Mice

jos28

It kills me to admit it but I have mice in my lovely clean house. I saw one 2 weeks ago and nearly had to be hospitalised, I am terrified of them. Never had them before. I have searched boards and taken everyone's suggestions.
I am like a woman possessed.
I have gone around the house with a sealant gun and filled every hole big enough to fit a pencil through.
My OH has laid traps in every room using peanut butter/chocolate -caught 1 brown one in the garage/2 grey ones in the house.
I have cleaned out every press with Jeyes fluid, put all food in plastic containers.The house smells like our hospitals should.
I planted mint all around the deck, lifted some deck boards and put mesh over the vents, sprinkled poison under the deck........
When will I know they have gone, when can I stop examing EVERY tiny piece of black dirt that I find on the floor. When can I stay in the house on my own without being terrified. Help please..

bmaxi

The deck is most likely the problem. It's like a holiday home for little furry beasties (and their larger cousins). I've always found trapping to be the most effective method but others say the electronic / sonic yokes are pretty effective as well. There's a fairly lengthy thread somewhere on this forum but the search function isn't working so I can't post a link.

smashey

Here it is.

jos28

Cheers,
Thanks for that, don't know if I feel better or worse after reading that thread.What am I up against.
What can I do about my deck. I have this image now, of thousands of them scurrying around under it, all finding their way into the house.

smashey

Nuke them.

Kashkai

I've loved the thought of putting in a large deck next to our sunroom but was warned off this idea by some people in the decking industry (nice of them to be so honest I thought) as they all told me it was like building a holiday home for the furry beasties right next to your home. It would then only take the gentle scent of food for them to migrate inwards to your home.

Get rid of the deck or move it away from the house. Keep putting the traps down for a couple of months. You could also put some poison in small plastic bags in the attic space where they love to live amongst the insulation. Problem with this is is that they may die between the floorboards and their rotting carcases will stink the house out for a week - happened to us.

A mouse can get inside a house through a hole no bigger than the width of a biro, something to do with a flexible skeleton. I've whacked a few with a shovel over the years and they get up and keep running when you'd have thought I'd have broken every bone in their body:eek:

Mice will get into new homes during construction and will settle in until killed. Better to get the nastiness of exterminating them out of the way now rather than waiting until they breed. However, if you live in the countryside, like I now do, they will be an ongoing problem and you're never sure if that was just a shadow moving along the skirting or if mickey and minnie have returned to resume battle.

Finally, as bad as you feel, you should see my wife freak when the mice reappear. I find it hard to chase the mouse cause I'm laughing so hard at a grown woman (who's normally so sweet and easygoing) standing on a table armed with a sweeping brush and shrieking at me to KILL IT!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

jos28

Dave, Thanks for all your advice. I have a tiny garden so there is no where else to move the deck to. I think I will get someone (not me)to take it up and have a look. I will get them to lay traps, poison whatever underneath it and block up EVERY tiny hole.The front of it is already sealed with wood and wire mesh, (paranoid or what )!
Tell your beloved wife I will join a support group with her. I am so bad that I slept in a jeep in Cyprus for 2 nights rather than sleep in an apartment that had a mouse in it. Now I am off to find someone to lift the deck....here's hoping.

bored and tired

try to encourage a cat into your garden(or buy one), we built a new house and have a big tom cat who prowls around every day. i have started leaving a bowl of milk out for him near the back door and so far just him senting around the garden and house has kept all small beasts away.
do you live near a grain or beat field, if so, you will be like my mother and get visitors every year when the fields are harvested.

Hot presses are a haven for the beasties as they make nests in there out of bits of clothes. Take everything out and dose with poison close the door and hope for the best. living with the smell for a week is better than waking up one morning to see a nose and two foot prints in the sugar bowl you forgot to put away the night before, TRUST ME.

jos28

I never even thought of the hot press!!!!
There are 2 cats that hang around, so I think I will start being nice to them.
Good thinking.

Mr. Presentable

Back of the fridge, near the motor is a popular spot too.

crosstownk

The press under the kitchen sink seems to be another hot spot - no idea why.

jos28

crosstownk wrote:

The press under the kitchen sink seems to be another hot spot - no idea why.

That's where we caught the first one. Someone told me they like to eat detergent boxes. We or should I say my husband has not found any in the past week. All traps have new food put in every day and so far nothing....
Still don't like being in the house on my own though.

kam3qnwvebf4jh

Its very unusual to get mice in the house at this time of the year. They normally only retreat to the house during the cold months (Sep-Mar). Do you happen to have an oil burner(or a pump) or something similar adjoined to the house. If so, they could be making their way in around the gap made by the pipe into the house.

Kashkai

You should also check where the waste pipes from the kitchen sink etc leave the house as some builders drill the holes in the walls too large and any small gap around the waste pipes will allow a mouse in. Thats why you can find mice behind the kitchen sink as they've squeezed through the hole where the pipe from the sink goes out through the wall. You can use expandable foam to fill these gaps (buy it in any hardware or the likes of woodies). Be careful though as this stuff really expands to a huge degree and if you're too exuberant with it, you'll have a large bubble of yellow foam outside your house (it can be cut back with a saw when it dries though).

Of course, we could all be approaching this from the wrong direction - you could always try to make friends with the mouse and he might become your pet - funnily enough my wife never agreed with this suggestion either

jos28

Had great fun with a can of "No MoreGaps'. Deadly stuff. I still think the deck is the problem. Anyone thinking of putting one in should think twice.

sesswhat

Prosperous Dave wrote:

You should also check where the waste pipes from the kitchen sink etc leave the house as some builders drill the holes in the walls too large and any small gap around the waste pipes will allow a mouse in. Thats why you can find mice behind the kitchen sink as they've squeezed through the hole where the pipe from the sink goes out through the wall. You can use expandable foam to fill these gaps (buy it in any hardware or the likes of woodies). Be careful though as this stuff really expands to a huge degree and if you're too exuberant with it, you'll have a large bubble of yellow foam outside your house (it can be cut back with a saw when it dries though).

I tried the expanded foam one time in a rented house to keep out a rat that came to visit each night. He just ate his way through, so I had to mix up a bit of mortar instead.

dubmick

This is where I caught them last year:

2 in the attic
1 under the sink
1 in the hotpress

bacon and chocolate on the trap seems to do the trick.

Unfortunately I think I might have them back as I thought I heard them this morning in the attic. Have to look into getting the attic floored.

towbar

I wonder would filling under the deck with small stones help - water would still get away and the mice wouldnt have anywhere to nest or would they still nest in the stones. - maybe sand?

Faith

smashey wrote:

Here it is.

Aw, that was my thread! Still have the fúckers though. I've traps, poison and steel wool everywhere, but it's no good.

mad m

crosstownk wrote:

The press under the kitchen sink seems to be another hot spot - no idea why.

Agree there,caught 8 under my kitchen sink over a year.Even caught one at 4pm, couldn't believe it when trap snapped and one was in it at that time of day.