Persistent mouse problem, now costing us a fortune. What to do?

[banyan]

Our house backs onto fields, mice are an occupational hazard. We tended to get one at a time in the winter when it was cold, it would eat a few bits of food, we'd catch it in a humane trap and release it a long way away.

Then about 2 months ago we had a crazy mouse who ate through plastic and fabric (plastic bibs, tea towels, tupperware) as well as food. It even got trapped in the humane trap and ate its way out. So we used an old fashioned trap and killed it :( A few weeks later, another one arrived also eating plastic and we caught that with an old fashioned trap too as it ignored the humane one.

Last night DH saw a mouse in the hallway and said 'we need to get a new trap'. This morning, I discovered that the bloody mouse has eaten through the straps on my daughter's car seat (which was in the hall) and so it is now going to cost us about £150 to replace it :(

We don't appear to be overrun as such - we catch one, and then a few weeks later another one makes its presence known. But we can't go on losing money to these mice. We don't really know where they are getting in, or how to stop them. Any ideas? Do we need to call in a professional? Are there other ways of stopping them coming in in the first place?

I don't want poison down as we have small children, and DH refuses to get a cat (which may not work anyway - my parents old cat ignored the mice!)

Please help. I can't believe we have to buy a new car seat because of a sodding mouse!!!

TBH I would put poison down in places that the children can't get to. You can get special boxes that mice can get into, but children shouldn't be able to open!

Sympathies - it's a right pain. We have a mouse chew through the drainage pipe of the dishwasher, causing it to leak everywhere and permanently damage the electrics so we needed to buy a new one We also had one that used to actually climb into the pet mice cage to steal their food We found it running in their wheel while the pet mice ran around looking outraged

I do think poison is the way to go though. It was the only thing that got rid of ours.

We have a mouse problem too. As soon as we suspect we have one we set the traps every night until we don't catch any more. In my experience they tend to hang around in pairs or groups so just because you have caught one doesn't mean you have got rid of the problem.

It might be worth getting a professional in to have a look but they will tell you to seal all the gaps that are letting them in - if this isn't feasible then you are going to keep repeating the process anyway.

I have also stopped putting food out for the birds close to the house as I think this attracts them in as well.

Food sources can include non food items such as dried flowers.

Do you have outbuildings where you could keep a 'farm' cat?

The Cat's Protection regularly have to find 'homes' for cats that are too feral to live in a house but get fed by the 'owners'. They are usually excellent mousers as they have had to be to survive in the 'wild'.

No outbuildings sadly.

Thank you for these excellent suggestions. V much appreciated We need to have a proper think about them getting in and try to seal all holes.

I'm a bit concerned about poison - don't they just go and curl up and die somewhere inaccessible so you end up with a decaying mouse smell? Or is it not like that?

Ermmm, yes they curl up and you end up with a decaying mouse smell.

Completely examine the inside of the house too and plug every single gap with wire wool as GivetheAnarchist said. This means checking behind the plinths in the kitchen, in the back of the cupboards, under the bath, behind the toilet, every last radiator pipe.

The best traps are the Little Nipper kind. Usually kill instantly. These do have to be out of DCs reach as they'll take small fingers off as easily as a mouse's head.

We've had to do this. Or rather, I had to do this while nagging my DH to put the food away properly and clean up after his cracker and cheese habit. I grew up in a mouse house and he didn't.

We switched to little nippers after a mouse ate its way back out of the plastic humane trap they work well. Think we need one down permanently at the moment.

Will work on crumbs etc. we're not terrible, but could probably get a bit tidier.

And will do a big survey of the house and block everything I can see.

The ONLY solution IMO is to get a young energetic cat.

We had a similar problem and no matter how many holes were blocked off and traps set it didn't scare Mickey and his mates off. They came in from gaps less than a centimetre wide of which there were hundreds in our Victorian terraced property.

We weren't cat people so put it off for as long as possible but there comes a point where you will try anything to get rid of the mice!! Within a couple of weeks and a few mice left on the carpet as presents they were gone. Relief! Once they know there is a cat in the house they tend to stay away unless really stupid so you wont see much of them after that. As for the cat, he is now very much part of our family and no trouble at all. A really really easy pet and added mouser!!

Hth

To add to the wire wool suggestion we used that and then a layer of expandable foam so there really, really wasn't any gap they could get through.

We got some expanding foam stuff for corners and cracks.
Also cut up brillo pads and used them to stuff holes.
But i really think a cat or rentokil best way to go.
Only thing putting me off a cat = 'presents' they might leave me e.g. birds spiders and mice, dead, half-dead or alive and twitching. Eek!

We had an infestation of mice in our compost heap. They were finished off within two weeks of the cat's arrival.

My sympathies, we seem to have a constant mouse problem as we back onto fields too. We didn't have the problem when we had a cat, but DS is allergic so we had to get rid of it.

The feckers have chewed through phone lines, clothes in the washing basket and the swimming bag to get to the snacks in it.

Friends have had success with those electronic things, but they didn't work for us.

We just buy millions of the cheapy traps from B&Q and try and have one done at all times.

My sympathies, we seem to have a constant mouse problem as we back onto fields too. We didn't have the problem when we had a cat, but DS is allergic so we had to get rid of it.

The feckers have chewed through phone lines, clothes in the washing basket and the swimming bag to get to the snacks in it.

Friends have had success with those electronic things, but they didn't work for us.

We just buy millions of the cheapy traps from B&Q and try and have one done at all times.

I would love a cat - am a cat rather than dog person - but DH needs convincing (he is a budgie man and also very house proud so hates the idea of pets!). Plus DD is 20 months and I would hate to introduce a cat to her at the mo as she would without doubt terrorise the poor thing by chasing it everywhere with a high-pitched squeal. Might be a solution in a year I reckon, giving me time to work on DH and make DD a bit more welcoming to a pet!

In the meantime we'll foam and wire wool everything and have traps down in child-inaccessible places. I just bought loads from our hardware store. Watch out mice, it's war!

What about air bricks? Can I fill those or not?

the sticky traps work well -effective... (cruel maybe slow death by trap)
www.amazon.co.uk/The-Big-Cheese-Mouse-Glue/dp/B000PKKRX0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337947436&sr=8-1

but be careful they dont get stuck onto clothes or fingers or walls..

Are you sure you've just got mice? Such damage so quickly would suggest rats to me.

Pretty certain it's mice - seen them in the house a lot, neighbours also have persistent mouse problem, only droppings are mouse ones as far as we can tell, and regularly catch mice in traps. Could have a rogue rat or two but I think it's just mutant plastic eating mice!

You definately need a cat to get rid of persistent mouse problems - you will never be able to block up all the mouse holes.

I have 3 cats and my DS loves picking them up and has done since he was big enough to lift them - if the cat didn't want to be picked up it would just hide. As mentioned previously, CP have always got a good supply of mousers - take your DP to the local centre (few people can resist a sad looking cat)

Agree with cat. Only thing that got rid of the mice in my childhood home.

We got a kitten when DD was nearly 2 - they were both fine with each other. I'm not particularly a cat person but she's no problem.