Mice or rats - does it sounds like we have them?

[WideWebWitch]

Oh, my life is so exciting! We've come down this morning to find shavings of wood around the bottom of the door to the kitchen and the bottom of the door jamb directly opposite it - as if a rat or mouse had been gnawing at the door to try to get into the kitchen. I can't think how else it could have happened unless we've got mice. It's right next to a bit of skirting board (I so want to say wainscot, it's all a bit Beatrix Potter!) with a very small gap in it. Now I'm typing this it seems obvious that maybe it is mice or rats but any advice? We are going to ring pest control - apparently the people before us had rats in the garden but I didn't think they'd had them in the house. Is it inevitable if they were in the garden shed? Is there anything else we can do, apart from making sure food isn't left out, floors are kept clean and swept etc? Yuk, cringing at the thought of it. TIA for any tips.

Awww sweet little big eyed field mice.

You should be OK with field mice. You don't get the swarms. Keep the traps down for a bit longer though.

Oi! stop making me feel guilty! god and do I feel guilty

So what is the difference between field mice and house mice? WWW, did you sort out your infestation problem?
Just to let you know, dd now has the snuffles! But I don't think she is likely to get Weils disease. I really must have a quiet word with m-i-l though!

Totally different Rhubarb.

To lok at theyu look quite similar- but field mice have large eyes and are bigger. They don't really colonise places like the house mouse.

Are they? I thought field mice were smaller! Dont know what we caught then! Have traps down but havent caught anymore yet and no more droppings so might have nipped it in the bud. Seems time of year for mice moving though.

Rhubarb, we have pest control man coming tomorrow. I couldn't sleep tonight so came downstairs and opened the door with trepidation in case there was a mouse in the dining room but so far it's quiet. Glad your dd hasn't got weils!

if they are tiny fio2 with long pointy noses than shrews. Not sure they'd go for peanut butter though as they like blood- not sure they'd be inside either. maybe they are baby house mice? (would explain why you got a couple as well- I only ever found one field mouse in any particular site)

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Love this thread!....jimjams the mouse expert. Anyway another question If they were babies does that mean mummy and daddy mouse are stilll lurking?

could well be- often brown sometimes with a yellowish tinge

stockscotland.com/index2.html gives a picture- wood mice and field mice are the same thing

fio2- could be- keep those traps out for a while.

Anybody got any failsafe ways of catching mice alive? We spent yesterday evening crouched in our kitchen watching 6 mice running all over the floor. They must have bad eyesight as they took next to no notice of us. We have invested in 2 humane traps, which they went nowhere near despite the peanut butter bait. We did manage to catch 4 of them in a long box with peanut butter at the end (we got so close to them that we could just wait for them to go in then snatch up the box), but we can think of better ways to spend our evenings! Can't kill them due to vegan dp.