Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Original poster

Mouse in the loft - help!!!!

29 replies

Tw1nkle · 05/09/2012 13:13

It's driving us crazy!!!!
It's got in somehow, and is living in the walls/loft!!!

We've tried poison, traps, plug things.........we don't know what else to do.....it's driving us crazy!

Any advice?

OP posts:
valiumredhead · 05/09/2012 13:15

What poison have you tried and are you baiting the traps? Peanut butter is great. ROHBAN is fantastic poison and very strong. Noisy little things aren't they?!

valiumredhead · 05/09/2012 13:16

You can sprinkle talc on the floor and look where it's disturbed and you might be able to see its 'run.'

The traps need to go along the side of the walls.

valiumredhead · 05/09/2012 13:17

And it won't be just one btw!

MrsMiniversCharlady · 05/09/2012 13:17

It's more likely to be MICE and quite possibly a lot of them (friend had rats and pest controller estimated there were also around 300 mice in the house!!) We had good success with poison, but if you've got a lot it will take a while to get rid of them.

fluffyanimal · 05/09/2012 13:18

Are you sure it's a mouse and not bats, or other birds like swallows/house martins, or even birds roosting on the outside of your roof? The pigeons and magpies that like to roost on our roof sound like a ton of bricks being dropped when they come in to land.

CointreauVersial · 05/09/2012 13:18

Get the professionals in. Mice can be quite tricky, as they will be living indoors (rats tend to be popping in for a visit).

valiumredhead · 05/09/2012 13:24

Lots of poison and lots of traps and check them daily. Remove all food sources and anything they can make bedding out of. Block up visible holes. It's not rocket science and there is nothing that professionals do that you can't do yourself.

AmberLeaf · 05/09/2012 13:31

Could be a squirrel?

Yes to mice and not mouse!

Neosorexa gold is an excellent mouse poison.

Have you found droppings in your house?

Original poster
Tw1nkle · 05/09/2012 17:22

Thanks everyone!

We've had a professional in - he says he thinks it is just one mouse - as there is not a lot of droppings - eugh!
It doesn't seem to be going in and out, it's just staying in!
It hasn't got into the actual house - but did get into a kitchen cupboard via the hole for the plug - eugh again!!! We have emptied that cupboard and bleached it!!!!

So it's now just moving about the loft and walls!

We've tried the blocks of poison, and the pellet things - nothing seems to be working - we also have 4 different types of trap now in the loft - still nothing works!

The professional told us it's just a matter of time, but there is nothing more we do.

Thankfully DD is not getting freaked out abut it.....yet!!!

OP posts:
javotte · 05/09/2012 19:58

Can you borrow a cat for a few days? Even if it doesn't catch the mouse, the smell of the cat is sometimes enough to convince the rodent to relocate...

janx · 05/09/2012 20:11

Apparently one tracker mouse goes in to check out your place before others come in... The only thing we found effective is those sticky traps Sad. - not nice to deal with but often mice are just to light to trip the traps.. I have seen one hop over one - seriously they are clever buggers

Original poster
Tw1nkle · 05/09/2012 20:18

My husband did joke that we should get a cat!

I've just looked up those 'sticky traps' - they don't look nice, but my just be our last hope.......will talk to dh about it!
Our mouse has set off our traps a few times, but there is never anything in them!

OP posts:
FiveOrangeFlowers · 05/09/2012 20:22

Please don't try the glue traps. Mice will stick on them and gnaw their limbs off to escape. Cruel and not nice to have to clean up.

Poison should definitely work - that's what the professionals use. It got rid of our mice in house and attic. Takes about a week though.

out2lunch · 05/09/2012 20:24

cats don't work ime - we have three and mice still come into our loft

poison always sorts it out but takes a few days

AmberLeaf · 05/09/2012 20:27

Did this professional not put any poison down?

Poison is the only thing that works IME. traps can only catch so many mice and im surprised that he said its just one mouse!

They breed something like every 3 weeks and are sexually mature at about 8 weeks or something equally young.

They are not lone creatures.

IWanders · 05/09/2012 20:29

We have mice lots of mice it sounds like they're bowling in clogs, if it can't go anywhere and there is only one it will probably just die in the wall of natural causes, the area of the house it dies in will smell for a week or so and then that will be it. Our mice come and go, they come in over winter and hibernate, have young in the spring, head back outside late spring and then the adults return late autumn for hibernation. If its not getting in the house just try living with it.

Yika · 05/09/2012 20:33

I had mice, I caught plenty in traps (baited with chocolate) but only prison got rid of them, which is a pity because I thought the traps were more humane).

valiumredhead · 05/09/2012 20:54

The professional put poison down though, right?

amillionyears · 05/09/2012 21:02

trap with chocolate works

Original poster
Tw1nkle · 05/09/2012 21:18

We've had poison down for about a month now - the professional put some down for us, and we have added more - the mouse isn't interested in it.

We honestly do think it's just one mouse - it's got in... and maybe can't get back out again!

We have tried nutella. I've bought some peanut butter today so will give that a try tomorrow!

OP posts:
AmberLeaf · 05/09/2012 21:32

Which poison have you been using?

They are able to mate in 1.5 ? 2 months. The breeding season is year long. Gestation period is approx. 20 days. They have 4-7 young per litter, and 8 litters per year with a life expectancy of about 1 year. So if you do the math you can see how a small problem gets out of control very quickly

There is no such thing as one mouse!

Unless its a very lucky one that your cat brought home and it escaped. [not likely though as yopu dont have a cat!]

Yika · 06/09/2012 12:36

Obviously I meant poison and not prison!

CointreauVersial · 06/09/2012 12:52

A couple of years back I bought the DC's Easter Eggs a few weeks early and popped them into the loft to hide them.

Bloody mouse ate the lot! Nothing left but a pile of shredded foil.

One in our shed ate a whole box of grass seed.

Borton69 · 12/07/2018 22:07

We have caught a couple of mice with traps and poison. We had to get a man in as couldn't face going up in the loft Opened the loft hatch and one dead one was wedged between the loft hatch door and it's frame ! If ever it had dropped on me I would have fainted ! If only they had fluffy bunny tails it would be easier to like them Still got traps and poison up there. Been blocking up holes so fingers crossed We live in a bungalow so maybe that's why they choose our place !

spiderlight · 14/07/2018 14:48

Please please please don't use glue traps - they are unspeakably cruel :(