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.

They really love chocolate! I followed the trail of foil from a bag of mini Easter eggs to the hole they were getting in once.
i have also had just one mouse. He was quite cute and I didn’t mind so much.

We have something similar to this. It works, not a single mouse visitor since we got it. You may need two in a larger home. I think we got ours from Screwfix. Get one of the ones with sonic AND electrical settings.

https://www.diy.com/departments/pest-stop-rodents-sonic-pest-repeller/5014055003157_BQ.prd

I’ve seen far too many videos of bats and other animals getting caught in them, they are a terrible cruel thing.

i cannot imagine the pain the animal goes through as they die.

Oh and you might want to avoid putting food you like or that you use often on the trap. I couldn't use peanut butter without retching for months after using it on rat traps, but DC love it on everything. 😖

A cat was the only thing that worked for us. Haven't seen a mouse since we got ours 3 years ago (after spending a fortune on pest control).

Right - I'm halfway round my morning "check for poo" and discovered this. So it's got a nice comfy bed somewhere

DH wants to go nuclear now. Wire wool is being bought, many more traps of our own, Nutella etc. I'm going to seal up some of the cupboards so I can put stuff back in them. Then I feel like putting 20 traps in one cupboard. Not sure how effective that will be!

Waiting patiently for pest control to rock up. As always - an hour late.

puts on hard hat

After trying everything, sticky traps were the only thing that worked for us. Not ideal and you have to kill the mouse yourself once they're caught so it is grim. But honestly they worked for us.

I watched one climb out from behind the kick board in the kitchen and land on the floor. When it ran back in I put the trap in that position and then it did the same again and landed on it. Caught 3 like that, blocked all the holes and got the sonic plugs. We've had no more issues.

I understand the issues with the traps but I was beside myself with them and nothing worked. I have a toddler who puts everything in her mouth and I just needed rid.

We get them in in the winter and can often hear them in the walls. We did have one brave chap that somehow made it into the kitchen, on top of the table and climbed the fucking stairs into my child's bedroom! (They can fit through very small holes though so although you can secure as much as you like they'll likely still get in).

We put out multiple traps with peanut butter in different rooms and caught it. Haven't seen any evidence since. We never saw our mouse until he had passed but they do say if they're coming out when you're going about your daily business they are likely brave and not acting alone 🫣

I had a stand off (a mouse off?) with two mice at the beginning of the year. My stupid pudding of a cat brought one in and it had babies and it was a nightmare. The first 19 (that is not a typo) were caught in humane traps. I have six and baited them with raisins which was very effective.

The last two were cunning fuckers. They figured out how to get the raisins without tripping the traps. I was basically feeding the little bastards. The only humane solution I found was a little battery powered electric shock trap. It is like a glue trap only instant so they don’t suffer.

i also now have one of those sonic things and they haven’t been back. But the traps are ready to go the instant I see a sign!

https://www.diy.com/departments/the-big-cheese-mouse-trap/5036200127228_BQ.prd

They do indeed leave droppings. I had one that ran indoors and hid when I made a local cat drop it. Didn't realise one of the doors was open.

I put flour down to see where the little footprints were and worked out where it was. It was a very smart little mouse, and yes, there was only one, came in to keep warm. He died under the floor.

They can get in through tiny holes and pest control are not always that good because they charge per visit. Look for one that uses Jack Russells, they are quick and it is over for the poor mouse.

Try flour and work out where the entrance hole is, then get it blocked.

Update:

Pest control have been. He is very frustrated! He did say that when it's only one mouse then they can live off the tiniest crumbs. There really are so few poos he is sure it isn't a big mouse problem.

Mentioned the rats and he has examined the poo again and said nope - def a mouse.

Mouse traps now set up in kitchen cupboards but DH is buying more anyway. We've got the poison down too. Pest control said they are very sensitive little things and if something changes they don't instantly go for the bait - unless you've got lots of mice who are hungry. Our little chum probably finds a few crumbs of toast and can survive off that.

He also said our house is clutter free and clean so that's in our favour.

also dons hard hat

Yeah - I'm now ignoring the posters who are still wringing their hands over the sticky traps. DH also won't use them. I've looked them up and it looks absolutely horrific. BUT if us going nuclear doesn't work this week then I will be purchasing them. I will probably live guilt ridden for the rest of my life but I am happy I've tried all other options.

If people want to continue to use the thread to post links and comments about sticky traps then that's fine - I understand - but I wouldn't be considering it unless I was truly at the end of my tether. Let's hope our little friend takes the bait this week and dies in a less nasty manner.

If i catch the mouse i will update!

Also re cost of pest control - he has clarified that it's a fee of £120 when the mouse is caught. Doesn't matter how many visits he has to make. So I actually feel much less stressed now!

Aww 🐭

Apparently humane mousetraps are cruel unless you set the mouse free within an hour. Poor things die a prolonged death of stress etc.

This is true. 'Humane' traps are bullshit that just means a slower death.

A Jack Russell or other kind of rat catcher dog would be more effective than a cat. If you could borrow one for a week.

I had a clever mouse. I actually caught it using cooked chicken as bait on a trap. Be aware also that some mice can build a tolerance to poison. We had a case at work where we had pest control in all the time but it was actually the bait they were using that was the problem. It just wasn't working. They tried a different kind and it worked straight away, so either use some traps with a bit of chicken roll placed flat against walls (they often avoid open spaces), or ask pest control to try a different kind of bait.

The sticky traps have been illegal since 2022:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/26/enacted

Borrow a male cat. The scent will scare off the mouse.

Please don't use the glue traps. They're already illegal in Wales and should be illegal here fairly soon, April I think. There's really no justification for using them just because you can before the ban deadline. They're dreadfully cruel and inhumane.

I had mice previously and apparently they came through tiny wall gaps where boiler pipes were. I blocked those gaps and put steel wool, strong wire mesh and glue in all gaps I found elsewhere in the house. Honestly they'll come through gaps you wont even think of. I did end up using glue traps for those already inside which I feel sad about, but I dont want mice running around. They're prey for every animal out there + they hate the cold so they'll come in by any means necessary unfortunately. I also got plug-in repellents from Amazon and despite my scepticism, they did seem to work

I had a mouse once. Now I have a terrier dog, nothing alive dares entering my house, even spiders are wary of the little fucker.

So voilà, you need a terrier!
Issue is, you'll then have a terrier to deal with.

I'm another one who resorted to sticky traps in the end. I hated doing it but when literally nothing else has worked, what can you do? It was coming down one night to find 5 of them running about my kitchen worktops having a party that finally did it for me 🙁I would have been overrun in the end. It was disgusting and was giving me literal nightmares.

After that I did get cats, wanted them anyway but keeping mice at bay was a big factor. Haven't seen another mouse (or evidence of one) since I got them.

Ultrasonic mouse repellant along with humane traps with peanut butter/Nutella worked for us.

Yep me too.

I used pork fat on a snap trap when we could see them running round last winter. I’m fairly sure there’s a couple in the house atm but they haven’t yet been seen and they are living off the cat biscuits . It’s only field mice so I’ll leave them be for now.
Blocking up holes with tape or wire wool is they way to go to get rid

I haven't read all the replies, but just a couple of points, in case it helps. You can have one mouse and it can be a stubborn little forker. This happened to me and, omg was it stressful. It came in through the dividing door to the garage when one of us briefly opened it. Eventually, after about three weeks, it did succumb to the humane trap, but by this point it was so fat from scoffing all the poison, that I'm pretty sure that the only thing that trapped it was its own girth. On the sticky trap issue, obviously you've heard all the opinions and you are at liberty to make your own decision BUT please do not underestimate how traumatic it is for anyone within earshot when they scream the place down until they die, because they do and it takes a really long time. I haven't used them myself, but I knew someone who worked in a warehouse and the pest control company there were quite keen on them. Sorry I couldn't be more help and good luck, I know it's unbearable.

Forgot to add, he was released alive and well on the school run the following day, full of chocolate and delicious poison and never returned