AIBU to disagree with OH

Callistemon

DiscoDancer1975

Get a humane trap. We once caught mum and six babies in one. Take them somewhere wooded, not residential. At least two miles away. They home!!

We used a humane trap and relocated a mouse, but I posted on another thread that someone who knows about this, a local wildlife expert, said they will not survive in a strange location - especially in the middle of nowhere.

Humane traps are not really that because they will die a lingering death rather than a quick one.

That is good to know. We did have a death in one once. We’d gone on holiday, and my husband left the panel housing the mains water tap, off, so as to reconnect quickly on our return. The mouse must have got in up the pipe work, and headed straight for the trap. ?. Other than that one time, we’ve always moved them with no problems.

It’s sad to think they may not survive, but we give them the best chance. I don’t want to catch anything from them.

Try your husband's method first, sazz1.
Mice like peanut butter so you could use that in the trap

If not successful, then call in the pest control firm but they are expensive.

DiscoDancer1975

Get a humane trap. We once caught mum and six babies in one. Take them somewhere wooded, not residential. At least two miles away. They home!!

We used a humane trap and relocated a mouse, but I posted on another thread that someone who knows about this, a local wildlife expert, said they will not survive in a strange location - especially in the middle of nowhere.

Humane traps are not really that because they will die a lingering death rather than a quick one.

Also, find out if you can, where they’re getting in. Did the mouse come in with the new box of cereal, or was it in your house already?

I would have no hesitation in calling out pest control. I had mice last year. I tried humane traps, wire wool covering holes under the kitchen sink, peppermint spray and an ultra sonic thing but couldn't get rid of them. The pest control man put down two bait boxes and that got rid of them. They were in my food cupboard as well as under the sink and had made an awful mess. They are vermin and can carry disease.

Get a humane trap. We once caught mum and six babies in one. Take them somewhere wooded, not residential. At least two miles away. They home!!

In the interests of peace, I would not just ring pest control.

Let DH buy, set and empty the mouse-trap.

While he is out acquiring it, empty the cupboard, wearing one of the masks you doubtless still have in the house and rubber gloves, wash the cupboard and inspect it for the hole the mice are coming in through and block said hole or holes.

Then go through the foodstuffs stored in that cupboard. Throw everything out that the mice (you are quite right, there will in all probability be more than one) have been at, and store the rest in air-tight tins or boxes.

And do let the dogs sleep in the kitchen for a couple of weeks - and praise them for telling you about the mice!

If you are filling a hole with polyfilla add some mouse poison to the mix, otherwise the little beasties will happily eat through the polyfilla.

Absolutely right Peasblossom can't add anything to that.

No such thing as one mouse?

They’re coming in now the weather has turned. If you catch them and put them outside they will just come in again, to rejoin their family. through a new hole if necessary! You have to take them miles away. Well a little long distance anyway.

If you don’t want mice I’m afraid poison or constant trapping is the only way to go.

I don’t really see the problem here. Try catching the mouse/mice with traps for a week or two. If that doesn’t work, then get pest control in.

Yes, there are always more than you think...

I would keep the traps baited even after catching one mouse as I agree with you that there are likely to be several. I would also leave poison down which I appreciate upsets some people but I can’t bear the thought of mice in my house!

I once found evidence of a mouse in my downstairs toilet when I went into my nephews baby bag ( he was staying with me for a few days) and saw droppings and a chewed bib in the bottom of the bag! A few days later I caught a mouse in a trap and thought that was the end. However, a while later, I came home from work to see a mouse staring at me from the middle of my lounge floor! That one must have been hungry because it got caught in a trap baited with peanut butter within the hour. But I then caught two more in other traps I left out, one in the kitchen and one in the utility room. I got pest control in ( in the days when it was free from the council,) and they left poison boxes in various places for several months, checking periodically if the poison was being eaten. It took several weeks for the blighters to stop eating the poison so there must have been a large family of them living in my house!

Hi sazzl I had a similar experience: rustling noise coming from under kitchen sink cupboard. Then next night surprise appearance of a tiny mouse. Was quite ? shocked as we are on the first floor of a flat with our own front door. Did obvious search: moving furniture etc. this was May. Any how, fast forward to Christmas night while watching a late film with only the tree lights on, heard a vague rustling again but went to bed. Next day discovered my multipack of Toblerone had been gnawed open and nibbled! ?. It seems mice like chocolate more than the fabled cheese, this one singled out the white choc….how very dare it. Was never seen again though since….so far anyway.

By the way my husband thought I was mad dusting the floor and sides with flour but it gave us a clear picture of what we were dealing with!

are they living in the house or just getting through the hole?

The best thing to do is to put flour down over the kitchen floor and sides before you go to bed to track their movements and then block up any holes with wire wool if they are getting in from outside.

If they are already in, you need to set traps properly. Right angles, right against the skirting board, so the trap closes towards the skirting. Peanut butter is their favourite. Or use humane traps if you feel that is better

You would be paying a firm to just put traps down when you can do it yourself. You can buy kind traps that will trap the mouse and it can be released outside. If you don’t like the idea of a trap that will kill a mouse.

I don’t agree with killing mice so I would put a humane trap down and get rid of it or them that way It doesn’t know it’s in the wrong place