Getting rid of rats/mice (merged threads)

KILL_BILL

wheni first moved into my flat i did not have a mice problem or i didnt see any. the 2 neighbours of mine did.

now for the past 8 months or so i have one or a few as i have seen a mouse on a coupkle of occasions .

this is evidence by the black droppings that has beeen left behind also went into the kitchen one morning to see a mouse run behind the washing machine.
spoke to the estate agents who sent someone round to put in expandable hard form in the apparent gaps coming into the property especialy the pipes that come into the flat from next door flat. however there still seems to be a problem.

i have seen mouse/s on other ocassions and went out to get some traps for b & q which apprently work without bait and have a immitation cheese on the trap.
despite me setting the traps on what i thought where i thought theey where travellingalong they seemd ed to be avoiding the trap

Have now resorted to baiting the trap with choclate last eevning before went to bed thinking that my get them but it appears that they are not takein it

the landlord/estate agent arent intrested in the problem so need to know what other steps to be taken in the matter especially as i saw a mouse running across my worksurface and of now having to wash everything down everywhere

so there seems to be mixed views as to whether to use choclatye or peanut butter


UPDATE

so for the past 3 days the traps have been down but have not caught a mice and have not seen any evidence ... ie droppings in the kitchen... so has he {the mouse) gone off elsewhere or has he died .

thing is i cant leave choclate on the moustrap as it will encourage other vermin, dirt etc . so should i wipe the choclate off and leave the trap in place in case he decides to come back ?

hazellc

Urgh. We have mice in our ceiling. We live in a Victorian terrace and our next door neighbour is renovating the house. The exterminator I spoke to said that possibly the noise of the work he's been doing has driven the mice out and in terraced houses of this age, there are always gaps in the joists in the attic, between floors etc, with no real way to get rid of them.

I haven't seen any sign of the mice anywhere in the house, just heard them scampering in the ceiling. Not very MSE, but I'm seriously considering hiring a private exterminator just so I know the f***ing things are dealt with properly - I'm so tense with the scratching above my head and not knowing if they're wondering around the rest of the house in the night.

The exterminator I spoke to said that, in his experience, the smell of poisoned dead mice is not too bad, you can cope with it and times when it is really bad, people have not realised they had a rat and it's that that's died and caused the awful smell. I don't know though - if someone could tell me, yes, it will smell bad for a couple of weeks and then it'll be over, I'd do it. But if it's going to smell unbearably bad for a month, it's another matter entirely.

Can anyone who's gone the poison route share their experience?

muckybutt

Cant say ive ever smelt dead mice and there are several in our loft as we live in the sticks.

Rats are a different kettle of fish, they will completely stink you out they smell vile.

hazellc

That's good to know! The exterminator said he doesn't find the smell tends to be a problem, but the whole malarky has got me so on edge I'm imagining my house smelling like the eighth circle of hell (or my boyfriend's walking socks!) forever after.

ed110220

hazellc wrote: »

That's good to know! The exterminator said he doesn't find the smell tends to be a problem, but the whole malarky has got me so on edge I'm imagining my house smelling like the eighth circle of hell (or my boyfriend's walking socks!) forever after.

I doubt it, a mouse is a pretty small animal so the corpse will dry out and stop smelling before long. It's pretty common to find the dried out remains of birds and other small creatures in lofts. Unpleasant, but not smelly or hard to deal with.

noelphobic

We've had 2 mice infestations (and counting!) A while back there was a bad smell in the house but we have damp problems (don't start me on that!) so put it down to that.

Then my son had a look around and realised there was a dead mouse in the corner of our dining room :eek: As I have a rodent phobia I was not too happy and had to leave the house while he disposed of it. I think it had probably only been there a few days at the most.

I have a friend who runs a pest control company (not local unfortunately) who said that they do decompse quickly and therefore the smell wouldn't last long so I wouldn't let the thought of the smell put me off using poison and/or traps. The damage they can do and the diseases they can cause are much more dangerous and unpleasant than the possibility of having to put up with bad smells for a short period of time.

mart.vader

muckybutt wrote: »

Cant say ive ever smelt dead mice and there are several in our loft as we live in the sticks.

Rats are a different kettle of fish, they will completely stink you out they smell vile.

That is so true ! !

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/37840212#Comment_37840212

hazellc

We had an exterminator come today. He checked the house thoroughly and found no sign of mice or rats anywhere, including the loft and behind the bottom kitchen cupboards, fridge and all the popular places. He said it's possible they're just using our floor as a road between other houses in the terrace (should possibly monitor what music next door is playing at the times I hear the noise, in case they try desperately to escape every time they hear him switch to Radio One).

Nonetheless, our meter cupboards and loft are now baited, as are the gaps behind the kitchen cupboards and as many other spots like that as I can safely leave poison without the dog getting to it. We'll see if it gets touched! Because there were such limited signs, he sold us the slightly less effective poison to put down ourselves, rather than have to charge us for a second visit. If they do start eating that, then he'll come out and out down the nasty one.

ETA: whatever it was is making a scratching noise in our ceiling in a particular spot, not audible from upstairs above the same spot. Just wish I knew for sure it was mice rather than a rat.

Wester

What is the best bait to use in a mouse / rat trap ? i have been putting bread in it and it seems the mice / rats are ignoring it

T_T_2

Chocolate, dog biscuits, peanut butter...