Have heard strange rustling noises occasionally in the kitchen. Thought it was the pipes cooling or the boiler. This week the dogs keep barking at nite and pulling down the kick board from under the same cupboard. OH was going to have cereal, which is never used been there months, and a mouse jumped out the packet.
His solution is 2 mouse traps as it's only 1 mouse. Leave it until he catches it then block up the hole at back of cupboard.
My solution is to call pest control firm as it won't be just one mouse and they have eaten a full small box of cereal in a few weeks. He's totally against this. What do others think?
Wish I could get a cat but daughter is badly allergic and visits regularly.
Gransnet forums
AIBU
AIBU to disagree with OH
(93 Posts)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
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.
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
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!
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.
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!
Yes, there are always more than you think...
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.
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.
Absolutely right Peasblossom can't add anything to that.
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.
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!!
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thank you, and again, good to know. We haven’t had any mice for two winters now, coming up third. We think we found out where they were getting in. Hopefully, that’ll be the end of it....for now.
I too have my doubts about humane traps - they sit shivering with fear for hours until they are released. If you release them anywhere nearby they come straight back. If you release them miles away they are disoriented and get eaten by something in a flash.
I use the splat traps and take the bodies outside to the field where the buzzards and other animals eat them as part of the natural order of things.
I cannot see a lot of point in getting a firm in to get rid of your mouse/mice as they will just put down traps.
Since we started having cats again, a few years ago, no sign of mice, except for the time Mia brought a live one in and dropped it in the living room. I eventually caught it and took it out onto the river bank at the front. I`ve taken several off her in the yard before she could hurt them, I just take them round onto the bank. I can`t stand the thought of hurting them.
When we moved into this house, there was a wooden store where previous owners had stored animal feed
I am not exaggerating when I say there must have been a hundred or more mice in there.
Gradually we caught them all with traps, and miraculously none of them ventured inside.
The odd one in the loft, has always been caught with a trap baited with chocolate.
don't keep foodstuffs not in tins at low level.
I very much doubt there is only one mouse - it’s difficult to tell them apart .
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