I feel so bad tonight

I've had a few mice over the years here. I always use humane traps and mostly it's been successful. A couple have died after being in the traps too long because they must have gone in just after I fell asleep and they were in there all night. I felt dreadful about this and always gave them a little funeral. But mostly I've taken them for a long walk, or occasionally a drive, to release them somewhere nice.
So don't feel bad about this, accidents happen and it's no-ones fault.

Aveline

Just having a cat about the place seems to be an effective deterrent

Only if it isn’t a mouser.The cat we used to have brought them in both dead and alive, the live ones then dived under the cooker or fridge.

henetha 😄

Yes ... that is my experience of humane traps too.

Oreo

Aveline

Just having a cat about the place seems to be an effective deterrent

Only if it isn’t a mouser.The cat we used to have brought them in both dead and alive, the live ones then dived under the cooker or fridge.

Yes, an old cat of ours would bring live mice in, and then it’d really be fun and games trying to catch them.

I’d always thought it was a jokey sort of myth, but once, one did actually run up the leg of a DD’s jeans! It was in the depths of winter, but she was straight out into the frosty garden - yelping! - as she wriggled out of her jeans - while the rest of us were (I’m afraid) in hysterics.

Oreo one of DDs cats is a very keen mouser. She's a nightmare. She used to specially bring poor little things and present them proudly to me when I was babysitting. She had a special miaow when she had one. I got to dread the sound.
Luckily, my current old boy isn't a mouser but is a demon on flies, moths and wasps.

with humane traps, when caught,you then I presume take the mouse outside and release it only for it to find it's way back in again or it's friend..

Most mice are caught overnight. If they are in a humane trap they could be there for hours suffocating.

Luckygirl3

Most mice are caught overnight. If they are in a humane trap they could be there for hours suffocating.

My humane trap has breathing slats.

I was thinking of putting in a little sofa bed and bedside table...

Beatrix Potter influenced you too Dickens? I must say I still see them in lovely little homes behind the skirting board.

but I do hope he or she hasn’t left a little family grieving somewhere. Just saying
Definitely something that came straight into my mind Allsorts if I could have just let it go I would have
I acted out of instinct completely without thinking I just needed to shut it out my living room however I was faster than it to shut it out and the door trapped it the only consolation I have it was instant no suffering and bang gone it didn’t have time to know anything and thank goodness there was no blood or noticeable injuries it just looked asleep on its side

Now I ve got to put it behind me and hope nothing like that happens again
Thanks for the kind answers

My previous cat was scared stiff of mice so that doesnt always work. I would be upset as well but at least you know that it is gone and hope there aren’t any brothers or sisters.

I have an even worse example. As a young wife I was hanging my washing out. I stepped back and there was a crunch. I'd stepped on a baby bird. 50 years later it still upsets me.

If the mice stay outdoors, that’s fine. Once they make their way indoors, then it’s war as far as I’m concerned, as they spread disease with their droppings and urine. In addition, they can do a lot of damage to electrical wiring, pipework and wood work. The damage can be extremely costly to put right.

i would of screamed the house down if i was you,the neighbours thought i was been murdered a few years ago when i found a frog in my garden while weeding,

Obviously don't release them too near to your house. They have a homing instinct. It needs to be more than 500 yards I think.

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Goodie you’ve been reported

Whitewavemark2 you should maybe consider taking your mice further away... when we backed onto woods and fields we read that at 2 miles most mice didn't just come back.

Less than roughly 2 miles meant that many did.

Could you be catching the same ones again?

Yes I am probably recycling them but I can happily live with that as the greenhouse problem of eating the seedlings etc has been completely resolved. So i shall continue to trot them out to the downs with accompanying sunflower seeds.

I am channeling my inner Buddhist as I feel that they have every right to be on this earth as I have, and are certainly doing it far less damage!

Agree with that sentiment WWM3 I would have much preferred to have just put him or her outside but it’s happened it’s done I can’t undo it
I ll try and do better if I ever find another one

We one had a rat and mouse run when they demolished the nearby school. Many of use had to get the exterminators in because of it but it did not do much good as the building work was going on for months and the rats and mice were treating gardens, garages and sheds as holiday let, one rat even ate through the pipe under the bath and caused water to come down the walls into the kitchen. I decided to buy those plug in rodent repellents that send signals around your electrical wiring. I put one in every room (excessive I know) but we never saw a mouse or rat after that nor do I ever see a spider. My granddaughter says that my house is the only one where there are no spiders (she hates them).

Ensure when buying that is is the one that sends signals through wiring and not one that sends signals outwards only.

very rare to get just ONE mouse am afraid they breed very rapidly so need to get rid

I used normal traps after I found a very fat mouse that had found its way into my big sack of rice. It's them or us I'm afraid!
When we first moved in here we used to see a mouse in the early evening as it went like a rocket across our living room floor, it came through the same hole as the satellite cable. We've filled it now, along with every other tiny hole we could find, and haven't seen it since.