Mice

[zcacogp]

Chaps,

We have mice. Have had for a couple of weeks now, and I'm struggling to get rid of them.

They are in the kitchen and in the basement. (The house is a Georgian terrace, with lots of place for the critters to hide.) To date we have tried traps (the 'little nipper' variety) but the bu99ers seem to be able to either nick the bait off them without setting them off (not sure how), or manage to set them off and then nick the bait.

Bait used has been chocolate, peanut butter and bacon rind. (Not all at the same time.)

Best result to date has been a trap which was set off, with the bait (chocolate) found 4 inches away from it and clear blood on the trap platform. But no sign of the mouse, either dead or alive. (And the mouse I saw two days later didn't look at all injured, suggesting there are more than one.)

Anyone have any suggestions? I thought that getting rid of them would be pretty easy, and have failed at the first hurdle.


Oli.

P.S. Yes, we do have a cat. A large one. A large and stupid one. One mouse-sighting involved the mouse chasing the cat out of the cat-flap. I jest ye not ...

[Podie]

Mice are clever, sociable things. They're also pretty destructive, and can knaw their way through pretty much anything - pretty quickly.

If you've got mice, they either like the location for nesting, or there is plenty of food about - probably both. There is rarely a solitary mouse, and after 6 weeks or so, they can breed...

In terms of traps, I'd go for the humane types, simply because they need to enter the trap to get the food. Don't go for the cheepie cardboard ones... they'll chew it. Rice crispies will be a favourite...

If they smell human, they'll avoid it... and that includes things like soap.

Failing that, get pest control involved.

[fatboy b]

I think I've cracked my problem with them being in the loft. Cutting down all the wall-climbing plants helped .

However, we have a fridge & a freezer in the garage, and it seems these make good nest-sites given the warmth underneath them. So the surrounding area has snappy & poison traps. I've caught 3 in a last few weeks, but I expect that won't be the end of them. They also nick the bait off the snappy traps, so I was thinking of getting a live capture humane trap, then drowning the fkers.

[b2hbm]

We used traps like you have, but the plastic variety bought from places like B&Q, focus, etc. The bait doesn't go on a spike but in a small cylindrical section in the middle of the trigger platform and I think they're more robust than the wooden ones.

At first we also found bait missing and no dead mouse. Stage 2 was to use chocolate covered raisins which pressed into the cylinder so the little blighters couldn't just flick or knock it off, they have to get on the platform to get at it. Coupled with careful setting of the trigger and that was pretty successful.

Also placing them at the edges of the room, dark areas under cupboards, etc, as they prefer to keep cover and not cross wide open spaces. If you have an idea where they're gaining access to your living space then that's obviously the first target. You have my sympathy, they're little blighters who can do a lot of damage. I went right off those cute mousey Christmas cards after our invasion.

[Podie]

b2hbm said:

Also placing them at the edges of the room, dark areas under cupboards, etc, as they prefer to keep cover and not cross wide open spaces.

[rovermorris999]

You'll not catch them all with traps. Bait boxes are the way to go. All you need here: www.pestcontroldirect.co.uk
I use rat bait boxes at around £5.50 each and Tomcat2 bait blocks which can't be removed from the box. Check them regularly to top up the bait and leave them down permanently.

[davido140]

fatboy b said:

thinking of getting a live capture humane trap, then drowning the fkers.

[missdiane]

They can also chew out of thick plastic humane traps as we found out, so choose one with very small air holes they can't get their teeth round

[RedLeicester]

We obviously have some appearing in the garden store - got the tractor out today and 100 yards from the store the little blighter shot out from the engine bay, across the foot well, up and across my legs then disappeared down to hide by the transmission.

Took me 10 mins to poke the blighter out.

Time for shares in Nesorexia!

[ukwill]

Nutella worked for me. I even drove the prisoner a few miles away and dropped him off in a field. God I'm such a nice bloke.

[missdiane]

And then ran over the trap driving back out?

[grumbledoak]

If you see one, there are probably hundreds of them, and you'll struggle to kill them all.

Food and access are key - I solved my micey problem with expanding foam, removing their only way 'in'. If this isn't an option you need to make sure they cannot access any food. They'll bugger off on their own.

[zcacogp]

grumbledoak said:

Food and access are key - I solved my micey problem with expanding foam, removing their only way 'in'. If this isn't an option you need to make sure they cannot access any food. They'll bugger off on their own.

Interesting, thanks.

Snag is that it is a busy kitchen. With easy access to the basement, also used to store food.

And it's an old house; there are LOTS of ways in. And out.

Bu99er.


Oli.

[wolf1]

Funnily enough I've just flushed two of the little buggers down the bog after catching them in traps. Always had problems round here with them so it's just part of life catching them. Lost the urge to be nice and humane after I spent ages routing sat and tv cabling round the house then replastering and the little gits chewed through most of it.

I just use the snapper traps with the yellow plastic platforms. Initially put some smooth peanut butter on them but haven't topped them up in ages. there's still traces of it on the traps (along with bits of dead mouse) I blocked up most of the access points with wire wool (hurst their mouths when they try to chew through it unlike cement etc) and now lay the traps where there has been evidence of traffic or history of catching them.

[jas xjr]

An old boy told me that if using poison , put it in a crisp packet. The mice like the rustling apparently.
Obviously making sure they are left where small children or pets cannot reach them

[russ_a]

A colleague caught a mouse at work a few years back using a home built trap. The receptionist said she would release it in a field on the way home but the little git escaped in her husbands merc on the way home never to be seen again!

[Steve H]

Had them a while back and used expanding foam and the sticky pada to trap them, you have to check regularily though

[Granville]

Plastic humane traps are a waster as the mice just chew their way out.

If you use poison then bare in mind you will have the smell of decomposing mice somewhere after they've crawled off to die and you cant find or get to where they are.

We resorted to a trap baited with nutella which did the job. Mice can't seem to resist it. You also need to postition the trap along a skirting board or wall edge and on a path they use regular.

[MJG280]

Try to fill access holes with as mentioned wire wool or glass in expanding foam or sand & cement. Cuts them if they try to knaw their way through and they will try to bite their way through a known route even if filled but not after a mouthfull of sharp stuff

[rovermorris999]

Mice hardly smell at all when they die so don't worry about that, rats are a different kettle of fish. Plus the poison makes them very thirsty so they go in search of a drink, which usually means outside. You are highly unlikely to get them all with traps, I'm afraid bait is the only sure way.