EEK! We've an uninvited guest...

[MARGOsBeenPlayingWithMyNooNoo]

a mouse.

We're going to get humane traps tomorrow, but what do you do to the carpets to rid them of germs.

I've got a crawling baby and I know it (or them) has visited their bedroom.

Anyone? I'm currently standing on a chair and typing.

Never bothered with humane traps, got the swift killing ones baited with peanut butter (organic of course ) and poison.

The mice here didnt go in carpeted rooms thankfully.

Kill them, we ended up catching a fair few and some babies, typical time of year for them. Best is to just get rid completely.

Christ I don't blame you!!!

I'm afraid I didn't use humane traps... I wanted the wee bastards dead!

Hoover the poo up, then empty the hoover bags????

We had one about a month ago... I still won't go into the hotpress alone.. choosing to send ds who is almost 3, to check if there is a little mouse in the trap

I would be on valium if I had found numerous & some babies..........

My neighbour is catching them at a rate of about 3 a day, even though they have cats!!

we have been (awen touches wood) clear now since our last episode... Still am prepared to kill the little bastards if they come back.

I'm afraid I agree with the killing even though I would'nt be able to do it myself. (DP would have to set and dispose) I prefer the humane traps but apparently it's no good (I don't know why)

Get some shake n Vac and give it a GOOD hover.

Bleurgh! I have visions of them dying and rotting underneath our floorboards (This is where the little bugger rodent escaped)

I have been on the government website and that frightened me, it said that they carry lots of diseases in their faeces hair and urine.

Is there any anti-bacterial product that I can use on carpets once they have gone?

how about dettol anti bacterial spray? I think the main risk is salmonella - they dont carry the same risks as rats but as they are permanatly incontinent they can contaminate food etc.

JUST SET TRAPS... LOADS OF THEM!!!!!

We put chocolate on ours, apparently they will come for miles for a taste of Cadbury chocolate

The wee fuckers.

Yep, loads of traps, baited with chocolate or peanut butter, we've had them a couple of times (refugees from the harvest) and cleared them up in a couple of nights. Humane traps are total pants, they just come back with their mates

Okay, first of all you HAVE TO KILL THEM otherwise you will not eradicate the problem. The best thing to have is rentokill poison traps - they have mouse food inside, the mouse crawls in, they eat it, they run off, they die, quickly.

Either that or kill traps but smart mice can outwit them. If you are to use kill traps use peanut butter/meat as bait. Something sticky (chocolate works too) but it's important they can't just leg it up, nick the food and run off without setting off the trap - nothing more irksome than having a mouse sitting there scoffing your minstrels in front of you on the mousetrap then ambling off

In terms of cleaning up afterwards, if you have seen them, you've most likely had them since you turned your heating on this year - sorry. Your baby will have some immunity anyway, but vacuuming is a good start. I dilute 1 part bleach and one part washing up liquid to twenty parts water and wipe all surfaces. ESPECIALLY if you have breadboards etc.

NB I found a dead mouse in my daughter's toybox and so everything in it was put in the washing machine or dishwasher! Teething toys can normally be put in the dishwasher. But obv. if you don't think the mouse has been near there don't fret.

You also need to find out where they are coming in? And living/nesting. The Rentokil traps are best because they tend to kill the mums and then their babies die (yep, harsh I know).

Under kitchen cabinets is a favourite spot. If you can get a biro in there, a mouse can get in. Block access if you can find it.

Above all don't get too stressed, the little blighters have probably been there months without your child getting ill.

pmsl @ fireflys 'common' mice our lurrrved waitrose organic peanut butter. I just checked our poison boxes, not disturbed. Checked traps.. no food on them do i reload. Been clear for ages now so if i bait the traps am i encouraging them to come back?

Awen, they're dead common

I swear I almost had heart failure twice. Once when I saw the wee git jumping off my ironing basket.. then we set the trap.

Then about 2 weeks later I chundled down the hall to get the hoover out & there the wee shite was, lying bleeding in the trap on the hotpress floor

I had to call my BIL to come & throw it in my neighbours bin!!!!

I sat on the kitchen table whilst he did the deed!

god i hate them SO much. When i was training, our nurses accomodation was INFESTED with them in a really really BIG way.
I have to say, you must KILL them. I'd not advise poison though, simple reason, rentokil poisoned the mice in our accommodation. They just went off, having eaten it, and died in awkward places. I'll never forget the smell of the rotting dead ones under the bath >
I used to walk around with my trouser tucked into my socks for some reason... i think i worried they scurry up my legs

IN my last flat, my DH put down trip trap traps ( humane) but they didnt go near them. We ended up HAVING to used the springy splat ones. Turns out we only had one mouse in our house.... it dies, very quickly and he dealt with it. I couldnt have in a million years.

SO:
1)buy spring and splat traps.
2) load with chocolate or peanut butter...

good luck

Ooh noooooo (shudders piteously). I think I had one in the spring, saw something run, bought traps and a sonic blaster... no dead mice BUT no mouse shit anywhere (and I had all the kitchen cupboards turned out) no nibbled packets of cereal, no signs... The sonic blaster has been in place ever since but I am still jumping feet in the air every time I hear any kind of unexpected noises. I heard scrabbling in the toilet pipe tonight so flushed it vigorously a few times... eeeew...

I like mice. I'd love to have a mouse

Oh god, I had a mouse a bit ago. Tried to catch it in one of those humane things, but no luck. In the end, dh dispatched it with a shoe.

here

My mum reckons (like all wise mums do) that the poison for mice will destroy their innards and so they will not rot under my floorboards.

DH bought poison and 2 traps.

I have sanctioned the use of poison.

I have also heard that they do not like the smell of peppermint so I'm going to get oil of peppermint and the sonic things as well. I'd rather drive them out.

The whole house smells of milton at the moment.

I'm really sorry to disagree with your mum, but, when they die and rot, they do smell, TERRIBLE. the poison just doesnt rot their innards.

Please believe me, this is from PERSONAL experience. It happened more than once. We had to get the maintenance guy to come round and hunt down the origin of the smell 3 -4 times.

They eat it feel unwell and go off to find their nest. Fine, if the nest is accessible like under kitchen units, that was a fav place for our Tooting Mouse population. they also liked the pipe work and getting under the bath for their demise...
The Surrey mouse lived behind the sink pipes.... but in ttoting, it still took them decomposing to know that they were dead. So sorry.

I hope you can get to it easily. Seriously, they really do smell. there is nothing quite like the smell of a dead mouse. Its kind of musty and a bit like very bad moldy trainers, but really heavy smell... difficult to describe but you never forget it.

maybe if they are under floorboards under caret, it'll be ok, and not get out to you. fingers crossed for you

Susie, I reckon my mum is wrong too.

We have caught one in a trap, so will keep putting it down until we see no signs of mouse life.

Another one gone.

I have bought the sonic thingy as well.

Well done you doing well... I hope there were not too many and its all sorted really soon. I really am sitting her with shivers at hte thought. even managed to convince myself there was one in my room last night, rustling... turned out to be Dd scrunching something in her sleep...

good luck poppet

We had some last year.
We only ever saw ONE but put a load of the killing type of traps down (purlease, whats the point of humane traps - you just let them go off and breed and infest someone else!!), over a month or so we must have got 10 or 12 adult mice.
Don't do the poison or they rot where they fall, usually under your floors or behind cupboards etc.

Kill em kill em kill em

We still have the traps under the kitchen cupboards just in case of any return.