We've Got Mice-Help!!! (merged threads)

Pippajo

Thanks Penny,

I've got a trap set but its ignoring that! Its just odd to have no droppings, and huge teeth marks in thick plastic :eek:.

Going to have some poison put down as can do that safely away from human, pets and food where I know they have come in before.

Will have a proper read of the other thread in a bit.

Pippa

Penelope_Penguin

Pippajo wrote: »

Thanks Penny,

I've got a trap set but its ignoring that! Its just odd to have no droppings, and huge teeth marks in thick plastic :eek:.

Going to have some poison put down as can do that safely away from human, pets and food where I know they have come in before.

Will have a proper read of the other thread in a bit.

Pippa

The trick with traps is to place them along where the rodent runs. They tend to run along walls (so that they can navigate in the dark as they tend to be nocturnal ) so imagine them doing that and place the trap so that they run right over it. You also need to check that the trap is set on a hair trigger, and goes off easily - sometimes easier said than done

Has the trap gone off at all?

Penny. x

meerkatgirl

We've been bothered with mice for the last few months - the only thing I found that worked was an electric trap (they're like a small box - when the rodent walks on a metal plate on the floor, it's electrocuted) baited with peanut butter.

I've tried normal snap traps and poison and they were all ignored - the electric traps were the only ones they fall for!

Norman_Bean

OP - we had this a couple of weeks ago - chewed through everything - baking powder lid, soy sauce lid and tupperware containers :eek: was gutted as had to chuck out loads of stuff ...
We had droppings though and looked mousey but I'm not sure if I would know what a rat dropping looked like? We certainly had mice in the house as I saw a couple strolling across the the lounge, bold as brass, one evening
We put down poison which it seemed to love eating ... I also moved everything except tins into the fridge or high cupboards ... no more droppings but not sure if I moved the food back it wouldn't come back for more ....
I'm going to move the food back in summer when hopefully the mice/rats all go back to living outside where they belong

HTH a bit
Norm x

pws52

I had the same problem a couple of years ago and I am sorry to say that the culprit was a rat! It came into the back of the kitchen cupboards through a hole in the kitchen wall which was concealed by a plant growing against against it.
At the time the local council provided free pest control so that sorted out the problem and the hole was sealed and the plant removed and no problem since thank goodness.

I hope that you get sorted soon.

w.dws

Personally I would advise against poison as a decomposing rat that has crawled away to die in some inaccessible hole or under a floor will absolutely stink. As advised by earlier poster traps along rodent runs are the most effective solution, sticky traps are pretty good at halting a rat in its tracks.

Tibbie's_mum

I found that we had a rat one night when I came down unexpectedly. We got a man in who found, maybe, a couple of droppings under the kickboard in the kitchen and a few in the attic. It seems that our rat or rats were navigating our house through the cavity wall. Anyway, the guy put bait traps in the attic, which were eaten from, so we suspect we have a dead rat or rats somewhere in our house!!! We still refill the bait trays, as apparently the stuff goes off and they won't eat it then, but up 'til now we haven't seen any evidence that they have come back.

We've also put a few lockable traps round the perimeter of our garden, as our neighbour behind us has chickens and we know they've had rats before. And, lastly, we've put wire mesh over the bottom of drain pipes and bunged up every hole we could find with expandable foam

I've never had to deal with mice or rats before, and we only moved here in November, it made me want to immediately move out.

Tibbie's_mum

w.dws wrote: »

Personally I would advise against poison as a decomposing rat that has crawled away to die in some inaccessible hole or under a floor will absolutely stink. As advised by earlier poster traps along rodent runs are the most effective solution, sticky traps are pretty good at halting a rat in its tracks.

Apparently, our rat man said, the smell goes after a while!!!!

Butterfly_Brain

If you put a bowl of fizzy drink down and the rodents drink that - the gases build up in their bodies and they die

Long_tall_sally

I feel for you Pippajo, I really do! We have just recently had mice & had to throw a load of food out from our garage. The council dealt with it for free even though we had alraedy caught 10 mice in traps & have seen or heard nothing since but the council have put their poison down anyway. They were coming in the bottom of the garage door & the garage leads into our kitchen.
The council man said you will not have rats & mice together because the rats would eat the mice.
You really need to find some droppings though to determine which of the two it is. Rats apparently have big droppings. Have you looked in your loft or down stairs cupboard etc (if you have them) because they do appear to roam the whole house. Strange they are not taking the chocolate though - this is supossed to be preferred by mice to cheese. Have you tested the traps to ensure that they are working? Also I think it helps if you do not put the traps in too obvious a place,i.e tuck them inbetween other things.
Hope you get it sorted. I know it made me feel rather sick & nervous!