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Rural living

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Found mouse in the house.

29 replies

cantthinkattheminute · 10/10/2018 07:39

We have just moved house into a new build in the country. Yesterday I found a live mouse in one of the toy buckets and put the whole thing outside 😩 we are very careful to keep the house really clean but this morning we came down to find one of the baby bottles chewed though on both sides of the teat. Can anyone advise how to get rid of the mice quickly?! They seem to be very bold, was a bit of a shock to find it looking back at me for the toy bucket yesterday!

OP posts:
Spudlet · 10/10/2018 07:41

Snappy mouse traps with peanut butter as bait. Put them around the edges of rooms where you find droppings. Also make sure all food is put away and nothing is left out.

It's the time of year I'm afraid - I'm glumly waiting for our squatters to try and move back in. Hoping they won't try it this year so we can live and let live!

expatmigrant · 10/10/2018 08:04

I had a couple of mice in my loft.
Buy 'humane' traps, put in some rice cakes with Nutella on.
You'll have them caught in no time. Then release them about a mile from the house.
Not had a problem since.

Theworldisfullofgs · 10/10/2018 08:09

Get a cat...
No seriously, the only houses in the village without a cat are the ones with mice.

Ifailed · 10/10/2018 08:13

if it's a new build and you've just moved in, chances are it was already living there, so it's you who'ved moved into the mouse's house.

Aprilislonggone · 10/10/2018 08:17

How kind the mice are happy to share their home.
If you don't like mice maybe a town house?

Scrowy · 10/10/2018 08:24

Snap traps with peanut butter and find where they are getting in at.

Or get a cat.

'Humane' trapping is rarely humane. Rats and mice suffer extreme stress reactions when trapped and dehydrate quickly. Releasing house mice 'into the wild' is cruel and will still lead to their death through starvation, predation or hypothermia.

CherryPavlova · 10/10/2018 08:25

Snap traps initially, then bait boxes to maintain pest free house. No food left out.
Bait boxes around perimeter, in loft space etc.
All food in boxes inside cupboards (Tupperware) rather than paper or cardboard. Limit where food is eaten.
Mesh over drainpipes to stop climbing.
Cat or dog
Sealed entry points - gaps in eaves/skirting/floorboards etc.
Ultrasonic repellents on ring main.
Continuous management.

LexieLulu · 10/10/2018 08:37

We got those plug in sound repellents from amazon, didn't seem to work.

Best thing to do is find where they are coming into your house, but this can be really hard as they can get into holes the size of a pencil.

Follow their droppings and see if you can work that out? If you hire pest control they will probably find this for you

Zoe2411 · 10/10/2018 08:40

We used the cage traps for our house mouse and then DP drove him in the car to a field near our house as you are supposed to move them so many metres from the house .

There are better ways of removing them than 'just killing them ' , never mind 'they will die anyway in the wild ', that's nature and not you physically killing something.

Best of luck ! X

BikeRunSki · 10/10/2018 08:44

Cat
Sonic mouse deterrents

But seriously, the cat is what has worked best for us.

nononsene · 10/10/2018 08:45

You live in the country so you’re bound to get mice constantly. We tried avaruthing and the only thing that worked for us was those boxes full of poison. We placed a few behind the kick boards in the kitchen so we’ll hidde and replaced every so often.

cantthinkattheminute · 10/10/2018 09:20

Thanks everyone. We have been in a month and had been fine until yesterday. Since then I have seen one which I put outside it is a bit of a pest in that I have had to throw out a baby bottle, dummy 2 of the toddlers toys and the baby's favourite toy which have all been chewed. Will have to go shopping to get traps today.

OP posts:
specialsubject · 14/10/2018 13:35

Screwfix traps are the best, quick and humane and easy on fingers. Put dead mice in your hedge and the badgers will clean up. Amazon are.pricey as well as the usual reasons not to use them.

We get mice in the attic , couldn't leave a cat.up there.

Realitea · 15/12/2018 21:16

Are mice in the attic a problem? I mean, can they get into the house if they’re up there? I’ve just moved to a very old house in the country and still haven’t had any but just waiting for it to happen as there are gaps and holes all over the place

HollowTalk · 15/12/2018 21:22

Those sonic things don't work.

I'd put poison down in little bowls everywhere. I'd also get someone to come and make the house mouse proof - a guy did that for me and it made such a difference. He blocked up anywhere they could get in and put netting over those bricks with grids (can't remember their name, sorry!)

Gunpowder · 15/12/2018 21:23

Don’t want to freak you out but are you sure it wasn’t a rat you saw rather than a mouse? The young ones aren’t much bigger than nice but their bodies are longer and their tails are thicker. Whenever we’ve had nice they’ve just gone for any food rather than chewing toys/bottles etc.

Beamur · 15/12/2018 21:28

Rural houses often have mice. You don't really want them in your home though. Either use humane traps, but attend to them quickly. Or ones that kill instantly.
I sometimes have mice the cats bring in and humanely catch them and release them in the garden, most of our mice are not house mice.

karala · 15/12/2018 21:35

these are ZOMBIE mice

Daisymay2 · 15/12/2018 21:41

We bought a new house in the country several years ago, We had mice during the first 2 winters- got the builders back to seal some holes - I heard them in the space between the ground floor and upstairs and was concerned they would damage the wiring. If your house is very new, it might be worth getting the builders back to seal the holes- in our case between the house and the garage.
Otherwise, I am afraid it is a case of mouse traps- baited with Kit Kat and kill them. We caught 12 in a short time. We have traps permanently set in the loft now- and caught one this week.
We had a problem on the kitchen because quite big holes had been cut out in the back of kitchen units for wires when they were installed. I ended up putting disposible plastic cups in the holes , so I could see where they were getting into the cupboards, and made sure anything edibllle was in a sealed plastic box. I still have my pasta and rice etc in these even though my kitchen has been free of them for several years ( touches wood)

TinslePaws · 15/12/2018 21:52

Only 2 things have ever worked for me, poison and owning cats.

If you're using poison make sure you leave it somewhere your children and other pets can't get to it, behind the kickboards underneath kitchen counters is perfect.

A few years ago a rental house I lived in was overrun. I watched them escape humane traps, avoid every type of kill trap or just lick them clean without triggering them, and the noise thing does sweet FA. We had the council down to put proper industrial poison down and they polished off over 200g in a few days. It only takes 1-2g of poison to kill each mouse.

To make life more difficult for them you can block any obvious noise holes with wire wool which they can't chew through, and cover any drains and vents into your house with a very very fine mesh. We inadvertently trapped one in a small cavity of the wall this way and it went mental because it couldn't get out.

Believeitornot · 15/12/2018 21:53

You need to work out how it’s getting in. Block the entrance then kill the rest.

We had mice coming in our house - they live under next doors decking and found a way in to our cavity wall extension as the builders didn’t properly cover the foundations. We filled in the gaps outside with the smallest shingle as they can’t dig through it. Then we left poison traps which killed the ones inside (we had a horrid smell for about a week from the dead ones).

Any idea how they’re getting in?

Doilooklikeatourist · 15/12/2018 21:56

Mice in the attic can chew through plastic water pipes , which may cause lots of damage
Get some poison traps and get rid

SheepyFun · 15/12/2018 21:58

Aprilislonggone I can assure you that mice live in town houses too! We used snap traps with chocolate spread - they were only in the attic, but they weren't half noisy at night. Plus they may have been able to get to the lighting circuit, which would have been bad...

DorothyLNaySayers · 15/12/2018 21:59

Please don’t put poison down if you’re in the country. It’s likely it will poison a lot more than what you’re aiming for.

Get a cat. Seriously. Poison might kill off one generation but the next generation will try to come back , and ainsi de suite. A cat will mean you never have to put poison down and if you live rurally, you can keep your cat outside without any problems.

Blinkingblimey · 17/12/2018 22:35

A bit late to the party but I’m afraid I also belong to the get a cat brigade. You may still need the odd trap too and, in a particularly cold winter, they’ll still occasionally turn up but 😺 is the best deterrent you’ll find!

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