really old style living?

darwins_mum

Hi, does anyone have any suggestions for getting rid of mice in the kitchen?
I have not actually seen them, but they are ripping open bags and leaving droppings in drawers.
many thanks in advance

Reevsey

I suggest you borrow a mouse trap from a neighbour and bait it with a bit of Mars bar (they love it). I have tried humane traps but find the little blighters find thier way back in again after i've released them so finishing them off quickly is the solution. Failing that the council may offer a vermin removal service so give them a call. Hope you get it sorted quickly as they can do a lot of damange.

mardatha

It might be field mice and winter , we get the odd one or two in codl weather. I'd second choc in traps. Buy half a doz traps and set them all, it gets it over with quicker that way. Or borrow a cat

ChocClare

Our village has a pub and that's it. The post office is now an art gallery (good luck with that...)

We had a farm shop which sold fantastic stuff - ie it was utterly delicious - but their prices were just ridiculous. We ran out of milk one morning, and my daughter suggested I go there. I bought a litre of milk and the most delicious loaf I have ever tasted and it was... £5 :eek:

Admittedly, overheads have to be paid, and I wouldn't mind paying a BIT extra for the loaf but come on - and they didn't sell milk, so she gave me a litre of hers, it wasn't as if it had come straight from the cow parked outside or anything.

Somehow I am unsurprised that it has now closed.

darwins_mum

Reevsey wrote: »

I suggest you borrow a mouse trap from a neighbour and bait it with a bit of Mars bar (they love it). I have tried humane traps but find the little blighters find thier way back in again after i've released them so finishing them off quickly is the solution. Failing that the council may offer a vermin removal service so give them a call. Hope you get it sorted quickly as they can do a lot of damange.

Thanks for the tip, unfortunately I meant to say that I have no intention of killing them. The thought of having to dispose of dead bodies fills me with horror. Our council do not offer a removal service. I was hoping for a humane remedy, perhaps using essential oils etc.

DM

mardatha

I dont know anything that works... hope somebody does because I like mice, funny wee things - but I dont like sharing my food with them!

jamanda

Having researched this very recently, they apparently don't like peppermint oil. Put on dryer sheets (or something) and scatter around where they might be. Not tried it yet. DH suggested chucking some polo mints around.

carriebradshaw

darwins_mum wrote: »

Thanks for the tip, unfortunately I meant to say that I have no intention of killing them. The thought of having to dispose of dead bodies fills me with horror. Our council do not offer a removal service. I was hoping for a humane remedy, perhaps using essential oils etc.

DM

you can get humane traps but you need to release over 2 miles away or they'll just find their way back,I remember that from the first series of River Cottage. It may take a few trips as there'll be a few of them I guess.

Block up all holes you can find as if it's wide enough to fit a pencil a mouse can squeeze through it :eek: They are so clever at getting into houses, my friend had them once and they'd got through the airbrick where her tumble dryer used to vent out and then chewed through the tumble dryer hose and they were in!

Store your dry goods in glass jars if you can don't have to be fancy ones, I just use old jam & coffee jars.

NualaBuala

Darwin's Mum, I used humane traps and like Carrie said, you're supposed to release them a couple of miles away or they will come back! I used peanut butter and got my ex to release the mouse on his way home. I'd also read what Jamanda said about them not liking mint but didn't try it.

It's so sad to hear of village shops and post offices closing down. It feels like we're going backwards sometimes although we are told that out of town huge shopping malls are progress.

I was wondering if anyone knows what our grannies would have done to make breadcrumbs - a grater maybe? All the cookery programmes use food processors and I don't have one. My mum used a mill attachment for the blender but I haven't got one of those either, just a stick blender. I am loath to buy any new equipment at the moment and it got me thinking about Really Old Style ways of preparing food without electrical kitchen gadgets.

mardatha

I use a grater but I dont need breadcrumbs very often. Just leave it go hard in the fridge then grate it. I've never had a food mixer. Mainly because I never liked to cook LOL