Mice

Bridget · May 2010

Hi there,

We have a mouse in the hause! Or several probably.

I came home to my mother trapped on the sofa last night having seen one run into the living room so I need to get rid of them.

Can anyone recommend a local rentokil person?

Thanks.

Bridget

ActionVerb · May 2010

we had mice issue last year, we used those high pitched little plugs you plug in around the house after a bunch of other methods failed. we still have the plug switched on in the kitchen and no mice since then.

Colette · May 2010

I'd recommend thoroughly checking fireplaces/skirting etc for mouse-hole-access-potential and then blocking it up with wire wool. Did that at my mum's and not seen a mouse since. Much cheaper than rentokill.

gardener-joe · May 2010

I'd use sticky traps ... grim but effective. Once a mouse is caught pop the whole trap into a plastic bag and this into the wheely bin ... keep this up for several weeks. At the same time use the electric plug-in advocated by ActiveVerb. I used both strategies last year, and then kept the plug-in things on ... no more mice ... (hopefully NOT famous last words).

Oh, and I am guessing you do not have a kitchen/living space full of food crumbs, food residue on the floors, cooker that needs a thorough clean, etc. etc. ... if so, the mice will always share your life 'til you develop better habits ....

[Deleted User] · May 2010

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janez · May 2010

http://www.terminex.co.uk/
Guy called Dennis, absolutely nice person. Helped us to get rid of squirrels in the roof at home and from ants at work.

David · May 2010

We've got an electric ditty that worked wonders. It's got some variable thing on it to keep switching the frequency around to keep things fresh. We've got a cat too but while he probably kept them out the flat they were in the walls and ceilings and really annoying when scattering around at night so was definitely the device that did it. Haven't heard them since. Probably approaching a year since we plugged it in.

dorothy · May 2010

I think the old fashioned traps are quite good. Your know you've got them then, it's quick, and you can just chuck the whole thing away. Put them along their runs, with some cheese, or peanut butter. I used to lay awake at night waiting for them to snap. I've tried the plug in thing too, but didn't seem to notice much difference, but I didn't have the alternating randomised frequency version.

It's sad when you see the little perfect crushed bodies in the traps. Think it's kinder than poison though. They just get really dehydrated with that, and then usually come up to the surface to die horribly, usually when you have guests, and then you have put them out of their misery. (The mice, not the guests).

ADGS · May 2010

Chucking the whole trap seems a bit profligate! My problem was more that with those - as with poison - you'd get a few but the survivors would get wise (or in the case of the poison, immune). It wasn't until I ended up trying to chop one especially cheeky bastard in half, and ending up having to sort of saw it in half because the knife was blunt, that his mates seemed to decide the place was not their dream home after all.

dorothy · May 2010

The trouble with dealing with mice yourself is that it can send you half round the bend if you're that way inclined. You can end up turning the mice into your nemesis, possessing great intelligence and cunning, and symbolising everything wrong with your house/life. They're really stupid though.

You can re-use the traps, but you have to be in the mood for easing out the little bloody body with popping eyes and crushed skull.

Face the bait towards the wall, and they can't seem to help but have a sniff as they're running along.

You need to fill in the gaps they're getting in through though. I don't have mice now, but I did have the back of my flat re-built, getting rid of all the gaps in the process.

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sg_mike · May 2010

I've had the same experience as Misscara, peanut butter on an old fashioned trap has always done the trick for me, and re-use the traps.

ADGS · May 2010

Yeah, in my experience mice really don't seem to be that bothered about cheese. Similarly, banana skins are not all that slippy, and pepper is no more likely to bring on sneezing than any other fine granular substance.

jandb · May 2010

I've had success with Parmesan cheese, chocolate (especially Rolos) and shortbread in old fashioned snap traps. As well as peanut butter, I've heard that vanilla essence on a bit of cotton wool works well, but haven't tried it myself.

Also, it's good to place them against a wall, as dorothy mentioned. It's also a good idea to move them around every few days as they seem to get wise to the ritual slaughter of their fellow mice.

katiejane · May 2010

ditto - peanut butter + old fashioned traps.

I wouldn't waste your money on pest control people

rainbow_carnage · May 2010

Do you live in a house or a flat?

We live on the top floor of a Victorian conversion. There are a million holes and gaps for a mouse to get through. The thing is, mice don't start at the top and work their way down. You can get rid of them however you want, but if the downstairs neighbours aren't doing their bit, there'll always be more.

We used to see the occasional mouse. I don't really mind mice, but I'm not thrilled with the idea of them walking around the kitchen counter at night. We tried humane traps. Didn't catch a thing. Then we tried peppermint oil on cotton balls. That seemed to work better.

The thing that did the trick, though, was people moving in downstairs. That flat had been empty for a year. As soon as we had neighbours, the mice disappeared. They must be doing something to deter them.

So if you do have downstairs neighbours, it may be a good idea to have a chat with them.

helen · May 2010

My current rodent problem has come in a rather larger form and so I brought in Dennis thanks to this thread. Peanut butter seems to work well with rats too, obviously in much larger traps. Dennis has now laid large quantities of poison and i'm hoping for a quick resolution, ideally with bodies left in accessible places.
Meantime the rat population across Parkland Walk and the Park itself seems to have grown a lot recently (my friends appear to have entered via my backdoor from parkland walk..).
I'm going to try getting the council on it but it might be a bit of a Canute type situation - i'm sure there are many more rats then the council can really deal with

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helen · May 2010

saw the haringey pest control guy today about the growing rat population. Good news and bad news I'm afraid: he totally understands that there's a growing problem,that rats walking in through the back doors is pretty unacceptable and is up for helping. However he needs the conservation team on Parkland Walk to agree to cut back some of the undergrowth directly behind the houses or else he can't put down boxes/lay bait. He is emailing the conservation officer to request this, but as he points out...he can't enforce.
i'm going to email the Conservation guy too - i think it's Ian.holt@haringey.gov.uk - if anyone else is being bothered by the rats I suggest you email too as it can only help

sg_mike · May 2010

I heard an owl last night - do they feed on rats? Could we build up some kind of bird of prey population along the parkland walk?

helen · May 2010

we'd need golden eagles to deal with rats this size....
my husband has been getting rather up close and personal with our rodent friends and has dispatched 5 so far....he tells me they are large enough to be at home on a farm

leiba1 · May 2010

We've had two close encounters with furry pests. The first was when my dog suddenly looked up and stared at the open living room door. Thinking she'd seen a mouse scuttle behind it I went over and carefully peeked behind it to look for the mouse. The next thing a large rat leapt out, ran across my foot and disappeared under the gas fire. Now I'm not scared or rats, mice or anything like that but this thing surprised me and I let out a scream. My poor dog, who trusts me to keep her safe, must have thought "Mummys scared. It must be bad, I'm scared too" and ran away, tail between her legs.
The second encounter was indeed the toaster. Hubby told me he'd broken the handle off it as it was very stiff when he'd tried to push it down. So before I fixed the handle I opened up the crumb tray and lo and behold, there was a decapitated, toasted mouse.
And the rat? He crept out later that evening and we chased him all over the house. We'd shut all the doors so he couldn't get into any other rooms. But we forgot one, the bathroom, and he got in behind the bath. That night I was woken by some loud thwacks and suddenly the bedroom light came on and there stood my naked Hubby, grinning from ear to ear, with a shillelagh in one hand and a very dead rat in the other.
We caught three more rats with conventional traps and numerous mice the same way. We recycled them by feeding them to the local crow population that were visiting with us at the time.

Arkady · May 2010

Good use of shillelagh. A

miss annie · May 2010

There was a dead rat in my front garden at the weekend, I would estimate that it was the size of a small pony.I imagine that it had been poisoned as there were no mauling marks or anything. Glad it didn't crawl into the drain to unhygenically stink and rot.

Amazingly it was the first rat I have ever seen in London and I was born here!

Salsa · June 2010

I've appreciated all the mice tips on this thread. I seem to have them in my flat all year round - I live on the top floor and think they get in from next door rather than downstairs as the others in my house never seem to see them.
Anyway, I have got sick of them eating and eating poison - they luckily seem to crawl back next door to die so I don't get a stench - but it either doesn't kill them or there's so many they just keep eating it and it's getting expensive! I caught one in a normal trap last week with cheese. Today I decided to try putting the sticky trap down flat, as suggested further up the thread. I have arrived home tonight to a very noisy kitchen and I can't bear to check it til morning - I think there are a few on there...
Cheese seems to work well for me but also Snickers - so they're getting both chocolate and peanut! The plug in thing doesn't seem to help or maybe it's worn out.

Liz · December 2010

Just resurrecting this thread as I found a rat in my house yesterday and definitely need to do something about it. Any other recommendations about companies to get in to help with this? I'm far too squeamish about dead things to attempt to deal with it myself. Also, if anyone has tried the Harringey Council pest control service, I'd be interested to know what it was like. They advertise a 3 visit service for £101, so I'd also be interested to know how that compares to a commercial offer.

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kreuzkav · December 2010

The best prevention is steel wool as a few others have said here. The problem is finding the holes. I lived in my flat for over four years without seeing a mouse then now and again I saw one. I invested in an electronic zapper which was effective at the start, but not after a while. Research has found that they get immune to the ultrasound and mice aren't as thick as we think, as also get used to traps and different types of bait too.

I moved away for a year and a half and my subletter said he didn't see one. But after returning last summer I started to see them now and again. Plugged in my ultrasound gadgets, laid some poison, but I'd see it/them now and again. Decided to find the holes and put the steel wool down. When I put the steel wool down the holes I thought that were just a cm in width were really 5 cms or more.

After having some vinyl flooring laid (which I wouldn't recommend) I had gaps left by the radiator pipes which were'nt there when the really old carpet was there (thanks fitters!). From what I've read and heard mice are lazy and will just find some way into a flat or house despite how clean or dirty it is. Of course you should make sure there are no crumbs on the floor for them. Apparently they really don't like the smell of bleach. However they still invade the most sterile flats. I've known friends with ultra clean flats that have had more mice in there flats those with ones that are dirty.

To cut a long story short I haven't seen any since I put steel wool down.

taff bach · December 2010

Came home to a filthy smell which turned out to be a dead mouse behind my teenagers radiator, the food with green fungus seems not to bother him.

gardener-joe · December 2010

an endless supply of sticky traps is good

at least they get caught and you don't have them hiding behind things, dying from poison.

andy · December 2010

Subletter Kreuzkav? What was that long thread about how hard done by you were by the housing benefit system all about?

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