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!

@Auvergne63 traumatised is exactly right. I am an absolute wreck every night (while the kids are at their worst, naturally).
Bold mice during the day is not what I want to hear 😭

I think I have very mild PTSD. If yours come out, they are very slow. My husband caught them with a fishing net! He dispatched them out of my sight.
I hate the little bastards!

They just put traps down, special safety ones so our pets wouldn’t get in them. The traps have them a good idea of where the mice were coming in. Then they sealed up all the possible little gaps.

Yes the little idiots

Finally felt brave enough to finish emptying out the 'corner of doom'.
1 can of supposedly mouse proof sealant used, and still not done. There are more gaps than sound bits, sigh.
Quite what batshit (or rather mouseshit) thinking went into the creation of this little gloomy passage to nowhere I can't even guess. At some point it had a radiator, and i'm a bit scared to touch the plug sockets hanging off the wall. No idea if they're even still connected, got a builder coming to quote to fix some other falling apart bits, might see if we can add removing the sockets to the list.

Well done, keeping working at it and you'll get the rid of them. Hopefully you will also end up with a home you feel more comfortable in.

The source of mine seems to be my neighbours house, so I've had to work with them to ensure they get treatment and address the issue as well - it made for a few awkward conversations initially. We've been at it a few months now, but it feels like the end is in sight. I really hope yours is sorted really soon.

Poison does generally work but short term impact glue traps are the best in my experience. Have a very high success rate in our house when the odd mouse is sighted. Nearly impossible to keep them entirely at bay as houses in our terrace are connected through the basements (I think) and we back directly into a forest and streams. But glue traps all the way.

Poor you op, it's really horrible.

We had a single rat a couple of years ago, after all the COVID stuff of 'home is the only safe place' it really impacted me be to feel that safe space was invaded and have to earn the kids etc.

We got pest control in, the poison they use is stronger than what shops sell. They have often built up tolerance to poisons sold in shops.

You can't buy glue traps anymore, they were banned a couple of years ago for being inhumane.

Our pest guy used bait boxes with snap traps inside, would that be an option? And he said that blocking holes with chicken wire then applying filler stuff to that can help. We used electric traps as well, clean and quick.

I'd talk to your neighbours as well, they might have the same problem without realising, especially if they're vulnerable in some way.

I try to sweep under the table every day to manage crumbs, kids drop so much food waste!

I've heard that borrowing a bag of used cat litter can help too because of the scent - or a terrier dog coming round but that might be just rats.

I still can't do yoga at home, I think of the rat every time I close my eyes!

Apparently glue traps will be banned from April 24, so stock up!

To my great disappointment the poison isn't working (at least not well enough)
Yesterday I finished blocking off the corner of doom holes, and around 4am I was woken loud scrabbling in the bedroom wall above it. I can’t help wondering if I've got it wrong and it's actually a rat that I've somehow trapped in the wall. Quite dreading tonight.

Don't give up, you will get this resolved.

In my house they're definitely mice but really loud when scrabbling in the walls. If it is trapped with no food or water it'll die within a few days.

The poison can take a while to work (up to 6 days according to my pest controller) and there is unlikely to be a single mouse. Apparently any other mice in the property follow their trail to eat the poison even after the first is dead. As depressing as I find that, it at least means the 'new' mice will also then die, thankfully reducing their numbers until there are no more left.

I'm afraid to say we've been battling mice for a couple of months now, but it does feel like we're getting closer to being completely free and I haven't seen evidence of one in our 'liveable' space for weeks, though still hearing (reduced) noises in walls.

I feel very lucky to have a really good pest controller and a neighbour who is also addressing the problem on their side but even then it is taking time.

Keep at it and you will get rid of these horrible little invaders. You're doing all the right things. My thoughts are with you.

Thank you for the encouraging message @wornoutparent .
Today's achievements are filling exterior holes around pipes at ground level (didn't want to get the ladder out on my own), and wire wooling one of the understairs cupboards. There were some massive holes in there. Cupboard 2 will have to wait, it is jam packed with stuff and I won't get much time until next Monday now.

Well, pest control guy due back tomorrow, and we still have mice. I'm trying a new strategy of putting some biscuit in the entrance to the electric trap, hoping that will get them used to it and get it smelling mousey, then they'll finally go into the kill bit. I'm probably being an idiot, but desperate times and all.
Still trying to stop up all the gaps. Literally nothing in this house was installed properly though, so it's a neverending job.

Hang on in there OP, you know there is more you CAN do. It would be much worse if you thought you'd done everything and still the **ers were there.
You will prevail. If you hear noises just (in your head if it's late haha) shout, "YOU'RE GOING DOWN, INVADERS!!!" at them.

Keep it up OctoblocksAssemble. Every word you write feels like me a few weeks back.

Although it feels like there is a never ending job you are making the situation better. Every gap you fill not only makes it harder for the mice but will also make your house nicer and more liveable.

Your approach with the traps is spot on and will help. Sadly the whole process seems to take time no matter what methods are used, but you're making it better every day.

For me I have a mixed reaction every time bait is eaten in our home, my immediate reaction is very negative as it means they're still here. The other part of my mind knows mice eating bait will help me as in a few days that there will be one less rodent to worry about.

Those sonic repellents are good, I got mine from amazon, the mice can't stand the pitch of the noise, it messes with their heads & they leave.

@wornoutparent how is your campaign going? I've hit a bit of a wall where I've exhausted my gap filling options, but we still have the problem. First pest control company was pretty bloody useless, thinking of trying another but H will moan about the cost. The kids make sorting the problem so hard, as I can only use lethal traps in places they won't see.
I did out of desperation use a glue board. Worked almost instantly, but I was fairly traumatised by dealing with it, definitely can't risk the kids seeing/hearing that.

Gosh those glue traps are traumatising feel your pain

Sorry you have not got red yet OP, we had mice in old houses we've lived in. One of the reasons we are now in a newish house. May be worth getting home emergency cover, which we've used for pest control several times ( and they cover blocked drains/ electrics boilers etc too) we have been with Halifax Home Emergency for a few years now and it's very affordable, was £3.30 a month but just gone up a bit at last renewal.

From my side, we hit peak mouse activity in September/October. We had our 'final' (for now) visit from our independent pest controller today. They'd done 3 visits for around £200, each about 4 weeks apart. I've had to do the filling in of holes etc myself, but they gave great advice.

Some of the bait is still being eaten in my gas cupboard but at a very reduced amount. No bait eaten in utility room for the last two weeks. No signs of mouse activity anywhere in the parts of the house we live for over a month.

I'm hearing less noises (but they're still there intermittently) - being honest, I no longer know how much is normal old house noise that I now attribute to mice and how much is actually mice.

On pest controllers advice, the only hole I hadn't filled was one in the gas cupboard that went down under the floor as this allowed mice to travel between me and neighbours house so they could snack on the poison bait. I've filled that today and am hoping no more bait will be taken and no more mouse droppings - I'll check again in two weeks.

My pest controller said we may be one or two mice only and is no longer an infestation. I'll only be happy when we're down to zero mice (that I'm aware of).

I have found the process so long and stressful I would urge you to put up with some moaning and get another pest controller in. I have lived with moaning for months over using pest controllers but I simply don't care any more, I need the mice out of my house. The peace of mind when this is over will be priceless.

Keep at it @OctoblocksAssemble - you will win

To my very great shock a live catch trap actually got one last night. Quite a tiddler, now relocated to a wood some distance away. They are so cute when not scuttling around the house

@wornoutparent I hope there hasn't been any further activity. I currently flinch at every sound (and because of the knackered floor step vibrations are always making random stuff rattle).
I'll be getting quotes for new pest controllers tomorrow, with a focus on pinpointing how they're getting in. Feel like we're still at square one despite all my efforts.

I hope you got a good quote from the pest controllers and get strong support from them.

Like you I currently flinch at every sound in the house and I convince myself any noise is triggered by mice. There are a lot of random noises in old houses at this time of year.

I was told to not check gas cupboard where we had most activity for another week. Thankfully, no evidence of activity anywhere else in the house that I've seen.

I am still so stressed about the situation and don't know when I'll feel comfortable in my home again.

Can’t you put poison outside? Put a cover/slate/wood over it
so birds can’t eat it. I’ve never heard of cats or dogs eating the poison.
we live in the countryside and get mice in the garage. And occasionally in the house. There is a 2foot gap under the floorboards and if I ever hear a scratching I put poison down there immediately and no matter where I heard the noise-loft/celing etc the mouse finds the bait. So I think they just scamper everywhere. And if you have them for a while they are probably being joined by their friends outside.
what’s the garden like, do neighbours have bird feeders?

They’re definitely more active in the evening and early morning. They used to scuttle around our living room bold as brass in the evenings.

I was once in the bathroom whilst 2 year old DD was watching TV downstairs and she shouted up to me ‘mummy, mouse on the sofa’. I assumed she was playing and carried on getting ready. When I went downstairs there was still a tiny mouse just hanging out on the sofa 😩

Traps were useless. We live in a row of timber framed cottages so they were moving between the houses so no matter what we did (put all foodstuffs in boxes/jars, made sure there were no crumbs anywhere) they’d just go and find food elsewhere.

In the end, we got a cat. Haven’t seen a mouse or any evidence of one in the house since, apart from in the form of cat snacks.

No word of a lie, he literally just walked through the cat flap with one in his mouth 😂😂😂😂