AIBU to disagree with OH

Haven't seen or heard anymore since the one we caught in the trap. Dog no longer sniffing around the kickboards and OH has blocked up the hole around the gas pipe. So fingers crossed it's sorted. We have agreed that anymore and it's pest control.
Thanks for all your support x

Sallywally1: 'The quickest way is a cat!' - not necessarily! My cat brings in quite a few field mice, totally unharmed, that I have to then trap and release back outside. They are cute - but I don't want them indoors!

OMG! Just call in pest control!

The quickest way is a cat! I know you said your daughter is allergic to them, but could you ‘borrow’ a cat for a few days. We had mice when we were in between cats, but see no sight of them now we have a cat. Mice are horrible, they are incontinent and leave a trail of wee everywhere, they chew through electrics and need to be got rid of. In the absence of a cat I would call in the pest control people. Good luck!

Sorry but I’d definitely overrule the OH and get the experts in. Problem is neighbouring properties will probably also be infested and need treatment too

sazz1, if you get pest control in they'll want to use poisoned bait - which is very dangerous for your dogs. A poisoned mouse may well come out and be eaten by a dog.

I think your husband is right. You need some traps. I like the 'Trip Trap' ones that don't harm the mouse. You simply release it outside. You really need to find out, first, how they are getting in, though.

Check outside for any small gaps that you could get a pencil through (quarter inch size). Often they are next to pipes.
Mice can squeeze their skulls and bones through a tiny gap.

Check floors too. Block gaps with tightly packed wire wool, holes in floors with a nailed down metal lid, hammered flat.

Don't keep cereals or any edibles in their packets or thin card boxes. Dispense them into glass, tin or sturdy plastic sealed containers. Keep them up in wall cupboards if possible. Good luck!

Mice hate peppermint oil, pour it on to cotton wool pads and leave them around the area they come in, and they will go and stay gone. We did this in our mice ridden attic and it has worked, we renew the cotton pads every winter when they tended to visit

Always put mouse traps in a paper bag after loading them. Then you can gently move the bag and if it is heavier, just throw the bag out with the mouse in it and never have to look in it.

Well he's put down 2 traps and caught one last night. My dogs are sniffing all along the kickboards of our large kitchen (18ft long). They saw it but just stood looking at it so no agression towards it at all.
I really want a cat as years ago we had mice in an old rented cottage. Borrowed one of my sister's cats and after it killed one no more mice. Gave the cat back and within 2 weeks they were back.
So we rescued 2 adult cats and had no more problems.
Daughter doesn't live here but her throat starts to swell with cats. With dogs she just gets itchy red rash and itchy eyes. She visits about once a month or every 6 weeks, and stays for a few days.
Well going to wait and see if second trap catches another.
Thanks for all your advice x

I forgot to say that buying a few traps at a couple of pounds each is far cheaper than hiring a pest control firm. The local council no longer offer a free pest control, so traps are a much cheaper option.

A friend had mice in his shed last winter. They were nibbling the 4 pint plastic milk bottles he kept his bird seed in to eat the contents. He set a couple of spring traps and over the course of a few weeks he caught nearly 20 mice, which we put on my bird table. My pair of local crows were bemused at first but, after eating the first one, they were regular visitors and successfully bred a couple of youngsters this summer. We didn’t feel guilty at all about killing the pesky mice as they can be a serious health hazard and the crows were good fun to watch.

blubber

It is illegal to release mice or any other vermin if caught in a humane trap.

It is not illegal to release them back into the wild. This from www.helpwildlife.co.uk explains it -
‘ Mice

Although house mice (mus musculus) are technically non-native, they are well established and not listed under schedule 9 of the WCA. Long tailed field mice and yellow necked mice are native. There are therefore no legal restrictions on the treatment or release of mice. You may still experience some resistance when asking for help with a mouse casualty though so we are trying to build a database of UK rescues who are willing to look after mice which you can see here.’

We had mice in the space between our wooden ceiling and the metal roof of our narrow boat. They came in through the ‘mushroom’ vents on the roof. We used a catch and release trap, baited with goodies such as mince pies (it was Christmas time) and chocolate. We put rodent proof mesh over the vents so no more could get in. I kept a daily tally of how many we caught (and released into the hedgerows) and, at the end my tally was 40! The last one was a big male, the first two were adult females and all the others were juveniles. They are cute, I must admit, but we had to rewire our entire 12v lighting system because they’d chewed through the plastic coating of the wires, causing a fire hazard. So you are right when you say there is more than one mouse!

A long time ago we were moved into a house that had been lying empty for a long time by the council in the winter. My ex was on nightshift and the mice used to come out to play when the children were in bed. It had to stop. It was a terraced house and we eventually got the council pest control in and he reckoned as we cleared them they moved in from the other houses, we were one of the middle two in a terrace of four, but nione of our neighbours had any mice problems.

You need a pussy cat.

My friend also had mice in her kitchen cupboards and had a terrible time trying to get rid of them it took months.

But last year we had Rats not in the house mind you thank goodness but in the garden and outside our back garden where there is a grassed area and the grass was 2 feet high having not been cut by the council due to COVID.

Our neighbour caught 36 and some were huge.
I actually saw one walking over some slabs in our garden in the middle of the day. We called in the council pest control and they set some poison and came back for 5 consecutive weeks to see if they were taking the bait. They were. And we have had nothing since, hopefully.

It took me 5 nights to catch our mouse . It turned into 5 mice over 5 nights caught with a bit of white chocolate in a wooden mouse trap brought from our local hardware shop. I found the hole out in my back garden at the back of the step . Blocked it but keep the mouse trap in place under the cupboard just incase . A year later it is still there chocolate as well

Mice do have backbones, of course they do. Although secondary poisoning of birds is a potential danger, because of the amount of drug the cat / dog would have to consume to be secondarily poisoned from a carcass, it is extremely rare. Only if the pets are kept very short of food would they eat enough poisoned carcasses to be ill themselves. They are a lot bigger than mice.However some dogs find the bait palatable , so it has to be in a lockable trap that they con't get into. We had 2 farm dogs who were mad about dicoumarol. They would push the traps from the top of the hay in the barn onto the concrete below, and then rush down and eat the spilt contents. They did get poisoned a couple of times, but a prompt journey to the vets left them with no lasting ill-effects. After the second time, we just left the rats to do their worst (lots of loose hay)

I live in the countryside so mice (and bats) are just part of life. Haven't had mice in the house for a few years but they do like the garage as it is lovely and warm due to the boiler. Used humane traps in the past when we lived in town but had a couple of dead mice which put me off. I used to keep medicines in a cupboard under downstairs bathroom sink and discovered a mouse had chewed several squares of ex-lax chocolate. I dread to think the effect that amount of laxative had on a tiny mouse!

They just need to be got rid of which ever way. To be sentimental over a mouse is just silly, they are vermin, one mouse becomes 6 mice and they carry disease and get out of control. I know as happened to me and we just couldn't seem to catch them and turned into a bit of a nightmare especially when I saw them running across my kitchen work surfaces.

Nobody loves wildlife, cats and animals more than me but the wildlife need to stay where they belong - outside!

For a of you thinking mice are cute....I bet the Australians don't think so!!!

SachaMac

A friend of mine who is absolutely terrified of mice had an infestation a few years ago. The pest control guy scared her even more telling her that they can crawl through a hole the diameter of a pencil and that 2 mice can become 102 in a very short time. I’ve also heard they can cause havoc by gnawing through cables and wires. They are quite cute little creatures but I certainly wouldn’t want them moving into my house.

I've seen them squeeze thru tiny holes. They don't have backbones do can literally bend like rubber!

I guarantee it won't be just one mouse, and humane traps are fine but you have to release the mice at LEAST 3 miles away so they don't easily pic up their scent again!
Try scattering flour over your benches at night before you go to bed, you might see their trails in the morning!
Put cereal into plastic containers with lids, and flour, sugar etc. You'll see if they've attempted to get into those.
Throw away any & all foods that they may have been diving into!!
The dog hears them scrabbling about at night.
If using any traps, use jam not cheese.

I'm currently being invaded by spiders. The last week has seen my house being over run by them.

Callistemon

DiscoDancer we thought we were doing the kindest thing, relocating it but our neighbour is a wildlife expert and said, sadly, no, it would not have survived.

The quickest way is the kindest, apparently.

I've often wondered if that was the case. I think the quick way probably is the kindest but people probably feel better if they don't see the evidence.