Mice problem

NibblyPig

Wonder if anyone has any advice. I regularly seem to get mice in my house. I put down traps and catch about 1-2 every couple of weeks in my kitchen on the first floor and the loft.

I live i a row of terraced town houses, so all of our roofs are connected, there's even a kind of fire-escape balcony that runs along the front of them on the top floor. If I can climb out of the window and walk along the houses and climb into their window presumably mice can do the something similar!

I don't really know what to do. I will keep trapping them, but I assume they are living in someone else's house. Many of the houses are tenanted and some of them really don't care about keeping things clean and tidy. I spoke to the neighbour landlord recently who said it looked like the tenants there had never ever cleaned the place in a whole year. The house the otherside the garden is massively overgrown and has rubbish in it and they don't care.

I figure I could call an exterminator but if they're living in neighbouring properties and scurrying around between houses there won't be much they can do.

There are probably a few ways they can get into the kitchen but it's not practical to block them all without ripping out half of the kitchen.

The first year I lived here there was only a single mouse which I spotted just after moving in (the place was pretty nasty when I moved in, as it was previously tenanted), and I left traps down for about a year before another was caught.

I also put a trap in my garage on the ground floor, but it has never caught a mouse. so I think everything is happening upstairs between houses.

Just wonder if anyone has any suggestions. I blocked up a couple of holes copious amounts of with steel wool but they could be getting in anywhere for all I know.

FreeBear

NibblyPig said: Just wonder if anyone has any suggestions. I blocked up a couple of holes copious amounts of with steel wool but they could be getting in anywhere for all I know.

Block all the holes you can find - I'm not convinced wire wool works. I found a few holes in my floorboards where cables had been routed through after the last rewire, Plugging these limited the ingress of mice.

Food hygiene - Keep everything in sealed containers, especially stuff like flour. Clean up food crumbs and wipe off breadboards after use. Give the little burgers as few reasons as possible to pay a visit, and hope that they are attracted to neighbouring properties in preference to your own.

Cats can sometimes be an effective deterrent, although one we had would just sit in the kitchen and watch the mice run around and never caught any.

goldfinches

I have the same sort of problem and have resorted to a combination of blocking up holes, traps and night vision motion sensitive wildlife cameras to check my kitchen in particular. Other things I have found effective are moving furniture and directing lights so that there are no shadowed areas around the edges of rooms for them to hide in and using a deterrent spray I bought from Robert Dyas. 
Like you I think that once a building is infested it is impossible to eliminate the mice and you are mostly trying to discourage them from your own space. Generally, they follow scent trails laid down by other mice so once you spot one you need to capture and kill it and clean up any trail it left to avoid another following it the next day. 
If you hit upon any really effective measures please do come back here to let others know. Meantime you have my sympathy.

Bendy_House

Anyone tried a sonic deterrent with any success?

Nibbly, if you think they may be coming in via the attic, one up there might deter them at source?

Bendy_House

I presume you don't have a cat?! Would you consider getting one?

NibblyPig

I can't really imagine how I'd completely block up the attic, it's quite big and I think there are lots of ways for mice to worm themselves in...

I would love a cat, but it's not really practical at the moment! The traps certainly do OK in catching them even though it's gross to empty the traps.

I appreciate all of the advice. I think somehow I will have to try and block holes. If they do follow scent trails they are simply going to march one by one to their doom once they find the tasty peanut butter treat waiting for them. Better that though than getting into the cupboards.

Supposedly they can squeeze through the tiniest gaps! Nightmare.

Bendy_House

If they are coming via the loft, I'd say you have a catinhell's chance of blocking all the holes up there. As you say, they can get through absolutely tiny holes and gaps. When you are in the loft - unless it's one that's been FULLY boarded and lined like a room - then just have a realistic look around it. It just ain't going to happen, is it?!

Why not a sonic repellent? Presuming they do work.

cloudylemonade13

Recommend wire wool with bits of broken glass in it - it hurts their paws so they'll avoid it, and some expanding foam

Apodemus

Bendy_House said:

Why not a sonic repellent? Presuming they do work.

That's a big presumption!  You might as well paint your gateposts with treacle to stop the elephants roosting on them overnight!

Bendy_House

Apodemus said:

Bendy_House said:

Why not a sonic repellent? Presuming they do work.

That's a big presumption!  You might as well paint your gateposts with treacle to stop the elephants roosting on them overnight!

I've actually tried that, and it worked. No elephants.

Oh, the oldies are the best... :-/

marycanary

Contact your local council Environmental Health team. Tell them you want action under the provisions of the Prevention of  Damage by Pest Act 1949. Tell them one or more of the residents of the terrace is not dealing with the pest problem. The council will have been cut to the bone so you may have to nag but don't give up. 

It very much depends where you live but you may be lucky and find someone who will enjoy solving the problem and taking action across all the houses. I remember someone doing a similar job in a large block of flats, but that was about 30 years ago when councils had qualified and experienced teams dealing with problems like yours.