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

IHD

Help ..its the subject of mice again !!!!! Ive read loads of the posts but cant use those traps that kill them. Stems from when i was young and mum had put one in a drawer , we heard it go off and it had caught the mouse by the back leg..ugh ! I hate killing anything but cant face a snap trap. I know where the little blighters are , they are behind a free standing cupboard in the kitchen , but if i pull it out wont they only run and nest somewhere else ? I have 2 dogs and one cheeky mouse trotted alongside one of them down the hallway the other night!!!. The thing is , i think they are coming through from next door, shes not the cleanest person and several times last summer we had to report her for rubbish piled up all down the side of her house. So chances are they are from there and will keep coming back, probably via the attic? Any suggestions ? Im afraid i have put poison down all over the house (well out of the dogs way) in places like the airing cupboard and managed to slide some up behind the cupboard in the kitchen but they dont seem to be taking it. Also is it just me or are mice getting more brave ?

mulled_wine

IHD wrote: »

Help ..its the subject of mice again !!!!! Ive read loads of the posts but cant use those traps that kill them. Stems from when i was young and mum had put one in a drawer , we heard it go off and it had caught the mouse by the back leg..ugh ! I hate killing anything but cant face a snap trap. I know where the little blighters are , they are behind a free standing cupboard in the kitchen , but if i pull it out wont they only run and nest somewhere else ? I have 2 dogs and one cheeky mouse trotted alongside one of them down the hallway the other night!!!. The thing is , i think they are coming through from next door, shes not the cleanest person and several times last summer we had to report her for rubbish piled up all down the side of her house. So chances are they are from there and will keep coming back, probably via the attic? Any suggestions ? Im afraid i have put poison down all over the house (well out of the dogs way) in places like the airing cupboard and managed to slide some up behind the cupboard in the kitchen but they dont seem to be taking it. Also is it just me or are mice getting more brave ?

do you have traps down?
We used to get mice until they nibbled MY chocolate :mad: then it was war.

Got some traditional traps and smeared peanut butter on the "trap bit"

Naturally disposal of same is a man's job. I set it, I don't empty.

Mice run along the edges of rooms. They are also incontinent so wee everywhere

Place the traps every and anywhere you think they might be. If they're behind a cupboard, where do they get their food? Good place to set traps.

Good luck xx

saveabobortwo

:rotfl:in the attic sound like its got hob nailed boots , last year tried getting a humane mouse trap but little so and so wouldnt go in it think HE ATE the chocolate and cleared off.do you live near fields or in the countryside as pretty normal for winter months to have a visit from MR MOUSE.

no-oneknowsme

IHD wrote: »

Help ..its the subject of mice again !!!!! Ive read loads of the posts but cant use those traps that kill them. Stems from when i was young and mum had put one in a drawer , we heard it go off and it had caught the mouse by the back leg..ugh ! I hate killing anything but cant face a snap trap. I know where the little blighters are , they are behind a free standing cupboard in the kitchen , but if i pull it out wont they only run and nest somewhere else ? I have 2 dogs and one cheeky mouse trotted alongside one of them down the hallway the other night!!!. The thing is , i think they are coming through from next door, shes not the cleanest person and several times last summer we had to report her for rubbish piled up all down the side of her house. So chances are they are from there and will keep coming back, probably via the attic? Any suggestions ? Im afraid i have put poison down all over the house (well out of the dogs way) in places like the airing cupboard and managed to slide some up behind the cupboard in the kitchen but they dont seem to be taking it. Also is it just me or are mice getting more brave ?

IHD - Seems you have the same kind of problem as me !!

Around this time last year we were tortured with mice !

We also suspected that they were coming in from the dirty bloke who lives next door . We got the environmental health guys out and they got up into the attic and confirmed that they were indeed coming in from next door.

We were lying in bed one night and heard some scratching , the first time we had ever heard this noise - the most horrible noise to hear above your bed lol - coming from the attic.

Next morning my OH went and bought some spring traps and placed them in the attic . Later that night as we lay in bed we heard the thump of the trap being activated.....next morning OH got into the attic and sure enough we had caught the mouse !

OH suggested we keep traps set for a while incase there was another mouse or two.......its as well we did because within just three weeks we had caught 25 of the little !!!!!!s !!!

Luckily enough , although we set traps all over the whole house - think we had something like 30 traps set in the house and another 30 in the attic , apart from one mouse we caught in our bedroom , the only place we caught any others was in the loft. Kind of made it easier to deal with as i hated the thought of them possibly running round my bedroom at night lol.

I will never be without traps set in my home again . I still have them everywhere and every noise i hear at night i fear they have come back but thankfully none so far this winter.....

Get your OH up into the attic to fill in as many holes as he can find . You are best blocking the holes up with wire wool first and then filling them in with some of that expandable foam you can buy from diy shops. Filling all the holes is the best way to stop them coming in.

morganlefay

"Get your OH up into the attic to fill in as many holes as he can find . You are best blocking the holes up with wire wool first and then filling them in with some of that expandable foam you can buy from diy shops. Filling all the holes is the best way to stop them coming in. "

Not sure about wire wool ? I get mice which come in from outside via an air brick which gets them into my undersink cupboard, full only of nasty cleaning materials in bottles (for some reason they never explore the rest of the kitchen) and I wondered what they lived on in there till I found my box of Brillo pads full of mouse poo and each pad eaten so that it was just a wispy length of tatty wire wool. How on earth can they eat THAT ? It's happened twice now. Strange mice we have round here !

But then again we have edible dormice or glis glis in our loft and catch about 9 every summer. They are big and pretty and have fights just over our bed at dead of night, and run noisy races, and then sleep all day :-<

bluebag

Sadly, you have to lose all squeamishness and thoughts of humane disposal when it comes to mice, they are disease and parasite spreading pests.

Clever, small and able to enter your home through any opening you can fit a pencil through. They breed quickly with litters of 6-14 young and each female can breed up to 10 times a year. The mouse population can grow very, very fast.

They are clever and remember and changes to the 'runs' they choose so leaving a trap baited but un-set gets them to trust it. They will eat almost anything, but choclate, peanut butter and fats have been used very succesfully for bait.

Disliking open spaces they choose to run close to walls and skirting boards, setting traps near these can yield good results.Very young light mice can often take the bait without setting off the traps.

Removing all food sources is essential in encouraging mice to take the bait from traps and discouraging them from taking up residence in hte first place.

I personally have had good results with the wooden spring traps and the electric traps that use batteries and electrocute them. I generally use chocolate raisins cut in half to make sure the bait sticks firmly to the trap, sticking the soft raisin bit onto the trap bait spike very firmly, this ensures they need to place their weight on the trap and springing it.

Occasionally a trap doesn't do an efficient job and placing the whole trap with mouse in a bucket of water and drowning them, dispatches survivors fairly swiftly.

It's all horrible stuff, but neccesary for health. I hate it but recognise the need to be serious about it.

LolaLemon

ive not read all of this thread, so dont know if this has been mentioned

you never get a loan mouse, ever. if a family have been vacated from their previous 'home' (like a building being pulled down) they split up and go in search of a new home, the lucky ones who find a good spot stay and the rest keep looking till they find each other, then they multiply at unbelievable rates.

the person who had my home before me, had mice 3 years before she moved, had used poison. when i moved in, i cleared cupboards that she had left, and in one thier was a dead mouse... gross!

abt a year ago, year n half ago, the school across the street from me was pulled down, i live in a semi rural area in an urban setting, so used to seeing mice, little field mice, i suffer from depression and dont realise till the fog clears and i see how bad of a state my house is - outwardly i function, but seem to switch off in the house, yet the house work doesnt get done, other than the dishes and washing clothes.... one night i was on the computer and seen a movement out the corner of my eye and thought i was imagining things... next thing the mouse runs out from under the fireplace and stopped just beside the couch, i dont know who was more fightened, me or the mouse, it scarpered quick that i couldnt see where it went to....
next day went tot the local ironmungers and bought 4 black box traps. same principle of the oldfashioned wooden traps, just all plastic and less chance of chopping my finger off.
caught 1 that night - i was still up as i heard the trap going.
within the next week i had caught what im assuming is 2 adult mice and 2 teenagers! kept the traps going and cleared them every day, 2 weeks later 2 small mice where caught! so i had a wee family... so glad i kept the traps going to catch the babies.

I mentioned to my next door neighbour after i got the 1st, who said he had 1too, and i ordered one of those electronic buzz things that u pliug in, touch wood, i havnt had any since and it doubles up as a night light . my neighbour ordered one as well, so between us, i think we're covered (we live in wooden houses so the signal isnt getting blocked as much as in a stone house)

I found out that they where getting into my house via my electricity supply!

morganlefay

Have read most of this thread, I have mice nesting in a room which is full of papers and books (my late mother's things I haven't felt able to go through for 2 years - THERE ISN'T ANY FOOD THERE !!!:eek: )
Am catching about one a night in a humane trap and then taking them for a long drive but so far I've got about 10 and feel I'm scraping the surface - I HATE to think how many there are in total.

Two earlier posts talked about electronic scarers from a company called Primrose something, please can anyone tell me if they really are good ?

Am going to get my sister to help clear the room (ugh) next month but in the meantime need to wage WAR big time. Am going to get killing traps now and blow the humane approach. Am frightened they'll be in the kitchen soon uuuuugh.

no-oneknowsme

I am not one for disposing of the mice humanely , i much prefer knowing that each one i catch is one less in the world....

If I were you , I would set as many traps as possible in the room with the books and papers in it and just keep emptying the traps each day (if you are brave enough to do that?) or ask someone else to empty them for you.

You may have to do this for a few weeks until all the mice are caught.

Its not nice....so far this year I havent caught any in my loft but this is after catching 24/25 last year !:eek:

Once you are sure that all the mice have been caught (you will know this when the traps remain empty for around 5-7 days) I would advise that you clear that room of all the paper and books because that is just the perfect breeding ground for the little bug gers !

Love_A_Bargain

LolaLemon wrote: »

I mentioned to my next door neighbour after i got the 1st, who said he had 1too, and i ordered one of those electronic buzz things that u pliug in, touch wood, i havnt had any since and it doubles up as a night light . my neighbour ordered one as well, so between us, i think we're covered (we live in wooden houses so the signal isnt getting blocked as much as in a stone house)

I found out that they where getting into my house via my electricity supply!

There are so many of those electronic buzz on the market, i would greatly appreciate it if you can recommend the type or brand that you've got. Seems like its been working well for you, I would definitely like to give it a try. Thanks.