infested with mice

[Rocket]

Can anyone tell me how to get rid of the mice that are infesting my kitchen....please??

I have had an ongoing problem for months now, I think I have got rid of them, then more show up.

I have humane traps which they are managing to get the bait out of then escape from, they have eaten numerous trays full of poison.

I have also got 3 x sonic devices which are meant to deter them, but these are obviously not working.

I hope someone out there can help me.

Thanks in advance.

[campbellking]

Borrow a cat. We have in our utility room a small mouse recovering from being in the cat's mouth last night. It's now in a little dark box while it recovers (I thought it would die of shock last night but it seems O.K.) When all the cats are back in tonight, it will be set free again into the garden from whence it came.

[mccfluff]

I agree, I had the same problem a few years ago and borrowed my boyfriends cats, as if by magic no mice. I now have a cat of my own and apart from her bringing me little presents every now and then I don't see any mice anymore

[~Wingnut~]

Hi Rocket!

Something that I just thought about and please don't take this the wrong way (not saying your mouse prob is because you have food everywhere lol) but bag every scrap of food up! Leave nothing to chance, bread, fruit etc.. keep in the fridge. Put food into airtight containers. Bin Bag change a few times a day or put food waste straight into the dustbins outside. It's a pain to keep doing it and to keep food all locked up but hopefully if there is no food about at all it may encourage the rascal's to venture outside and leave, esp with the weather warming up.

Also, just thought of this too lol, check that your not unknowingly giving them a free feed. Maybe a bag of something at the back of a cupboard that you have forgotten about, or pet food sack etc.. maybe a little nawn corner somewhere.

Failing that...get a cat! :o)

[meltoadhall]

it may seem cruel but go for the traps that kill. even if you catch them and put them out they will come right back.

we had to resort to this after i found some in my airing cupboard!!!! and we have 3 cats and a dog.!!

[rio116]

a cat will not sort out your mouse problems,not for long anyway!! Mice can have litters of up to 12 very often so are producing all the time,they are also incontinent and wee and pooh every where they walk and on everything they walk on. Have you rang pest control in your area? If not then why not give them a try and they will sort it out for you as there are probably nests somewhere to. If you do catch any in a humane trap then let them go far far away cos if you just put them outside your door they will just come straight back in again.

[Gr�nfeld]

Humane mouse traps - I've tried loads but I've only found one type that works. It's called a Trip Trap made by Proctor Brothers in Wales. They cost me �5 each. I've got 6 of them and yesterday I bought another 6 for a friend. (Sometimes you need to blutac a penny to the door of the trap - shuts really quick then).

They're not that easy to get hold of and the one thing that's a bit annoying about them is the plastic is too brittle and I've bust a couple over the years. The address on the boxes is Pantglas Ind Estate, Bedwas, Caerphilly, CF83 8XD

[Madgirl2]

I sooooo sympathise with you. I stay in a modern flat and was astounded last year when I saw the silhouette of a mouse running along my bedroom window sill at 3am one morning. Naively I tried to chase after it much to the guffaws of the environmental health officers I consulted. Your council tax pays for environmental services, however, I found them to be useless. They laid all sorts of traps but the mice were not taking the bait. They told me that as I lived in a flat, the chances were that the mice were being fed (unwittingly) by other residents which is why they were turning their noses up at the bait. The EH officers searched our shared loft (which is huge) and found evidence of nests, however, despite laying traps and poison, the situation continued. My clothes were chewed and one mouse even chewed through the plasterboard in my cupboard (leaving a hole of approx 4inches by 4 inches). At the end of my tether after trying EVERY gadget and preventative measure in the book, I was ready to resport to a pair of night vision goggles and an AK47. Joking aside, the situation really was driving me nuts as I had broken sleep for months. Eventually, I established that the mice were coming in through gaps around pipe inlets left by the builders of my flat, at various points behind my kitchen units. I took my kitchen apart and sealed up all the gaps. Problem solved, however, I still hear the mice sometimes in the walls at night. I would have borrowed a cat but I am badly allergic to them. I would go for the cat option. My friends swear by them. Good luck!

[ermintrude35]

..a couple of friends of mine had this problem a while back, their little visitors had access through the back of the kitchen units and only visited the KitKat drawer...

...they got a humane trap and placed it in the drawer and eventually , one morning, there was a mouse in the trap... now, being a pair of softies, they had to toss a coin to decide who was going to deal with the little critter...they had been told not to release the mouse too close to home, as it would just come back.... so on the 30 mile trip to work, he took the mouse with him, in the trap, on the front seat, with the safety belt around it!...on arrival at the carpark he gently coaxed the jet lagged mouse out the trap...and it got promptly squished by our bosse's car....

....oh yeah, they got a cat in the end...

[Toureman]

See the questions about cats above, my cat would love to have a house full of mice, I could stop buying cat food! she would probably run out of mice in a few days though.

[Rocket]

Thanks for all your answers, but....

I have no food on any of the work tops or shelves, and everything is in airtight containers in and every single hole I can see has been sealed up, yet I have still found another one the other day.

Touch wood, I haven't found one since, but I wont hold my breath.

It's so annoying.

I have even rang environmental health and they wont do anything because they say it's the area is infested, even though it's in a modern city centre development. Its not an old house either so I have no idea what I can do.

I wonder if anyone know how to deter them, even if it's just from my house? For example, with a certain smell (like orange peel is supposed to deter cats).

Also can't get a cat as I am allergic.

Maybe I should just move? Lol.