Mice - advice needed, I am going nuts

breadlinebetty

Mice can be very difficult to get rid of, and you can guarantee if you see just one mice you have more!

I had a mouse problem where I used to live and I kept my home spotless. I never left any food out, the floor was always swept and bleached - it was almost clinical.

Mice don't discriminate - they'll enter spotlessly clean homes or filthy slums mainly for warmth in the winter. They also only need to feast on fairly small amounts - crumbs etc..........

My mice used to appear in the autumn when the weather turned chilly, and it was only because I had a dog that I didn't get a cat. But I have heard that the BEST way to get rid of mice is to get a cat - just a cat's smell will repel mice.

Mice are indeed a health hazard - they have very weak bladders - and if, say, you leave a loaf of bread on the worktop overnight they will pee all over it!:eek:

It's a fallacy that they like cheese - they eat anything really - but do seem partial to peanut butter!

I tried every gadget going : standard mousetraps (caught loads in those - but it didn't solve the problem!) those sticky box things (the mice avoided those - they seem to know.......)

I bought 2 expensive sonic sound things and plugged them in downstairs - only to have the mice move upstairs!! When I bought more to plug upstairs the mice burrowed BETWEEN the walls!!!!!

They make nests underneath the floorboards, between walls.....you'd be amazed. They can squeeze through a hole the size of a pencil and I once saw a mouse run off and squeeze itself underneath my closed bathroom door that had virtually no gap!

Mice also have a smell - you noticed that?

My mice managed to get in through some tiny holes in the back outer wall of my house - and blocking each and every tiny hole is a lot harder than you think. You really have to make sure you've spotted every gap and hole and fill it properly. The thing is these aren't feld mice - they are house mice - so they must come from neighbouring properties......When I had the local council round (this was back in the early 90s when the council still did pest control) the man told me that lots of households had mice but never bothered to do anything about them!!!:eek:

So it can be a losing battle.

I tried Rentokil - whose poison was the best of the lot (I tried nearly every one on the market) but theirs was the best. Only problem was they were expensive, and although it got rid of the mice - they always came back a few months later - or rather, in the autumn.

I would say the ONLY true way to get rid of them permanently is to BLOCK EVERY tiny hole and gap on all the outside walls, frames, doors.....mice do climb so can sometimes get in through the roof, though that's rare I would say - but do check the loft all the same and block any entry points.

Secondly: get a cat.

Good luck!

tealady

Hi
You may want to check with your local Council to see if they provide any service for mice.

Take_it_like_a_man,_sonny

Our tiger, Monty, is an effective mouser. He is available for keeps. Just pm and collect.

Note, he is not humane, and will deal with your problems with the care invested in him over years of eating shrews, landers, vermin and all.

seven-day-weekend

We used to get them a lot in our Spanish house, with the countryside literally on our doorstep. (We would get snakes coming in too!).

Just get some really good traps (ones that kill instantly, the Spanish ones broke their backs), put a tiny bit of chocolate on, and keep putting them down until you have seen no more for at least two weeks.

Do remember to check the traps though, we forgot once, went to England for several months and the lady who looked after the house for us found a dead mouse in the trap in a not very nice state after a month

Now we are back in the UK, we have two cats, so no problem with small rodents.

kellemeek

We have caught four up to now. The latest one this morning. I have a repeller from amazon waiting for me to collect at the post office today.

We caught a slug last night in one of the mouse traps...... A slug?! Lol

I have also checked the poison bait I have laid and it has been nibbled on too. But I guess they are opting for the peanut butter instead.

We also have adopted my brothers kitten, I doubt she will be able to catch mice because she is only ten weeks but perhaps if we ever have a problem in the future she will be able to keep the numbers down :-/

I've not heard any upstairs so I am sure we have eliminated them all, but I am still going to use the traps etc until we have picked up the cat in a week.

20400keith

I never used to have mice until I got a cat... she brings them in through the cat flap and lets them go. She also brings in baby rabbits - it can be a surprise when you're sitting down and a rabbit runs out from behind the settee!

Fire_Fox

Cleaning is the most important thing to do, if you can pull the white goods out, take the plinth off, clean round the back. Also clean inside cupboards and put all dry goods into plastic or metal boxes. Then block up the entry points, or have your landlord do it if you are a rental property because he is legally responsible for this.

Try training the kitten to hunt as its mother would do - knock off Da Bird with a Da Mousey attachment. It is tiny and you can flick this on certain flooring types so it moves like a real mouse. There are also real fur toys around (vintage recycled or byproduct of food industry) or if you know someone not squeamish you might try making one with a dead mouse!! :eek: I read somewhere that cats have a preference for hunting what their mother hunted, be that rodents, birds or a mix.

Be sure to worm the kitten regularly if they are coming into contact with wild creatures, you might also ask your vet about the risks before it's completed vaccinations.

kellemeek

Thank you for all the great advice

gutter1

I agree to chat to the neighbours, we find they come under the floorboards from neighbours' houses and also through the loft spaces. We had to get rid of a bunch of stuff one spring when we discovered they'd all come to our house for a winter holiday as we were the only ones with a cosy warm loft conversion!

We've had issues on and off, keeping food in only a couple of rooms really helped ie no snacks upstairs or in the living room, and using the sonic traps made a big difference too.

Good luck

Itsgottabedone

suzeesu2000 wrote: »

Easy peasy.....get a cat!

I wouldn't agree with this! My cats catch field mice and bring them in through the cat flap as presents for me! Then I'm faced with scraping up the blood and guts they haven't eaten or running round to catch the terrified little creature and return it to its outside habitat!