Mice!!

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Hi folks!
This is my first post and I'm sorry that it happens to be a rant :/
A little bit of background first I suppose..about 2 months ago I had a houseful of mice..eventually over the space of about 3 weeks I caught 18 mice! Using my own bait traps and also calling in pest control..everything was fine! Until tonight..lying in bed and a mouse ran out from under my bed!..I should add that I have 3 kids and I'm 38 weeks pregnant with number 4..I'm at the end of my rope and I feel like my house should be spotless for the baby coming and I just feel everything is filthy now that they are back! What could be attracting these mice?

Once they find a way in it's hard to stop the hoards ime. I currently have poison put down in little trays, one behind the sofa and one behind the kitchen skirting thing, and I check daily to see if there has been activity. I have blocked all the tiny holes - around radiators, floorboards - with wire wool or filler, but still they find a way.

Poison is the only way I think. Poor you, though, with so much else on your plate.

Do you live in a terrace street?
If yes, it will b a problem as your neighbours will also have them.
Ask your neighbours. Get a cat!

Hi thanks for your responses..the last time I had the mice I had all the little poison trays laid out and theive were like eating it like it was smarties but they kept on coming..the only thing that seemed to work was the snappy traps..which are horrible :/ and I bought a kitten!
I do live in a terraced house and my neighbour has 2 large dogs and a very overgrown garden..am I wise to ring environmental health? So worried about fleas, diseases etc

So you have a cat?? Sorry but you have some hardcore mice. Yes phone up some departments!

Yes it would seem I have some super mice! Lucky me :/
Looks like I'll be making some calls tomoro ..this will be the 3rd time iv had pest control out!

Don't put poison down if there are children in the house, get a sonic mouse plug in thing (sorry not technical) these take around two weeks to be fully effective but keeps mice out, set traps in areas where there is evidence, I feel for you, we live in the country and it's a huge problem for us too! Good luck x

Oh I really really feel for you. It is horrendous having mice. I had them so badly and the only thing that worked was becoming a cat fosterer for a local charity. As soon as I got a big burly cat in I never saw another mouse for years. I also tried humane traps (where you let them go but by the time we have found a spot a mile away to let them go they had died of shock so pointless anyway). Snappy traps worked well and I was told to leave a dead one in the trap so the others saw it and that does seem to work but you can't if you have a kitten. Also tried the sonic things. Useless!

I know you have a kitten but maybe look into fostering too as you are not committing to having the cat forever, just looking after it until it finds its forever home and you get such a variety that one of them will be a great mouser! Good luck. I really hope you get it sorted. Remember to go around the skirting boards and fill in any holes with cement as mice can chew through most things.

Please be careful if you have a cat and are using poison! The poison could kill the cat but also if it eats any of the mice that have eaten the poison it can also be accidentally killed.
Dairy milk chocolate is supposed to be the best thing for traps. Mice can unfortunately get in through a hole the size of a pen lid so making a house secure against them is impossible.
My mouse problem was started by one of my stupid cats bringing a mouse in and setting it free. Has happened twice now!

I never considered fostering a cat but that's actually a good idea!
I did have a lovely big ginger cat for several years and never had a mouse problem..it's only been a few months since he passed away and all of a sudden mice! Which is the reason I replaced him with our kitten..who we christened Hunter (no pressure or anything) :) and no we aren't using poison now..iv found the only things that are really effective are the snappy traps or the sticky pads which are even more horrible but at this stage in my pregnancy it's them or me!!

I think I might try the fostering an adult cat route..just feel a bit depressed after thinking I had finally got rid of them and got my home back!..disheartening to say the least

Hi i recently had this problem!! The pest controller said a mouse can get through a whole the size of a pencil. I brought most of my things at pound land like cleaning products mice traps and filler. I filled all my wholes up under the skirting and haven't seen anything since x

'Tis a crappy thing to have mice. We live in an old farmhouse in the hills, the mice were here before us :-/ I was using humane traps for a while with success (chocolate spread!) then got fed up and tried snappy traps- got one immediately but it was still alive so DP had to 'dispatch' it with a heavy boot as it was already injured. Latest tactic is Max the big mouser cat, procured from a colleague... So far so good! Have never put poison down purely because I can't cope with finding the source of the putrid smell of rotting rodent! My battle with mice is well documented on my facebook page :-/ I am also 33 weeks pregnant and decided to put my foot down and get lethal when I discovered they'd eaten a new baby blanket. Not sure if Max has caught any yet or if they are just scared to come out!
Good luck :-)

Oh and if it makes you feel better (it does me because in a farmhouse either are highly likely) if you have mice, you don't have rats

I've found the combined sonic/electromagnetic plugs work well. They make the wiring send out something which zaps the nervous system of rodents (so not suitable if you have pet hamsters or similar). We've had them for a few years and only had a couple of mice in that time (fairly sure they've come in under the floor from next door as we've had grids put on all our air bricks as well).