Mouse in the flat

[Talkabtit101]

I live in a flat, 2nd floor. Theres a mouse in the house I thought I seen something yesterday but brushed it off. However was just on the toilet and it's brushed past my leg, I'm freaks out I have a 5 year old and server anxiety. It touched my leg my leg was bare I've scrubbed my leg like crazy and used a multi surface wipe but I've just passed out after hearing they carry so many diseases I want to leave my house and I can't get past control out as it's holidays

You're going to be OK, the main thing is good hand hygiene a bit like during covid if you remember?

Hantavirus is rare in the UK

"In the UK Hantavirus is rare but not unknown. PHE has been monitoring the risk of Hantavirus in the UK for some years. It concluded that seroprevalence is higher than previously thought. In other words, Hantavirus is already here but may generally cause a mild form HFRS which is largely passing 'beneath the radar'.6 Its study concluded that:

• Hantaviruses are widely spread amongst rodents in the UK.
• Over 30% of pet rat owners have antibodies against hantaviruses.
• Most human infections in the UK are likely to be mild and nonspecific.
• Amongst occupationally exposed people like farmers, sewage and waste disposal workers, veterinarians and pest control, forestry and nature conservation workers, seropositivity is 1-3% (similar to the general public).
• When cases are diagnosed, animals in the surrounding environment test positive.
• In recent years a few pet rat-acquired cases of SEOV have had to be hospitalised in North Wales, Yorkshire, Humberside and Scotland.
• Studies of rodents trapped in Cheshire, showed the existence of a novel Hantavirus, which is related to PUUV and Tula virus (TULV)."

"

So - it's rare in the UK, and is usually mild.

I have removed umpteen mice, rats, shrews, voles and have never caught anything. I don't wash anything other than my hands.

You don't have a mouse, you have mice! There's always more than one.

@c3pu

No I understand that! Forgive me, I keep saying kiss as I have only seen the one. I'm not so naive to believe there is only one.

We have a cat coming tomorrow too, so hopefully I can go to the toilet without fear.

RLPSF135 Rentokil Fast Action Mouse Killer, multicolored, 2 pieces amzn.eu/d/8Sb50Oe

OP I use these. They work really well

We had mice on and off for ages. You can generally figure out what they have nibbled. No one died. We plugged all the gaps up with tinfoil and this somehow stopped them coming in! DD’s food in plastic boxes. Good luck! Its annoying!

Not true.

We've got 3 sound emitters plugged in at the minute, 2 in the hallway so it goes through to kitchen and bathroom and one in main bedroom.

Hoping we don't see any more, and I have appointment booked for pest control PLUS we have a kitty cat coming over the next couple days.

Ffs I’ve just found droppings in our under stairs cupboard. Guess I know what I’m dealing with today 🙄🙄

@Fairislesweater

It's honestly been such a bloody nightmare, council came out Friday and " filled the holes " which was a load of rubbish because you shouldn't be filling holes until you've established where they're coming from!!

And even then, in the bathroom the little buggers have chewed through the filling they put up anyway!!

Went out yesterday and got some filler myself and wire wool, which I'll be doing today. We also have " borrowed " a kitten from our family. Although
I don't think we'll be giving her back because she is amazing

I hoovered up the droppings which panicked me, and now I'm terrified to use my bloody hoover again. I've been going around with zoflora on all the hardwoods, but I'm honestly so scared to let my daughter walk around freely because hallways l and bedrooms is all carpeted.

I've also ordered some traps and some gorilla tape. My plan is Wire wool plaster and then stick gorilla tape over the plaster, I'm at my wits ends with it and wanted to be as humane as possible. But I cannot sleep at all, I'm getting 2 hours a night due to all the scratching.

Luckily heard scratching last night and cat made her way over to where it was coming from, and it stopped.

Also I find it so hard to believe council aren't willing to do anything when it's a flat!! If we're affected a few floors up, surely the bottom must be packed with them! We assume they used all the Xmas rubbish as a ladder and now it's all gone they can't get back down and are stuck in the pipes, as this is where the scratching and holes being made is coming from.

We also had one mouse, we worked out where it was living and put monkey nuts there so it would stay there and put a humane trap down. Took about a week, which is usual from what i read, and one morning he was in the trap.

Some/most of this you will know already but I'll just list what worked for me for reference:

Buy:
Disposable latex gloves - for handling droppings and traps
Masks - because of viruses etc.
Disinfectant
Peanut butter - the best bait
Traps (I used humane)
Sealable bags and boxes for your food
Kitchen paper for cleaning then chucking
Bin bags/waste bags for the paper towels after cleaning

1. Put on your mask and gloves and clean up the mouse droppings with damp paper towel, sealing them in the bin bags. Add the used mask and gloves, seal and put in the outside bin.
2. Put on a new set of gloves and clean your home with disinfectant. Put paper towels and used gloves in a bag, seal and throw away in the outside bin.
3. Clear away any food and drink sources and standing water (e.g. a pan left to soak overnight). Seal and put away all food. In my case an open pack of nuts had fallen behind the sofa and they were living off it 😭 Check all round for things like this, anything that's accidentally fallen or dropped crumbs.
4. New set of gloves to stop your scent transferring to the trap. Leave the traps where you'd found droppings but don't set them. Typically they will stay around the edges of a room, e.g. the skirting board. The mouse or baby rat will explore the traps overnight.
5. Next day, new set of gloves. Set the traps with peanut butter.
6. When mouse is trapped, either take very far away (several miles) if live, or dispose of if dead.
7. Keep repeating until no more are found. Keep washing hands regularly during all of this, especially before eating or touching your face.

And yes, the wire wool trick worked for me. But I didn't have to seal it as well, actually just shoving wire wool in the gap was enough, but maybe my mice were not that smart.

You can track if they are coming in somewhere by sprinkling powder before bed and looking for marks the next day.

OP just be aware that the cat may not know what the mouse is, so won't chase it.

Though the mouse is more likely to smell the cat lives in the property and leave.

Apparently my DPs elderly cat took a couple of years before she learnt to chase mice. Now she chases them but is too old to actually see or catch them. She has never chased birds and is actually scared of them as the different breeds in the garden have learned to gang up to dive bomb her. (The younger cat is completely useless and the birds know it.)

We get new mice in our house almost every day. Brought in by our cat who believes in 'catch and release', followed by 'play and chase', then 'crunch and eat'. I never disinfect anywhere afterwards and we've never ever been negatively affected by them. (Apart from being woken up by crunching noises). I promise you'll be fine.

@crankychristmas

Thank you lovely, it's more my daughter I'm worried for, however my hands are extremely cut up from how much I'm washing them, I just feel filthy.

@Reugny

We don't expect the cat to catch the mouse, as we've blocked any holes with the wire wool, hover last night we could hear the scratching from one of the jokes and then kitty lay darted straight over and stood there. The scratching then stopped. This happened 2x last night.