There's a mouse in the house

With great difficulty.

If it's a house mouse, there is no point putting it outside as it will only find its way back inside.

See ongoing saga of crimson's mouse infestation [I'll bump it up]. Probably need a humane trap and some peanut butter or chocolate. I am now an expert in getting rid of mice [although I did resort to murder in the end].

Our cat did the same thing one evening -I did not realise until then that a mouse could get under a bedroom door.

We managed to eventually "chase" the mouse into the conservatory, shut all the doors to the house and left the conservatory doors open. In the morning made the cat and OH go in and check that the mouse had moved on.

The cat never brought in another mouse - she seemed to understand that we did not appreciate a house quest. Or was just pi**ed off that we had not been grateful for the gift.

My friend's cat Purdey, brings in mice so frequently that she is not allowed in the house until she has been inspected and declared ' mouse free'

One of the things I had to get used when living alone, with a cat, in the depths of the French countryside, was the stream of dead or, half dead or very lively, wildlife. She wasn't picky - shrews, voles, mice, worms, frogs, birds ....all grist to her mill. Fortunately, I am not phobic about little animals - I might have jibbed at dealing with a rat. I spent many an hour chasing them round the house with a broom.
I was a bit spooked one night to hear something scrabbling behind my headboard. There was nothing in the room and I realised that whatever it was making the noise was in the space between the plaster board and the breeze brick wall. I mentioned it to a neighbour and he said 'Oh yes, a dormouse, they live in lofts'. I googled dormouse on both French and UK google and was amused when the French site gave me lots of ideas of how to get rid of them, and the UK gave me tips on how to make them a nice habitat and conserve them. They are solitary mammals so I wasn't going to be over-run but they do chew through cables and can start fires, so I bought some apple-flavoured pellets and poisoned it.
The only thing that really makes me panic is a cockroach - I loathe the things and there are lots in the tropical countries where I go for the coral.

There used tobe loads in kitchen of the doctors mess where I did my house jobs 44 years ago. Dirty hospitals aren't new!

Rats - got used to them in Kenya, a smallish variety. They lived in everyone's roofs and were a very good reason for keeping a cat.

We have had rats in the house here - I hate them! We have been told not to put any food out for the birds - the word goes out round the rat population that there are tasty feasts to be had!

When I worked in an old hospital we were warned not to put the kitchen lights out during the night. One night someone had and when I flicked the switch the floor was covered in cockroaches. The floor was rippling, entirely covered with these gross insects. Thankfully we did not have mice.

Sounds like Hallam Hospital westbromwich!

Children in my street used to bring me all sorts of animals that had been injured. (I think they thought I was Dr Dolittle) I lost count of the number of mice and birds they brought me as my cat was the best mouser/bird catcher in the street. I would have to pretend to rub Savlon into the wounds (with a cotton bud) and when they would come to my door the next day to watch me release it back into the wild. I would have to lie and tell them that it had woken early, fully recovered, had it's breakfast and was released back to it's family well before they got up. Most of these children are in their 30's now and those I still see often tell me that they admire me for making all these little creatures well again. I still don't have the heart to tell them that only one bird was ever released back into the wild!

Thank you everyone for your advice and for your stories. My daughter has ordered a humane trap. We will see how we get on . I am not ready to become a murderess yet.

pennysue

when we had to call someone to our previous house. He told us a mouse can enter through a hole no bigger than a pencil !!!!!!

When DD2 was sharing a student house, the house cat decided she needed feeding up and would present her with a nice juicy freshly killed mouse. She reacted with horror, so he changed to bringing her dry crusts of bread, which she accepted graciously - better than a mouse.