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Mice in the kitchen
DaisyBumbleroot
Posts: 24,763 Forum Member
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In the corner of our kitchen it is like a raised counter, there used to be an old boiler in it which was removed about 5 years ago when we had a new boiler put on the wall in the kitchen. This area has become a bit of a dumping ground tbh for stuff.
Theres a bit of a false wall that has a small hole in it where the pipes go and just below that / next to the raised bit there was a bag of oats. Anyway, my husband was up at 3am letting our dog out and heard a scrabbling sound. He went to have a look and there was a bag of oats next to the raised bit and a few inches from the hol that had been nibbled and some of the oats eaten!
So on saturday, i bought a load of stuff from B&Q and we cleaned the kitchen. When i cleared the dumping ground corner, along the edge was loads of mouse poo
no food was up there fortunately but there was on the lower counters, all the spices and stuff. So ive chucked them and disinfected the work tops. I cleaned out the cupboards above, but there was no mouse poo in there.
However, in one of the other cupboards over the other side of the kitchen where the dog food is kept (tinned i might add) there was three of four poos on one of the shelves. I am thinking they found the false wall and a ready supply of food so stayed there and went as far as the oats.
Anyway, disinfected the area and filled the hole with mouse poison and used foam filler to seal u the gaps which looks *great*.
Im now wondering if i did the right thing. My husband let the dog out again and could hear them / it scrabbling behind the wall. Im thinking if they eat the poison, theyre going to die behind there and its going to smell. If they dont eat the poison they might starve to death and smell. If they find a way out theyre going to p*ss and sh*t all over the other parts of the kitchen.
thinking - i should have got a sonic mouse repellent, but theres mixed reviews on the internet - also they need to be unhindered by furniture, so if i plug it in, it will stop them coming into the kitchen but might they migrate elsewhere?
can anyone else offer any advice on the best way to get rid of mice?
By the way, we already have 3 terriers, one of which is a jack the other is a yorkie and they're oblivious. Cersei the cat is next to useless too, ive told her she needs to earn her keep but she just stared at me then walked off.
Too long, didnt read - does anyone know if sonic mouse repellents work?
Theres a bit of a false wall that has a small hole in it where the pipes go and just below that / next to the raised bit there was a bag of oats. Anyway, my husband was up at 3am letting our dog out and heard a scrabbling sound. He went to have a look and there was a bag of oats next to the raised bit and a few inches from the hol that had been nibbled and some of the oats eaten!
So on saturday, i bought a load of stuff from B&Q and we cleaned the kitchen. When i cleared the dumping ground corner, along the edge was loads of mouse poo
no food was up there fortunately but there was on the lower counters, all the spices and stuff. So ive chucked them and disinfected the work tops. I cleaned out the cupboards above, but there was no mouse poo in there.However, in one of the other cupboards over the other side of the kitchen where the dog food is kept (tinned i might add) there was three of four poos on one of the shelves. I am thinking they found the false wall and a ready supply of food so stayed there and went as far as the oats.
Anyway, disinfected the area and filled the hole with mouse poison and used foam filler to seal u the gaps which looks *great*.
Im now wondering if i did the right thing. My husband let the dog out again and could hear them / it scrabbling behind the wall. Im thinking if they eat the poison, theyre going to die behind there and its going to smell. If they dont eat the poison they might starve to death and smell. If they find a way out theyre going to p*ss and sh*t all over the other parts of the kitchen.
thinking - i should have got a sonic mouse repellent, but theres mixed reviews on the internet - also they need to be unhindered by furniture, so if i plug it in, it will stop them coming into the kitchen but might they migrate elsewhere?
can anyone else offer any advice on the best way to get rid of mice?
By the way, we already have 3 terriers, one of which is a jack the other is a yorkie and they're oblivious. Cersei the cat is next to useless too, ive told her she needs to earn her keep but she just stared at me then walked off.
Too long, didnt read - does anyone know if sonic mouse repellents work?
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I always used snap traps baited with crunchy peanut butter. Even if they know they will die, they must have the peanut butter.
Not a single mouse in the house since we got the cat.
The only thing we have found to work effectively has been a combination of poison and traps.
The main issue with poison is as you say, the mice do tend to go off to die, and then you end up getting a bit of a smell unfortunately (it does go after a day or two I've found), and with traps you have the unpleasant job of removing the squished mouse from the trap and disposing of it. Do persevere though - eventually you will get it under control. Obviously if the problem worsens contact the council as they might have a pest control service you can use (for a charge).
yeah dont fancy removing squished mice from a trap
I work for a lettings / management company and we have a pest control guy who charges £60 - £80 to put professional poison down. We usually send our maintenance guys round to fill the holes with filler too, so hopefully ive got all the holes, but the pest guy said they can squeeze through gaps as small as 1cm.
Council only deal with rats too, not mice
Our cat is useless! I dont think she is the hunting type though, shes not one to bring us presents so i guess because she never learned to hunt she doesnt know what to do.
I heard mice love peanut butter before though! I have some poison packs left over, and some peanut butter, so perhaps if i mix the two, they may be tempted to eat the poisoned bait! Think I will try that. I will need to put it somewhere where the cat can't get to it though and she does jump up on kitchen units.
Anyway to OP's problem - I'd be reluctant to start spreading poison about, especially mixed in with nice smelling food as both your cat and dogs can probably get to places you wouldn't believe.:(
Traps are best - you could try the humane ones if you don't fancy dealing with the corpses. If you do use old school traps again you need to be sure the cat/dogs can't get their paws in them as they can be quite powerful.
I found peanut butter does work well, as does chocolate spread and crackers.
http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/rentokil-advanced-mouse-traps---2-pack-723773
Due to the design of them it's easy to dispose of the mouse without touching them. It's not a nice thing to do, but I would rather dispose of them myself than smell behind a wall.
I put chocolate or cheese in them, normally works well.
Should have lured in to a box then released in to wild humanely.
A good alternative.
I bought a clear plastic humane mousey trap and it took a day to catch the cute little thing, they won't go inside the ones that aren't transparent or the steel box one we bought, that was crap too.
Humane
No mouse has not been back since I deposited him down the road. Also found peppermint oil dripped onto cotton wool balls is good. Put them near your food cupboard, lovely smell.
I've a spidey catcher too, good they do mice 🐭 too.
If you kill one another just takes it's place, that's how nature works.
We had one chew it's way into our green food recycle bin, I let the poor thing out but the next day when I looked inside it was back and it had overdosed on some cocoa powder I binned.
Once you get over the initial annoyance at having them chew open your biscuits and crap in your food cupboard they are quite adorable things. Gave me an excuse to clean the place really.
Mice get in from outside so check outside access - ours was an old dryer vent from kitchen to garage - quick B&Q plastic cover sorted that.
Snap traps are the best IMHO - tried the humane traps but they did not work.
That's sad bout the mouse od'ing.
They are quite cute though thankfully not had in flat.
Used to get in my rabbits hutch. They like bunny 🐰 food.
Snakes in garden that's scary.
Poor mice and rats.
There's a chemical in chocolate that kills them, dogs can't take too much of it either. Wondered if he would survive but he came back for seconds, silly thing.
Like humans like things bad for them.
Poison is very dangerous it could harm those not intended to.
Some say you need to take a mouse trapped in a humane trap up to 2 miles from your property to release. Otherwise it will return.
Renovating an old cottage which at the moment is far from mouse proof.
Just caught 7!
1) Never leave a crumb of food out including pet food.
2) Wipe down kitchen surfaces with peppermint oil.
4) block as many ingress points as you can. Use steel wool for a temporary fix.
Have ordered electronic zappers. The old fashioned traps don't always kill outright and it is horrible. Poison means they will die in unexpected places and it is not a nice way to go. Meanwhile if you use humane traps, mousey often evacuates a ton of urine while caught.
But for traditional traps i have used peanut butter and meat/meat fat with great success.
Re sonic repellers i think they do often work but not on an existiing rodent problem.
Snickers Flapjacks - peanuts, chocolate, toffee and oats. They absolutely love them.
That's horrible.
OP, please try humane traps. They are not that hard to get rid of humanely and once they've gone you can block all the possible entry points. NEVER use poison if you've got pets.
Grass snakes are harmless, a protected species, and they get rid of furry invaders - what's not to like !!
I think our cats are sisters
However I'm really sorry I can't offer any help but you have my sympathy.
Thank you for the peppermint tip