice aren’t very big at all.

We had an infestation earlier this year. They laughed at humane traps and sonic deterrents. What got rid of them eventually was a combination of snap traps with chocolate, and poison. I think around four got caught in the traps but there were at least a couple more that the poison got. We also made sure that absolutely everything tempting in the kitchen was in a container they couldn't get into, which is a pain in the neck in many ways but worth it for peace of mind.

It sounds like it's getting in where your pipes are coming through. Have you tried filling the gaps with wire wool/brillo pads?

Doesn't solve it I know but the mouse won't be able to get into the cupboards at night and will eventually die.

@Squeakingmad a pest controller once told me you’ll have rats or mice but not both together…..if it’s a rat they are much more cautious and take a while to investigate traps, and usually follow the same pathways to food (“rat runs”)

keep an eye on that - if it’s a rat you can buy bigger snap traps from b&q!

I tried every deterrent and traps with different types of bait (apart from glue traps) last year but nothing worked. I even sat and watched a mouse sitting on top of one of the traps he was meant to get himself trapped inside. We've got an old Victorian house with far too many tiny gaps everywhere that could ever really be sealed up enough to make it mouse proof. Our very elderly cat had died a couple of months earlier and we'd decided not to get another, but in desperation we employed a new kitten who caught seven mice within a few weeks of coming to live with us, and we've never seen evidence of another one since.

Seeing as nobody has offered a solution we haven't tried apart from the sticky traps, that's where I'm going next.

They're illegal. I'm not sure you can even get them any more.

Please don't do that, it's horrible.

I tried one of those. It didn't work either 😆😆

It made me ill in my brand new house too. Completely sealed and little fuckers got in. Seal all good sources - they go up and down the back of cupboards. If you have a loft Chuck poison everywhere. Mouse traps everywhere. Borrow a friends cat and leave it on the kitchen.

I hate to tell you this - it took me 6 months - the buggers even ate plastic baby spoons, loads of poison, 10 traps daily and I caught 17 of the buggers - I thought I only had one ! Good luck

This. A Jack Russell in particular will get it over any cat.

I meant seal all holes and double box up all food. No bird food etc

Yes, a clever cat is what you need. Their presence alone is often enough to keep the mice away.

Otherwise I'm not sure.

I didn't know those were still allowed

They're not harmless if they chew through your electrics and start a fire. @CeciledeVolangesdeNouveau

And their droppings can carry salmonella and listeria.

There's a law to ban them but it hasn't come in yet

When our cats bring live mice in and let them go (usually unharmed so rather frisky) I corner them with a tupperware box and evict them, or otherwise put on my gardening gloves and carry them outside. We generally manage to catch them the same day they are first spotted (with only a couple of exceptions) so maybe those traps are just crap. TBH I don't really mind them, but I take them outside because I don't think a slow death being played with by our cats is pleasant. Sometimes the mice are really cute, such sweet little things.

A cat is a good idea as they keep numbers down by killing them but also rodents have fewer and smaller litters when there is a cat around. So get /borrow one if you can.

Glue traps are disgusting. Please don't.

I have rats living under my floor boards, they've also chewed up into the living room but those holes are blocked now. Pest control are coming out today (4th visit) and none of the fuckers are taking the bait. So frustrating! Can here them sometimes squeaking at night. Might try traps but I have dogs, including a JR!

My ds told me about a box you put over the hole that contains a gas canister and as soon as they poke their head through it basically goes off. Cant bring myself to use one of those and definitely not glue traps either.

I had a rat and the trappers used a baitbox with a snaptrap inside. So they go in for the bait and get got by the trap which is harder to see. Worth a try

I know you don’t want a cat but I would borrow a family members cat for the day. Cats are great at sniffing things out. At least ask for some cat hair you can stick under kitchen cupboards.

So Feel for you OP.

We had mice galore in an old rented Victorian house. It sounded like a tractor behind the skirtings. I hated it with a passion and I am terrified of mice.

I had pest control out 2/3 times and traps. Landlord wouldn't do anything.

The poison largely did it for us. And Nutella in the traps.

And the LL was such a wanker I had great satisfaction hoovering up the poison in the attic just before I left.