Just moved into a mouse infestation - What can I do?

G_M

SplanK wrote: »

You options are fairly limited. Snap traps are not great, and most human traps don't really work that great as they can, most of the time, figure them out.


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In my experience, the human traps are too big and the mice are able to escape.

Newme2014

Would you consider a ferret? They're pretty good at getting rid of mice.
An ex I lived with had mice in his flat, we couldn't get a ferret but a friend who lived on a farm suggested sprinkling chilli powder round the gaps we thought they were using and then fill the gap with wire wool and it seemed to work though we split a few months later so no idea how long it actually worked for

Old_Git

I use glue traps

bouicca21

I did put down glue traps, but only when I was there to take immediate action with a hammer ... It was another total fail, which was just as well because they clearly are very cruel.

For what it is worth - if a mouse takes the poison bait and dies under your floorboards it stinks. But only for three days.

fishpond

gadelina wrote: »

After a nightmarish search for a room to rent I finally found a really lovely, affordable room in a nice large house and snapped it up immediately. Now I've been here nearly three weeks one of my housemates has clued me in to the fact that the place is infested with mice and has been for a long time (I had noticed some traps about the place, but as there's never been anything in them I assumed they were precautionary). The landlord has been aware of the problem for a while (long before I moved in) and he laid down the very ineffective traps, but has been unwilling to do anything else about it except to say "don't leave any food out". My housemate is really at the end of his rope and wants to get a cat to deal with it, but unfortunately I'm very allergic to cats.

I think the reason I hadn't noticed the issue is because my room is newly decorated without any cracks in the walls/skirting so there haven't been mice in here, but the rest of the house is quite old and not exactly well-maintained (bare floorboards, holes in the skirting in the kitchen etc.) so I can now see that it's perfect for a mouse infestation. I really don't want to have to move out (I still love my room), but do I have any right to have my landlord do anything to solve the problem?

Before you Nuke the place, have you seen a mouse in there yet?
On a further note, if you skin them (when they are dead) and make a pair of slippers, they are really warm and covered in little ears.:eek:

Davesnave

Newme2014 wrote: »

Would you consider a ferret? They're pretty good at getting rid of mice.

I don't think you have any idea what living with ferrets is like!

Much as I loved them, ours had to stay outdoors in their own home 99% of the time. When they came into ours, total chaos ensued. :rotfl:

Marktheshark

Put a One Direction CD on, they will throw themselves on the traps.

Mrs_Imp

We tried the humane traps, but they weren't very humane, as the mouse would often die before we could release it. I suspect they would go in just as we went upstairs to bed, then by the time we were up and 2 miles from home the poor thing had had it.
We moved on to the Rentokil Seal and Kill trap which was much better, especially with not wanting the children to see dead mice.

[Deleted User]

I live in an old rented terraced house, not in good repair. Had mice three times. Killed them the first time with wooden snap traps (difficult to reset), and plastic rentokill type traps the next two times.

Because I was slow on the uptake (that we had mice) the first time, I killed 12, the following times we were a lot quicker and didn't get as many, they were a lot easier to deal with. I laid traps where I know they are getting into various rooms - against the walls(not possible to block these areas off).There's been 6 months inbetween sightings and tracer powder and an inspection of everything but the roof hasn't helped locate how they are getting in.

Since the last infestation (which was spotted very quickly and didn't catch many mice) they seem to have stopped coming into the house as far as I can tell (you could hear them in the flat roof). Used chocolate spread in the traps.., definitely seems to work.

I have to make sure there are no 'junk corners' in our house, everything ia clean and very tidy, it helps in spotting them and gives them less hiding places. I've gotten used to having traps in the house lol.

When I first came to this area, I lived in a HMO. The place had a real problem with mice. The LL was told he'd have to get rid of masses of rubbish outside, and encase the house with wire to stop them coming in. He wasn't best please with us, but by then we'd left. He also turned all the fire alarms off etc.., he wasn't a good LL so I felt he deserved everything he got to be honest.

Davesnave

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

Think I'd rather smell a dead mouse in the house than a ferret! Bless em'!

It's something one gets used to, like the whiff of silage in the country, but most people wouldn't want their furniture tainted with it.