Getting rid of rats/mice (merged threads)

ally18

Had to add my story, sorry for being slightly off topic though.

Few weeks ago I found droppings in a bottom kitchen cupboard so thinking I had another problem (had mice many years ago and had to use peanut butter and traps which solved the problem), I decided to put two traps down and also rat poison.

Nothing happened for a few days and then one morning, I came down to find the hamster missing! After about 2 hours of searching, we thought to open the kitchen cupboard door and there he was, happily making a new bed comprising of bits of newspaper, some hamster food and lots of rat poison pellets!

Well we managed to get him back into his cage and after cleaning up his new bed, then had to sit and wait to see if I had killed him with the rat poison!

It didn't occur to me that as he had escaped his cage for an hour the week earlier, that he could have been the culprit in the first place and not a new mouse/rat infestation. His cage is no where near the kitchen so how he found the cupbaord, I have no idea!

Suffice to say, his cage door is now padlocked with a coded padlock! And I'm not imagining it, he gives me some filthy looks through the bars now, I curtaitailed his exploring it seems lol.

I should have known better I guess. Only had him 10 mins in the car when we bought him and he escaped into the car itself. I ended up parked at the side of a busy main road searching for a hamster, worried incase he got in the engine whilst I was driving!!!!

joe134

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

Thanks,

Thought I heard the little bu.gg.er. last night under the first floor, floor boards. the house has only recently been fully renovated no air bricks any more. They have definately only come in in the last few weeks so I'm hopping they haven't set up house just yet. I found one hole round the entire house that wasn't filled up fully so I think they must have got in there but that is now cemented up. Think (and hope) this is the last one standing

In all the years of having them, and the hundreds I must have caught, apart from the hole in the table cover, which was in a drawer in the cubby hole, I,ve never had any more damage.
No droppings anywhere, in kitchen, etc.
none in cupboards.
I am used to them now, If I didn,t catch them though, can you immagine , the house would be rife with them. Caught another today.
:rotfl:

homealone_2

i am not sure if i am in the right place so if needed would someone kindly move me along. i have had a mouse problem for at least six months. my housing association have supposedly done all they can as they have blocked any holes i had and laid poision. but i seem to be very popular at last count we knew we had 8 in various rooms of varying sizes. they seem to outsmart everything we try. even when we kaid thse gluse traps i saw one walking in and completely by pass it. i really am ay my wits end with it and am now considering fumigation but knoow nothing about it well just the basics but hw effective is it and what are the costs etc?

keystone

You need one of these:



Job done!

Cheers

Jonesya

What are you baiting the traps with?

elsien

This is probably going to sound rude, and it's not meant to, it's the result of several months trying to get rid of the little bleeders myself.
Have you made sure there are absolutely no food sources around that they can get to? I learned the hard way about keeping everything in mouse proof containers, (even the dry dog food), washing up immediately - (in the couple of minutes it took to dish up a spag bol and take it into the sitting room I had a mouse scooting onto the hob and eating from the dirty pan), and generally being completely anal about hygiene.
Are you or your neighbours putting birdseed down outside - they may well be using that as a food store.
I don't know a lot about fumigation but I'd have my doubts. Mainly because the mice are probably in and out of the house so you're unlikely to get all of them, plus if they're under the floor, running along the pipes etc, are the fumes going to get everywhere you need them to go?
Somewhere on here there's a thread about getting rid of mice and vermin which might be worth your while having a look at. And persevere - I have no idea what eventually got rid of my mice as they weren't taking the poison either, they just vanished of their own accord.

Gloomendoom

Nittle Nipper mousetraps, loads of them baited with chocolate or peanut butter.

Or get a cat.

roxydogbert

We've had mice before and found that using the humane traps completely useless! Buy the traditional mousetraps and use Snickers bars (chocolate and nuts are irresistible to them) and put small bits in the trap really firmly. This worked a lot for us. Place the traps along the skirting boards as this is where they will run along.

If you find it doesn't work for you, try not to touch anything with your bare hands - I've heard that human scent will scare them off. Perhaps use some latex gloves or marigolds to load up the traps and put them down?

Seal up any holes and kick-boards at the bottom of kitchen units touching the floor. We lived in a 2nd floor flat and I'm sure the mice were getting into our flat via the kitchen from other neighbours in the whole block. I also closed the kitchen door whenever possible (espc. overnight). If you left it open, you'd sometimes see them dashing out of the kitchen (as I sealed up the little hole they gnawed in the wall around the heating pipe from the kitchen - little blighters!).

The mice were attracted to our lovebirds' cage and I used to find them rummaging around the bottom of the cage eating seed on the floor (with the birds just looking at them)!

We managed to get rid of them, but it is horrid to know they are there, especially when you're pregnant! It made me paranoid about cleanliness in the kitchen, as they carry nasty germs and are incontinent, so can potentially wee/poo all over counter tops, etc! :eek:

Hope this helps someone!

homealone_2

elsien wrote: »

This is probably going to sound rude, and it's not meant to, it's the result of several months trying to get rid of the little bleeders myself.
Have you made sure there are absolutely no food sources around that they can get to? I learned the hard way about keeping everything in mouse proof containers, (even the dry dog food), washing up immediately - (in the couple of minutes it took to dish up a spag bol and take it into the sitting room I had a mouse scooting onto the hob and eating from the dirty pan), and generally being completely anal about hygiene.
Are you or your neighbours putting birdseed down outside - they may well be using that as a food store.
I don't know a lot about fumigation but I'd have my doubts. Mainly because the mice are probably in and out of the house so you're unlikely to get all of them, plus if they're under the floor, running along the pipes etc, are the fumes going to get everywhere you need them to go?
Somewhere on here there's a thread about getting rid of mice and vermin which might be worth your while having a look at. And persevere - I have no idea what eventually got rid of my mice as they weren't taking the poison either, they just vanished of their own accord.

thanks, you raised a few points that i had not thought of on fumigation. i also think i may have to make the house less of a food source i have been away a few days and when i just tried to put a cushion cover on a cushion one had eaten through the
thin cvering and eaten half of the stuffing. i may have to go through the house through the eyes of a mouse and pack up everything i can and see where i go from there nt sure how many more days and nights i can lay here listening to them scratching around and squeaking

hansi

Haven't seen Mickey on any of his mates since I plugged this in.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ADVANCED-VERMATIK-LATEST-ULTRASONIC-REPELLER/dp/B001NNPEJK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354706710&sr=8-1