Eeek A mouse!

If a mouse can squeeze through a hole that is the diameter of a pencil then I have a job on my hands as this is a Victorian house with nooks and crannies everywhere. I’m seriously thinking of getting a cat. Thanks for all your ideas, Brillo,
peanut butter etc all worth a try. Maybe pin a note to the door saying No Mice. It might help!!

Thanks callgirl1,
well remembered !

I had a cat that would bring a mouse in most days and just drop it alive in the house.

Grannynannywanny, the cat who hated meeces to pieces " was Mr. Jinks.

As others have said there could be more. See if you can find any small holes where it has got in and plug it up - if you can’t get anything to do it with a Brillo soap pad may do the trick. Also mice hate the smell of mint so soak cotton wool with mint essence and/or put sprigs of fresh mint where it may be getting in.
Under the sink seems an ideal place for them to get in. I had 3 a few years back and they chewed through the outlet pipe of my dishwasher. Miele wanted £200 for the replacement part so I bought a new cheap one and that was 4 years ago!

Perhaps you should train it to tidy up for you!
mouse tidying shed

I am not a fan of "humane" traps, having used them before and found terrified mice shivering and shaking in them in the morning. I use conventional traps and feed the bodies to the buzzards in the field behind my home.

My friend caught one in a humane trap. She took it out into the garden to set it free. Unfortunately she didn’t close the kitchen door (or go far enough)

The mouse ran and was back in the warm kitchen before her !

I get mice here, it's normal in the countryside. They are nothing to be scared of. I use humane traps and then take them for a walk up the road to the woods.

We have mice regularly. The price you pay for living near fields and woods. I think many animals are venturing out more in this lockdown. Chocolate is what they love, in a humane trap, with flour strangely, self raising or plain, they don’t seem fussy! They’re clever and supple. We’ve just had a new kitchen fitted, completely gutted, and they were back. Just make sure they can’t get access to food, so all food stuff that they could chew through, put in whole unit cupboards, so they can’t get in. They soon leave if they can’t get food.Good luck.

We get mice in the horse feed store. Normally the cat keeps them at bay and next doors cat is a prolific hunter. I’ve seen some whoppers this year (bodies that is).
The humane traps are good and cheese works well. Make sure you release the mouse a reasonable distance away though!
I did read that there are more mice around during this lock down.
The only live mice I get indoors are if the cat lets one go free but the terriers do a good job of disposing if it.

Random thought just popped into my head. Anyone remember the phrase “I hate those meeces to pieces”

I think the 2 cartoon mice who always outsmarted the cat were called Pixie and Dixie. But I can’t remember the name of the poor exasperated cat who used to say it.

We acquired a cat as a proven mouser! In the event she never entirely rid this old house of mice as i think she farmed them!

I have had bad experiences with the humane traps such as failing to rescue the poor creature which had died a horrible slow death.
Now I set traps with chocolate peanut butter for a quick excecution.

Mrsmopp it mightn’t be obvious at first where they are coming in. So if you watch for tell tale droppings it might be an indicator. I hadn’t even seen a mouse. I just noticed droppings under the sink.

I agree with Grannynannywanny - check everywhere.
We'd not been in this house long when mice got into the kitchen. We had to take out the kickboards under the kitchen units along the wall with the garage on the other side. When that kitchen had been put in, none of the holes had been plugged so the mice found their way in from the garage into the kitchen. The traps were busy for a while! Once we replaced the kitchen, I made sure every small hole was filled with expanding foam and for holes with pipes coming through them my DH fixed metal plates around to stop the blighters. They can get in through the tiniest of spaces as Grannynannywanny says. We still occasionally get them in the garage, but have traps set in strategic places.

If you find where they are coming in fill it with wire wool - they can't chew through that!

BlueSky, my cat is not a pet, she’s a hired killer. I keep her on short rations so that she’s hungry enough to do her job, and she’s more than happy to eat any mouse she catches while it is still warm.

Might be worth searching for point of access eg a small gap in skirting board or around pipes.

Had a problem years ago and discovered field mice coming in around pipes in under kitchen sink cupboard.

I filled around the pipes with foam filler from an aerosol can which sets hard. It solved the problem.

Check skirting boards in case one has moved slightly from wall. They can enter house via surprisingly small gaps. I saw on tv one night a small mouse can squeeze in through a space no thicker than a pencil!

I'm sure cats would be sick at the thought of eating a raw mouse! The salmon in jelly provided by their humans is much better!

Yes, humane trap and peanut butter is the way to go. As Txquiltz said there will usually be more than one.
We have three dogs and a cat and they just watch a mouse running across the floor. Think we have trained them too well not to chase other animals

Time for a lovely new pet? None of our cats ever caught a mouse but just by being there all mice have given us a wide berth.

For sure, mice love peanut butter! It draws them like flies. Word of caution, the second week we were in a new house a tiny mouse dashed across the floor. The humane trap worked a charm. Two days later...another wee mousie. Called the exterminator and he said it is very rare to have a single mouse. There are almost always two or more. Thankfully we just had the two, but keep an eye out for others of his tribe.

Buy a humane trap and bait it with peanut butter. Hopefully that’ll be job done.