Hi all,
DP and I live in a rented one bedroom flat in London, i.e. MOUSE CITY. Penultimate floor in a Victorian building. DP and I are scrupulously clean but I know that bloody MICE love old buildings and will often sneak in regardless!
After seeing a mouse a couple of times our landlords got the mouse man in. On the first visit he pulled the fridge etc out and identified the entrance points (including where the predecessor had tried to seal the entrance points up) and then put poison bait down. We had traps with peanut butter (handled using gloves etc) but they went untouched.
On the second visit he was incredulous - the mouse had not eaten the bait from the bait boxes, which he said suggests just the one mouse, or they'd be fighting over food and guzzling the bait. He put down some loose bait in a dish behind the sofa (see red dot.)
On the third visit, he will seal up the entrance points, at which point the mouse will hopefully be dead from eating the bait. Our snap traps weren't catching anything, and he said that - truthfully - the only way to get a mouse is glue traps. Reluctantly I put some down.
Minutes ago I walked into the living room and saw the little bastard dart across the living room from behind the sofa (where the dish of bait is) to under the table. I lay on the floor to peer under the coffee table but couldn't see it anywhere! It's done this previously - practically vanished under the coffee table! (Perhaps the carpet is loose, or it's hiding behind the wifi box.... I felt too sick to look.)
On the diagram the green crosses show where the traps are, and the red crosses the mouse's usual movements, i.e. where I've seen it / droppings.
Right now I'm working at the window on a collapsable desk (not on diagram) knowing the little blighter is nearby! It makes me SICK !
Ladies, what am I doing wrong! Why won't this mouse eat the poison and then GO! Why is it coming out during the day! I must note that I've only seen him during the day when I've not hoovered after breakfast as an experiment.... so it clearly tempts him out... why won't he run into one of my traps!
It's making me really stressed and anxious, interfering with my sleep etc.
Any advice appreciated