rodent infestation in the kitchen

[Akiko]

I have found droppings in two of my kitchen cupboards. Tried rat/mice poison and the electric plug in repellent, but to no avail. What is the best way to get rid of them?

Poison will take a while to work.

Then get a cat.

Good old fashioned traps, baited with chocolate, not cheese.

ensure there is nothing that they can eat - put stuff in sealed packs/tupperware, clean up all crumbs

Old fashioned trap - bait with meat (bacon is excellent for this as it's easy to curl round the trap and lasts ages without stinking).

What do the droppings look like? Are they hard, dark and shiny or soft, mid brown and rounded?

All good advice and I would add (as another person with a mouse problem - hopefully solved now!) - mice can squeeze through a hole the diameter of a pen so block up all the holes where they might be getting in. The best thing to use is steel wool which they hate as they can't chew through it.

We always have mice in the kitchen at this time of year. I don't like using poisen much and have always used traps. Fine - so long as you don't mind getting rid of the liitle buggers in the morning!
My DS (4) saw me throwing a mouse into the field yesterday and asked what I was doing. I answered 'setting the mice free' so now he thinks I am some sort of rodent crusader

Peanut butter is great in traps.

Rentokil traps are the absolute best although something like £3.50 a pop -- worth every penny compared to cheaper ones. I don't like poison as the mice end up dragging selves across floor in death throes, leaking blood like amateur Hamlets.

We used peanut butter and sometimes Nutella. Both are good. Whatever bait you use, if it's not worked after a day or so, be sure to replace it -- the freshness is more likely to attract them than if you just leave an old calcifying lump of food.

We also got electronic repellent plug-ins and it's hard to say if they helped but it felt like a good "belt and braces" approach.

Last time I had mice, we used the old fashioned traps and then installed an electronic deterrent thingy. They haven't come back yet - but the local farmer has just harvested his grain, so they may appear soon.

hopes not emoticon

The rentokil ones with the poison in are pretty good for mice but not so with rats I find. Beware when you put your heating on, they start multiplying very quickly so you need to sort this problem out before it gets too cold.

Make sure you sort out any kitchen drawers, I found mice nesting in my plastic carrier bag drawer and another set in the tea towel drawer

Go around the outside of the house and block up the smallest of gaps. We had a 2cm gap in brickwork and found rats had used it and were then dying under our floorboards. Decking, BTW, seems to be 'dry walk way' heaven for rats and mice and we can't see their tracks .

We had them in the back of our dishwasher and also in all our best serving dishes right at the top of a larder. Yuck.

Cats and also terriers are very effective.

In my last house, I had mice breeding in the (rather chewed) thermal jacket of my boiler.

It's worth removing your kickboards (the bits at the bottom of your cupboards) and checking for nests. We have built in appliances and STOP READING IF EATING

There were mice nesting under our fridge and raiding the fridge overnight - no signs of this in the fridge except a few nibbles in the side of the butter packet at the back

Killed the little bastards one by one and took great delight in doing so.

LOL@ STOP READING IF EATING

I discovered mine had been in the larder when I realised that a whole bag of green lentils had been neatly husked.

And the little bastards always eat the back of the bottom of packets as well so quite often you don't notice till halfway down the bag.

LOL and Yuck. Aren't they disgusting!!
I had rats in the cobb walls of my all cottage. It was like a motorway system and they'd thunder around the walls. The smell when they died (in the cobb walls 12ft thick) was unbearable and I had maggots raining down through the beams one day...ugh...shudder...

It was the one day I went beserk. Hate rats and mice...

By the way, if you put bait down, put pellets and not sachets as we found many 'nests' made of neatly placed poison sachets and not one nibbled. They eat the pellets and get the latest variety due to immunity that they build up and/or recognise the smell apparently.

Urgh, SwissCheese, I think I'd freak more at raining maggots.

SwissCheese - I had the 'raining maggots' thing coming from a beam above a fireplace last year - boak. Didn't notice for a day, thought it was just bits of cottage coming away Sat there eating chocolates and drinking tea and assuming the milk was off because it tasted funny and there were bits in the bottom

I don't know why I'm laughing reading this - must be mild hysteria!!!

One of these, if you don't laugh, you'll cry things?

Boak!

Have mice at the minute. Saw a nice healthy one running along the back of the sink the other morning when I came downstairs. Had seen droppings in the last few weeks under the sink where I keep my bin but I was being ultra fastidious and thought they'd go away.

Poison down now. Really hate doing it but needs must.

Yeah, I hate poisoning the little buggers too, which is why I prefer traps - had to use poison on last year's rat though. And I still feel guilty about that, he* was a very cute rat.

*Disclaimer, I'm assuming it was a "he", I didn't disinter the corpse from under my patio to check.

Btw, if it's weeks (and I ignored my first infestation for weeks too), there will be lots and lots of them. Sorry.

OLKN. Lol fancy me thinking they'd bog off! The poison is down and they had a right old feast last night!

Yuk! Really cute but MINGING!