Mice, a hand hold please

[OctoblocksAssemble]

I'm awake again after maybe 2 hours of sleep where I chased a sodding mouse in my dream. Was getting my daughter to sleep, lying in bed with her, singing a song, when mouse shoots into view. It must have gone under the skirting (we have some major floating skirtings) as we moved everything but couldn't find it. I feel physically sick, never seen one upstairs before. Known about them in the kitchen (directly below daughters room) for about a week. So far 2 mouse motels and 1 electric trap baited with peanut butter have failed to catch any. Will be stuffing wire wool under the skirting tomorrow, but that doesn't help me right now. Dd in my bed now, which doesn't make it much easier to sleep.
I honestly thought that the mice would stay away from us, I'm utterly shocked by how bold this one was. I was bloody singing at the time, it must have known we were in the room!

Can't be a huge amount of help, other than to sympathise. It's horrible, especially whe. You have kids.

Try filling any gaps with wire wool (and then seal if possible), and use Nutella as bait (we had mice a long time ago and the guy said it's like "crack" to them,and they'll eat it when they aren't hungry. If they haven't touched your peanut butter, it may suggest that they have another food source).

They're little bastards. I found pieces of Mars bar better for the traps, but you need to find where they are getting in. If you can push a biro through a hole, then a mouse can get through.

Good luck 👍

Could you get a cat?

I had this happen where one came upstairs, little fucker didn't even flinch when I chased or threw something at it. In the end I had to get pest control as you really need to identify where they are coming in from and block that path. Otherwise it doesn't matter how many you kill, once the route is established they will keep coming back. We had to pull out all the kitchen kickboards but we got there in the end. You can do it yourself but I found pest control knew what they were looking for.
The other thing that can help is putting all paper, food and soft items (clothes, bedding) in plastic boxes as then there's no reason for them to stay upstairs.

Only thing that worked for me was getting a cat!

Sugarpuffs as bait worked well... but the only real deterrent that completely cleared the mice out of our flat in London was our ace mouser tortoiseshell cat.

Can you borrow a mouser?

Sadly cat is not an option. Very seriously considering pest control, but wary of poison due to the kids. I have spent the entire day stuffing wire wool under the floating skirting boards in the bedrooms, and putting duck tape over the top to keep the wool in place. Peppermint spray also squirted around in the hope that that does something to protect us. Kitchen has more holes than a Swiss cheese.

I feel your pain. We have had one or two in the past but this year since it got colder we have had 4 already. There must be a new hole but I can't find it. I have 'humane' traps in the kitchen and utility room bated with custard creams (they love them!) So hopefully I get one the night it comes in.

@OctoblocksAssemble our pest control only used snap traps, no poison. He went round with an expanding foam injection gun and filled in every hole he could find. Between the two it worked. If you can afford it I'd do it. I'm sure it's possible to get rid of them yourself but I just couldn't face what it involved.

I've had mice at a couple of old houses I used to live in, its awful so you have my sympathy. One time they were so loud and destructive I was sure it was rats but it was just a family of field mice.

I'm a vegetarian but you have to be ruthless with an infestation, snap traps work best if you don't want to deal with it yourself get a company in to do it for you and block up every possible entry point they can get in a gap the width of a pencil.

I'd really like to just get someone else to sort it. Will see about getting some quotes I think. Will need to twist H's arm a bit, but the stress is honestly making me feel sick 😫

Traps are rubbish op, we had a ton in one of our old houses and theyd get paws and tails caught in them and be squealing, it was like a horror movie:( only thing is to find where they get in etc and block up or in a few cases I managed to get a saucepan over them then put something underneath, the way you catch a spider- then I’d walk down the road and set them free! Happened a few times! As for poison yes, as likely to get the family sick. Sorry op, horrible to have them in

We had mice a few years ago and we had three different kind of poison in the stair cupboard and it still didn't sort the little blighters. Then one time one walked into the living room when I was sitting up in the night and I said to it "would you please go back into the stair cupboard?" and it calmly and quietly turned back and went. It was properly weird

I think that getting a commercial pest control company to come and filll the holes sounds like a good idea. It was filling the holes that solved our problem eventually. We had our stair cupboard floor covered in mouse poison for years and it was a right pain.

Currently waiting in dd's room for her to go to sleep. I'm feeling shaky remembering this time last night.
It's been so hard since moving to the house, I've hated it from day one, but this is really pushing me past my limit.

Pest control will identify entry points you may not be aware of.

I've got mice at the moment and have had a horrible time mentally with it. The advice I received on mumsnet was go all out war on them - and I agree that's the best way. I think I'm getting on top of my situation but its not been fast to resolve.

ScarboroughHair is spot on in everything they say above. Don't hesitate to do everything you can to eliminate them quickly before they breed or attract other mice. I had no clue about how to remove them and was probably too slow at the start just trying some (useless) humane traps.

Apologies if you know this already but if you have home emergency cover on your insurance that might pay for pest control - in my case I realised too late and they wouldn't pay as I'd already started treating the problem.

Depending where you are your council might provide cheap (or free) pest control and is worth a look, but they're generally really stretched so won't be as thorough as an independent pest controller....but if its free or cheap I'd say it is worth it.

I'm using a combination of council and a private pest controller and it is slowly improving things.

I'm awful at DIY but now always have polyfilla, expanding foam and wire wool handy to fill any holes I find but as ScarboroughHair and others have said the pest controller was able to identify likely entry points.

I wish you good luck in getting rid of them quickly.

@wornoutparent it's hideous isn't it? No home emergency and our council doesn't offer Amy pest control, so private is the only option.
I would do it in a heartbeat, but H gets the hump about paying for something we could technically do ourselves (just slower and with more trauma). Will get some quotes at least though.

Update, pest control will be here later today. My nerves just couldn't take the DIY approach, I need it sorted ASAP

So he finally arrived at 7pm, looked around, pronounced it a recent infestation, service pipes in cupboard under the stairs as most likely entry, put down loads of bait boxes, and will be back in 2 weeks.
Elder dd, who is smart but nieve, sobbed the whole time about the thought of poisoning cute little mice, although she did go off them a bit when I explained they spread disease. Younger dd happily oblivious and pleased the mice are going (she did not at all like having one in her room).
Anyway, feeling a bit less panicky, although a bit heartless too.

IME it goes quiet after a couple of nights after the Blue Blocks Of Death go down.

In the interim I recommend muttering, "Fuck off now if you want to live, you stay in my house? YOU ARE GOING DOWN, FUCKERS" at any manifestations.

And if you can dig out a "sole protagonist fights back viciously against all odds" movie, (John Wick?) that can be very cathartic.

I’ve had pest control in, the council and still have mice. So seriously frustrating, the foam filler does not work, once I was in the living room and heard squeaking, realised it was a mouse under the stairs eating through the foam filler, which decided to come out the cupboard.

what did help for a little while was pest control went around the house filling all gaps, put wire mesh on any air filters outside.

but I’ve heard mice upstairs, and I have mice traps in various places but they seem to be avoiding them.

feel your pain, best to try and sort it sooner rather than later

@Reese123 noooooooo, sounds like a nightmare. I am really hoping that wire wool will solve my problems...

We've used humane traps successfully and relocated the mice a mile away. Then tackled any gaps around the house.

I wish the humane traps had worked, but it was just taking to long. This was just one thing too many. I have felt so sick and miserable with stress since one turned up in a bedroom. I am hating literally every piece of this, including the burden of deciding how to fix the problem. Life has generally been miserable for so long, and this is just the final straw. This rotten house is going to break me 😭