Mice deterrents that work

fabforty

I am looking for tips/suggestions (that have actually worked for posters) for deterring mice in the home.
I live in a flat in a very large old Victorian house - on the top floor. Last night I heard scratching noises and this morning I found mice droppings in the sitting room. I can't find any holes so I am still trying to work out how they got in - I have lived here for 15 years, and never had this problem before. The landlords have been informed, as the likelihood is that the little darlings have made their way into most, if not all of the 9 flats in the building. So Rentokill are on their way some time over the next week or two. In the meantime, I have two small children so don't want poison put down inside my flat. However I do want to make it as inhospitable as possible for them inside. I am going to buy one of those plug in deterrents (the ones which emit high pitched sounds) and someone also suggested peppermint oil on cotton wool, as the smell drives them crazy.


Has anyone tried these and found that they worked, or have any other suggestions that have worked for you, that I could try?

Nicki

I think I tried everything when we had them for about a year and couldn't get rid of them! What finally worked was borrowing a friends cat for a few nights. I am afraid the sonic deterrents and peppermint oil and chilli plants were all useless. Electric traps and sticky traps baited with chocolate caught a few of them but not enough to get rid of the infestation. As my granny used to say you never just have one mouse

orangeslimes

Sprinkling cinnamon everywhere seems to send them away quite quickly in my experience, probably just back to the floorboards admittedly, but it seems to work for me.

I also tried one of those plug in things - not sure if it did anything.

dandelionclock30

The obvious answer here is.... CATS.

AnnieO1234

Ultrasonic plug worked for us, about thirty quid in b and q fifteen years ago. No more mice in garage since x

Spendless

We've had them the past 2 winters. A pest controller lives a few doors away from me so I've bought poison from him. You can buy an enclosed bait box (I don't mean one that traps the mouse inside) which might be more suitable than loose poison if your kids are small. These are more expensive, my neighbour lent me some.

If you have a hole that is big enough for a biro to get through, so can a mouse, so go around the outside of your property and seal up any gaps if you can. I did see on a home improvements programme a few months back that mice can't chew through wire wool, so maybe putting some to block the area where you think they are getting in, if that's feasible.

mandragora_2

Eliminate any source at all of dropped food, compost bins and every little crumb. With little children round that might be tougher than you think at first, but any food left out anywhere will be something that tempts them in.

Even tasty looking things that you'd never have considered edible are apparently delicious to mice. I speak as someone who's had the top rubber buttons on the top of two separate bike lights on my bike in the garage be pinched by a mouse in the past three days. The first time the light top went, I presumed it had somehow worked loose when I was out cycling and had fallen out. I loved that light, so I replaced it at the weekend with a brand new one. I went to the shed this evening to get my bike out, and exactly the same thing had happened to the new light in exactly the same way. Then I saw the delicate little nibble marks around where the rubber button had been. What could he WANT with a plastic button anyway?? Little beggar.

gunsandbanjos

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

The obvious answer here is.... CATS.

Worked for me, I had a nightmare with mice a few years ago. Now I have 2 cats and haven't seen or heard one since. They even eat the spiders and bluebottles that stray inside.

SailorSam

I didn't want to put poison down 'cos i thought if the mouse was to go somewhere ......... under the floorboards; behind cupboards, or wherever to die. You'd have the smell of it and would need to search where it was. I got simple old fashioned mouse traps from the £shop.

Marisco

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

The obvious answer here is.... CATS.

Excellent idea - providing you end up with one like my friend has got, and not 2 lazy ones like I have!! :eek: My friends cat brings in mice and small rats on a daily basis (we live by the river) I'm sure she'd hire her out at a reasonable rate Her other cat is like my two!!

Spendless

SailorSam wrote: »

I didn't want to put poison down 'cos i thought if the mouse was to go somewhere ......... under the floorboards; behind cupboards, or wherever to die. You'd have the smell of it and would need to search where it was.

It doesn't. Well our first one did but that's because it had crawled on to a ledge at the back of our fridge(on the outside) where the thermostat was and died so yes you could smell dead mouse heating up! It took us a few days to think to pull the fridge out. The last lot we had, there were more than 1 mouse, pest controller thinks a mouse got in and had a litter. They didn't smell at all, they decompose quite quickly as I discovered when I suddenly saw something with a long tail but otherwise mostly fluff when I cleared our shoe cupboard out and then noticed one near where I'd been lobbing the shoes. So glad I never discovered whose shoe it had come out of!