Mice and newborn baby?!

[dreamerkr]

I was just about to take a nap after putting 2 month old DS to sleep, and I screamed when I saw a small mouse run across my bedroom floor. My house is spotless and I don’t know where they’ve come from. I’m sure there’s not just one in the house if it was so casually running around my bedroom! I’m so worried and scared because my baby is just 8 weeks old. Mice are harmful to babies right? We’re going to buy mouse traps tomorrow and set them around the house but I’m so scared for baby. I don’t want him to get sick or bitten! Can they go into his cot too?!

Bump

Mice look for food. They won’t be interested in your baby, let alone bite him. Please try to calm down! Have you ever heard of a baby being harmed by mice?

I mean mice can go wherever they want so yes they could theoretically go in his cot

you need to very carefully go around your house and block up where they’re getting in.

mice traps are grim when they work, aren’t that effective and not lovely to think of your baby in a room with a mouse corpse for however long - that’s more likely to be harmful to them

Quickest way to get rid of mice? Not getting a cat because I had one a couple years back and he died 🥺 so I don’t want another one.

That's a stupid reason. Animals die. Get another cat and your problem will be solved.

I've literally never heard that mice are harmful to babies and the human race has coexisted pretty effectively with mice for millennia so I think you're fine. Suggest you park it as an issue until after Christmas and then make a plan to deal with it when you've got a bit more headspace

A mouse will not have any interest in biting your baby.

What a terrible "reason" to get a cat. Not all cats hunt, and cats live, on average for 15 years (my last one was 19)

OP would be better off borrowing a cat, if she can source the right kind of cat - a confident and sociable cat that is a good mouser.

You need to try to identify where they've come in from and block it up. They can get through tiny holes the width of a pencil. Sometimes they come in in the winter, often in pairs, and you need to get rid of them asap before they breed more.

Make sure all food stuff is securely wrapped up in mouse proof containers. Clean all food waste away and clean regularly. Humane traps can be less effective than killing traps. Although the cliche is that mice like cheese, things like chocolate or peanut butter make a better bait in traps.

They are no danger to your baby.

We have baby twins, a very old house and a mouse infestation this year. Humane traps got them all out within a week or so, and they went off for a nice mousy life on the cliffs.

They didn't come near people and haven't re-established at all. I was told that they really don't like a human presence, and as soon as we started crashing around their nest, any we missed left of their own accord.

It depends on whether they have any other choice imho but suspect they will try hard to avoid the baby.

I've got 3 cats and if anything I've had more mice in the house this year than ever. Yes they do hint them but mine seem to take great joy from hunting them, bringing them in alive and leaving them for me to find 🙄
So if you don't want a cat OP, don't get one. It really could just be one random mouse, nothing really to suggest you have an infestation. Maybe just catch it in a jug and put it outside?

I wouldn't get a cat with a newborn in case it's not a baby-friendly cat.

The issue isn't cleanliness, it's that it's cold outside and your house is cozy. Find where they are coming in from and block it off.

You can get those mouse repellents that make a high pitch sound, maybe try that too?

It is possible for them to get in the cot but I'd only worry about that if there are loads of them. You could put that sticky stuff on the floor around the cot so they have to walk over it to get to the cot if it makes you feel better. It's a very cruel way of catching them but it's what I would do. The thought of a mouse in the cot is too horrible.

In the olden days they used to hammer a nail in the wall and hang the baby on it by its clothes so the rats wouldn't get them.

Sure the OP will find that tip useful!😂

A cat won't solve the issue. Do you know where they are nesting? Loft? Walls? If accessible put traps down.
I had a big detached house and got an exterminator in and for £95 he made three visits and put poison down (he took the kick boards off the kitchen put the poison there, in the loft, and in the airing cupboard). The subsequent virus were to make sure the poison had been eaten and that they had gone (they go outsde to die). Then I got mesh to cover all the air bricks.

I definitely wouldn't get a cat for the sole reason of mouse catching - ours is total freeloader and literally would just watch the mice pass him by. In the end we got our house professionally sealed up (kept putting this bit off but it was the only thing that did the trick) so we could be sure that no more would get in, and then we used humane traps to catch and relocate (to somewhere at least 2 miles away!) the ones that were already inside. A week and it was all sorted. Just please don't use sticky traps (if they get stuck they'll literally gnaw their own legs off to escape, it's so cruel 😞). Sorry you're dealing with this on top of a newborn, OP. Hope it's sorted soon

The mouse isn’t going to harm your baby.

If you get the humane traps it’s very important to release the mouse/mice far far away. If you just take them to the bottom of the garden they will find their way back into the house very quickly.
Take them for a long drive in the car, scenic route.

Just get some traps. Is it a new build house? You need to identify where they’re coming in. We had them in the roof and they were running around in the walls. Apparently a lot of new builds aren’t sealed under the eaves and they get in that way.

I have mice in the cupboard under the sink. They chewed through the dishwasher waste pipe. I also have home emergency insurance so a pest control firm have come out and put down poison under kickboards. I have a cat so their not running around the house but have made a cosy spot under hot water boiler.

Check your insurance policy. The professional poison is much more effective.

Posted too soon. We set traps with peanut butter and got 4 within a few days. No late night mouse clog dancing in the walls now.

If you release a mouse far away from the habitat it’ll die anyway just a bit slower. Which isn’t terribly humane.

Never did my kids any harm, they are all strapping teenagers with nary a mouse bite scar between them.