anyone with a persisent MOUSE problem, what did you do/are doing?

[cookiemonstress]

Oh this is a long and sorry saga. We live in a terraced london house and we have mouse issues, which I hate. Two years ago around this time of year, we discovered we had mice. Cue much financial outlay on not one but two (including rentokil) pest control interventions and various electric/sonic plug ins. About three months later, the problem came under control and the mice appeared to have disappeared.

At exactly the same time the following year, it happened again. I bought a supersize plug in (as the existing one has just died) and that seemed to do the trick. However we were welcomed into 2009 with the aroma of dead mouse (which I know smell everywhere I go, it never leaves you....aaaH)

In july this year we heard scratching under the stairs. Then they moved in under the sink.

They seem to have a 'run' (think this is a technical term) which starts from the kitchen sink, down the back of the kitchen units through the wall, into the back of the stairs.

I have bought rentokil poison which is being eaten by the bucket load it seems and it still being touched. We have tried to fill every hole but short of ripping out the entire kitchen units, there are some that are just impossible to reach. I'm desperate but unfortunately don't have the spare cash to justify this exercise.

I hate, hate, hate them. They are making me dislike my house and I can't relax in the evening. The house next door is empty and neighbours on both sides have them.

Please please give me hope. I'm reticent to get a cat because my dd's are frightened of them and they bring their own rodents in.

Should we get rentokil in again?. It's over a £100 and the poison i'm buying from B and Q is rentokil endorsed.

[Asdf12345]

We leave lots of traps out baited with peanut butter half with chocolate spread every few months, never use poison as then they find somewhere inaccessible to die then stink.

[SlatternIsTrying]

Cat. Best solution.

[KERALA1]

What worked for us in London and the house we moved into subsequently (were they following us around?!)

• ensure there is NO FOOD accessible so only tins in lower down cupboards etc

• traps. lots of traps, with peanut butter on and a DH with a strong stomach to deal with the results.

Both times we found once we had caught the existing ones and removed the reason for them to be there ie the food it fixed it. Fingers crossed there is not a recurrence this year god I hate them.

[hellsbelles]

you poor thing. Ww had a similar problem in our last house and we were OBSESSED with the bloody things. The only thing that really worked (and it was very very expensive) was a special trap that rentokil put down - they (the mice - not rentokil!) would run in and then the doors would come down and they would die (as humanely as possible!) from some awful gas that was blasted into them. And then the chap from rentokil would come and change it. It did cost a bomb but it finally rid us of the things.

We also blocked up every gap we could find (and there were so many!) with wire wool or that foam stuff that hardens.

[Spottydog]

I would persevere with the poison, keep putting it down until it's not touched any more. Also get in touch with the council, ours had special 'packages' of poison that could be left in place (behind cupboards etc) just in case you get any more visitors after this lot have gone.

[pofacedandproud]

you really need our old cat, who has now retired to a friend's pile in rural surrey [she hated small children - the cat I mean] I should have rented her out, could have made thousands. She is very affectionate with older children/adults mind.

[LynetteScavo]

bUT IF YOU GOT YOUR OWN CAT, YOUR dd COULD GET OVER HER FEAR, ND THE CAT COULD CATCH THE MICE....PERFECT SOLUTION.

Ooops!

[ravenAK]

Cats are good.

MIL recently got herself into a flap about her mice - she was only prepared to put poison in ONE location as she was terrified that dnephew would get to it. So it was to be hoped that the mice were willing to negotiate a Lara Croft-style puzzle of boxes in the cellar in order to gorge themselves on poison from the one strategically-deployed dish...

Anyway, SIL looked on t'internet & apparently they hate menthol oil.

MIL & SIL tried this & apparently it worked.

Can't do any harm if you wanted to try it?

[penona]

Just to add a different view on this, we have 2 cats and when we moved to a new house, we had mice. I often heard scratching but though 'nah, we've got 2 big cats' but yes, they chewed through a butternut squash.

So we have some of those plug in sonic things which are working very well. But the cats did not.

I know it doesn't help you, but if you do get a cat, make sure it's a mouser. My two are rubbish!

[cookiemonstress]

itwascertainlyasurprise, I feel for you re: dead mouse and handbag scenario, poor you!!!!!

So the update is that after I first posted, next day I found a mouse poo in the bathroom under sink cupboard and my toilet roll nibble. I can tell you, a line has been crossed.

Cue much frantic telephoning and expense later. The rat man has been. Laid down poison. Identified all my holes and now all I need to do is find someone to fill them (or the ones I can't reach).

Meanwhile i have been attempting to entice neighbouring cats in for a cuppa and a chat, in the event that a cat smell will deter. Unfortunately this reduces DD1 to gibbering wreck (she had unfortunate cat incident around 16 months and has been petrified of them since).

Will update as to progress. DH heard squeaking last night, told rat man who looked a bit . He did sketch me a rat poo so I could compare (seems to be the size of a liquorice comfit) and I def haven't seen any that big, so major panic averted.

To top it off. My Dd1 has passed on her nits to me. It's pestilence central at my house.

[nighbynight]

Cat is the best solution, ime.

But your neighbours have to tackle the problem too. Some runs can be through your walls, even if the mice never come out in your house.

[mathanxiety]

The steel wool can be used to bung up every tiny little hole (as small as 1 cm) you can find on the outside, up as far as you can reach. You can get it in paint and wood refinishing suppliers. But if your attic space is open overhead, this might need to be tackled too. I prefer traps to poison because they don't skulk off to die in the walls that way. But a cat is really your best bet. Get a female whose mother was a good mouser.

[Takver]

Our office has one But it is run by me & DH, so we get to choose! And being as its full of seeds, mice are a bit of an occupational hazard.

[PinkTulips]

we have 6 cats... no more mice and the rats at the end of the garden have been dispatched of too

although i do get the occasional dead shrew as a gift

[Grisette]

Cats make me wheeze.

[pofacedandproud]

cats more eco friendly than all that poison...

[fruitshootsandheaves]

get a cat like this then your dd's wont be scared

[Deeeja]

Definately agree about a cat. I have never had a mouse problem when I have had a cat.
My cat is weird, but we all love her.

[pofacedandproud]

I think a cat is the only solution. We specifically got a cat when we had a terrible mouse problem in an old london house - [fell in love with her though] She killed a mouse a night for two weeks and we never got them again. She was a very good mouser though - get a female adult for best technique.

[becks5109]

we too live in a terrace house in London and have the same problem - we use poison and old style traps and when things are bad husband sometimes catch 2 a night. DH also seems them running around the kitchen if he works late at night on his PC - they are such gross little critters. The council have come to us twice before and the guy told us to get all our cereals in containers and be really vigilant about sweeping all crumbs off the floors etc. We found a half dead on by the washing machine the other day that must have eaten some posion so another one down! I do sympathise with you as I find it makes me hate being in the house and in the mornings I stomp into the kitchen in case any are lurking. Also had a horrible incident a while back when I came in with the kids and put DS to sit on the worktop and then realised there was a dead mouse in the trap right behind him - DH normally deactives traps during the day but he must have forgotten.

[Grisette]

The poison the council uses mummifys the corpses ( evil dick dastedly style laugh) so the smell is minimal. I used to worried about killing them until i found out they carry samonella