Mice.

Found another one in the trap today; took it to work and let it out there [not really far enough away from my house]. Someone said they start to come into houses when it gets colder. As yet no sign of any upstairs [piece of cheese next to computer desk hasn't been eaten]. Rats are incredibly clever. Must say I've always rather wanted one as a pet after going to the vets one day and seeing one sitting next to it's owner. Someone I knew named his rat after his ex girlfriend..Nancy I think it was called.

My Dad used a coal shovel too, chased the little blighters all round the living room. They sometimes ran up the curtains but one day he cornered one in the solid fuel fire ( type with glass door) he shouted for me to come and see Mickey Mouse on the TV. The mouse had its little paws on the glass and was staring out at me, I left the room not wishing to witness what followed, Dad didn't mess about.

We also had one that got into the back of our very expensive range cooker and fused the electrics (the mouse wasn't too well either). The engineer said not to worry it happens at all the best restaurants....

When DS was young he had gerbils. One day they got out and stripped wallpaper right off a wall behind a cupboard. It is wiring that worries me about the little dears really. And if you get enough of them they smell...

We have one of those high frequency plug in mouse deterrents. They do take a while to work because they make it too stressful for the mice to live and breed happily so eventually they move out. We had it working for about a month and then realised that the little noises had ceased - we are in a newly converted barn and they were up in the roof spaces. All clear now!

Hmm - we had those and they worked for a few months, but then the mice got used to them....

Realised that the mouse deterrent doesn't stop them coming in the house but hopefully stops them breeding there. Bought three more traps to put in various places to see [as suggested on the internet when I googled it] 'the extent of the problem'. Also thought that, perhaps keeping a light on in the utility room may stop them coming in as they only seem to operate under cover of darkness. At least being dirty little blighters I know where they've been. Also bought more chocolate buttons which I will NOT eat....

Peanut butter works ! One down, two thousand four hundred and nintey-nine to go !

I live in a cottage in a little country village, one day I was speaking to one of the local famers and mentioned that it was strange we never had mice in the house - he said you never get mice where you have rats [] Quickly pointed out that we didn't have rats either. He said that we would most certainly would have some rats in the field next to our garden as it is sometimes used for grazing cows. Since that day I have been on the lookout but as yet haven't seen any.

The two square brackets in my message above should have shown a shocked face - what did I do wrong?

The word 'shock' should be typed between the brackets, with no spaces. I hope you can get it to work.

The last time we had to catch a mouse, peanut butter worked a treat in a humane trap... it was a woodmouse and not a house mouse fortunately. We released it in the local park. The cat we have now is hopeless at catching anything - she thinks it is beneath her. Our previous cat was a whizz but used to find hiding places for the carcasses - she particularly liked dropping them into my wellies. The first time I found one I thought I'd left a rolled up sock in their when I put my foot in it. My screams could be heard for miles! Ever since, I have tipped them upside down before putting them on! The worst thing that happened was a rat found its way into our house when workmen were renewing drains in the road at the top of our drive. I nearly had a nervous breakdown and we had to call in a pest controller. Fortunately, it was only one and it was killed by the poison he laid, but we had to take up floorboards to get at the body which was creating the most awful smell. We still don't know how it got in.

My DD caught a mouse in the humane trap and drove it to the local allotments to let it free. As it ran away a magpie swept down and ate it.

Glad to hear magpies do something useful. Beautiful birds. Hated by all.

Except me .

You must ruthlessly search out the holes and block them.

Never think that a hole is TOO small if you can get a pencil into it they can get through

Don't fall into the mistake of thinking a mousehole will look like they are in Tom and Jerry it might look like a tiny irregular shaped crack.

A mouse will never stray more than two or three yards from its hole so find and block every gap it means moving furniture turning the place upside down.

The people who say steel "wool" are right BUT...

make sure it is STAINLESS STEEL as it will not rust and decay or leavebrown marks Stainless steel wool is harder to get but...

TOP TIP use STAINLESS STEEL PAN SCOURERS they won't rust and have razor sharp ( for a mouse) edges that will cut them if they try to chew it

Push the scourer into the hole so it is tight and then in fill expanding foam.

And if you have seen one it won't be alone
And Ultra sonic repellers DO NOT WORK

Oh yes ... in addition to blocking holes ( see previous post)

Glue boards are very effective traps - put them where you have seen the mice. Glue Boards cover a larger area than a break back trap and don't rely on the mouse deciding it wants to look at the bait all it has to do it walk along its normal route and it gets stuck on the glue.

Yes it means you might find a live mouse stuck on the board and you will have to kill it with a sharp blow from something ( though I have shot them with air rifles at close range) but they really have been the best.

To see where they are the house we have found this works...
Get some mouse poison and lay out neat patterns of individual grains around the place then inspect them and see of any have been taken.

And a common route is around pipes they follow the pipes round the house and will often use the holes where pipes come through floor boards seal those holes!

AND FINALLY do not be soft or sentimental THEY are not sentimental about YOU - kill kill kill!

I heard them moving into the attic last night-it must be getting colder!We also hear them running up the walls behing the drylining. I think its almost impossible not to have mice when you live in the country in an old house.

I agree, grannylin. We usually get a few unwanted visitors at this time of year as it gets colder at night. We've filled obvious holes such as where the water pipe comes in, though this was only possible because a lean to was being re-built — otherwise it was inaccessible. So I just use the 'break back' traps as dcmgramps calls them. We tried the glue tubes. Hmm. The mice had obviously been through them unscathed! We can tell as soon as there are mice around by droppings in one or two places, so we just put traps out at night and the problem is soon dealt with. When mice have chewed the insulation off your water pipes and off your freezer pipes, you don't feel any sentimentality about them. They are not called pests for nothing! Getting sentimental about mice is like getting sentimental about head lice.

We had a problem with mice migrating into the loft for winter and a friend recommended the Pest Stop Electronic Rat Killer. This machine is easy to use, clean and very efficient. We baited it with peanut butter and managed to get ten mice in ten days. You never have the messy task of having to deal with mangled corpses as the mice are electrocuted instantly. The next step is to move on to clear the pests from the garage!!!

Good score, scillygran! My highest is 17 in a fortnight. I only got that many because we hadn't dealt with the first few. I don't miss the initial signs now. The corpses in traditional mouse traps are not mangled as the spring loaded thwacker doesn't actually decapitate the beasties. There is a skill in loading the things so that the mouse is in the right position when the trap is sprung. Necessity.... mother.... invention .

To find out where they are living, sprinkle a little flour along in front of skirting boards and watch out for tiny footprints. This does not work too well on fitted carpets of course.

I think I asked Hub to empty the first couple of dozen dead mice into the bin. Somehow my squeamishness wore off after that and now it's more a case of "got you, you little blighter!" I do put rubber gloves on though!

Wood mice and bank voles in the garden I don't have a problem with. Bees are welcome to live in my chimney and bats (two species) in the loft, not to mention starlings, sparrows and house-martins under the eaves.

Anyone who wants to catch their mice alive and let them out into the open and think that's kind should remember HOUSE mice are just that, they have evolved to live with us in and around our buildings.

Let a house mouse out into a field or wood and it will die with 24 hours - it doesn't know how to feed in the country, its instincts aren't geared to look for the predators out there - hence the mouse in the allotment ( see someone's post) never saw the magpie coming!

Silver... lining.... cloud.... etc
if you have mice it means you won't have rats - mice are terrified of rats and leg it if rats are about

dontcallmegramps I'm not sure that the animosity between mice and rats is any comfort.