Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Other subjects
Original poster

There's a mouse in my house...........and it's not Mickey or Minnie!

23 replies

SpringChicken · 14/04/2004 08:54

HELLPPPPPPPP!!!!!

I think there is a mouse in my house and i am absolutely petrified

I cooked 2 chicken and vegetable pies last night - i had one for my dinner and left one on the work surface. I came down this morning to find the pie out of it's foil tin with a chunk missing and teeth marks and holes in the tin.

The person who lived in the house nefore us had a cat so there is a cat flap in the back door - i use this to put the hose of my tumble dryer out when i am using - my thinking is, it has probably got into the hose and then when i have pulled the hose in, it has got out into the house.

What the hell am i meant to do?????
My DP is next to useless, he is just as scared as me - i have asked him to pull all the appliances out in the kitchen to see if the little bugger is hiding behind something but he wont incase he does find it.

What if it's not a mouse, what if it's a rat?????

It's might not just be in the kitchen either because i forgot to shut the kitchen door last night, so it may be in the front room or worst of all upstairs - Can they climb stairs ?!?!

OP posts:
Flip · 14/04/2004 08:59

Of course they can climb stairs. But you'll probably find that they only come out at night and sleep through the day. Go and get a mouse trap and some cheese.

I used to keep mice and they're lovely things. You're worrying for nothing. It's probably more scared of you than you are of it. Although it doesn't sound like it.

Freckle · 14/04/2004 09:02

Are they mouse teeth marks? Only, if you have a cat flap, what's to stop someone else's cat coming in?

If you don't like mice, get a cat of your own

M2T · 14/04/2004 09:06

SC - Why are you scared? It's not nice having a mouse around, but they can't hurt you!!
Are there any droppings lying around? If not, I'd be inclined to say it's not a mouse or rat, they leave droppings EVERYWHERE!

I have a pet rat by the way, he's lovely....

Anything could've come in through the cat flap.... cat/fox/badger/weasel.... do you live in the countryside? Can you lock the cat flap?

Original poster
SpringChicken · 14/04/2004 09:14

Defo not a cat - i set the cat flap on one way so i can push the hose out but nothing can get in from the garden - We've already had this whole cat fiasco before.

I have never been bothered by mice - my mum had a little family in her garden and i thought they were cute but that all changed once they decided to come into my house.

I think the fact that i don't know where it is, is bothering me more than anything else

OP posts:
Original poster
SpringChicken · 14/04/2004 09:19

Posts crossed M2T.

Haven't seen any droppings as yet - DP just rang to say he has had the tumble dryer and fridge/freezer out and there is nothing behind them.
Don't live in the countryside or near any fields or anything.

I religiously set the cat flap to be so i can poke the hose out of it but nothing can come in because we have had a horrible siamese (sp) cat in before and it shit the life out of DP & I.
Am sure it can only be a mouse or rat and am thinking that if it was a rat it would've made alot more mess of the pie and foil.

Anything could've come in through the cat flap.... cat/fox/badger/weasel.... do you live in the countryside? Can you lock the cat flap?

OP posts:
Original poster
SpringChicken · 14/04/2004 09:22

Ooops - copied & pasted your post to make sure i answered it all then forgot to delete the last bit.

OP posts:
M2T · 14/04/2004 09:30

lol SC...

Are you sure it wasn't your DP nibbling the pie...

Original poster
SpringChicken · 14/04/2004 09:54

That was the first thing i thought of and was sure he was winding me up but I soon realised he doesn't like Chicken and Veg pie. After closer inspection there are definite teeth marks (Not big gnashers like my DP's though.

Oh, I am such a wimp !

OP posts:
littlemissbossy · 14/04/2004 10:07

OMG I used to have same problem - mice and I used to be s**t scared of them as well, but as m2t says, mice or rats would leave droppings, but not necessarily in the same place. I'd check for any sign of droppings/urine (yuk! sorry!) in the back of cupboards or any other activity, they chew anything - paper, etc. Once you've found any hard evidence of mice activity, you can either d.i.y. i.e. put traps down, funnily enough they don't always like cheese, but chocolate is good! or, you can at large diy type places buy a plug-in pest control system (ours cost about £30 from costco) which you simply plug in and it sends out sound waves that the mice do not like, you can't hear anything, then they leave!! This is obviously the cruelty free option. If it's mice, I'd try the d.i.y options first. If you find evidence of rats, don't mess about, call in the professionals/council. Most councils will come out to private properties for rats due to public health issues. HTH We also once had a bat in the house, but that's another story ...

nikcola · 14/04/2004 11:09

i thought i had mice in my loft but it was just sqirrels!!! are u a council tennant???? p.s if it is a mouse it wont hurt you

Freckle · 14/04/2004 11:19

Environmental health dept. at the council will come out, but all they do is put down bait trays, which is not ideal if you have small children. They also charge a small fee (£17 here).

We had rats in our loft. Bait trays (and later bait balls) were useless. What finally got rid of them was an ultrasonic device (like lmb mentioned). I bought a cheap one from Homebase (£14.99) and that worked for a while, but they later came back. I bought a much more expensive one (covered a greater area) over the internet for about £60 and that did the trick. Then the squirrels moved in.......

Eventually got rid of them by filling in the access holes they'd nibbled in the fascia boards.

monkeygirl · 14/04/2004 11:33

Ah, a subject close to my heart and one I like to think I'm a bit of an expert on as we have been plagued by mice for about 3 years now. I too hate them (sorry mice lovers, I'm sure they're lovely in the fields but I don't like them pooing and peeing over all my possessions and food!) and have even 'surprised' a few, although admittedly they were obviously just as scared as me.

I would second what littlemissbossy said about checking for activity (droppings, chewing of food/paper), especially behind appliances/in cupboards/behind the sofa as it is actually unlikely that you will find it hiding (they are quick little bu*rs). Peanut butter and chocolate are ideal in traps or you can get humane traps in which they get trapped and you can then release them into the wild, if you really don't want to harm them. You can also buy poison enclosed in boxes which pets and children can't get to but if you do that then you have to hunt for the dead bodies regularly! TBH we did get professionals in and they put some poison down but our mice gobbled it up and seemed to be immune to any lethal element in it. I agree that if you really think it's a rat then you must get professional help though, but I think you are more likely to spot them and they don't really leave droppings like mice (so our mice/rat-catcher told us).

The one thing you must do is seal off immediately any points of entry. I don't want to scare you but it's not as common just to get one mouse. Where there is one, then the family will follow...but here's hoping it's just one that has gone off course (not that I hope you have one at all of course!).

Good luck - I know how horrible it is to have an 'intruder' in the house.

lydialemon · 14/04/2004 11:52

MIL had a problem with mice for ages. I was ovr there one morning and the little buggers were running up and down the window sill!

We never managed to shift them with poison, and playing hunt the decomposing mouse isn't that much fun even with the kids helping

We finally got rid of them by finding out how they were getting in and sealing it off, and then setting traps (with peanut butter) for the stragglers in the house. Unfortunately MIL would not go near live mice so we couldn't go for the humane traps - I thought it would be cruel to leave them in there for long periods of time, so we used the ones like big bull dog clips (from B&Q)

I remember catching one in my hands at work, and having to walk through a packed store trying not to look like I had a mouse in my hands, so I could chuck it in the garden of one of the neighbouring houses!

Original poster
SpringChicken · 14/04/2004 12:40

Was just starting to get my head around the fact that a poor little innocent mouse wasn't too bad and then someone mentioned there being more than one and the fact that rats don't leave droppings

DP has pulled everything out in the kitchen and there is no sign of a mouse or any droppings - we do not have any storage in our front room so it is unlikely to be in there (No place for it to hide)!

How the hell am i going to find the bloody thing, whatever it is !! Laying traps doesn't necessarily mean it.they will be caught straight away.
I'm not joking, i don't think i can sleep there tonight

OP posts:
monkeygirl · 14/04/2004 12:49

Oh God really didn't mean to panic you! I think if it was a rat you would see lots more activity/chewing, even a sighting and it may just be one mouse - we had a 'freak' mouse in a flat a few years ago. The man from the council thought he probably just nipped in the front door (we got rid of it within 2 days). Mice like to follow the same trail so if you do have one and he's there, he will go into the kitchen again. Put a trap or 2 next to the skirting boards (they hug walls etc) with some lovely choc or peanut butter. They are horrible but they really are more scared of you than you are of them and will want to get back to their nest.

Freckle · 14/04/2004 13:11

We sometimes get mice in the house, but they tend to be ones the cats have brought in and then "lost". I'm more concerned that they'll be used as playthings by the cats and have spent many a happy hour locking cats in one room and encouraging a very sweet little creature out the front door. Had a shrew in once - very cute.

amess · 14/04/2004 14:01

I'd check out the yellow pages we did years ago when we had a mouse and that was the end of it they dealt with it quickly and we never saw it. But we never had problems again. We don't live in the country either. Good luck! Someone did tell me afterwards the Council (env health as someone has already said) deal with them and they told me if you have children they do it for free but don't know if it's true or true for all areas.

Original poster
SpringChicken · 14/04/2004 15:18

Have checked out my local council's website - says they will get rid of mice and rats for free.
Surely i need to see the little bugger first to make sure it's still there?

DP has been even more useless than i thought - after checking behind all the appliances he has just left the house for the rest of the day - thought he would leave the mouse be!

OP posts:
nikcola · 15/04/2004 03:06

have u seen it yet???

Original poster
SpringChicken · 15/04/2004 08:41

Blimey, you were up early !

No, not seen it yet - we left some broken up twix in the kitchen (the same place the pie was) and left some chips in the front room - stuffed a towel under the door so whichever room it was, it had to stay in.

Came down this morning but nothing had been touched - no nibble marks or anything - so we've either got a very fussy mouse, or it has dissappeared.

OP posts:
nikcola · 15/04/2004 12:28

i was up late i had a headache, i hope it goes we thought we had mice in the loft but it was just sqirells cant spell ikwim

amess · 15/04/2004 13:43

we didn't see the mouse just knew from some shreddings and they dealt with it. I couldn't delay think you are ever so brave trying to check I'd just call them out!

Original poster
SpringChicken · 16/04/2004 10:05

Well am starting to wonder whether it was a mouse or not. Left some more bait out for it last night - we left some pieces of bread on the work surface and on the floor stuffed a towell under the door and done the same in the living room.
Came down this morning and nothing had been touched again.

Am starting to think that is could possible have been a cat..........i had the kitchen window open for a few hours on Tuesday night but had the kitchen door closed as the washing machine and tumble dryer were going and i couldn't hear the tele. Thinking maybe the cat got in through the window, munched it's way through some of the pie and then left via the catflap when it had finished.

Oh i hope so.......

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page