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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be horrified at what I’ve come home to?

175 replies

deedeemegadoodoo · 11/04/2026 21:14

I’ve been on holiday for two weeks and just arrived home to mouse droppings all over the house. My DH mentioned he saw a mouse in the hot bin composter just before we left and it seems to have snuck inside and run amok.

What can I do? I have a small dog so poison is a no no. I’m not scared of mice but obviously want a quick solution to get rid.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
ThePollutedShadesOfPemberley · 12/04/2026 02:13

I could loan you Mostyn for a guinea a day. He's just come through the catflap with the ninth critter today. He's a killing machine!

MisterT373 · 12/04/2026 03:08

I bought a length of 1 inch diameter plastic pipe and placed poison gel capsule half way down and then screwed it in so it couldnt fall out.

Also used snap trap with chocolate on it. Put the traps on newspaper as they can sometimes cause a mess .

Paramaribo2025 · 12/04/2026 03:33

Cat

Tinytimmy123 · 12/04/2026 04:53

I had mice . Got the mice man out. Discovered all the potential entry points, which was a revelation in itself, eg cracks outside in paving, pipe runs, freaked me out totally. Anyway it sorted out the problem. I later got a terrier ( not specifically for this purpose) and im hoping that this helps to future proof my home to some degree from them again. Its rare there's only one, theyre prolific breeders. Clean everything they remember routes of access by their smell (from urine i believe 🤮) and climb over everything...worktops/ furniture. Wire wool is a good hole plugger as they cant eat their way through it and its hard to burrow their way through it too.

I loathe mice and wont settle until theyre all gone, every noise would wake me at night. Gives me the shudders just thinking about it.

Good luck.

DreamTheMoors · 12/04/2026 05:04

deedeemegadoodoo · 11/04/2026 21:28

Thanks all. We’ll be going to pick up snap traps tomorrow. As much as I love cats (and my sister has several), we also have a dog at home who wouldn’t be good with a cat suddenly appearing in the home, for the cat’s sake! Everything will have to be washed tomorrow too as I’ve found droppings in the spare bedroom bed as well.

Please tell me this is a normal occurance as I’m in my 50s and it’s never happened to me before.

Get these.
You bait them with peanut butter - which mice cannot resist - and you can simply let the mouse go outside or drop it into a bag and throw it away. Your choice.
These were recommended to me and caught the mouse in about 2 hours.

The photo is U.S. Amazon.

To be horrified at what I’ve come home to?
ChrisTheBastard · 12/04/2026 05:54

BewareoftheLambs · 11/04/2026 21:17

Get a cat.

This is an excellent idea whether you have mice or not. Cats are brilliant.

Buffypaws · 12/04/2026 07:05

Become a foster for a rescue. That way you can try out a series of strays who have been hunting to survive on the mean streets. My pampered boys can’t even kill a spider. Plus your house will smell like Jurassic Park to the mice, they’ll be on the first chopper out. I’m fairly sure that’s why my mice stick to the loft although I confess I am worried about the back of the kitchen units after having read this thread.

ThisJadeBear · 12/04/2026 07:11

91millionstolencarz · 11/04/2026 21:19

Call pest control - money worth spending.

Agreed. We tried all the tricks nothing worked. A pro was worth the money.
He also looked at exterior areas which were vulnerable.
Sorted.
Ours were under the beds during the night no sleep for weeks….

speakout · 12/04/2026 07:37

I have spent most of my life living in rural area. Mice are always present,but not a problem. I don't use traps or poison, and while blocking entryways can help to an extent mice can always find a way and can squeeze though impossible small holes.
Best solution is to make sure there is nothing for mice to eat. Keep all food in sealed plastic or metal containers, especially things like flour, pasta, bread rice. Don't leave food out on surfaces, make sure dropped food on the kitchen floor is cleared up. Mice probably come into my home every day - my property backs on to woodland- but they don't stay,as I have nothing for them to eat.

Lemonthyme · 12/04/2026 08:04

I've worked in food businesses all of my life and pest management is part of it all.

The sonic plugs don't work. Don't bother.

What you need is breakback snap traps. Ideally you then put them inside a bait box.

So this is what a trap looks like:Snap-E Mouse Trap - AFS

Then this is the bait box: Snappa Mouse Bait Box - AFS

You must buy the ones specific to mice because otherwise your mouse could do a tap dance on a rat trap and not trigger it. You might be able to buy similar online from amazon.

The traps should be set up perpendicular in the boxes so you can see the yellow bar through the top. and the holes in the box should run along the edges of the room or cupboard.

Rodents are naturally neophobic (fearful of new things) so may not go in immediately but as you're doing this at home, you can use food to bait the traps. Peanut butter and chocolate are good choices (cheese isn't) but better still, if they've gone after the dog treats, use the dog treats. That's what they're used to eating.

I'd bait your kitchen if that's where they went for but also I'd bait some other rooms just in case and your loft.

You will hopefully start catching them but leave them in place (don't touch them) unless you don't see the yellow bar anymore, in which case you can open to see if you've caught anything. You need to give it some time. Don't assume you will catch them in 24 hours. If you do catch some, rebait the boxes and put them back. Mice breed quickly and also nest inside so there is a chance you have an infestation.

Don't use toxic bait except as a last resort. It takes a long time for them to die and they will crawl off somewhere in your house probably to do so.

Give it at least a week with traps down before you can be confident you've caught them but honestly I'd probably leave a couple down for months in your kitchen just in case.

On other things. As others have said, throw away any food which could have been contaminated and clean cupboards with detergent, rinse, then I'd use a bleach spray or bleach solution if you can. I'd also block up any holes. Mice can squeeze through a gap as small as a pencil width. Expanding foam is useless as they can chew through it. Properly seal gaps with mortar or if no other option as someone else suggested, use wire wool in it too. Also it's worth checking for chewed wires etc as fires can be caused by mice damage.

Or the alternative is to get a pest contractor in to resolve it and also look for access points and damage. Get a report out of them as well on what they've checked if you do that. Honestly, despite my knowledge, I'd bite the bullet and pay only putting down traps myself if they couldn't come in the same day.

Lastly I'd have a look around the outside of your house. Yes building works can disturb rodent burrows. So that could be it. But if you put out food for birds or have a compost heap (rather than a protected bin) they can be attracted to that as well as any water sources (ponds, bird baths etc).

Please don't bait outside though as that leads to birds of prey deaths sadly.

Lastly you might find some people advocate sticky boards. They are almost outlawed in the UK now. I've used them when they were legal and honestly they do work but they're super cruel and really you have to be prepared to check them every few hours (day and night) and prepared to kill a mouse stuck on the board. You probably can't get hold of them now but for domestic use I certainly wouldn't. They're pretty tough to stomach.

BunnyLake · 12/04/2026 08:06

91millionstolencarz · 11/04/2026 21:19

Call pest control - money worth spending.

I agree with this. Year’s ago I brought a box in from the garage, opened it and a mouse flew out into my house (gave me the fright of my life). I didn’t want to deal with killing it myself, so got a pest control man in. He dealt with it and I didn’t have to see an executed mouse 🫣

Wetcoatsandmudagain · 12/04/2026 08:33

Please be aware the ultrasonic plugs are not suitable if you have other pets in the house as they can often hear them too which is very distressing and disorienting for them

VeneziaJ · 12/04/2026 08:57

We had some in a cottage we had and they were hiding/nesting in the roof. I hired a pest control company to sort it out as we had a tiny baby at the time and didnt feel up to dealing with myself. We were out in the country

Catwalking · 12/04/2026 09:06

Get live/humane mouse trap, we’ve used several times:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/KCT-Humane-Kill-Mouse-Trap/dp/B0B4F4FVNH?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A2EQRJ91MGVE70
same ones available @ B&Q

We had mice in sons car making nest in insulation fabric! Put trap beside wheel & caught 3, released well away from car!
Any poison has the potential to kill whatever catches & eats the poisoned mouse - ie. pet cat, dog & wild birds like owls It’s a known thing been happening for about 50yrs & known as Secondary Poisoning ( I believe).

SoulFood · 12/04/2026 09:17

Barney16 · 11/04/2026 21:31

Traps that kill them baited with Nutella. I found only Nutella worked. Chocolate spread from Tesco was completely ignored.

Same for my dgchildren. 🤣🤣🤣

Fridaygin · 12/04/2026 09:20

We used snap traps- took a couple of weeks, and we had 5-6 mice. Our house had been empty for a while when we bought it. It was grim, but much safer than poison (which even without pets isn't ideal- as the mice may go outside and then be eaten by cats, owls etc) and very quick. We found that the mice could pinch hard things (cheese) from the traps, but something like honey was more effective

Mirox1414 · 12/04/2026 09:24

We had them once and it was the worst thing I've experienced 😭😭😭I was laying in bed one night, I was facing the door and there was a gap under the door about ½cm big. I saw a mouse flatten itself and come under the door. It was so scary, I was super pregnant at the time, about 8 months I think. I dived out of that bed so fast, went and grabbed my kids and spent the next 7 days in a hotel until hubby could convince me they were gone!!! The snap traps and sticky pads worked really well. Can't say if they ever came back though as we moved out 8 weeks later.

deedeemegadoodoo · 12/04/2026 09:26

It looks like the kitchen sink cupboard could be where they’ve got in so will check the pipe outlets are sealed with wire wool today. There’s a lot of droppings in there and it’s also where we kept dog treats and kibble. There’s a packet of treats, now empty, which have been chewed open and droppings inside. Our dining room sofa is covered with droppings down the back and sides, and our spare bedroom has droppings on the bedside table and on pillowcases and bedding. Main living room looks ok as that door was closed, as is main bedroom. Thanks all for your advice. Off to spend the day cleaning!

OP posts:
BitOutOfPractice · 12/04/2026 09:29

Barney16 · 11/04/2026 21:31

Traps that kill them baited with Nutella. I found only Nutella worked. Chocolate spread from Tesco was completely ignored.

Wow you have posh / fussy mice! 😁

NippyNinjaCrab · 12/04/2026 09:52

Spookyspaghetti · 11/04/2026 22:29

The dark ages called, they want their advice back! Just get the plugs that make a noise the mice hate and they will leave of their own accord and not come back.

We have a plug in too, was recommended in Screwfix by a chap who had an infestation. He used the snap traps initially then this.

NippyNinjaCrab · 12/04/2026 09:54

Wetcoatsandmudagain · 12/04/2026 08:33

Please be aware the ultrasonic plugs are not suitable if you have other pets in the house as they can often hear them too which is very distressing and disorienting for them

The one we have has an option to make it pet safe but still repels rodents.

Lemonthyme · 12/04/2026 09:56

Catwalking · 12/04/2026 09:06

Get live/humane mouse trap, we’ve used several times:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/KCT-Humane-Kill-Mouse-Trap/dp/B0B4F4FVNH?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A2EQRJ91MGVE70
same ones available @ B&Q

We had mice in sons car making nest in insulation fabric! Put trap beside wheel & caught 3, released well away from car!
Any poison has the potential to kill whatever catches & eats the poisoned mouse - ie. pet cat, dog & wild birds like owls It’s a known thing been happening for about 50yrs & known as Secondary Poisoning ( I believe).

Dear god no. Don't use the humane traps. There is a high risk they will return and mice are not protected but also there's no need to use poison baits either. You're right that secondary poisoning is a risk but with a large reduction in bait use in industrial premises, that's reduced massively (hence how many more kites and buzzards you see nowadays).

Lemonthyme · 12/04/2026 09:57

NippyNinjaCrab · 12/04/2026 09:54

The one we have has an option to make it pet safe but still repels rodents.

They genuinely don't work. Or pest contractors would use them. They don't.

Elsvieta · 12/04/2026 10:23

Snap traps, and try to find where they're getting in (it's unlikely to be just one) and block it. And all food that's not in the fridge in lidded containers.

Trusttheawesome · 12/04/2026 10:43

Friendlygingercat · 11/04/2026 22:17

Get a friend or neighbour to take the dog for a couple of weeks (or put him in kennells) and use poison. Set it out in little dishes so you know exactly where you put it and can see it disappearing. You will be surprisedby how much they can eat.

This is illegal. You absolutely cannot open bait in this country. All poison must be in a secure locked bait box designed for mice and rats.

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