Mice in the kitchen....

[sunandmoon]

Help!!! THe bedrooms are in the basement and the other night I heard little noises coming from the kitchen. Last night we put our video camera while asleep. And within 15 mns of recording, 2 of them were running around like mad... Please please what do we do???? We have a 15 months old DD, so I hate the idea of having these little things around... Any tips asap would be more than grateful!!! Thank You

mousetraps set with butter.

don't mince about.

or nuts. they like nuts, not cheese.

Get a pack of those sonic plug-in things from Robert Dyas - they hate them and will soon leave the same way they got in!

A cat? Could you borrow one for the night if you don't have one?

you poor soul. aparently you can put a box in the middle of the floor with mousygoodies in it, they hop in, then cant get out again! then you can humanly trot out to a field somewhere far away from the house n let them go. my house has fleas at the moment.

Thank you. I will get in the car and by your advices... I have just finished cleaning from A to Z the kitchen.. I am so angry with the neighbours, I have just been told that they had lots of them a month ago and it seems that they moved to our place... I always made sure that the kitchen is clean and the mouse have find a way!!! To borrow a cat is also a good idea, I will see how we get on with the tricks and if it doesn'twork I will ask my friend... I hope you get rid of your fleas Fire Faerie!!! Thank you again.

Those sonic plug ins from Robert Dyas only work if they are on floor level, or at least level with the mice. We never got them ourselves when we had mice as all of our plug sockets are above the worktop. We did use traps (the nasty ones that kill the mice) and used chocolate to bait them. Worked everytime, well once I managed to get it hooked on properly. To be begin with, the mice were just nicking the chocolate without setting off the trap!

Good luck.

the thing i used was a snicker bar it has chocolate and nuts and they love both

Is your food in the base cupboards rather than wall cupboards? Also there must be a hole somewhere that they are getting in, check waste pipes surrounds exiting the house.

Get traps for the few you have, there are some plastic ones that you put cheese in and the mouse climbs in and eats the cheese whilst the trap door closes behind. Very humane.

Mice can get through a small gap, the gpa only needs to be the thickness of a pen/pencil.

And apparently if a house on your road is having works done it unsettles the neighbouring mice and they all migrate! Great fun huh? Horrid wee things.

We've just caught 3 under our kitchen cupboards. No humane nonsense here! Oh no. What with the constant re-doing of people's houses the blimming things will keep coming back. Was quite shocking to find 3 in one go! Bleurggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

We only thought we had one, but we were told that mice don't live alone! I think we caught 7 over the space of a week. A building on the same street as us was being renovated at the time so I guess they were all made homeless!

I've got the same problem and I'm beside myself!! We have caught two in the kitchen and had the pest man round last week who put poison down. He said it would take about 4 days to work but seeing as we caught one yesterday looks like it's not working very well. I'm a nervous wreck as I see them all the time when i'm on my own, they never seem to appear when anyone else is around! I HATE them and have never had them before but we've only been in this house a few months so not sure if it's been an ongoing problem here. I've been told peppermint oil works as they hate the smell so at the moment my house smells like a massive polo! Anyway any more advice would be helpful!

We had mice about 2 years ago, they must have got in when we were having some building work done. Afraid we went for the poison option, it did take a week/10 days to work, but no problems since. Guess you have to make sure the whole nest is clear, and block up the hole if you can find it (we didn't, but no probs since). I think it's right that they live in families, so these humane traps will have you tearing your hair out over a long period, you might not manage to sort them that way, so don't feel guilty.

After ours had gone, I left a Rentokil tube-style poison trap down for ages, in case of a return visit. It's like a flat plastic box with a hole either side, they can get in and get to the block of poison, but it can't be accessed by human fingers. Useful to lay down maybe behind the plinths or something, as a contingency, just in case!

Not very eco-friendly I know, but they're so unhygienic, it's probably better to get rid of them in the house but be kind to the ones in your garden - that's my policy, always try to rescue them from the cats when I see them on the attack!

hey sun and moon,
did anything work? we have some of the little buggers - the whole street does and i think if the surrounding areas have them its hard to keep them out of your place. we have stuffed up any holes with wire wool, but there is evidence of them in one cupboard where we only keep dishes. have tried plug in things, traps, poison and nothing seems to work. thinking of putting bucket of water with smelly food bits floating in it and ramp up so they jump in to get the food and drown...friend's suggestion. husband opposed - he thinks they're cute!! arggghhhh!

sunandmoon - we have them regularly in our house - and frankly so does everyone else round here. The area is Victorian terraces and apparently a mouse can get through a hole the size of a biro, so there's no stopping them.

We use the traditional spring-loaded mouse trap, baited with something that they can't remove from the trap without triggering it, i.e. something that sticks on the spike. Melted chocolate works great! Though what a waste. Last night we caught one with a little bit of kit-kat.

The other thing is, once you've caught one or killed one they seem to disappear for a while, and I read somewhere that mice are quite socially sophisticated and know that if one of their gang has been killed they pack their bags and go elsewhere for a while!

We have used poison in the past but trouble is if you don't know where they are nesting you can have a bit of a smell in a while as they often go back to the nest to die, traps are instant and more human I think, don't bother with the plastic traps they don't kill them just wounds them or traps a leg .

We have to use the tube that tips up and cathes them as DS objects to killing them, haven't cought one yet but I think thay have just been passing through. We often get a visit during first really cold snap of the year, sometime they stay other times they get a better offer else where.

we bought traps from b & q that have poisin in that can't be got at by huimans (in a plastic box) they can get out of it but its fast acting. We got rid of all 9 in a week. we knew where they were coming so fixed that hole. You do have to look around frequently with those kind of traps though as liquid mouse smells rank and looks DISGUSTING

OMG - was just about to start a thread... just discoverd a half eaten kiwi fruit in the fruit bowl on the kitchen table. completely freaked as it obviously means the mice have been on the table (peuch emoticon).
have been through every cupboard and round skirtings in the kitchen and can't see any other evidence... even bread left out on worktop overnight and they haven't nibbled through that. Am miffed.
Council pest control won't come out unless there is more evidence.
desperately waiting for dh to come home to help with more investigation and then maybe lay traps etc...

eeeek! Am bumping this thread as just looked up from my magazine in the front room (downstairs) to see a little brown mouse sitting on the carpet. Am now upstairs to see if anyone can add anything further to whats already been said. Incidentally, I threw away everything that was sitting on the kitchen worktops, emptied the bin and wiped it down with bleach but how do I work out the extent of the problem. Only been in this house for a month and never had mice before so am at somewhat of a loss. HELP

Off to google, back shortly. TIA

Thank you all for all the advices...
we put little sticky boxes in the kitchen and dining room but didn't managed to catch any of them... we have floorboards everywhere and none of the edges are sealed properly so they could come from anywhere.. anyway it went worst and worst and we could hear them all around during the night (side wall as well) and DD was waking up at night too... it was horrible!!!! We had to re organise the kitchen so no food around... the flat above had them too and because they don't have children they put poison around their flat. We went away for the week end and when we came back, it seems that the mice died or ran away!!! (hopefully they did!!!).. we are keeping our kitchen and over rooms without food or crusts lying around.. They are a nightmare, I hope Dizzydo you managed to get rid of them before they start invaded your home. I didn't want to poison them but sorry it was the only way... GOOD LUCK.