Help! Mice! (I think)

SmarterNotHarder

Thanks everyone for your help. I've got the council coming out but your advice really helped. Cheers again!

MrsTinks

Proper traps all the way As for cats - I have 4 of the sods and never stopped any mice coming in to check out the place :rotfl:

Bait traps with peanuts, peanut butter or nuttella - we actually rat on a local farm (it's dairy so they are not allowed to use poisons as it's food chain etc) and those we can't get a good line of sight on to shoot we trap - best baits are those above cheese is an old wives tale - don't even bother LOL

I don't like poison anyway as you never know if a cat will eat a sluggish mouse like one of mine did (£600 vet bill later) or if they might drag some round your kitchen :eek: - quick and humane would be my advice. (oh and death by poisoning seems a horrid way to go, even for a mouse... yes I do shoot rats but that's because it's frankly the most humane way and they HAVE to be removed and controlled - sadly you can't let rat populations thrive on a working farm

suki1964

I like your style Mrs Tinks

They are vermin. But all the same a living creature. Short and sharp is the best

prosaver

kboss2010 wrote: »

Can you borrow a cat or a dog? Mice hate the smell so if you can tempt a neighbour's cat in for half an hour or so a few days a week for a couple of weeks, they'll get the hint and skidaddle. They don't even have to catch anything, they'll smell a cat or dog and stay away. It's ALWAYS worked for me when my family had cats (and inbetween cats when we got mice returning) and, when we didn't, crazy cat lady moi would tempt in a neighbour's cat with treats and let it wander round the flat for a while every so often.

my neighbour has 2 dogs and she use to leave dog food out over night and the mice use to eat it....then they started coming into my house ..so i bought mouse traps ...now i just leave poison under the kitchen sink,cupboard's to kill the first stray mouse (scout) that enters.

hex2

7 cats (don't ask) and 2 dogs and we get mice in every year as we have stone walls with easy gaps in the lime mortar. The 'pasta bait' is the best poison in my experience - we chuck a few up in the loft when the scrabbling starts. Live traps work best with chocolate or chocolate spread for us.

elsien

I have a dog. It's never stopped the mice from coming in. One even ran under his nose while he sat looking alert, but not curious enough to shift his backside to do something about it.
Never worked out where they're coming in, but suspect next door as the started in the loft then worked their way downstairs via the pipes. And next door had the pest control van visiting.
The traps come out this time every year. Mice also have quite a distinctive smell which lets you know they're around before you see them.

TheGardener

The mice can usually be seen trotting up the garden path 'with their clogs on' about this time of year
I would concur with everyone who suggested chocolate and chocolate smeared nuts (:o) as a bait for mouse traps - there are few mammals that can resist it and it has always worked a treat for me.
I too feel the sticky papers and poison are not very humane (the sticky things are a bit barbaric unless you are on hand to dispatch the poor thing yourself) A clean 'thwack' on the back of the neck from a good trap is usually instantaneous.

MrsTinks

suki1964 wrote: »

I like your style Mrs Tinks

They are vermin. But all the same a living creature. Short and sharp is the best

Just because something needs to be dispatched doesn't mean it shouldn't be done humanely in my view. Likewise we will shoot rabbits when the farmer asks as when the warrens get too big they move out of the banks and hedges and start digging in the fields - that's expensive for the farmer if a cow breaks it's leg (it's rarely treatable so it has to be put down). We will thin the population but the farmer is pretty good and only asks when he sees entrances in the field edges (first sign they are moving inwards) - again shooting is quick and not slow or stressful like other methods in my view. Any rabbits not suffering Mixy (so that would be NONE this year :eek:) are for my pot - sadly it's been rife this year and it's often a kindness to put them down

Anyway - mice - if you use a live trap (perfectly acceptable if you can check it daily! Catch and release FAR away from your house as they now know how to get in!) - get something they have to really work at and can't just sneak off with. This is why peanut butter and nutella is great - the repeated licking action means they have to stay there instead of a "dash"

As a side note foxes also like peanut butter and nutella lol it's amazing to watch them with the night vision helping themselves when bait is down to check if rats frequent a run before trapping it and no we don't shoot them, we just enjoy their playing even if they are nicking our bait :rotfl:

prosaver

My sis catches them in a live trap and release them in a field..
I wonder if they come back like dogs do?
Do the mice family miss the captured ones, a bit sad or am i overthinking things.

Farway

prosaver wrote: »

Do the mice family miss the captured ones, a bit sad or am i overthinking things.

As mice are creatures that eat their young sometimes I guess you may be overthinking this