I have a problem with mice or rats and I think I need to call pest control.

JohnWdee

Hi there,
I have a problem with mice or rats and I think I need to call pest control.
There is so many companies out there. Can anyone recommend a pest control company in the London area?
I ve heard rentokil and other big companies arent really good. 
thanks !

goldfinches

I can't help with a company name but if you've got mice I recommend these traps which I and my neighbours have all bought from Robert Dyas Search Results for: 'little nipper' | Robert Dyas

Here's a photo I took yesterday evening when I came in from an after dinner walk. The bait you can see is a piece of carrot which was two days old. I've had great success with sweet chestnuts, brazil nuts, cucumber, grapes and all sorts of other things, I find that food which is rigid enough to move when it is nibbled is most effective as that always triggers the trap. Cheese and peanut butter didn't work for me and were just eaten without triggering the snap but you might have more luck.



ETA: I changed the photo to one of a different rodent which I took on my morning walk because I thought that others might prefer it.

I put the trap on a spare wall tile so that I can put it down on the floor easily and use an old knife to lever it open to release the body. 

Some of my neighbours have bought wildlife cameras and set them up indoors to check where the mice are entering the rooms and find them very effective but I'm not sure I want to be woken by an alert sent to my phone at night, the snap of the trap usually wakes me anyway. 

Bendy_House

Goldie! Yuck - having breakie :-(

John, do you know where they are coming in?

another_casualty

It may be an idea to try those sonic repellants. ( The ones you plug in the wall.) 
If you do get those , make sure you get the ones that do not affect dogs / cats/ birds etc.
Also ensure you have no furniture blocking signal. 

Finding out the source where they are coming from is also key. Have you a loft?
Have you checked the eaves? Are there holes in the kitchen ? 

The neighbours ..are they feeding squirrels in the garden ? Have you / they got barbecue equipment in the garden ?

@Ben@Bendy_House..did you solve your issue ? 😼
@gol@goldfinches no offence , but I don't like seeing dead animals at the best of times. 

An explanation is enough ..

Andy_L

Does your council provide a pest control service?

foomanchu

Call your council they normally have a flat fee service

FreeBear

If you or your nieghbours have cats, poison is not advisable. Snap traps work well for mice, but it needs to be out of reach of the cat... And if a mouse is caught during the night, you can expect the cat to bring it up to you and play with it - Having a trap & mouse being batted around the bedroom at 3AM makes for a good wake up call.

goldfinches

@Bendy_House - sorry to spoil your brekkie, hope you're feeling better now.
@another_casualty - sorry for distressing photo, I've caught so many mice this year that I've become accustomed to seeing their bodies although I still feel guilty when I'm emptying the traps. 
@FreeBear - thanks for the reminder about cats and traps. My worst experience to date has been a mouse trapped by one hind leg which was managing to scrabble across the carpet dragging the whole thing behind it, that was not fun on a freezing cold and pitch dark night.