Can't catch our mouse - help!!

[cherub59]

We have had a mouse for a few months now - seems to be very clever and is not going for any of the traps we have used. Have tried live capture and the snap shut type. Have tried peanut butter, mars bar, chocolate, soft cheese, hard cheese.... Its not even nocturnal anymore - comes out and looks at me. We've worked out where it is living (behind a radiator). DH wanted to just fill the hole up whilst it was in there which we didn't do becuase a)inhumane and b)would smell when died. Have two toddlers (they think "hunting mice" is a great game) and a baby due in 6 weeks so really want it gone. We keep the house really really clean but it just makes me feel that the house must be dirty (I suppose my own nesting instinct is coming out!). HELP! any recommendations??

Maybe a bucket trap? That's what is often recommended if you have an escaped pet rodent - I had a gerbil disappear behind my gas fire and tried it, but thankfully recaptured her before it was thoroughly tested!

You get a bucket and build "steps" up one side of it with books or whatever, low enough so that the mouse can climb them. You put a towel across the top of the bucket and a treat of some kind in the centre of the towel, then when the mouse walks across it to reach the treat, it all slumps into the bucket where the mouse then cannot escape. Release a safe distance away (or return to it's cage!).

I found a variation of that idea involving a toilet roll tube tunnel which seems quite ingenious here. It would probably be kind to put something soft like a towel in the bottom of the bucket to cushion the fall!

Oh, and another slightly more DIY one: here.

hello - have simlar problem. getting the pros in now to put some proper bait down. I feel mean (inhumane) but really can't deal with this anymore and feel dirty even though our house is not! Know how you are feeling. Considering getting a cat!

I might sound a bit nutty here but is it really so bad...

Lots of people keep pet mice, not like its a spider * shudders *

My lovely cat had the kindness to bring us in a live mouse into the kitchen once.

It escaped and i later discovered it living in a chewed up dust cloth in the cupboard.

Surprisingly intelligent animals, we nicknamed it stumpy as it had half a mangled tail and it got very tame.

Released it into the park after about a week.

To Emo - yes get a cat, fantastic pets.
Love ours :)

no such thing as a bachelor mouse!

You need to put the traps where they run...around the edges of rooms, and use more than one.

Use sticky sweet bait, they need to get their feet in it to trip the trap

Block access points with wire wool/scrubbies check under the sink, anywhere pipes/wires come into the house.

A cat might help...tbh our current cats make more trouble by fetching half dead mice in and liberating them in the kitchen, but you might get a good hunter!

Try a humane trap from the petshop and use chocolate Hob Nobs pr bits of Mars bar as bait. We had quite a few of the little blighters a couple of years ago and got rid of them all using this method. The m
live mice were liberated each morning into the church yard next door.
I chose not to use poison for a couple of reasons. Firstly I didn't want to risk the cat eating a poisoned mouse and secondly I didn't want any to die under the floor as happened to my friend. The smell was indescribable and she had to have the carpet/floorboards lifted to get it out!!

Here they sell a grey plastic mouse trap which has been baited with a nutella like substance. We had a very stubborn mouse (brought in by our cat) which was ultimately caught through this trap (is is a snap construction, but safe because no sharp metal bits). Maybe you can order over the phone and they can send it or they might be able to tell you where in your area you can buy it. Good luck.

You almost certainly don't have one mouse. If you see one then you have lots.
We had to get bloke in as I had seen traces of a mouse. We caught 5 and there were certainly more.

They are not harmless or pet like. They are incontinent and will be running over your kitchen surfaces etc at night.

Get lots of traps, and put wherever you have seen it (cupboards, skirtin boards etc). Then, unfortunateIy, in my experience it's just a waiting game.