Think we have a mouse

[CarolSwimmer]

In the loft.

What should we do?? We can hearing rustling noises and shuffling.

Mouse poison in the loft? Call pest control?

Freaking out because I hate anything creepy or.crawly .or mousey or worse - ratty (🐀)....

He is v loud and sounds like he's making a nest :(

Thank you! But I've been rustled! DH suspects I may find a way to the cafe and has 'kindly' said he'll go and get the traps instead :( !!!

But it's ok! When he's gone I'll pop out for some cheese and crackers I forgot to buy yesterday (I actually did forget them, though the references to cheese and rustling do seem rather mouse themed so you'd be forgiven for thinking I'm making this up!! But I'm really not!!!!!)

And I plan on having a nice, long, Costa while I'm out :) can't wait!! (I'm not going to mention it before he goes or he'll 'offer' to get the crackers when he's out for the traps!! I'll text him from Costa to let him know I popped out for the crackers and gosh it's busy in Tesco this morning so I might be some time!!!!!!!(Is that bad?!)!!!) 🐀🐀☕☕

I vote pest control. We had the same problem, loft mice. The pest people came and assessed where they had got in, what had attracted them, and then in the loft assessed the extent of the infestation. They treated several ways, including putting poison down, don't think about releasing them, it's not the nicer option, you're shifting the problem and they die anyway as they don't know the area but they die slowly through starvation. Pest control came back several times to assess progress until resolved

DH just called pest control and they aren't free for a week! The nice man gave him advice on which traps etc.. to buy though, which was helpful!! He's currently in the loft stomping about in a 'bah humbug I hate christmas' way!!!!!! 🤣🤣

That made me laugh. Good luck, OP. I know it's Christmas Eve but the little buggers can get through a hole the size of a biro. It's worthwhile having a walk around outside and a check for holes, airbricks, ivy they can climb. Mousemesh over airbricks is a good start.
Happy Christmas🌲

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣You’re actually hilarious OP. You’ve really made my morning. I am sorry you’ve got mice/rats/squirrels/pigeons/squatters but you have given me a good chuckle xx

I would get someone in ASAP. But thoroughly check out their reviews and agree a price and what that entails first. We had one man who was just a con artist who didn’t know what he was doing and charged a fortune.

We live in a semi they the rats were entering via neighbours dodgy building work and running a mock in our loft.

Ours got noisier after they had had the poison the noise in our bedroom at night was awful. Neighbours new but just used own poison so it took a goodly few weeks to get rid of them before neighbours used the same rat man as us.

The advice from pest control was they are very clever and not to move anything or they would know. They also have a pecking order for eating. Don’t do internet research it combined with the noises will send you mad. I couldn’t have had visitors when we had rats I was mortified and stressed too hell.

Do you have family friend or neighbour who has a cat you could borrow for a few hours?

The last time we had mice we borrowed my fathers cat overnight

No more mice. No corpses to dispose of. and the scent of the cat has kept them away since

When we had mice they laughed at humane traps. What got rid of them ultimately was a combination of snap traps and poison, though I guess you can't use poison with dogs in the house.

Happy Christmas to you too ☃️🐀

Glad to bring some Christmas cheer!! (I have to be like this to counteract my wonderful bah humbug DH!!!) Happy Christmas 🎅

God that sounds awful!! Luckily we live in a bungalow and the mice/rats etc.. are right down one end (above our bedroom it seems 🙄) and our guests are staying the other end in an annex with a separate loft!! So they'll never suspect a thing!! 🕵️

Well I think.poisons a good idea because we could just put it in the loft and dogs can't get there. But DH is on a mission now to find some traps so .....

If you're too squeamish to deal with a dead mouse in a trap (which it seems you are, but I assume you prefer dead mice to live ones partying in your loft?) then just book a pest control company. They use poison you can't get hold of yourself, it dehydrates the pests so they don't stink when they cark it and it works. You've probably left it a bit late to get a local Council service in (they charge but not much) until January now, but I'm sure local pest cos might come round between Christmas and New Year.

It's not a big deal unless you leave it, or have silly childish wibbles about it. Sadly lots of people have mice (and more) now, they seem to be more prevalent and immune to a lot of what's been used to kill them.

My aunt had loads of problems with mice until she got a few of the plug in sound emitting things from Amazon and put them all over the house - after a week or so she saw no more signs of them.

It was less stressful for her too just to drive them away - nobody wants to deal with dead mice.

You can use poison with pets if administered correctly and the correct poison used. Although after poisoning they can do things out of character and be running about in the garden in daylight hours so you have to be careful.

Just dealt with a biblical infestation. Partner got mouse poison off Amazon & they were devouring it by the packet load. We laid traps but didn't get any in those. The squeaking built up into a cacophony of shrieking mostly late at night and early pm with noises of skithering and tearing about behind the skirtings & fireplace. After 3 or so days the frequency of the shrieking subsided to a few pathetic squeaks and the scampering virtually stopped. After 10 days nothing & no more baits taken. Yes!! Btw, mice are VERY noisy. We've blocked off the possible entry route of a broken air vent with fine mesh in a frame. Hope you find out what pest you have op.

Absolutely agree - this is how we sorted out our mouse problem in our old stone cottage. Loads of plug ins, as near as possible to where the mice come in - so we had them in the loft and elsewhere. Worked a treat.

There are mice everywhere. Stick a couple of traps up there. I would suggest the ones that kill them because unless you are able to check the trap really regularly I think it's more cruel to leave them in a trap for hours. It's not nice but it needs to be done. You have to get rid of them I'm afraid otherwise they will cause havoc.

We got humane taps from the big online retailer and placed them around where we thought they were. They liked chocolate biscuits to eat. We then released the mice in a park about 10 miles away. I know they probably wouldn't choose to live in a park but we figured at least they have a chance out there.

You need to find and block up where they are getting in and very, very quickly. Use wire wool as a temporary measure.

Also make sure no food is left out at all, including crumbs, dirty dishes, rubbish with food waste or open packets. You'll have to be very thorough for a few weeks at least.

We get mice every winter. You know you have them as there'll be droppings in the location they pop in. Try to plug up gaps with tinfoil (they hate tin foil). That should sort it. Get quick snap traps that will kill on contact if the yea still find their way in. They can get in the tiniest spots. Use peanut butter.
If you are squeamish just drop the whole lot (trap and all) into the bin. Expect a few of them over the next few nights. After that done and dusted.

After last year's infestation, I bulk bought a box of snap traps so when I spotted a visitor a month ago, I started laying traps immediately and caught 4 mice over as many days. They now seem to have stopped but I am keeping traps set regardless. I put each one on top of several sheets of newspaper which means that I can just wrap the dead mouse plus trap in the newspaper and put it in a bin bag without having to go too close to the remains. Psychologically it makes the disposal bit much easier. One of my current traps is set on top of the local paper's obituary pages.😁

[Trigger warning... You must dispose of bodies asap because other mice will start eating their relations instead of the peanut butter, chocolate, nuts etc in the live traps. I learnt that by mistake last year. 🤢]

Are you me op? We heard some very loud scratching in our kitchen ceiling yesterday, it's an extension so no access to the tiny 'loft' space there. So annoyed. Have bought a sonic repellent and put a bait box outside but heard some less noisy noises still this morning. I was so anxious yesterday and hardly slept last night. We have no idea how the fuckers are getting in but it's the second one this year.

Depends on your budget but we recently had an assessment of our attic by a pest control company after hearing noises. Nothing was found. Just a bit of a hole where a bird could possibly get in. Cost £50 and we got a report detailing the findings (or thankfully lack of). Might be worth it for either peace of mind or action depending on the outcome.

Peanut butter or a bit of digestive biscuit make better mouse bait than cheese. If you buy the live traps you need to release them 800m or more from your house or they'll come back, and you need to check the traps every few hours as they can die of cold very quickly.
The easiest type of trap is a bucket trap. Although that does mean you'll be traipsing around with a bucket of mice.

We had field mice in the loft a few years ago. We caught them in the humane traps and then took them over to the fields and let them go.

You will need to try to work out how they got in and block it up, as more will follow.

Those mice were sooooo cute. Not scary at all once they were in the traps and twitching their whiskers at me.