Dealing with mice..

[Kill_Phil]

Recently moved into a property and unfortunately seem to have a few mice running riot which are mainly confined to the attic space; it's converted with laminate and sounds like they are under this, with very limited access apart from the corner of the eaves.

Have tried sealing all visible entry points externally and food is kept in sealed containers. Slight issue in that its a semi-detached property with the roofing space connected so can't rule out next door. The neighbour is hardly there and pretty much lives at his partners house.

I've got several brands of traps laid including a humane one too; using a mixture of Nutella and peanut butter.

Only caught a single bugger in the last couple of weeks and just looking for some tips/advice before I call in the pros. Wanted to avoid bait traps as I don't fancy the stench when one inevitablably dies in the cavity walls!

Ta!

 

[Mark M]

Obvious one but get a cat! I regularly wake up to multiple mice left for me in the kitchen! Failing that use bird seed and digestive biscuit in the humane trap.

 

[psd99]

glue traps with some nutella in the centre.

not the nicest sights or "pest friendly" but it will get rid of them

 

[Yaayuh!]

If hard to access, then trap to kill humanely. Otherwise, live humane traps.

I've used these and they work a treat! https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B079FGD3DY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Load it up before bed, check in the morning or 6 hour checks at the weekend. Don't leave for too many hours that it'd suffer.

I'd advise you release a fair distance away from your house so it doesn't make it's way back.

 

[kinobestew123]

I don't know how true it is, but one tip I read was to go all out on the first night. Multiple traps all over.

The suggestion was that you'll catch more on that first night than on any other night. As if the mice get aware that there's trouble afoot after seeing their mate get flattened -and learn to avoid traps, etc.

 

[cheesyboy]

We had some in our attic in the run up to xmas (they chewed through the xmas chocs we'd bought and put in there). I bought one of these traps:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B077WSG42K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Used peanut butter as bait. In the first 6 or so days I'd caught 12 (twice, caught 2 at once), setting them free at the bottom of the garden. At this point I started to wonder if they were coming straight back in (the end of the garden is approx 50m from the house, but perhaps not far enough), so I started to release at the nearby park. Got to about 20 of the little buggers in total before the flow stopped.

On two occasions, the bait got eaten without setting off the trap, but otherwise it was great.

You'll probably struggle to catch them if there's still an alternative food source, though.

 

[peige]

Problem is they aren't silly and brand new traps smell of human/plastic/danger. Eventually they start to smell less like us, personally i'd put them outside in the rain and weather for a week to take the edge off them and then try again, some of the best results I have had are with the same old wooden trap i've had for years. I used it in one house we thought we had a problem with and it caught 5 in less than two hours and then more over the coming days.
Humane are ok but what do you do with the new pet mouse you've caught?

 

[joey1211]

Humane are ok but what do you do with the new pet mouse you've caught?

Noticed that my loaf of bread had a chunk missing so put down a humane trap. It was in there within an hour of putting it down. It's recommended to take them a mile away from your house or they just find their way back if let out in the garden. I'd had a few drinks and thought bugger that and let it go across the road. Re-laid the trap and went to bed. It or his mate was back in there when I got up in the morning.

This time took it with me in the car in the washing up bowl. Lay-by a mile away, set it free in the hedgerow. Haven't caught anything since.

 

[Midlife Crisis]

I have got an electronic rat zapper off amazon, peanut butter a dead mouse a night until there where no more mice.

 

[Kill_Phil]

Obvious one but get a cat! I regularly wake up to multiple mice left for me in the kitchen! Failing that use bird seed and digestive biscuit in the humane trap.

Unfortunately I'm allergic to cats did think about borrowing the in-laws cat but its a lazy bugger and just not worth it

glue traps with some nutella in the centre.

not the nicest sights or "pest friendly" but it will get rid of them

Yeah have read about these; may have to resort to this but dont fancy the thought of drowning the poor blighters or caving their heads in

We had some in our attic in the run up to xmas (they chewed through the xmas chocs we'd bought and put in there). I bought one of these traps:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B077WSG42K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Used peanut butter as bait. In the first 6 or so days I'd caught 12 (twice, caught 2 at once), setting them free at the bottom of the garden. At this point I started to wonder if they were coming straight back in (the end of the garden is approx 50m from the house, but perhaps not far enough), so I started to release at the nearby park. Got to about 20 of the little buggers in total before the flow stopped.

On two occasions, the bait got eaten without setting off the trap, but otherwise it was great.

You'll probably struggle to catch them if there's still an alternative food source, though.

I've got the exact same one so may try digestives or bird seed as suggested above as peanut butter doesn't seem to take their fancy so far! May have to weather the traps to throw them off the scent.

 

[cheesyboy]

You need to place it correctly too. They run along the edges of stuff (next to skirting boards if it's a normal room), but look out for their poo and place there, because that'll be one of their routes.

As I said, I caught them immediately when I put the trap down: no need to weather it, got one within a couple of hours.

 

[Kill_Phil]

@cheesyboy yeah I have them placed as directed and against skirting boards so may give it another day before looking to place them elsewhere. As I said in op I believe they are under the flooring in the attic which is near impossible to reach.

 

[brendy]

Regular spring traps and mars bar chunks. We had a problem a couple of years ago and humane just didnt seem to work , caught a few, released well away from home area and the problem remained, ended using traps killing them. Caught about a dozen in total. I went round the outside of the house filling all gaps regardless how small.

 

[Steampunk]

The ones that seem to be most effective (according to Shawn Woods) if you have a lot of mice to catch (especially if you don't want to kill them) are the bucket traps with with either the rolling log or walking-the-plank type of trap. A spring trap will catch one mouse a night, the bucket traps can catch a dozen.

 

[ozaudio]

i spoke to an expert in work about this for about an hour, to cut it short.. make sure all traps are along a wall or an edge as that's were mince will run, peanute butter is his best bait by far he said. if you catch some then the traps stop working, remove them for a few days then put them back down in the same place as you first had them, as the mine will follow were the other mice have been. if using glue traps make sure the area is dust free, the dust on mouse feet allow them to quite often skip over the glue traps.

 

[b00merang69]

My mother had them due to a gap where the washing machine waste pipe goes through floor.

I worked out here was a family of them not a single mouse and I used a Electric Trap (4x D cell batts) that kills mice/rats and I left the hole there till I had 6 mice and left it there for week (cleaned each time/rebaited with peanut butter) and no more so filled in hole.

 

[Kill_Phil]

@ozaudio they're already placed against skirting boards but thanks will try taking them up for a couple of days.

@b00merang69 think I may take a punt on the zapper too. Gonna have quite the collection come the end of this

 

[Orionaut]

Unfortunately I'm allergic to cats did think about borrowing the in-laws cat but its a lazy bugger and just not worth it

Have you tried a Cornish Rex? While not strictly hypoallergenic. "Some" allergic people find them less of a problem, You need to visit a Cat House (Fnarr Fnarr) to see if it works for you or not.

glue traps with some nutella in the centre. not the nicest sights or "pest friendly" but it will get rid of them

I thought these were illegal.

Poor little ******* will chew their feet off to try to escape!

 

[weathmatth]

I had a mice problem in my garage this winter, they tried to nest in my fishing tackle bag . I ended up using humane traps off amazon baiting with fruit and nut trail mix, i caught a total of 6 mice and have not any any more for over a month. Maybe just try changing what your baiting the traps with?

 

[Junglist]

A shallow bowl of peanut oil works wonders (not enough for them to drown in)