Help: how do you get rid of mice?

[SuiGeneris]

We have had mice in the kitchen a few months now. DH has tried traps, sticky paper, ultrasound emitters and sealing all the holes. Thought he had succeeded until 10 minutes ago, when I went to the kitchen, thought I had smelt something odd and then saw one of the little buggers. So, no breakfast and mumsnet instead. What on earth can we do? Is it professionals time?

[user1469928875]

And p.s. Sterilise literally everything - because they will almost certainly have run along the kitchen worktops etc and they are major disease carriers - some serious diseases. I even got a small cover for the kitchen tap because if they can't find water they quickly realise that if they are near the tap for long enough it will drip. Friend who works in pest control told me that. And any toothbrushes etc that have been left out upstairs throw them away and keep them in drawer instead just incase

[user1469928875]

Shut all the doors and stay upstairs - do your doors have gaps under them? I had a rodent problem this summer and am now so paranoid - just woke up now I heard a noise and always think they are back!!! I was petrified as well - honestly in middle of heatwave I walked around my house wearing a jumpsuit with long sleeves, gardening gloves and jumpsuit tucked into wellies whenever I had to go into the kitchen as I was so scared of one of them running towards me - crazy lady! You need to block ALL holes - think air bricks in front of house (need mouse mesh) and any other gaps anywhere. Check roof too. Make sure garden does not have long grass - they love that. Poison and traps everywhere. Sticky boards best traps if you can stomach it and are desperate enough. No food anywhere. Cover toaster because they love getting in there with the crumbs. Keep all toilet lids down as well because where there are mice there are often rats and they can get out that way. I came home one day to find 3 of them just chilling out sitting on my kitchen chairs - like sitting at the table. Needless to say I made a hasty retreat and screamed the place down. If you can get a cat that is even better - but get one that has been a stray or is a rescue cat - a lot of the cats don't know how to hunt unless they have been feral or farm cats. X

[ThisIsReallyNotMyName]

Unless you starve your cat they won't get rid of the mice. Professionals are needed but avoid expensive companies like Rentokil. We used the service with our local council. We're home owners but they come out for less than £100 and keep coming back until the infestation is gone, at no extra cost.

[Tinks2011]

I saw a mouse in my kitchen and then sat on the sofa this evening the little bugger came into the front room i am petrified and feel terrible. What should i do its friday night nowhere is open. I feel physically sick. Will it get upstairs to my child. Sending to mums to stay from tomoro Help!!!

[scoobydoo1234]

I have a mouse in my kitchen and i have 2 cats i think the mouse likes cats and has no sense of smell as i also have a cat loo.
Set traps and he does not go in them. Looks like the kitchen cupboards will have to be pulled out. When i get him he is dead.

[valiumredhead]

OP they can shinny up any wall, so they WILL have been on your counters that's why it is vital to clean down every morning before you start preparing breakfast.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Second vote for wire wool for stuffing in the access holes. Our cat caught a mouse in my kitchen cupboards, he went in while I was upstairs and I came down to him crouching over his kill.

I think he was a bit confused that he got told good boy for once.

Ours came in from next door when she had "moles" but no mole hills (?), do you have neighbours who might have them?

[imip]

posion is placed into containers that are toddler proof. But def put them under kitchen counters behind the kickboards. At our local shopping centre and lido rat posion boxes are out in car parks within children's access, so I am guessing that they must be pretty tamperproof!

[LovesBeingWearingSkinnyJeans]

They only need tge tinest of hours. If you can stomach it do some research online YouTube has plenty too.

[SuiGeneris]

Thanks everyone. Worrying that they might be on counters etc- I thought they'd be limited to the floor. Cannot get dogs or cats as we are allergic to both and poison is a no-no as we have a very inquisitive toddler. Have put most food into jars, will now do the rest, hoover daily (even with no carpet? We usually hoover twice a week) and get DH to set the traps. We've done the expanding foam trick, so not sure where they'd be getting in. Is it worth switching to daily rubbish disposal rather than twice weekly maybe?

[notveryinventive]

We had mice 4 years ago so got a cat and have never seen them since.

It does need to be sorted though because they do multiply very fast apparently.

[danceswithyarn]

Find where they're getting in and seal it up tight - we had to stick battoning all round under the kitchen cupboards and expanding foam around the pipework to the kitchen sink.

Seal all your food and get rid of food waste from indoors (give up on food recycling for a few weeks if you do that at the moment - you need to starve the buggers out)

I had traditional mousetraps, but the only mouse I caught was in the bottom of the kitchen bin.

The guys from the council came round with poison which I've left out, but might not be ideal if you have pets or toddlers of course!

I still have 2 ultrasound doodads plugged in near the entry points too.

No mice for 3 years now!

[imip]

We purchased our bait online (well dh did, I refuse to be involved with anything mice-related!), same as the professionals use. The critters always follow the same path in your house. Caused us misery for about three years they did. Sadly when you start seeing baby mice, you are winning the battle as they have no parents to get food for them. IIRC the life cycle is about a month? We used poison in conjunction with ultrasound plugin things. Ultimately, dh caught them (with a cricket bat). Sounds rather brutal, but we were innundated, and had three small children - we'd find them in our laundry baskets, bedrooms, over three floors of our house. Would hate to go through it again. It seemed to me the problem was worse in winter. Also, I think if your neighbours get them, they'll be harder to get rid of....

[janx]

We have a really persistent problem and have had the professionals in 3 times we have only caught one on a sticky board. We are now trying nutella on the traps. ... It's a right pain - am covering everything up - basically they can survive on a few crumbs

[Ineedacleaneriamalazyslattern]

We had mice couple of years ago. I bought prebated traps. Cannot remember how many I put down but I had around half a dozen. I put them where I knew the mice were getting in and out and a couple of places I suspected they were. It took a couple of days to get them all but we did. Each trap caught one each plus 1 more.

[valiumredhead]

Or you can buy ROBAN on line - cheaper than bringing in the professionals.

[anniekins]

The Council 'Rat Man' that we had, told us the poison they use is far stronger than anything you can buy at your local DIY shop. He only had to lay the poison once - our problem was sorted and over within 5 days. I'd recommend the professionals.

[FromGirders]

Rentokil man years ago told me white chocolate was best. I also had great success with toffee-chocolate eclair - they can't get them off the traps easily.
Once you stop catching mice with chocolate, switch to using bits of bread with marmite on as bait, and you'll get some more. Then go back to chocolate.
We caught two mice, twice a day for three weeks when we moved into a previously unoccupied farmhouse. After that we managed to keep on top of them just by checking the traps frequently, and keeping all of our food things in glass jars and tins.
Professionals will just put down poison, so you end up with dead mice in your walls and under your floors. I'd rather trap them cleanly and put them straight in the bin.

[carrotsandcelery]

We had mice in our garage and ended up getting professionals in to deal with it. They put down poison but did say that you have to change the sort of poison reasonably regularly - they go for different scents.

Beware of poisons when you have small children and pets though obviously.

[Jules125]

Vote for professionals and poisons (place under kitchen kickboards - little sods often come in around dishwasher pipes etc). Little buggers here seem to know all about traps and avoid them. Sorry you have this horrible problem.

[valiumredhead]

Change the bait every day and keep trying things until you find something they love. ROBAN is the best poison and can be bought online - no poisons in the shops work ime. Do you put the traps with the snappy bit against the wall? Your best bet is to find out where they are coming in and the best way to do that is to get REALLY tidy and clutter free than sprinkle talc down and you can see if it has been disturbed in the morning. Keep moving the traps around, you need at least 5 or six in various places to have the best chance of catching them.

[TimorousBeastie]

Not changing the bait every day. Should I be doing that? Traps are where we've seen the mice, at exit points on the floor and next to the bread machine, toaster and sink.

We have 2 kinds of poison, also located where we've seen mice but they haven't been touched.

DH once saw a mouse jumping over two traps we'd put next to a mouse exit point .

[valiumredhead]

Put poison down then. Are you changing the bait every day? Where are you putting the traps?