Mice coming from next door?

satinandtat87

Hi everyone! I was hoping someone else has some advice as to what to do about this. 

The TLDR: We suspect we have mice coming in through the house attached to ours. Is it possible to block that off at all, and if so, how? 

Context:

We have mice in our house for the THIRD time and even though we have been really lucky wrt how bad things have been each time (mostly I think because we don't give the mice much to desire!) they still aren't much fun. 

Each time we have had a different professional come and identify places they might be entering and seal them off, but this time we have had to conclude that they are coming through from next door.

 

We live in a 1930s semi and my attached next door neighbour only lives there 9 months out of the year - every summer for 3 months she lives abroad, and it has been during these three months in the past 3 years that we have had the problem, and qe have mostly heard them and seen them in the walls and rooms along the adjoining wall. Plus, we have very much run out of other entry points thay we can reasonably possibly block. 

Our neighbour is older, has a cat, has been doing renovations on and off, and all that plus the fact that these mice seem... well, unusually polite (eg. barely any droppings, absolutely none of the usual damage you are meant to typically see with mice etc) so all that means that one way or another it doesnt seem impossible to us that she could have had mice in her home and not actually noticed. 

The problem is our relationship with our neighbour is tenuous at best and she either hasn't noticed any mice in her home or doesn't care, so communicating with her is sort of off the table.

My question is this: how can we stop mice from coming in through from next door? Is it possible, or is our only option to try and seal off their ability to get out of the walls into our living spaces?  

Any help is appreciated! 

WIAWSNB

How are they actually getting in to your house?

singhini

Make sure there are no water sources (mice and rats move from area to area looking for water)

gwynlas

Set a number of traditional traps every day until you fail to catch any more.

I lived in a flat conversion where renovations drove them to mine, 35 in two weeks but then the invasion was over.

Cherryfudge

Mice get through very tiny spaces, not always easily visible. We get them in the winter then once we've got rid of those: nothing, for perhaps months. This shows they aren't living in our house, just visiting, and if sounds as though yours are visitors too. It really is a problem that you have to keep on top of. Sorry about the difficulties with the neighbour as a united front would undoubtedly help.

Check roof space for entry points too.

P.S. Or offer to look after the cat to 'save cattery fees' while she is away!

sheenas

Block any holes with wire wool work, if you can find the holes.

satinandtat87

WIAWSNB said:

How are they actually getting in to your house?

You mean into the living spaces? As far as we can find, the only places they can be coming in now are from awkward spaces we are unable to easily block off or see, like behind a huge heavy wardrobe, etc. We have painstakingly filled in holes with wire wool or caulk where we can get to by now, including having pulled up carpets to seal underneath skirting boards and around radiator holes. This is why we are trying to see if we can stop them coming in from the outside cos we are running out of options in the inside! 

satinandtat87

gwynlas said:

Set a number of traditional traps every day until you fail to catch any more.

I lived in a flat conversion where renovations drove them to mine, 35 in two weeks but then the invasion was over.

Thanks! But really getting rid of them seems easy enough - it is preventing them from coming back we are struggling with! Every summer it seems to be a fresh load arrive.