Topic: There's some mice in my kitchen what am i gonna do?

[richiedouglas]

thanks for this richie.  do you use the manual version or the electric version?

I used the manual ones as we had them around a chicken coop and in the back garden. As long as they're on a wall (rather than in the middle of a room / garden) and baited well then they seem to catch instantly. I never review purchases, but I was so pleased I reviewed those.

The real difficult ones to catch we got a victor box like trap and we bait that up with a bit of fatty meat. Always one in overnight.

Im conscious that there was a shit load of mice outside the house and didn't want them coming in. I've at least made a dent in the numbers.

[Sir Harvest Fields]

Oh damn this is hell

[SamAteTheRedAcid]

a jazzy recess 

This phrase tickled me.

[Trada]

[Ycuzz]

Had similar problem in our first house. Feckers came out and pranced about.

In my opinion - and what I did, is to find the point(s) of entry, otherwise the little bastards will just come back - also, had the same fear of them dying in the walls and stinking the place up/attracting more eebil vermin, so poison was out.

Long story short, had an exterminator come over. Helped localizing where they came in. Thankfully/luckily it was only one room. Stripped it from the inside out, rebuilt it from outside and in - now added with some super-duper mesh thingie. Never heard from them again.

Bonus points; a good DIY power boost and a proper amount of manly-man points from Mrs Yc.

Hope the council sorts it out Hass, still, I'm going for the point of entry idea...

[Purple Red]

I hate these little bastards. They always give you a shock because they scuttle in and out of your vision so quickly. I was living abroad a while back and I spotted one in my house one month before the end of the tenancy. It ran into my bathroom so I closed the door to isolate the problem. No matter what I did the little twat wouldn't die. I swear it was feeding on the poison I laid for one month and it still was alive when I was leaving. Either the poison was terrible or it was some sort of super mouse. They are harder to kill than you would imagine. A friend of mine also recommended glue traps but I'm not sure what type of glue you use.

[Buck Pete]

Make a chili or a nice spag bog of course.

ohh Mice!!

[hassinator]

wife has opted to freelance this. 

we have some of the victor traps.

what are the most successful bait options?

big shout for peanut butter.

[hassinator]

They're absolute fiends for Nutella or other branded chocolate spreads

might have a go at mixing nutella with some peanut butter.

reeces pieces vibes.

[Tesco tearaway]

We live on the edge of farmland and are pestered by the little buggers.
Nutella is the king of baits for us; works every time 

[moondog]

Dairy lea spread cheese is good, something sticky and messy that doesn't come away in one piece. Stick it on the old fashioned spring trap , watch yer fingers putting it down along mouse highway and wait for the noise. In the past I would set 5 a night and catch 3 quite chunky meeses. We had them coming in to eat the dog food, which may explain their healthy size.
Also be careful your kids hamster doesn't escape his exercise ball and end up finding the trap before you find him.
RIP salt.

[richiedouglas]

Oh and make sure you check them daily. Didnt realise one had gone off and it was horror film stuff inside.

[hassinator]

so peanut butter was a fail last night.  giving nutella a spin tonight.

wife has asked me to cancel the council coming as she feels this is a battle we can win ourselves.

i'm impressed at her 'prepare for war' vibes and am going along with it.

[Jookie]

We live on the edge of farmland and are pestered by the little buggers.

I had the same thing in a previous house. Was always worse in autumn and start of winter as the farms cut their fields. Got pretty accustomed to catching them. Manual trap with peanut butter. Normally heard them under the floor boards or in the wall cavities but caught them in loft.

They never really ventured into the living space of the house. Except for 1 mouse that appeared about 2 weeks before I was selling the house. Would come into the living room and dining area and eat stuff. Literally anything. Made holes in the wool carpet. Ripped all the seat covers from the dining room table. Little fucker ever ate/destroyed the buttons on my TV remote control. Was literally laying 5 traps a night in a small area and not catching him/her. Even had those ultrasound sensors that are meant to act as a deterrent . Nothing stopped it. Managed to move before I caught the little fucker. Think the new house owners had a cat. That's the only way I could imagine you could catch this super mouse. Had visions of the new neighbours coming down in the morning and seeing their cat beaten black and blue by this mouse!

Good luck with this anyway Hass. Hopefully they aren't relatives of the mouse I had in mine.

[richiedouglas]

This is a question without an answer.......but anyway.

I reckon that in 3 months I've caught 20 mice in traps around the garden. I am surrounded by fields so I'm not panicking too much.........but how many feckers can there possibly be??? I've taken down 20+ and they're still getting caught at a current rate of one per night. There must be some sort of critical mass where they then start to go away.

[Semi Skimmed]

We had one in the wifes car recently. I was convinced it was rats due to the mess and stuff it ate through, thank fuck it wasn't, a whole other ball game those. Surrounded by fields so get the odd one now and again, peanut butter and old spring traps always work, thankfully that's all it took in the car too, he'd got in behind the glovebox.

Fella at work told me if it was rats, or if I couldn't get them out for some reason, he could get ferrets in as he'd used them before for someone (he works with cars). Apparently they are vicious buggers, and will always flush them out, but he said it would be a last resort as if they piss in your car it's a horrendous smell that's very hard to shift.

Took the wife about a month before she would go near the car again.

[redbyrdz]

This is a question without an answer.......but anyway.

I reckon that in 3 months I've caught 20 mice in traps around the garden. I am surrounded by fields so I'm not panicking too much.........but how many feckers can there possibly be??? I've taken down 20+ and they're still getting caught at a current rate of one per night. There must be some sort of critical mass where they then start to go away.

20 in 3 months is nothing. There'll be hundreds of them. In hree months, the young will have had young ones themselves. They first breed at about 7 weeks old and pregnancy is about 3 weeks. They have about 10 pubs per litter.

[Shazz]

We caught 17 in a week including two in one trap, we sprinkled flour on the trap so the little buggers have to get on it properly. They eventually moved out.

[Purple Red]

We caught 17 in a week including two in one trap, we sprinkled flour on the trap so the little buggers have to get on it properly. They eventually moved out.

Forgive my ignorance but how does the flour thing work? It's not a technique I've come across before.

[Shazz]

^

We started off with cheese but that would be eaten and no mouse caught so someone told us to just sprinkle flour onto the trap
so that the mouse would get onto the trap properly and bingo, mouse caught. Worked for us.

[dudleyred]

Also be careful your kids hamster doesn't escape his exercise ball and end up finding the trap before you find him.

RIP salt.

 

Very sorry to read that but it did make me laugh

RIP Salt

[redbyrdz]

If you can get some, Sorexa D worked really well for us. Mice love it!

We used it to bait a humane trap and relocated them (13 in total) -it's a weak poison that kills the mice slowly over time, but you could equally use it on a normal trap - little feckers went mad for it.

You used a live catching trap to relicate them, but still poisoned them to kill them? Why?

[hassinator]

so hackney council turned up anyway - wife had actually wanted to cancel them as it was her birthday.

they have laid more traps and poison too but where my boys can't get to it.

still no casualties but i'm expecting some kind of bodycount in the morning.

[dudleyred]

What's the latest?! Strangely Enjoying this thread

[hassinator]

What's the latest?! Strangely Enjoying this thread

currently downwind of a dead mouse under the living room floorboards. not a bundle of laughs.

so far they have ignored four different traps and still active in the kitchen.

skirting board permanently displaced by new dishwasher is allowing the little swine into the kitchen.

more poison shall be deployed there shortly.

will confirm any visible kill with photographic evidence.

[hassinator]

second visit from hackney council today.  more poison laid as it would appear they have been feasting on the stuff we put under the stairs.

definite signs of improvement ie no mice spotted for a few days; still a sink under living room floorboards.

he's back again in two weeks when, hopefully, this pestilence shall be at an end.

[hassinator]

so the council have now visited three times.  this is all you get for you £118.  they were surprised the mice were still rampant and literally devouring the poision.

it definitely hasn't worked as a mouse just scooted out from under my desk.

time to invest in cat - what should i be looking for in a feline killing machine?

[Crimson_Tank]

Something quick and that still has claws.

See if you can bring around some of the progeny of Towser the world record mouser for Glenturret Distillery, estimated that Towser killed nearly 30,000 mice during her tenure.

If a Cat is still not a go, Send the missus out for a day on the town, hide all vases and pottery, then get Son Number One a Wrist Rocket and some pebbles.

[pazcom]

we had a couple in our place last year.

2 humane traps with either chocolate or peanut butter in and both trapped within a few hours.

[BlackandWhitePaul]

Give it an all mighty whack with a shovel and flatten it then nail it to the front door as a warning to the others.

[hassinator]

FIRST BLOOD.  will post a pic when my phone recharges.

wife gave a single trap a go last night using a tiny piece of some marmalade chocolate from wales.

worked a treat and we have our first dead mouse.

was still warm when i wrapped him in a tissue and chucked him in the bin.

[Peabee]

FIRST BLOOD.  will post a pic when my phone recharges.

wife gave a single trap a go last night using a tiny piece of some marmalade chocolate from wales.

worked a treat and we have our first dead mouse.

was still warm when i wrapped him in a tissue and chucked him in the bin.

At least he/she went out eating something no other mouse has eaten. 

[hassinator]

At least he/she went out eating something no other mouse has eaten. 

death row dinner.

[SamAteTheRedAcid]

Hipster Mice. Had to be

[hassinator]

Hipster Mice. Had to be

LOL

[hassinator]

here's the little fucker just before i dropped him in the bin.

still warm.  could hear his mates squealing under the stairs.

one came back last night and ate the chocolate out of the trap.

clearly old school traps work.

[kopite321]

Looks like a rat lad !!!

[Peabee]

If the tail was hairless, it's a rat, probably.

[Claire.]

that's a rat, get someone out immmmmmeeediately before they eat all your stashed coats.

[Crosby Nick]

The rah mice are tiny aren't they? Looks like a rat to me too. His parents are going to be miffed with you!