I've got mice in my kitchen. What do I do next? DIY Pest Control or Call in the Pros? Please help

moneysaver1978

I wouldn't put down poison not just because you have a dog but also that the mice would slowly die somewhere and decompose slowly creating a stink in your house (and you cannot pinpoint where).

Traps are best and peanut butter works a treat.

spo2

We had a mouse problem in a previous house and we did a combination of what is mentioned above:
1. Mouse traps - the old fashioned ones are the best, we found. The humane ones did not work for us at all. Ones like this also worked well for us:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wolfpack-5450100-Wooden-Mouse-Diameter/dp/B00MDJ4DUY

2. Place them behind the kickboards in your kitchen and use peanut butter or chocolate (Mars bars)

3. Find and seal up every hole from  outside that you can find. We used expanding foam, but wire wool is also good as they cannot chew through it!

4. When eliminating food sources, think of the things that you wouldn't consider to be food! Mine were living on birdseed that was kept under the sink, and a microwaveable wheat bag for my sore neck, that they'd chewed a hold in!

Ours were gone within a week and never returned. I wouldn't bother with pest control if it is expensive, it is easy to sort yourself. I preferred traps to poison, as with poison, they could die anywhere in your house and leave an awful smell as they decompose, at least with traps you know where they are.

FreeBear

Brie said: Mice are in there for 3 reasons - warmth, safety from predators and food.  Once you cut off their food supply the place is less attractive but they'll still like it for the first 2 reasons.  (soppy dogs aren't too much of a deterrent - it's cats or foxes that will be more of a worry)

Had a cat that would just sit on the kitchen floor watching the darned mice running around. Have had other cats since then that would quite happily catch mice outdoors, and maybe one or two inside. Even so, not much of a deterrent.

Beeblebr0x

I set a humane trap with some bait and it caught the mouse within hours. I then drove to the local park and set it free. 

Katiehound

I had mice in my holiday home- saw them on Hallowe'en!
We tried setting traps with all the usual goodies: chocolate, bacon etc whatever the neighbours suggested but caught nowt.

There was absolutely no food anywhere.
When I went back some months later I found  the mouse had helped herself to a foil lined bag of rat poison! No sign of mouse but blue droppings everywhere! A couple of years later I discovered a couple of desiccated baby mice. Ugh. They came down beside the pipework from the loft so I stuffed the holes round the pipe with wire wool & polyfiller.

I had rats in my garden last summer. Commercial rat poison that you can buy over the counter seems to be a foodie treat! A friend bought stronger stuff online and they went.......

SootySweep1

Hi
As well as dealing with current visitors you need to figure out how they're getting and block the holes.
They can get in through things like air bricks so we've covered ours with a fine mesh. Or use wire wool to stuff into holes.
Jen

disciple432

I had a couple in the bedroom coming in through the loft, I thought it was a lot more from the amount of droppings I'd spotted.

Bought one of these

Stuck some peanut butter in the middle bit.

Next morning two mice in there, took them far away and released them, problem sorted in 24 hours.

Really you should also try to find where they are coming in and block any entrances up to prevent any future occurrences.

FreeBear

disciple432 said: Really you should also try to find where they are coming in and block any entrances up to prevent any future occurrences.

Worked out where the latest crop of small rats and mice are getting in.

Through the cat flap with the assistance of the resident furball. Got woken up this morning at 05:00 to play Catch the Shrew in the lounge...

bob_a_builder

My son has same problem after taking a suburban cat and moving to the country
Cat now making up for lost time, brings in several per night - dead ones are easier to catch
Have seen an AI based cat flap which supposed to block cat if anything in mouth - but pretty expensive
https://www.onlycat.com/store/onlycat-microchip-cat-flap-with-prey-detection/

MysteryMe

People should not use poison if the affected mouse / rat is going to be free to roam outside before it pops it's clogs. All you are doing is condemning many forms of wildlife and domestic cats etc to a slow and painful death.