I have an unwelcome house guest

[Plax]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to go the humane trap way first I think and then the poison is no luck. I just can't bring myself to use the old fashioned trap just yet, I'm a bit squirmish like that.
The posting it through the neighbours letterbox is a fantastic idea . Don't want it to find its way back to mine though.

I couldn't see any signs of activity from last night this morning, I must have scared it with all the hoovering last night, and it's laying low for a bit.

 

[wafflycat]

The problem with going the poison route is it is NOT an instantaneous solution. The mouse will crawl off and if it crawls off somewhere where it is eaten by say cat, owl, terrier, poultry - it's simply passing the poison along to those creatures.

Go the kill-trap route, bait with peanut butter or chocolate, set against a wall, check every 24hrs. It'll do the job. Perhpas not at first attempt, but it will work, and you don't end up poisoning other animals.

 

[Wigsie]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to go the humane trap way first I think and then the poison is no luck. I just can't bring myself to use the old fashioned trap just yet, I'm a bit squirmish like that.
The posting it through the neighbours letterbox is a fantastic idea . Don't want it to find its way back to mine though.

I couldn't see any signs of activity from last night this morning, I must have scared it with all the hoovering last night, and it's laying low for a bit.

We have allotments at the back of our house so we do get them coming in during the winter. Usually catch 2 or 3 in a humane trap (then I take the kids and we drive them out to the woods and release them ).

Although last year we had one cheeky little bugger that used to run across the living room floor and sit in the middle watching us! he never used the side walls and was just randomly running around. For days the humane traps failed, I had to get a poison box that is supposed to make him pass through and die in his nest, although checked the box the next morning and he was dead inside wedged in had to throw away the poison box, then we found another one dead (for a week or two at least ) under the sofa! hmmm nice, humane traps this autumn!

 

[Twenty Inch]

Last winter we had a family of meeces - far too many. In fact they stopped respecting us - they'd come out in daylight in full view. So I put a trap down which caught a couple, but they soon got wise.

I noticed that they liked to forage in the kitchen undersink rubbish bin. I started to remove rubbish on a daily basis. This led to them jumping in the bin looking for a meal, but not able to jump out again. Problem solved! I would wait until I heard a scuffle, open the cupboard door, catch the mouse in my hand and deliver a quick squeeze to the skull twixt finger and thumb. Job done - no smell, nice and quick, and back to my book after washing my hands. Must have caught 6 or 7 like that.

 

[02GF74]

So tomorrow after work will be a trip to B&Q to buy a mouse trap. I think I'll go the humane route otherwise I'll probably cry if I see a dead mouse in my airing cupboard, as I'm sad like that.

I wish I had used one of those. Every creature wants to live, who are you or I to kill them?

Catch'em and release them in a field but make surethey don;t fol,low you home.

 

[swee'pea99]

Pish tush. They are vermin, and as such, like poisonous spiders and chihuahuas, implacable enemies to the human race. Mercy is misplaced, there is but One True Solution: KILL! KILL! KILL!

 

[Kirstie]

Anyone got a chihuahua trap?

I'm sure we could fashion something out of an anvil and a winch.

Anyone got an anvil and a winch?

 

[slowmotion]

OK, this is a bit small for a chihuahua, but they are very good for mice, far better than the Little Nipper wooden types.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Advanced-mouse-trap-now-graded/dp/B000T5N0JE

Gave up and reached for the chemicals after catching twelve with the traps.

 

[Melvil]

Re: Poison: From this and the other thread the consensus is that the green pellets are naff - anyone got a link to the good stuff?

 

[ChrisKH]

Talking of rats, when my wife broke her ankle recently and they were putting her in the ambulance, a white rat poked its head out of a bush outside my house. Must be a pet one that escaped. I couldn't find it when I returned from the hospital (the boys wanted to catch it as a pet) so must assume it had moved on. It's probably living and reproducing in my compost heap as I type.

 

[slowmotion]

Re: Poison: From this and the other thread the consensus is that the green pellets are naff - anyone got a link to the good stuff?

http://www.rentokil.co.uk/residenti...roducts/alphakil-mouse-killer-bait/index.html

 

[groucho73]

Cheaper than buying poison. Smash a bottle or glass and using the ball of a hammer grind the glass into a dust, in the meantime take a spoonful of fat from a frying pan and then mix the two together, place the mixture on a piece of card and leave it where you think the mice may be. Apparently once the mice have digested the fat, the glass dust then gets to work and ruptures their stomach. It may take a couple of days to work but its worked for me in the past.

 

[Wigsie]

Cheaper than buying poison. Smash a bottle or glass and using the ball of a hammer grind the glass into a dust, in the meantime take a spoonful of fat from a frying pan and then mix the two together, place the mixture on a piece of card and leave it where you think the mice may be. Apparently once the mice have digested the fat, the glass dust then gets to work and ruptures their stomach. It may take a couple of days to work but its worked for me in the past.

A little on the harsh side (not to mention lots of effort)

We had a couple of rats spotted on the patio a few years back it was every morning they would be scurrying about, so one morning I put out a bin liner that I was going to put in the wheelie bin. Sat in the conservatory and took about five minutes for them both to trundle up to investigate the new smelly object, unfortunately my high powered German .22 air rifle and some rather awesome sniping () meant both were dead within 15 seconds!

 

[User169]

My wife was once making toast and found that she couldn't get the lever to on the toaster to go down. She took the slice of bread out and a rat shot out the top of the toaster!

 

[rh100]

My wife was once making toast and found that she couldn't get the lever to on the toaster to go down. She took the slice of bread out and a rat shot out the top of the toaster!

Nice!

I'm sure there was another thread where someone mentioned that once you find crap in the toaster then the humane route goes out the window.

I tried humane traps with no success. Then I used the plastic traps from B&Q, they have a sensitive plastic platform to trigger it and the bait is in a holder in the center of it. Place it near the skirting boards and bait it with bits of cadbury chocolate fingers - worked for me.